(Press-News.org)
SAN ANTONIO (Aug. 29, 2023) – A DNA-based vaccine is very effective at protecting against COVID-19, according to a joint preclinical study by Scancell Ltd and Texas Biomedical Research Institute (Texas Biomed) recently published in the Journal of Biotechnology and Biomedicine.
Unlike the Pfizer and Moderna COVID-19 vaccines that use messenger RNA (mRNA) to cue the immune system to produce antibodies, this vaccine platform uses sections of viral DNA to achieve a similar result.
“There is always a need to develop new, or improve on existing vaccines to ensure we have effective tools to counter emerging variants,” says Texas Biomed Innovation Lab Principal Investigator Viraj Kulkarni, PhD. “DNA vaccines are one of the promising alternatives because they are adaptable, simple to generate and effective.”
Scancell Ltd, based in the U.K., partnered with Texas Biomed’s Innovation Lab to test its novel COVID-19 vaccine in mice.
“Texas Biomed has the biocontainment facilities and expertise to test our products,” says Samantha Paston Head of Translational sciences at Scancell. “We appreciated partnering with the Innovation Lab to complete these early preclinical tests”
Vaccines help the body to be prepared when it encounters the real pathogen. While vaccines may not completely stop a person from getting sick, they are especially good at preventing severe disease and death.
Scancell’s vaccine contains a DNA plasmid that encodes two of the COVID-19 antigens. In the mouse study, the researchers found that the vaccine prompted a robust immune response, including T cell activation and antibody production, similar to levels seen with existing mRNA vaccines.
While mRNA vaccines start with messenger RNA, DNA vaccines start with sections of DNA that the body converts into mRNA, which then directs production of viral proteins to elicit an immune response. DNA vaccines are safe, easy, affordable to produce, and, unlike RNA vaccines, are stable at room temperature.
The Innovation Lab was launched in wake of the COVID-19 pandemic as more and more companies approached Texas Biomed to help test their vaccines, therapies and other products, from masks and decontamination robots to antimicrobial surface coatings, small molecule therapies and new vaccines.
“Partnering with industry and governments around the world has long been an important focus for Texas Biomed,” says Cory Hallam, PhD, Vice President for Business Development and Strategic Alliances. “With such a large increase in partnerships in the past three years, the Innovation Lab was established as the one-stop-shop to conduct critical preclinical studies and help accelerate the science necessary for moving promising solutions to the market.”
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About Texas Biomed
Texas Biomed is one of the world’s leading independent biomedical research institutions dedicated to eradicating infection and advancing health worldwide through innovative biomedical research. Texas Biomed partners with researchers and institutions around the world to develop vaccines and therapeutics against viral pathogens causing AIDS, hepatitis, hemorrhagic fever, tuberculosis and parasitic diseases responsible for malaria and schistosomiasis disease. The Institute has programs in host-pathogen interaction, disease intervention and prevention and population health to understand the links between infectious diseases and other diseases such as aging, cardiovascular disease, diabetes and obesity. For more information on Texas Biomed, go to www.TxBiomed.org
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The microbial communities found in glacier and snowpack ecosystems are an essential part of cold weather environments. Chytrids, a group of fungi that include well-known frog pathogens, are often found in abundance in these ecosystems, but culturing these organisms and learning more about their lifecycle, including their relationship to the snow algae found in these environments, has proven challenging.
In a recently published paper, researchers revealed that they were able to analyze chytrid DNA from two alpine snowpack sites in Japan using single-spore PCR.
The paper was published in Frontiers in Microbiology on June 20.
“We have captured the chytrids ...
(LOS ANGELES) – August 29, 2023 - An advancement in 3D bioprinting of native-like skeletal muscle tissues has been made by scientists at the Terasaki Institute for Biomedical Innovation (TIBI). The key to the TIBI scientists’ approach lies in their specially formulated bioink, which contains microparticles engineered for sustained delivery of insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1). As was shown in their recent paper in Macromolecular Bioscience, sustained delivery of IGF-1 enhances the formation of mature skeletal muscle tissue from muscle precursor cells and facilitates their structural alignment. This increases the efficiency of the regenerative process ...
