We are proud to be the first company to launch a new generation phytase enzyme in the Japanese market.

WILMINGTON, Del. (PRWEB)
September 12, 2019

DuPont Animal Nutrition, a business unit of DuPont Nutrition & Biosciences (DuPont), today announced the launch of Axtra® PHY in Japan. DuPont™ Axtra® PHY is the fast-acting phytase enzyme designed to improve animal performance and reduce phosphorus waste.

Axtra® PHY is the fastest route to top animal performance in poultry and swine, while improving profitability for producers and reducing phosphorus waste. The phytase enzyme works quickly in the digestive tract to break down phytate, the main storage form of phosphorus contained in plants and a key anti-nutrient. By lowering the impact of phytate, Axtra® PHY increases the availability of phosphorus, energy and amino acids naturally present in the feed, meaning the producer needs to add fewer costly ingredients. Reducing phosphorus waste also reduces the amount of phosphorus runoff that may pollute nearby surface and groundwater systems. This helps producers operate more sustainably by reducing their overall environmental footprint.

“DuPont offers innovative enzymes that are not only the fastest-acting in market, but also enhance the interaction of nutrition, the microbiome and gut and immune function, improving the nutribiotic state of the gut,” said Aart Mateboer, Business Unit Director, DuPont Animal Nutrition. “We are proud to be the first company to launch a new generation phytase enzyme in the Japanese market.”

Reduction of the anti-nutrient phytate factors leads to improved gut health for swine and poultry. Axtra® PHY also leads to improved weight gain and feed efficiency, helping producers save on feed costs and improving their profitability. DuPont provides optimized dosing that is specific to species, diet and life stage, leading to maximized return for customers.

The launch of DuPont™ Axtra® PHY in Japan follows the 2017 launch of phytase enzyme Phyzyme® XP.

DuPont is investing in science and innovation to help producers improve performance, increase livability and support welfare in the face of increasing pressure to reduce or remove antibiotics from production systems. To learn more, visit http://animalnutrition.dupont.com/AxtraPHY.

About DuPont Nutrition & Biosciences

DuPont Nutrition & Biosciences applies expert science to advance market-driven, healthy and sustainable solutions for the food, beverage, dietary supplement and pharmaceutical industries. We also use cutting-edge biotechnology across a range of markets to advance bio-based solutions to meet the needs of a growing population, while protecting our environment for future generations. We are innovative solvers who help our customers turn challenges into high-value business opportunities. For more information: http://www.dupontnutritionandhealth.com or http://www.biosciences.dupont.com.

About DuPont

DuPont (NYSE: DD) is a global innovation leader with technology-based materials, ingredients and solutions that help transform industries and everyday life. Our employees apply diverse science and expertise to help customers advance their best ideas and deliver essential innovations in key markets including electronics, transportation, construction, water, health and wellness, food, and worker safety. More information can be found at http://www.dupont.com/.

DuPont™, the DuPont Oval Logo, and all trademarks and service marks denoted with ™, ℠ or ® are owned by affiliates of DuPont de Nemours, Inc. unless otherwise noted.

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mg Magazine, June 2019

This is not only a tremendous accomplishment for the publication itself but for the entire cannabis industry.

LOS ANGELES (PRWEB)
August 30, 2019

mg Magazine, the leading trade journal for the cannabis industry, has received a 2019 Folio: Ozzie Award nomination for overall design excellence during the past year. mg is one of approximately 1,100 finalists in thirty-three categories selected from a field of 2,500 entries across all sectors of the publishing industry.

The twenty-five-year-old Eddie and Ozzie Awards are presented by Folio:, the leading trade magazine for editors and publishers. For a complete list of nominees, visit the Ozzie website.

“Having mg nominated is an extraordinary honor,” said Darren Roberts, chief executive officer for CANN Media Group, mg Magazine’s parent company. “This is not only a tremendous accomplishment for the publication itself but for the entire cannabis industry.”

The Folio: Eddie & Ozzie Awards will be presented during a gala ceremony October 30 in New York City.

About mg Magazine:

Dubbed “weed’s hybrid of Forbes and Inc.,” mg Magazine analyzes and demystifies the people, plants, and products fueling the unprecedented growth of the legal cannabis industry, a renegade business culture slowly emerging from decades of federal prohibition. Visit mgRetailer.com.

mg is a division of CANN Media Group LLC, which also publishes the trade journal CBD Today and a variety of supplements focused on specific verticals within the cannabis and hemp industries.

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Draper’s new cell therapy manufacturing system can help bio-manufacturers expand patient access and drive down the costs for CAR T-cell therapies.

