Research & University News

The European Medicines Agency EMA) has formalised its ongoing relationship with universities in order to tap into research that could lead to new medicines and provide regulatory guidance to academic entrepreneurs.

While most efforts at treating Parkinson’s disease have involved brain research, scientists from the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) have now shown in experiments with mice that bacteria in the gut may be releasing chemicals that over-activate parts of the brain leading to the disease.

UK researchers have reported sequencing the whole genomes of a human donor and a patient using a hand-held device based on nanopore technology. The device was developed by Oxford Nanopore Technologies Ltd, a venture capital-backed company based in Oxford UK.

Researchers at the Karolinska Institutet have identified a previously unknown safety mechanism in the immune system that protects the body from autoimmune diseases. The discovery may be the key to countering autoimmune diseases, such as systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), they contend.

Immunotherapy for treating metastasised melanoma works better when there is a diversity of bacteria in the gut, according to a study by researchers at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in the US.

As embryonic stem cells divide, they are able to express the same genes as the original cell despite all the possibilities of mutation. Now, scientists from the Institut Pasteur have identified a transcription factor, Esrrb (estrogen related receptor beta), that makes this possible.

German scientists have successfully replaced damaged nerve cells in the brains of mice fueling hope that the wreckage caused by Alzheimer’s or Parkinson’s disease might be repaired in the future. Normally, nerve cell losses in the brain cannot be restored.

Cell Medica Ltd has expanded an existing partnership with the Baylor College of Medicine in Texas, US to develop allogeneic cell therapies based on engineered immune cells generated from healthy donors. The cells are invariant natural killer T (NKT) cells.

Syncona LLP, the evergreen investment fund of the Wellcome Trust, is poised to increase its investment in UK life science through a merger with the Guernsey-based investment fund BACIT Ltd. The new group will keep the Syncona name and be listed on the London Stock Exchange.

Research carried out in the Netherlands shows that a person’s risk of getting cancer cannot be explained by the number of errors found in DNA. Scientists at the University Medical Center Utrecht and the Hubrecht Institute have come to this conclusion after mapping the genetic profile of organoids.