By combining drug sensitivity with genomic profiling of tumor cells, a study from St. Jude Children's Research Hospital with more than 800 patients has shown a wide diversity in drug sensitivity for pediatric acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) and defined six patterns of response to treatment. “This work provides a framework for ‘functional precision medicine’,” corresponding author Jun Yang, vice chair of the Department of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, told BioWorld.
Los Angeles is one of the most diverse cities in the U.S. This diversity is evident at University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), a university that attracts students (37,000) and workers (22,090) from 118 countries. It is enough to go for a walk on campus or its surroundings to believe that one is at a United Nations convention. Researchers at the UCLA ATLAS Community Health Initiative has been capturing that diversity in a genomic biobank whose data will help to understand, anonymously, the genetic basis of certain diseases. With them, scientists will be able to design the best treatments for these patients.
A drug that Novartis AG discontinued in fragile X syndrome in 2014 after it failed in two phase II/III trials has been in-licensed by neuroscience specialist Stalicla SA, which plans to revive the prospects of the glutamate receptor antagonist by applying its precision medicine technology to identify likely responders.
There is little doubt that progress in many brain diseases is being hampered because many, maybe most, diagnostic categories do not reflect underlying brain processes. In other disease areas, modern genetic and genomic methods have arrived in the form of approved drugs, from KRAS inhibitors in cancer to PCSK9 inhibitors to lower cholesterol. But brain diseases are different. Psychiatry is simultaneously the most personal area of medicine, and the least precise.
Pharus Diagnostics Inc. emerged from stealth mode to streamline precision medicine-based cancer screening with its new multi-cancer early detection liquid biopsy test. Spun out from Hsinchu, Taiwan-based Quark Biosciences Taiwan Inc. in July 2022, Pharus is developing solutions to detect cancer early via Oncosweep, its multi-cancer early detection (MCED) liquid biopsy test that evaluates microRNA (miRNA) within the body.
As doctors and public health officials brace for a possible fall coronavirus surge, one of the challenges continues to be predicting who will have a mild, moderate or severe case of COVID-19.
The design of genetically modified exosomes that combine multiple targets killed cancer cells and conferred immunity against them. Scientists at the University of Southern California (USC) applied bioengineering techniques to introduce up to four antitumor functions in the same type of extracellular vesicles and destroy EGFR-positive triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) tumor cells.
The University of Sydney is investing AU$478 million (US$326.5 million) to build a leading biomedical precinct to fast-track research and shorten the time between discovery and development of transformative therapies.
The University of Sydney is investing AU$478 million (US$326.5 million) to build a leading biomedical precinct to fast-track research and shorten the time between discovery and development of transformative therapies.
