“The staging system will promote recognition and treatment of the disease and ultimately lessen the suffering caused by this challenging illness,” says Stricker.

AUSTIN, Texas (PRWEB)
February 18, 2020

Morgellons disease is a controversial illness associated with Lyme disease, which is caused by infection with a type of corkscrew-shaped bacteria known as a spirochete. A new study describes a staging system for this mysterious skin disease based on medical experience with syphilis, another spirochete-related infection. The study was published in the prestigious journal Clinical Cosmetic and Investigational Dermatology (https://www.dovepress.com/classification-and-staging-of-morgellons-disease-lessons-from-syphilis-peer-reviewed-article-CCID).

The key diagnostic feature of Morgellons disease is the presence of unusual often colorful filaments found in skin lesions. These characteristic fibers are sometimes incorrectly identified as self-implanted textile fibers in delusional patients. Earlier studies have shown that the filaments are composed of human proteins related to infection with the spirochete that causes Lyme disease, Borrelia burgdorferi. The new study points to similarities between Morgellons disease and the skin pathology seen with Treponema pallidum, the spirochete that causes syphilis.

An international team of collaborators co-authored this important new paper, including microbiologist Marianne Middelveen from Atkins Veterinary Services and pathologist Roberto Martinez from Martinez Veterinary Services, Calgary, Canada; molecular biologists Eva Sapi from University of New Haven, West Haven, CT, USA, and Jennie Burke from Australian Biologics Laboratory, Sydney, Australia; laboratory director Jyotsna Shah from IGeneX Laboratory, Milpitas, CA, USA; clinician Carsten Nicolaus from BCA-Clinic, Augsburg, Germany; and clinicians Melissa Fesler and Raphael Stricker from Union Square Medical Associates, San Francisco, CA, USA.

“The staging system is based on the patterns of Borrelia infection observed in three different stages,” explains Middelveen. According to pathologist Martinez, “The patterns of infection are very specific. I cannot understand how anyone could try to pass this infectious process off as delusional,” he said.

The unusual filaments characteristic of Morgellons disease were shown to originate in deep skin cell layers in response to infection with the Lyme spirochete. In the most severe cases, Borrelia spirochetes are found inside immune cells called macrophages, cells that are normally responsible for detecting, engulfing and destroying pathogens. The new study points to similarities with skin lesions in syphilis.

“At the very least, the emerging body of evidence clearly demonstrates that society is dealing with a poorly defined chronic bacterial infection similar to syphilis that has affected individuals around the globe,” says Stricker. “The staging system will promote recognition and treatment of the disease and ultimately lessen the suffering caused by this challenging illness.”

About the Charles E. Holman Morgellons Disease Foundation:

The Charles E. Holman Morgellons Disease Foundation, based in Austin, TX, is a 501(c) (3) nonprofit organization committed to advocacy and philanthropy in the battle against Morgellons disease. Director, Cindy Casey-Holman, RN, leads the foundation, named for her husband, Charles E. Holman, a pioneer in the fight against Morgellons disease. Currently, there is no public funding and very limited private funding to support research for this disease, and the CEHMDF is the recognized authority and primary funding source for Morgellons disease medical/scientific research. Donations are tax-deductible in the US. To learn more about Morgellons disease go to: http://www.MorgellonsDisease.org

Contact information:

https://thecehf.org/contact-us/

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A reference standard will make microbiome samples commercially available, homogenous, and universally adoptable; Validate data from findings; Make findings and data more comparable across platforms and research institutions, to evaluate the accuracy and precision of their analyses.

DENVER (PRWEB)
February 17, 2020

There’s a new breakthrough to make microbiome research easier: The BioCollective, a comprehensive platform for microbiome discovery, data, samples, strains and collection, today announced it has been awarded a $1.2 million Fast Track Grant from the National Institute of General Medical Sciences of the National Institutes of Health (NIGMS/NIH) to develop the first national reference standard for microbiome, using its patent-pending whole stool process and method.

No more Wild West — Microbiome Research Gains Quality Control

In recent years, the microbiome has gained public attention as an exciting new window to the immune system, even as researchers called it “the Wild West,” with findings that could not be compared or easily repeated. By supporting a reference standard for microbiome research, the NIH is adding quality control and data validation for diagnostics by academic, clinical and pharmaceutical research teams.

