Research & University News

Three scientists who discovered how cells sense and adapt to the availability of oxygen have been awarded the 2019 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. William Kaelin Jr of Harvard Medical School, US; Peter Ratcliffe of the University of Oxford, UK; and Gregg Semenza of  Johns Hopkins University, US identified molecular machinery that regulates the activity of genes in response to varying levels of oxygen, discoveries that paved the way for new strategies to treat anaemia, cancer and many other diseases.

Storm Therapeutics Ltd has disclosed data from an animal study of a new small molecule inhibitor of an RNA modifying enzyme which showed activity against cancer. The study results were announced on 18 September at a meeting in Cambridge, UK attended by scientists from Europe and the US who are at the forefront of the new science of RNA epigenetics.

RNA epigenetics describes the chemical markers on messenger RNA that carry genetic information from DNA to a cell’s protein-manufacturing factories. When this process is modified by enzymes it can lead to disease.

Crescendo Biologics Ltd has entered into collaborations with two UK universities to accelerate development of its lead product for tumours expressing prostate-specific membrane antigen (PSMA). The product, CB307, is due to enter the clinic in 2020.

Separately Crescendo appointed Steward Kay, formerly of GlaxoSmithKline Plc, as its chief business officer.

The European Investment Fund (EIF), together with institutions in Germany and Austria, has launched a new fund to support early-stage drug discovery projects sourced predominantly from academic institutions in both countries.

The fund, KHAN Technology Transfer Fund I GmbH (KHAN-I), is based in Dortmund, Germany and has capital of €60 million. Half of the initial capital, or €30 million, is being provided by the EIF, which is part of the European Investment Bank Group. The fund will invest in either new project ideas covered by collaboration agreements or in start-up companies.

A group of international scientists has successfully repressed the transcription of the mutant gene causing Huntington’s disease, enabling animal models with the disease to show clear improvements in a range of important functions. Results of the research were published online on 1 July in the journal Nature Medicine. The studies were carried out by Sangamo Therapeutics Inc and the CHDI Foundation, a non-profit organisation devoted to Huntington’s disease research.

The charity Cancer Research UK is to invest $25 million in a biotechnology fund managed by SV Health Investors as part of a partnership aimed at accelerating the development of new oncology drugs.

Under the arrangement, Cancer Research UK will provide at least $25 million to SV Health Investors’ seventh venture capital fund which is expected to raise $250 million. About 60% of the fund’s new capital will be invested in oncology or oncology-related projects.

Italian-born Mauro Ferrari, who studied medicine in the US and advised the US National Cancer Institute, is to be the next president of the European Research Council, an EU body that funds investigator-driven scientific research. Professor Ferrari will take up his position on 1 January 2020. He is known within the science community for his expertise in leveraging nanotechnology to treat and diagnose cancer.

Cambridge Innovation Capital Plc is leading an investment group that includes Genentech to provide seed capital to promising life science and healthcare companies in the UK and elsewhere. The seed capital will be issued by a new business accelerator called Start Codon located in Cambridge, UK.

The European Parliament has given its backing to Horizon Europe, a multi-year research programme for the sciences with a proposed budget of €100 billion. The programme is scheduled to run from 2021 to 2027, succeeding Horizon 2020.

It will finance collaborative research projects across the sciences including healthcare and medicine research and development. Included in the programme is a European Innovation Council that will finance the work of entrepreneurs who are exploring new areas of science. This council has already been successfully operating as a pilot project.

A new research collaboration which will study the human microbiome as a source for potential cancer therapies is being undertaken by Enterome SA of France and the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston, US. The partners will explore whether bacteria in the human microbiome generate antigens which are similar to those found on certain tumours. To the extent that there is a molecular similarity, these bacterial antigens could be used for immunotherapies.