“Current methods for modifying genes for cellular therapies are expensive, time consuming to use, difficult to scale and limited in the kinds of genetic material that can be delivered. We believe scientists can do better.” Jenna Balestrini, Head of Precision Medicine & Cell Bioprocessing, Draper.

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. (PRWEB)
August 30, 2019

A promising new treatment for cancer patients has received approval from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, paving the way for more patients to get the treatment known as CAR T-cell therapy. While this decision will likely expand access, particularly for some lymphoma and leukemia patients, treatment remains prohibitively expensive, prompting some patients to opt for experimental rather than proven therapies.

Why the high cost? “We call it a bioprocessing bottleneck, and it threatens to hinder both patient access to these life-saving therapies and slow advancement of many other therapies,” said Jenna Balestrini, Ph.D., Head of Precision Medicine and Cell Bioprocessing at Draper.

Balestrini works in Draper’s Biomedical Solutions group, which develops technologies to enable automated cellular therapy manufacturing, like those for CAR T-cell therapy. “Current methods for modifying genes for cellular therapies are expensive, time consuming to use, difficult to scale and limited in the kinds of genetic material that can be delivered,” she said. “We believe we as scientists can do better.”

Draper’s Vishal Tandon, Ph.D., agrees. Tandon is leading development of new devices for gene modification that use electroporation instead of viral vectors to deliver genes to a patient’s cells. “Our team has designed a microfluidic electroporation platform that enables precise, controlled gene delivery in T-cells and is capable of processing billions and potentially trillions of cells in about an hour.”

Draper recently tested the system and published the results in the journal Lab on a Chip.

The paper describes a proof-of-concept microfluidic system that combines two unit operations used in cell-therapy manufacturing in an automatic, continuous-processing format. The first unit exchanges cells from growth media into electroporation media using acoustophoresis induced by ultrasonic excitation, a process normally requiring centrifugation. The second unit delivers genes via continuous-flow electrotransfection.

Draper tested the system on human T cells (the type of cell used for CAR T-cell therapy) by automatically moving them from growth media to electroporation media, and then transfecting them with genetic material in the form of mRNA. The authors achieved a continuous media exchange, while maintaining high transfection efficiency with almost no negative impact on cell viability. In recent applications, Draper’s electroporation modules have delivered more than 90% mRNA transfection efficiency without reducing viability and demonstrated delivery of other payloads, including RNPs, pDNA and proteins in both resting and activated T cells.

The systems are fabricated from hard plastic substrates, supporting a path toward large-scale manufacturing of disposable units for clinical use.

The paper’s authors, all from Draper, are Peter Hsi, Rebecca J. Christianson, Ryan A. Dubay, Charles A. Lissandrello, Balestrini and Tandon.

The system is part of an integrated portfolio of resources at Draper intended to help produce next-generation cell therapies and increase patient access to these solutions. The portfolio includes Draper’s Acoustic Enrichment Module, a microfluidic system that offers precision control of flow to optimize purity of lymphocytes collected; Draper’s Microfluidic Electroporation Module, a system that improves transfection efficiency and control without compromising cell viability or throughput; and Draper’s Microfluidic Transduction Module, which can effectively transduce higher numbers of cells by colocalizing cells with vector.

Draper

At Draper, we believe exciting things happen when new capabilities are imagined and created. Whether formulating a concept and developing each component to achieve a field-ready prototype or combining existing technologies in new ways, Draper engineers apply multidisciplinary approaches that deliver new capabilities to customers. As a not-for-profit engineering innovation company, Draper focuses on the design, development and deployment of advanced technological solutions for the world’s most challenging and important problems. We provide engineering solutions directly to government, industry and academia; work on teams as prime contractor or subcontractor; and participate as a collaborator in consortia. We provide unbiased assessments of technology or systems designed or recommended by other organizations—custom designed, as well as commercial-off-the-shelf.

http://www.draper.com

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These remarkable young scientists are making important contributions to scientific research and discovery early in their careers.

NEW YORK (PRWEB)
September 04, 2019

The Blavatnik Family Foundation and the New York Academy of Sciences announced today the three Winners and six Finalists of the 2019 Blavatnik Regional Awards for Young Scientists. Supporting outstanding postdoctoral scientists from academic research institutions across New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut since 2007, the Blavatnik Regional Awards recognize outstanding researchers in three scientific disciplinary categories: Life Sciences, Physical Sciences & Engineering, and Chemistry. One Winner in each category is awarded $30,000 in unrestricted funds; two Finalists in each category receive $10,000 each in unrestricted funds.