“What we are making — and it is novel– is the production of a whole stool reference standard. A reference standard is a highly characterized, homogeneous and validated reference material. Reference standards enable the measurement of the sensitivity, specificity and accuracy of your assay or workflow,” said Raul Cano, Chief Operating Officer and Science Director for the BioCollective.

“While there are a few reference materials in the market, they are mixtures of bacteria (10-20) and fungi suspended in an aqueous medium. None of these products reflect the complexity of the fecal sample, both in matrix composition and microbial community diversity. Fecal samples are comprised of many chemical components, some of which are inhibitory to the very DNA extraction and processing steps that will impact the accuracy of the results. Mock communities are very simple in microbial composition. Our reference standards contain hundreds if not thousands of species of bacteria — from actual fecal microbiome samples,” Cano added.

For the academic, medical and pharmaceutical communities, a reference standard will:

• Make microbiome samples commercially available, homogenous, and universally adoptable;
• Make findings and data more comparable across platforms and research institutions, to evaluate the accuracy and precision of their analyses;
• Provide a quality control from the data to validate results and methodology, which is crucial for clinical trials and drug discovery;
• Provide a standard for clinical analysis by adding a reference standard of known composition; and
• Provide a standard material to test proficiency, training and evaluation of personnel and skill level.

“When we started the BioCollective, there was no standard method to collect culturable samples in a way that preserved quality and supported comparability and repeatability for high-level scientific research and diagnostics, so we had to build our own — The BioCollector™ –and it became a standard in the industry for sample collection. We are now showing that leadership once again with the development of TruMatrix™, the only reference standard in the world that contains the matrix and composition of a real human stool and therefore a valid reference material for analyzing microbiome results,” said Martha Carlin, CEO and co-founder of The BioCollective.

“We are honored that the NIH has recognized the BioCollective’s process and method with this grant, and look forward to other scientific bodies being able to further their own research.”

DISCLAIMER: Research reported in this release was supported by the National Institute of General Medical Sciences of the National Institutes of Health under Grant # 1R44GM134710-01. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the views of the National Institutes of Health.

About The BioCollective

The BioCollective is a comprehensive platform for microbiome discovery, including data, samples, software models, strains and collection. The company’s patented ick-free collection kit makes sample collection easy for users while preserving the whole stool for comparable aliquots; its BioFluxTM software model analyzes strains, samples and data to rapidly prototype functional products in probiotics, food, agriculture and drugs; and its data, strains, and samples bank are recognized internationally, with customers like NIST, Bristol-Meyers Squibb, Cosmos ID, AstraZeneca, Axial Biotherapeutics, Dana Farber Cancer Center, Siolta Therapeutics, Harvard University, and Finch Therapeutics. The company was founded in 2015 and is based in Denver, Colorado. For more information, visit TheBioCollective.com.

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Murrieta Genomics is a next generation sequencing lab and incubator

This will be a great opportunity for people to learn about some of the advances and applications in genomic sequencing that are driving precision medicine.

MURRIETA, Calif. (PRWEB)
February 13, 2020

Murrieta Genomics, the provider of genomics services and a launch pad for genomic sequencing startups, will be hosting a lunch and learn event on February 25th from 11:30 am to 1 pm at the University of California Riverside (UCR) Multidisciplinary Research Building. Entrepreneurs, researchers and interested members of the public are invited to attend this free event, but must register in advance.

“This will be a great opportunity for people to learn about some of the advances and applications in genomic sequencing that are driving precision medicine, precision agriculture and many other emerging industries,” stated John Powers, President of Murrieta Genomics. “As a genomic sequencing incubator, we are always looking at new ideas and potential business opportunities in this space.”

The inaugural lunch event will focus on Murrieta Genomics and some of the companies that the incubator is working with.

“We are a true incubator,” continued Powers. “We don’t charge bench fees or administrative charges to our companies. We want to help them validate their science through our next generation sequencing lab. At the same time, we work with them to develop a viable business model. By the time they leave the incubator they should be well on the way to commercialization.”

Murrieta Genomics has been meeting and working with UCR researchers since the company’s inception. Genomic sequencing plays a large part in both precision medicine and precision agriculture, two areas of focus of the research university. This lunch event is designed to encourage collaboration and networking between university staff, students and the local business community.

