Helen Floersh

Sep 10, 2024 | uclahealth.org | Helen Floersh

A UCLA-led research team has found that a gene mutation that affects insulin signaling in the heart may raise the risk of deadly abnormal heart rhythms in a subset of patients with cancer and could have implications for those with diabetes and obesity. The results of their work were published online Sept. 10 in Circulation.  “This study is the first to link abnormalities in cardiac insulin signaling to the increased risk of cardiac arrythmias,” said co-senior author Dr. E. Dale Abel, William S.

Jul 18, 2024 | fiercebiotech.com | Helen Floersh

Despite an FDA green light for the use of animal testing alternatives in drug development, regulatory concerns may be keeping the industry from embracing them, data collected by the R&D organization Pistoia Alliance suggests. In a July 11 press release, the nonprofit claimed that a survey of 350 life sciences professionals working at pharma companies, regulators and contract research organizations found only 23% considered themselves “very familiar” with any kind of animal model alternative.

Jul 17, 2024 | fiercebiotech.com | Helen Floersh

A $21 million public-private project led by the Foundation for the National Institutes of Health (FNIH) will see government agencies, nonprofits and industry giants hunt for biomarkers that distinguish Parkinson’s diseases from similar conditions. The Accelerating Medicines Partnership in Parkinson’s Disease and Related Disorders, or AMP PDRD, was announced by the FNIH on July 17. It builds on an earlier effort, AMP PD, to identify biomarkers associated with the condition.

Jul 16, 2024 | fiercebiotech.com | Helen Floersh

New findings in mice suggest it’s possible to prevent organ damage from COVID-19 with an antioxidant enzyme that protects a cell’s mitochondria without the risk of resistance. The study that led to the discovery was conducted by scientists from the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP), who described their work in a July 15 article in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Jul 11, 2024 | fiercebiotech.com | Helen Floersh

The Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) has awarded a $749,999 contract to Cambridge, Massachusetts-based Tiba Biotech to develop a new RNA-based vaccine against bird flu. In a July 11 press release, Tiba announced that BARDA had selected it for an EZ-BAA contract under the Flexible and Strategic Therapeutics, or FASTx, program.