Scientists from the IOCB Prague, the Institute of Physics of the Czech Academy of Sciences, and Palacký University Olomouc, have once again successfully uncovered the mysteries of the world of molecules and atoms. They have experimentally confirmed the correctness of a decades-old theory that assumed a non-uniform distribution of electron density in aromatic molecules. This phenomenon significantly affects the physicochemical properties of molecules and their interactions. This research expands the possibilities for designing new nanomaterials and is the theme of a paper that has just been published in Nature Communications.
The ...
Research Highlights:
Adults at risk for heart disease who participated in produce prescription programs for an average of six months increased their consumption of fruits and vegetables and had reduced blood pressure, body mass index and blood sugar levels.
Among adults and children, produce prescription programs also appeared to decrease food insecurity — the lack of equitable and stable availability, access, affordability and consumption of healthy foods and drinks — and improve self-reported health status.
Embargoed until 4 a.m. CT/5 a.m. ET Tuesday, August 29, 2023
DALLAS, August 29, 2023 — ...
Satellite data from across California’s landscapes reveal an increase in nitrogen dioxide levels in remote forest areas, and wildfire and soil emissions are likely the reasons why, according to a paper from University of California, Davis, published today in the journal Environmental Research Letters.
Nitrogen dioxide is short-lived in the atmosphere but plays a central role in the formation of the pollutants ozone and particulate matter, which can lead to respiratory issues and asthma in humans, as well as harm plants and crop yields.
The researchers looked at summertime surface and satellite concentrations of nitrogen dioxide between 2009 ...
Scientists at UC San Francisco are working on a new approach to treating kidney failure that could one day free people from needing dialysis or having to take harsh drugs to suppress their immune system after a transplant.
They have shown for the first time that kidney cells, housed in an implantable device called a bioreactor, can survive inside the body of a pig and mimic several important kidney functions. The device can work quietly in the background, like a pacemaker, and does not trigger the recipient’s immune system to go on the attack.
The ...
Several major childhood allergies may all stem from the community of bacteria living in our gut, according to a new study led by researchers at the University of British Columbia and BC Children’s Hospital.
The research, published in Nature Communications, identifies gut microbiome features and early life influences that are associated with children developing any of four common allergies — eczema, asthma, food allergy and/or hay fever. The findings could lead to methods of predicting whether a child will develop allergies, and ways to prevent them from developing at all.
“We’re ...
Around the country, non-profits and local governments are testing the idea of food as medicine through “produce prescription programs”—with promising results, according to researchers from the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy at Tufts University.
By prescribing free, healthy foods similar to how doctors prescribe medications, clinicians and policy makers hope to remove financial barriers to accessing fruits and vegetables to individuals with diet-related illness. Specifically, produce prescriptions offer vouchers, debit cards, or loyalty cards to access free or discounted produce at grocery retail ...
**EMBARGOED UNTIL 3:00am CT TUESDAY, AUGUST 29, 2023**
Tulsa, Okla. – A trailblazing study conducted by researchers at the Laureate Institute for Brain Research (LIBR) in Tulsa, Okla., has made significant strides with a novel technique for treating anorexia nervosa (AN), an eating disorder characterized by low body weight, body image abnormalities, and anxiety. The study, “The impact of floatation therapy on body image and anxiety in anorexia nervosa: a randomized clinical efficacy ...
Launched in 2019, the Botnar Research Centre for Child Health (BRCCH) aims to drive innovative health research that benefits children and adolescents globally – especially those living in low- or middle-income countries. Within this centre, the University of Basel and ETH Zurich work in partnership with the University Children’s Hospital Basel (UKBB) and the Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute (Swiss TPH).
Over the past four years, the BRCCH has supported around 80 researchers and 29 research projects worldwide. For example, researchers improved the treatment of cleft lip and palate and developed biotechnology to monitor paediatric gut ...