Lunch is provided by Beckman Coulter Life Sciences. For more than 75 years, Beckman Coulter develops, manufactures and markets products that simplify, automate and innovate complex biomedical testing, research and manufacturing. Scientists use Beckman’s life science research instruments such as centrifuges, cellular analyzers and particle counters, flow cytometers, and genomics kits and automation, to study complex biological problems including causes of disease and potential new therapies or drugs.

“We are very happy to sponsor this event,” stated Kelli Roinick Webb, Senior Life Science Research Sales Consultant for Beckman Coulter. “Advances in genomic sequencing are driving new discoveries on a daily basis, and we are very pleased to support the researchers in academics and private industry that are developing great new ideas.”

Murrieta Genomics holds office hours at UCR’s Wet Labe Incubator every Tuesday from 11 am to 3 pm. During office hours, researchers and entrepreneurs from the community can discuss advances in genomics technologies and the company’s core service capabilities with the company’s principals.

Future topics for the “Lunch’n’Learn” series will be precision agriculture, gene assembly, advanced data analytics and other topics suggested by UCR researchers that will have direct applications to the University’s areas of interest.

About Murrieta Genomics

Murrieta Genomics provides access to next generation sequencing technology for researchers in the health, veterinary, agriculture, forensics and direct to consumer industries. The company is a true business incubator, offering mentorship and guidance from both the scientific and business perspective to aspiring genomic-related entrepreneurs. The founders of Murrieta Genomics have extensive background in business, finance, science and technology. They are supplemented with a prestigious advisory board from both business and science. The company provides Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) services, hands-on consulting, review, appraisal and guidance. In addition, it provides help with company value propositions and potential seed funding support to qualified incubator graduates. For more information visit http://www.murrietagenomics.com.

Murrieta Genomics is part of the Murrieta Innovation Center, a building owned by the city of Murrieta and dedicated to supporting life science companies. The Innovation Center has medical device, therapeutic, software, clinical research and of course genomic companies that are working hard to advance new ideas and innovations that can impact the world in a positive way. The Center is also a resource for all types of local startup companies, offering services and workshops from a local SBDC, several veteran organizations, a SCORE branch and more.

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Artist’s Rendering

Our solutions package allowed the city to minimize risks while maximizing the value of the design-build-operate procurement approach.

BALTIMORE (PRWEB)
February 11, 2020

Synagro Technologies, Inc., the preeminent provider of biosolids and residuals solutions services in North America, today announced that the City of Fort Worth has partnered with Synagro of Texas-CDR (Synagro) to provide a long-term solution to its biosolids management needs. Commencing in April of 2020, Synagro will assume operation of the city’s current biosolids management facility and program, and simultaneously, along with project its team members, will design-permit-and-construct the drum drying facility which Synagro will operate for up to twenty years.

The new drying facility will process 100 percent of the biosolids produced by the city’s Village Creek Water Reclamation Facility (VCWRF) as Class A biosolids. With the capacity to treat up to 166 million gallons of wastewater per day, the VCWRF is one of the largest in Texas. With rapid growth and a population approaching 900,000, Fort Worth is now the 13th largest city in the United States.

“Synagro was uniquely able to provide a complete solution, including transition services and land application while the Class A facility is under construction,” said Andrew Bosinger, vice president, Strategic Accounts, Synagro. “Our solutions package allowed the city to minimize risks while maximizing the value of the design-build-operate procurement approach.

“Utilities across North America are faced with difficult choices in their biosolids program: How to invest in the upgrades required to address changing regulations and public pressures while working within the constraints of limited municipal budgets,” added Bosinger. “The city was able to use a public-private partnership to achieve both cost and risk reductions, while upgrading their biosolids management program and securing and stabilizing a significant piece of its budget. Simultaneously, the city is providing long-term sustainability to its biosolids program.”