In 2019, the Blavatnik Regional Awards received 137 nominations from 20 academic institutions in the tri-state area. The 2019 Blavatnik Regional Awards Winners are:

• 
  Life Sciences: Laura Duvall, PhD, nominated by The Rockefeller University (now at Columbia University). Dr. Duvall’s discovery of two key molecules in mosquitos that inhibit blood-feeding and breeding has worldwide implications for controlling mosquito populations and the spread of diseases such as Dengue and Zika. At the time of nomination, Dr. Duvall was a trainee of the 2007 Blavatnik Regional Awards Faculty Winner, Prof. Leslie Vosshall of The Rockefeller University.
• Physical Sciences & Engineering: Netta Engelhardt, PhD, nominated by Princeton University (now at Massachusetts Institute of Technology). Dr. Engelhardt’s research at the interface of general relativity and quantum field theory is answering complex questions about the fundamentals of our universe, including the remarkable explanation for the origin of black hole entropy. Her work strives to understand how the fabric of the universe at large-scale is encoded in quantum gravity.
• Chemistry: Juntao Ye, PhD, nominated by Cornell University (now at Shanghai Jiao Tong University in China). Improving synthetic efficiency while lowering the cost of synthesis is a primary goal for pharmaceutical industries. Dr. Ye invented several new methods that allow for converting readily available chemicals into value-added and pharmaceutically relevant products in a highly efficient and economical manner, while reducing chemical byproduct waste. These methods could improve the efficiency of synthesizing complex and bioactive compounds, thereby accelerating the pace of drug discovery.

In recognition of the outstanding achievements of the 2019 Blavatnik Regional Awards honorees, Len Blavatnik, Founder and Chairman of Access Industries and the Blavatnik Family Foundation, and member of the President’s Council of the New York Academy of Sciences stated, “These remarkable young scientists are making important contributions to scientific research and discovery early in their careers. We hope that the recognition this Award provides will both encourage and assist these brilliant young scientists as they pursue their innovative work to find solutions to mankind’s most challenging problems.”

“The cutting-edge discoveries being recognized this year cover an incredibly disparate breadth of work in quantum gravity, drug discovery, control of mosquito populations and underwater photographic imagery. These are the advances that will change our world,” said Ellis Rubinstein, President and CEO of the New York Academy of Sciences and chair of the Blavatnik Awards’ Scientific Advisory Council. “The creativity, passion and dedication of these rising stars in science is an inspiration.”

2019 Blavatnik Regional Awards Finalists

The following postdoctoral researchers have been named Finalists in their respective categories:

Life Sciences

• Carla Nasca, PhD, nominated by The Rockefeller University — recognized for the discovery of acetyl-L-carnitine (LAC) as a novel modulator of brain rewiring and a possible new treatment for depression that acts by turning on and off specific genes related to the neurotransmitter glutamate.
• Liling Wan, PhD, nominated by The Rockefeller University (currently transitioning to the University of Pennsylvania) — recognized for identifying a previously unknown function of a protein called ENL, which has the ability to read epigenetic information on our chromosomes and activate genes that perpetuate tumor growth. Elucidating the structure and mechanism of ENL has guided ongoing development of drugs to treat cancers.

Physical Sciences & Engineering

• Derya Akkaynak, PhD, nominated by Princeton University — recognized for significant breakthroughs in computer vision and underwater imaging technologies, resolving a fundamental technological problem in the computer vision community — the reconstruction of lost colors and contrast in underwater photographic imagery — which will have real implications for oceanographic research.
• Matthew Yankowitz, PhD, nominated by Columbia University (now at the University of Washington) — recognized for groundbreaking experimental work modifying the electronic properties of a new class of two-dimensional materials, known as van der Waal materials. van der Waal materials have garnered tremendous interest due to their incredible electronic properties and the promise they show for use in next-generation optoelectronic and electronic devices, future computing, and telecommunications technologies. Dr. Yankowitz’s work has led to the discovery that applied pressure can be used to induce superconductive properties in multi-layer graphene, and has significantly advanced a new area of research recently coined “twistronics.”

Chemistry    

• Yaping Zang, PhD, nominated by Columbia University — recognized for innovatively using electrochemistry and electrical fields in conjunction with scanning tunneling microscopy techniques to drive chemical reactions. This work provides a deeper understanding of the reaction mechanisms and opens new avenues for the use of electricity as a catalyst in chemical reactions.
• Igor Dikiy, PhD, nominated by the Advanced Science Research Center at The Graduate Center, CUNY — recognized for completing the first study of G-protein–coupled receptor (GPCR) fast sidechain dynamics using NMR (nuclear magnetic resonance) spectroscopy to shed light on the molecular mechanisms of cell signaling. GPCRs control a variety of processes in the human body and are targets for over 30% of all FDA-approved drugs. Elucidating the mechanisms of GPCR signaling will enable researchers to design more effective drugs.

