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BioMADE Funding To Accelerate Capra Bioreactor Expansion and Technical Advancement, Aligning with New White House Bioeconomy Goals

MANASSAS, Va., April 24, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Capra Biosciences is scaling up their novel bioreactor technology to produce sustainable chemicals in Northern Virginia. This project was funded through a special BioMADE Project Call focused on advancing bioreactor design and development, thanks to support from Schmidt Futures. The expansion will jump start Virginia’s bioeconomy and place the state on the map for biochemical production.

The Manassas-based company uses a biofilm-forming microbe and its proprietary bioreactors to transform low-cost feedstocks, such as agricultural byproducts or food waste, into a variety of chemicals, including their first product, retinol.

“Our bioreactor platform is meant to handle small- or large-scale production of chemicals efficiently without a negative environmental impact,” said Dr. Andrew Magyar, Capra Biosciences’ chief technology officer. “We’ve already proved its potential on a smaller scale, and we’re excited to scale it for more chemicals and larger volumes. The new contract not only allows us to create a bigger facility, it also funds work with groundbreaking partners who will improve the efficiency and predictability of the bioreactors.”

GERMANTOWN, Md., April 25, 2023 (Newswire.com) – Seraxis Inc., a pre-clinical stage company with a best-in-class islet replacement therapy for insulin-dependent diabetes, today announced the presentation of results from an efficacy study of Synthetic Replacement Endocrine (SRE) pancreatic clusters. These data were presented by William Rust, PhD, Chief Executive Officer at Seraxis, as an oral podium presentation at the 4th International Pancreas and Islet Transplant Association (IPITA) / Harvard Stem Cell Institute (HSCI) / Juvenile Diabetes Research Fund (JDRF) Summit, held from April 24-25, 2023 in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The presentation included an introduction to Seraxis’ proprietary GMP process for manufacturing SRE clusters for nonclinical and clinical use.

Emmes collaborates with pharmaceutical companies as strategic partners, providing one-stop clinical trial services, reducing costs, and accelerating development.

SAN ANTONIO, TX. – April 25, 2023 – Frost & Sullivan researched the contract research organizations industry and, based on its analysis results, recognizes Emmes with the 2023 Global Competitive Strategy Leadership Award. Each year, Frost & Sullivan presents this award to the company that has leveraged competitive intelligence to successfully execute a strategy that results in stronger market share, competitive brand positioning, and customer satisfaction.

Emmes is a full-service, global Clinical Research Organization (CRO) committed to promoting public health and biopharmaceutical innovation. Its dedication to problem-solving, close collaboration with customers, and scientific excellence help its customers better understand complex research problems, generate higher-quality data, and enable better treatment options. The company has extensive therapeutic experience in common and rare diseases, which is backed up by specialized knowledge in biostatistics, biomedical data science and bioinformatics, and eClinical technologies.

The value of life-saving drugs for patients suffering from serious diseases is priceless. But the current economic environment is stifling the biopharmaceutical pipeline of up-and-coming clinical trials. Dr. Harsha Rajasimha, Founder and CEO of Jeeva Informatics and the visionary behind Jeeva eClinical Cloud, appreciates the significant innovations that emerging biotech companies bring to the pursuit of early clinical development of novel therapeutics. He recommends an active front-loading strategy to maximize operational efficiency of clinical trials

JLABS is taking the lead in exploring new and innovative approaches to vaccinations with their upcoming event, “Breaking Dependencies on Seasonal Vaccines to Address Infectious Diseases.” This forward-looking program is scheduled to take place on Wednesday, May 17, 2023, at JLABS in Washington, DC, from 11:00 AM to 2:00 PM.

The event aims to examine the potential of technology to break the dependence on annual or seasonal vaccinations and provide more durable and reliable solutions for preventing infectious diseases such as coronaviruses, influenza, and rhinoviruses. Through innovation, there is an opportunity to enhance the impact and acceptance of vaccinations, achieve more consistent and impactful outcomes, and limit the spread of infectious diseases across large populations, regardless of risk level.

April 20, 2023 / By Katie Maney

Musculoskeletal injury (MSKI) is the most common form of medical injury experienced by Service members. Clinical interventions for MSKIs lack objective measures to determine their effectiveness, putting affected military personnel at risk of further damage if they return to duty  before fully recovering.

George Mason University bioengineer Dr. Parag Chitnis, an associate professor in the Department of Bioengineering and a member of the Institute for Biohealth Innovation (IBI), and his team are developing quantitative assessments that can both prevent and monitor MSKIs in Service members.

In partnership with Cephasonics Ultrasound, an ultrasound systems and technology company in California, and Infinite Biomedical Technologies, a biotechnology company in Maryland, the team has been selected by the United States Army Medical Research and Development Command to receive nearly $3M from the United States Department of Defense, awarded through the Medical Technology Enterprise Consortium (MTEC). The award will support the team’s development of wearable, compact, and hands-free ultrasound systems to assess rehabilitation and recovery from MSKIs through measurements of muscle structure and function during physical activity, with a specific focus on knee injuries.

“MTEC aims to facilitate prototype advancement in support of the Warfighters’ MSKI needs, “ said Dr. Lauren Palestrini, MTEC’s chief science officer. “We are excited to issue this award to the team at George Mason University and believe it has the potential to make great strides in military health and ultrasound research.”

Prior to this award, Dr. Chitnis and Dr. Siddhartha Sikdar, a professor in the Department of Bioengineering and a member of the IBI, formed the Training and Recovery Augmented with Ultrasound Myography and Assessment (TRAUMA) program. With funding from the Department of Defense’s Military Operational Medicine Research Program, TRAUMA’s goal is to develop ultrasound systems that can be used to evaluate MSKIs in dynamic settings. The award from MTEC enables the team to further advance their ongoing research.

Discovering treatments for patients that currently have no available disease-modifying options is the priority of Gain Therapeutics. Specifically, there is a large unmet need for patients suffering from protein misfolding disorders that alter enzyme function.

What is Gain Therapeutics approach to drug discovery?

The pipeline begins with Gain’s agnostic discovery platform for Site-Directed Enzyme Enhancement Therapy (SEE-Tx). This is a computational platform, as opposed to an artificial intelligence (AI) system. This is preferable for multiple reasons. First, AI needs a large amount of data while SEE-Tx starts with a 3D protein structure to find novel binding sites within the protein. SEE-Tx can use the already published 3D protein structures solved by cryo-EM, or alternatively, the platform can utilize 3D structural predictions from the AlphaFold Database. After the platform identifies new binding sites on a previously undruggable protein, it can also compute the druggability of the identified allosteric binding site using quantitative predictions as opposed to discovery approaches using AI technology that cannot be interpreted. Importantly, any targeted sites will allow for protein function to be restored without interfering with the active sites of the enzyme and its substrate.