About Synagro

Founded in 1986, Synagro Technologies, Inc. works to turn waste into worth by helping more than 600 municipal and industrial water and wastewater facilities in North America move toward safer, cleaner and more environmentally beneficial practices. For some, it’s simply cleaning the water supply. For others, it’s much more – we partner with them to process their waste for compost or energy pellets, creating healthy soil and sequestering carbon in the process. As the largest recycler of organic by-products in North America, we’re trusted because we remove risks while keeping the logistics clean. Because our expertise is the oldest in the business, we can offer tailored solutions that ensure no waste goes to waste. Much of our work isn’t pretty. But a greener world emerging from a cleaner one – worth coming from waste – and we think that’s pretty beautiful. Visit synagro.com to learn more.

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CareSet CTO Fred Trotter leads a Medicare data class at Datapalooza in DC in 2020.

The updated HOP Teaming dataset continues to provide some of the most timely and necessary insights into how healthcare ecosystems work across the US. – J. Tod Fetherling, CEO of Perception Health

HOUSTON (PRWEB)
February 10, 2020

Today CareSet released the updated HOP Teaming Dataset at Academy Health’s Datapalooza. The release is a game-changing dataset that offers the most detailed and up-to-date picture of patient-sharing relationships between all Medicare providers in the US healthcare system.

“The updated HOP Teaming dataset continues to provide some of the most timely and necessary insights into how healthcare ecosystems work across the US,” says J. Tod Fetherling, CEO of Perception Health. Perception Health uses the HOP Teaming dataset to help customers fully understand their markets and provide better care for the communities they serve.

The HOP Teaming Dataset is also one of the largest social graph datasets of any kind that is available with real person and business names included. Over the years, the data has become more reliable. Between 2015 and 2016, NPIs that were once hidden became visible. The data has stabilized since then, and by looking at the data one thing is for sure, the ecosystem is changing.

This is the fifth year CareSet has released the dataset. The commercial version is available for a nominal fee, and previous years are available at no cost.

About CareSet Systems

CareSet (https://careset.com) is transforming the way biomedical companies go to market. We believe in getting the best treatments to the right patients quickly and efficiently. We do that by analyzing government data sources, such as Medicare claims data. With CareSet, biomedical companies become better at serving the patient community.

About Perception Health

With more than 26 billion medical claims and 7 million more added every day, we have the industry’s strongest and fastest growing data framework. Add the simple, at-a-glance visuals, and the personalized expertise from our data scientists and you have a full spectrum of tools that help validate strategies and optimize workflows that benefit providers, payers, and patients across your entire system.

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ARLINGTON, Va. (PRWEB)
February 07, 2020

Every couple of years Arlington, VA-based BioInformatics asks life scientists about their advertising preferences. Bioinformatics, part of the Science and Medicine Group, details the different perceptions life scientists have when they encounter advertisements in its newest report, The 2020 Best Practices for Advertising to Life Scientists: Online and in Print.

Here are some of the recent statistics. There are many more in the report:

• 
  How much time are scientists reading? Scientists are spending an increasing amount of time reading research-related material online (over 16 hours per week) than product and service-related content (almost 5 hours per week). Accessing research-related content on smartphones and tablets has increased significantly within the last two years.
• How many places to advertise? On average, a life scientist reads five to six online publications and six to eight different print publications received monthly, according to the report. Ads that appear on popular publication sites and print publications can greatly benefit from the high amount of traffic.
• Print, online, or both? While online advertising is the most preferred method for informing life scientist of products and services, integrated print and online advertisement can be more effective at raising awareness of products and improving vendor name recognition.
• How does age affect preferences? Generationally, millennial life scientists use print and online advertising more frequently when making a purchase decision than any other age group. However, online ads are still more important than print ads for informing life scientists of products and services. Boomer life scientists see product awareness as the most likely effect of print ads, while millennials view vendor name recognition as the most likely effect.
• What are the regional distinctions? Regionally, life scientists in Asia-Pacific find online advertising to be more important in informing them of products and services and more influential than print ads when making product purchase decisions.
• What about retargeted ads? While many life scientists would prefer not to receive retargeted advertisements because they find them to be intrusive or annoying, they can still be a powerful tool if used correctly, especially among millennials. It is important to critically evaluate the use of retargeted ads and determine whether they will be significantly beneficial to use and are worth the risk of potentially generating negative reactions.

