It has been a year since Wuhan health authorities first issued a bulletin about a cluster of pneumonia cases of unknown cause, first bringing what would become the COVID-19 pandemic to the attention of the World Health Organization. Now, a mutation that significantly increases SARS-CoV-2’s transmissibility has been detected in the U.S. On Dec. 29, Colorado public health authorities reported the first known case of infection with the SARS-CoV-2 VUI 202012/01 (Variant Under Investigation, year 2020, month 12, variant 01), also called B.1.1.7, variant in the U.S. The patient in question, a male in his 20s, has not traveled internationally, indicating that the variant is already circulating more widely in the U.S.

BioWorld looks at translational medicine.

Startup Faze Medicines Inc. launched in early December with a series A funding of $81 million, and an A list of investors, led by Third Rock Ventures – an indicator of the attention condensates are attracting from the biopharma industry. Faze CSO Rachel Meyers, though, named another indicator for condensates’ blue-ribbon status: rumors have it that the 7th edition of Molecular Biology of the Cell – a workhorse textbook for 30 years’ worth of students in the field – will be the first to include information on condensates.

Investigators at KU Leuven have discovered that although mTOR signaling was important in primary breast tumors and lung metastases alike, the signals that activated mTOR were different between the two, and mTOR signaling could be inhibited through different mechanisms.

BioWorld looks at translational medicine, including: Studying the role of mtDNA expression.

Using in vivo imaging technology, investigators at the University of Utah and the University of Padua have identified a new signaling mechanism for glutamate that was linked to the onset of spreading depression or spreading depolarization, a neuronal activity pattern that plays a role in multiple neurological disease states. In mouse models of migraine, glutamate, which is the major excitatory neurotransmitter of the brain, was released in what the authors called "plumes" or puffs.

Ketamine's antidepressant actions depend on the drug's ability to affect mRNA translation, researchers reported in the December 17, 2020, issue of Nature.

Using in vivo imaging technology, investigators at the University of Utah and the University of Padua have identified a new signaling mechanism for glutamate that was linked to the onset of spreading depression or spreading depolarization, a neuronal activity pattern that plays a role in multiple neurological disease states.

Australian biopharma Immutep Ltd. saw its stock price jump 165% Dec. 10, as the company reported that adding its eftilagimod alpha (IMP-321, “efti”) to paclitaxel resulted in what the company called a “promising and improving” trend toward increased overall survival in women with metastatic hormone receptor-driven breast cancer.