Research News

Premas Biotech announced that its joint venture Oravax will initiate testing of their oral virus-like particle (VLP) vaccine candidate against Omicron variant of SARS-CoV 2 virus through preclinical, in vitro and challenge studies to assess its efficacy for the new mutant strain. Premas Biotech, Oramed Pharmaceuticals, MyMD Pharmaceuticals, and certain other shareholders formed Oravax Medical to bring an oral COVID-19 vaccine to the market.

GlaxoSmithKline plc and Vir Biotechnology, Inc announced an update to bioRxiv, a preprint server, with preclinical data demonstrating that sotrovimab, an investigational monoclonal antibody, retains activity against key mutations1 of the new Omicron SARS-CoV-2 variant (B.1.1.529), including those found in the binding site of sotrovimab. These data were generated through pseudo-virus testing of specific individual mutations found in Omicron.

The first long-acting option to protect women from HIV, proven to reduce women’s HIV risk, has been recommended for use by the World Health Organization (WHO).

Moles and melanomas are both skin tumors that come from the same cell called melanocytes. The difference is that moles are usually harmless, while melanomas are cancerous and often deadly without treatment. In a study published today in eLife Magazine, Robert Judson-Torres, PhD, Huntsman Cancer Institute (HCI) researcher and University of Utah (U of U) assistant professor of dermatology and oncological sciences, explains how common moles and melanomas form and why moles can change into melanoma.

New research from UC San Francisco that tested possible triggers of a common heart condition, including caffeine, sleep deprivation and sleeping on the left side, found that only alcohol use was consistently associated with more episodes of the heart arrhythmia.

The authors conclude that people might be able to reduce their risk of atrial fibrillation (AF) by avoiding certain triggers.

Life is organized on a 24-hour schedule. Central to this regular rhythm is the circadian clock, timekeepers that are present in virtually every organ, tissue and cell type. When a clock goes awry, sleep disruption or a variety of diseases can result.

The tapered cone shell is popular among seashell collectors for its colorful patterns, but the smooth mottled shells are also home to the cone snail which is capable of spewing a potent insulin-like venom that can paralyze its prey. Researchers at the University of New Hampshire have found that variants of this venom, known as cone snail insulin (Con-Ins), could offer future possibilities for developing new fast-acting drugs to help treat diabetics.

In the human brain, the hormone insulin also acts on the most important neurotransmitter for the reward system, dopamine. This was shown by researchers from the German Center for Diabetes Research (DZD) in Tübingen. Insulin lowers the dopamine level in a specific region of the brain (striatum*) that regulates reward processes and cognitive functions, among other things. This interaction can be an important driver of the brain’s regulation of glucose metabolism and eating behavior.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved Voxzogo (vosoritide) injection to improve growth in children five years of age and older with achondroplasia and open epiphyses (growth plates), meaning these children still have the potential to grow. Achondroplasia is the most common form of dwarfism.