Honoring the Blavatnik Regional Award Winners and Finalists

The 2019 Blavatnik Regional Awards Winners and Finalists will be honored at the New York Academy of Sciences’ Annual Gala at Cipriani 25 Broadway in New York on Monday, November 11, 2019.

About the Blavatnik Family Foundation

The Blavatnik Family Foundation is an active supporter of world-renowned educational, scientific, cultural, and charitable institutions in the United States, the United Kingdom, Israel, and throughout the world. The Foundation is headed by Len Blavatnik, a global industrialist and philanthropist and the Founder and Chairman of Access Industries, a privately held U.S. industrial group with global strategic interests in natural resources and chemicals, media and telecommunications, real estate, and venture capital. See more at http://www.blavatnikfoundation.org.

About The New York Academy of Sciences

The New York Academy of Sciences is an independent, not-for-profit organization that since 1817 has been committed to advancing science, technology, and society worldwide. With more than 20,000 Members in 100 countries around the world, the Academy is creating a global community of science for the benefit of humanity. The Academy’s core mission is to advance scientific knowledge, positively impact the major global challenges of society with science-based solutions, and increase the number of scientifically informed individuals in society at large. Please visit us online at http://www.nyas.org and follow us on Twitter at @NYASciences.

To follow the progress of the Blavatnik Awards, please visit http://www.blavatnikawards.org or follow us on Facebook and Twitter (@BlavatnikAwards).

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Our upcoming symposia series will provide attendees with real-world examples of the LSA applications in drug discovery.

SALT LAKE CITY (PRWEB)
September 05, 2019

Carterra® Inc., the world leader in high-throughput antibody screening and characterization, will host a series of symposia across the United States and Europe entitled, The therapeutic antibody revolution in the post genomics era. Leading industry experts from some of the most influential pharmaceutical, biotech companies, and institutions in the world such as Bristol Myers Squibb, Boehringer Ingelheim, and the Huntsman Cancer Institute will provide insight on using high throughput surface plasmon resonance (SPR) technology to explore the full kinetic and epitope diversity of antibody libraries.

The symposia will take place in Cambridge, MA (September 10, 2019), San Diego, CA (September 17, 2019), San Francisco (September 19, 2019) and Munich, Germany (October 8, 2019). Presentations from leading industry experts and Carterra will demonstrate how high throughput SPR using the Carterra LSA™ is facilitating a paradigm shift in antibody screening, enabling higher information content assays to be conducted earlier in the research pipeline. This essentially combines screening and detailed characterization in the same step to increase efficiency and productivity and to reduce expenditure during drug discovery and development. For detailed schedules and registration information for each event please see the Carterra website.

Christopher Silva, Vice President of Marketing at Carterra commented: “Our upcoming symposia series will provide attendees with real-world examples of the LSA applications in drug discovery. Following our recent expansion into Europe with the opening of a new Customer Experience Center in Munich, Carterra customers are excited to spread the word about our revolutionary platform to even more scientists across the US and in Europe.”

Recent updates to the Carterra website highlight the therapeutic areas where high throughput SPR is making a difference from cancer (immuno-oncology) and heart disease to infectious diseases/vaccines, autoimmune diseases, and pain. The impact of the Carterra LSA on different antibody formats including discovery platforms, bispecifics, antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs), and CAR-T therapy is also explained in detail.

Dr Yasmina Abdiche, PhD, Chief Scientific Officer at Carterra elaborated: “The Carterra LSA is a high throughput SPR platform that is disrupting antibody analytics. The LSA can measure the binding kinetics and affinities of hundreds of interactions in parallel and perform comprehensive epitope binning experiments on up to 384 antibodies per chip. With the additional advantages of minimal sample consumption and industry-leading analysis software, the LSA is streamlining the library-to-leads triage by saving time, cost, and resources in discovering clinically-ready molecules for a number of diseases and conditions.”

About Carterra, Inc.

Carterra® is the leading provider of high throughput technologies designed to accelerate and improve the discovery of novel therapeutic candidates. Carterra’s LSA™ instrument, software, and consumables for monoclonal antibody (mAb) characterization deliver up to 100 times the throughput of existing platforms in 10% of the time while using only 1% of the sample required by other systems. The LSA combines patented microfluidics technology with real-time high throughput Surface Plasmon Resonance (HT-SPR) and industry-leading data analysis and visualization software to revolutionize mAb screening. Carterra, Inc. is based in Salt Lake City Utah, and has Customer Experience Centers in Dublin, California, Newtown, Pennsylvania, and Munich, Germany. For additional information, please visit https://carterra-bio.com/.

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