Research & University News

A woman who was diagnosed with HIV in 2013 and subsequently developed acute myeloid leukaemia, has reportedly seen her HIV go into remission four years after receiving a transplant of stem cells obtained from an infant’s umbilical cord blood. The case, reported by US media on 15 February, was described by scientists at the annual meeting of the Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infection. It is the third time a patient with HIV has been reportedly cured of an HIV infection.

Hal Barron, the chief scientific officer at GlaxoSmithKline Plc, is to become chief executive of a new regenerative medicine company that will seek to understand the process of cellular rejuvenation with the goal of slowing or even reversing the effects of disease. The company, Altos Labs Inc, will combine basic science with translational medicine across two institutes in the US and one in the UK. It is being launched with $3 billion of start-up capital, according to a statement issued on 19 January.

A new study by researchers from the University of Oxford has shown that the Omicron variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus has the potential to increase infections among the population, including individuals who have already been vaccinated. However there is no evidence thus far that the variant can cause severe disease, hospitalisation or deaths in vaccinated populations.

A venture capital company backed by Swedish and Danish institutions has closed its first fund at €122.3 million. Designed to support promising life science companies in the Nordic region, Eir Ventures I AB has already invested in nine companies, two of which have completed initial public offerings (IPOs) on the US Nasdaq market.

The scientists Benjamin List and David MacMillan have been awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for their discovery that small organic molecules are suitable as mediators of chemical reactions. Working independently of one another, Drs List and MacMillan showed that organic molecules constitute a third type of catalyst that can accelerate chemical reactions and lead them to a desired goal. Previously, scientists assumed that only enzymes and metals could perform this task.

The Swedish biotech Modus Therapeutics Holding AB has entered into a partnership with a team at Imperial College London, UK to investigate the compound sevuparin in patients with severe malaria. Modus is currently developing sevuparin for sepsis and septic shock, life-threatening conditions caused by the body’s reaction to an infection. The company has now extended its research to do more work in malaria.

Preclinical work being undertaken by STORM Therapeutics Ltd has shown that targeting RNA modifying enzymes with small molecule drugs is a credible new strategy for treating acute myeloid leukaemia, as well as solid tumours. A second paper outlining this strategy was published on 26 April 2021 in the journal Nature.

A small molecule drug that activates a component of the innate immune system could play a role in enhancing radiation therapy for the treatment of cancers, according to a study published in Nature Communications on 19 April 2021. The study, conducted by Yale University in the US and F-star Therapeutics Ltd, co-located in the UK and US, looked at the role of STING (stimulator of interferon genes) in regulating tumour cell survival.

A candidate vaccine for the prevention of malaria has shown an efficacy rate of 77% in a Phase 2b trial of African children between the ages of five to 17 months – exceeding an efficacy target set by the World Health Organization. The trial results were published online by The Lancet on 22 April 2021, prior to peer review.

Medigene AG has reported the discovery of novel immunogenic tumour specific antigens derived from the non-coding regions of the human genome. The German biotech company presented the finding at the virtual annual meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research on 10 April.