Bio_Spectrum_July_2017

(^22) WORLD NEWS l BioSpectrum | July 2017 | http://www.biospectrumindia.com
The Radboud University Medical Center (Radboudumc) in the Netherlands,
the Instituto de Medicina Molecular Lisboa (iMM Lisboa) in Portugal, and
PATH in Seattle, Washington announced that they will collaborate to test a
new approach to malaria vaccine development in humans for the first time.
In this clinical trial, based on data from earlier animal studies conducted
by iMM Lisboa, the researchers will use a rodent version of the malaria-
causing parasite (known as Plasmodium berghei) to determine if it can
induce protection against infection by Plasmodium falciparum, the deadliest
version of the parasite that infects humans.
The trial will be conducted in two phases at Radboudumc in the
Netherlands. In the first phase, 18 healthy adult volunteers will be
recruited into three groups and exposed to varying, but carefully controlled
number of bites from mosquitoes infected with the genetically modified
P. berghei parasite. The researchers will closely monitor volunteers for
signs of infection to make sure they are treated if they become ill. If all
goes well in the Phase 1 study, volunteers from the highest dose group will
enter the second phase of the study which is designed to assess protective
efficacy of the approach.
iMM Lisboa, a nonprofit research institute devoted to biomedical
research, will collaborate with Radboudumc on the conduct of the clinical
trial and will provide the vaccine candidate, Pb(PfCS@UIS4), for use.
After months of testing, a hospital in Syria will have
uninterrupted power from this week, charged by
solar power in a project designer shop will save lives
and can be repeated across the country.
Syria’s electrical grid has taken a big hit after six
years of a volatile civil war with most the electrical
infrastructure bombed, dismantled or destroyed,
leaving hospitals relying on diesel generators but at
the mercy of fuel shortages.
The France-based UOSSM launched the initiative,
“Syria Solar”, with the aim of getting hospitals less
dependent on diesel which the organisation says is
expensive and notreliable. The first solar hospital -
the name and location of which the UOSSM would
not release for safety reasons - runs on mixture of a
diesel generator and 480 solar panels built near the
hospital that link to an energy storage system.
If there is a complete fuel outage the solar system
can fully power the intensive care unit, operating
rooms and emergency departments for up to 24
hours without diesel, which is 20 to 30 percent of
the hospital’s energy cost.
The Scripps Research Institute
(TSRI) and ShangPharma
Innovation, Inc. (SPII) announced
a strategic collaboration to
accelerate the development of
innovative drug candidates through
a services relationship with
Shanghai ChemPartner Co. Ltd.
(ChemPartner), sponsored research
at TSRI and its drug discovery
affiliate, California Institute for
Biomedical Research (Calibr). The
parties aim to leverage the drug
discovery pipeline, expertise, and
momentum emerging from the TSRI
and Calibr affiliation announced
late last year. SPII facilitates and
accelerates drug discovery by
offering funding, incubator space,
and other essential support to its
collaborators. The partnership with
TSRI marks a major new initiative
for SPII to enable its mission to
support therapeutic research at the
earliest stages with the ultimate goal
of getting innovative new treatments
to patients. Under the terms of the
collaboration, institute scientists
will put forth translational research
projects to a joint committee
comprising drug discovery experts
across TSRI, Calibr, and SPII. In
turn, SPII will contribute cash and
in-kind services totaling up to $15
million over an initial term of three
years. TSRI and Calibr will retain
control over assets resulting from the
collaboration, with SPII receiving a
significant share of future value.
A translational research collaboration
Syria opens its first solar-powered hospital
A new
collaboration
for malaria
vaccine
development