Supporting Science in a world of COVID-19 – 15th April 2021

Whilst we still continue to live in a world largely dominated by COVID-19, there are still a huge number of varying scientific discoveries happening across the world.

At Baker, we have been #SupportingScience since 1951 and will support it for many more years to come!

1. Research into Myalgic Encephalomyelitis

Ron Davis, a Professor of Biochemistry and Genetics at Stanford University began researching ‘myalgic encephalomyelitis’, better known as chronic fatigue syndrome after his son contacted the illness seven years ago. It would also appear that for patients suffering with ‘long COVID’, the symptoms to convert to an ME/CFS case occurs during infection.

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2. KIYATEC

A new study completed by KIYATEC has shown that its modified ex-vivo platform can measure treatment response through direct interaction between a patient’s cancer and infiltrating human cells.

The research marks a significant progress towards successfully predicting immunotherapy response in the clinic.

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3. Sargramostim to be Repurposed for Alzheimer’s Patients

A Phase II Clinical Trial shows the innate immune system is a viable target for therapeutics intervention in Alzheimer’s disease. Patients with Alzheimer’s disease exhibit markers of inflammation in their brains, cerebrospinal fluid and serum, therefore Sargramostim is prescribed to boost white blood cells, removing any bacteria and amyloid deposits.

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4. Multiple Sclerosis Research

MS causes a wide range of symptoms involving the brain, optic nerves and spinal cord, but research is only just beginning to reveal who is at risk and what causes the condition. Research from the MS Society Edinburgh Center found that people with Multiple Sclerosis had reduced numbers of inhibitory neurons, compared with people who did not have the condition. It has also been speculated that balancing out the populations of gut bacteria may help with the overactivation of the immune system.

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5. Multivalent Flu Vaccines

Research led by scientists at Washington School of Medicine have found that by simplifying the construction of multivalent flu vaccines, a new nanoparticle-based system is able to make it possible to arrange diverse antigens. The nanoparticles incorporated 20 HA trimers and in the mosaic of the nanoparticles, in vitro assembly enabled a precise controlled display of multiple distinct HA trimers in defined ratios.

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