The report contains hundreds of datapoints. These and many more insights are part of the report. First published by BioInformatics in 2003, “The 2020 Best Practices for Advertising to Life Scientists: Online and in Print ” is an indispensable guide to reaching your scientific audience. Improve the effectiveness of your advertising by understanding the messages and media that scientists consider most useful and appropriate. The report can be found at https://bioinfoinc.com/product/advertising-life-scientists-2020/.

ABOUT BIOINFORMATICS INC.

BioInformatics Inc., part of Science and Medicine Group, is the premier research and advisory firm serving the life science and clinical diagnostics industries. By leveraging our expert network of more than 50,000 life scientists, the company has supported more than 500 companies in creating insights that lead to better business decisions. Offerings include assessing the size and attractiveness of scientific markets, optimizing product configurations and pricing, validating corporate acquisitions, measuring customer loyalty, and evaluating brand strength and positioning.

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We’re eager to support the scientists who are developing sustainable meat and seafood by making related cell lines more readily available worldwide.

BOSTON (PRWEB)
February 06, 2020

Kerafast Inc., developers of an industry-leading online platform to facilitate access to unique lab-made bioresearch materials, today announced an agreement with The Good Food Institute, a nonprofit organization committed to making cultivated and plant-based meat and seafood a reality. Under the partnership, terrestrial meat and aquatic cell lines will be made available to scientists worldwide via Kerafast’s online catalog, providing valuable research tools for the development of sustainable meat and seafood as alternatives to animal products.

Researchers across the globe are developing alternatives to conventionally-produced animal protein, including cultivated meat and seafood (also referred to as “cell-based” or “clean”), which is grown directly from animal cells without the need to raise and slaughter a whole animal. The many potential benefits of cultivated meat and seafood include its sustainability, lack of animal welfare concerns, and increased efficiency to better feed the growing global population. However, limited access to relevant cell lines is slowing research progress into cultivated meat and seafood, with separate research teams having to create their own cell line or source it from another laboratory, both options taking time and resources away from the downstream research that is needed to move the field forward.

Under the new partnership, terrestrial meat and aquatic cell lines originally created at research institutions will be added to Kerafast’s catalog, where scientists worldwide can easily access the cell lines without a time-consuming Material Transfer Agreement (MTA). Kerafast will handle all commercial and shipping logistics, market the materials to ensure they reach the widest possible audience and return a portion of the proceeds back to the developing research institution. By facilitating access to these unique cell lines, the goal is to accelerate research toward creating cultivated meat and seafood.

“We are excited to begin our partnership with The Good Food Institute,” said Amelia Gibson, PhD, MBA, Senior Director of Product Licensing at Kerafast. “The Kerafast mission is to advance scientific research by facilitating access to unique lab-made research tools, and we’re eager to support the scientists who are developing sustainable meat and seafood by making related cell lines more readily available worldwide.”

“Lack of access to validated cell lines from popular food species is a significant barrier to research progress in the field of cultivated meat and especially cultivated seafood,” said The Good Food Institute Senior Scientist Claire Bomkamp. “Our new partnership with Kerafast will help to remove this barrier, empowering innovators in academia and industry to move us toward a more sustainable and just food system.”

Kerafast has now partnered with more than 190 research institutions worldwide to streamline access to materials developed by their scientists. These lab-made reagents, which are often one-of-a-kind and unavailable elsewhere, can be quickly ordered through a user-friendly research-use-only click license, after which a portion of the proceeds is returned to the contributing investigators to support future research.

About Kerafast

Kerafast, Inc. is reagent company whose primary mission is to make unique laboratory-made research tools easily accessible to the global scientific community. Through an online platform, Kerafast helps remove barriers to transferring bioresearch materials within the scientific community and returns generous royalty payments to the contributing investigators and their institutions. Since its founding in 2011, Kerafast has partnered with more than 190 academic research institutions internationally and provided reagents to scientists in 63 countries across six continents. For more information, visit Kerafast.com.

About The Good Food Institute

The Good Food Institute is a global nonprofit focused on building a sustainable, healthy, and just food system. Our team of scientists, entrepreneurs, lawyers, and policy experts are harnessing the power of food innovation and markets to accelerate the transition of the world’s food system to plant-based and cultivated meat, eggs, and dairy. For more information, visit gfi.org.

Contact:

Lisa Merolla    

Director of Marketing

Kerafast Inc.

617-336-3228 x610

lisa.merolla@kerafast.com

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