Flagship Pioneering and Singapore’s Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR) are jointly committing up to SGD100 million (US$77.12 million) over the next five years to drive inter-party R&D collaboration and biotech creation in Singapore.

A collaboration led by the Flywire Consortium and comprising hundreds of scientists has completed a whole map of the adult fruit fly brain after several decades of collaborative work.

A collaboration led by the Flywire Consortium and comprising hundreds of scientists has completed a whole map of the adult fruit fly brain after several decades of collaborative work. By using electron microscopy and three-dimensional reconstruction supported by AI tools, the researchers have revealed the neural wiring of the Drosophila melanogaster brain, a connectome of 140,000 neurons with 50 million synaptic connections. In the future, researchers could possibly use this map as an artificial in silico model to study the brain as a simulator through its connections, though a lot of work remains to be done for this.

Prime Medicine Inc. has announced its plans to strategically focus its efforts on a set of high value programs as it advances its pipeline of next-generation gene editing therapies.

Ichnos Glenmark Innovation (IGI) has announced a cooperative research and development agreement (CRADA) with the National Cancer Institute (NCI) to evaluate IGI’s selective, orally active Casitas B-lineage lymphoma b (Cbl-b) inhibitor GRC-65327.

Repair Biotechnologies Inc. and Genevant Sciences Corp. have entered into a collaboration and nonexclusive license agreement to combine Repair’s Cholesterol Degrading Platform (CDP) mRNA technology with Genevant’s proprietary lipid nanoparticle (LNP) technology in the development of a potential novel treatment for atherosclerosis.

H. Lundbeck A/S and Iambic Therapeutics Inc. have entered into a strategic research collaboration focused on the discovery of a small-molecule therapeutic for the treatment of migraine. The collaboration will leverage Iambic’s artificial intelligence (AI)-powered drug discovery platform.

Axcelead Drug Discovery Partners (DDP) Inc. has entered into a strategic research and collaboration agreement with Eli Lilly & Co. for multiple drug discovery programs.

Nanovation Therapeutics Inc. has established a multiyear partnership with Novo Nordisk A/S to advance the development of novel genetic medicines targeting cardiometabolic and rare diseases. The partnership brings together Nanovation’s proprietary long-circulating lipid nanoparticle (lcLNP) technology for RNA delivery to cells outside of the liver, and Novo Nordisk’s expertise in cardiometabolic and rare disease R&D and clinical translation.