Cell and gene therapies (CGTs) are quickly making their way from theory to clinical practice, primarily because they target specific disease drivers rather than the broad targets of small-molecule therapies. This specificity is possible because cell and gene therapies target genes and cells to change the way tissues function. The goal for both types of …
Unexpected (and Unexpectedly Artsy) COVID-19 Vaccination Sites
The logistics of vaccinating the global population against COVID-19 involve complicated scientific processes, complex infrastructure, governmental coordination, and collaboration with multinational companies. Despite these challenges, we’ve come a long way in the last few months. As of February 18, 2021, approximately 194.44 million COVID-19 vaccination doses have been administered around the world. Since some vaccines require more …
How COVID-19 Has Impacted Clinical Trials
Social distancing. Country-wide lockdowns. Mask mandates. In the last year, people around the world have been forced to adapt their everyday lives to mitigate the spread of COVID-19 – and the clinical trial community is no exception. The COVID-19 pandemic has presented a variety of challenges and limitations for trial managers. Many contract research organizations temporarily …
View from My Window, Part 2: The View from Your Window Matters
In January, we introduced the social media phenomenon “View From My Window,” a Facebook Group that gained popularity as COVID-related quarantines locked the world’s citizens behind closed doors. The group is made up of over 2.2 million members who have posted pictures of their inside-out views during lockdown. That’s a pretty phenomenal number of users, …
Mosaic Nanoparticles Might Provide a Design to Develop Products That Provide Immunity to Multiple Coronaviruses
Zoonotic coronaviruses, which are those that have made the leap from animals to humans, have caused three major epidemics in the last two decades. The most recent zoonotic coronavirus to result in a pandemic was SARS-CoV-2. In the last year, multiple vaccines have been developed to prevent infection, and researchers are working on therapeutic drugs …
QPS Missouri Delivers COVID-19 Vaccines
The QPS clinical trial site in Springfield, Missouri, is staffed with healthcare providers and front-line healthcare workers and has remained open during the pandemic, providing clinical trial services to support new drug and vaccine development. Recently, as part of the US COVID-19 vaccine roll-out, QPS Missouri was granted an allotment of COVID-19 vaccine for its front-line …
A View from My Window, Part 1: Building Community During COVID-19
In the first weeks of March 2020, the world came to a halt like nothing we have ever seen before. COVID-19 infections were increasing across the globe, and health officials didn’t know how the disease was spread, who was most at risk, or even how to stop it. Country after country began to lock down, …
MTBR-Tau-243 May Be an Indicator of Alzheimer’s Disease Progression
Alzheimer’s disease (AD), a disease of the neurological system, is the most common form of dementia. The early stages of AD affect the portions of the brain that control thought, memory, and language. As the disease progresses, patients may experience difficulties talking, reading, writing, and recognizing people they know. AD has been linked to the …
Brain Iron Deposits as a Predictive Measure of Dementia in Parkinson’s Disease
Parkinson’s Disease (PD) is a progressive neurodegenerative disease that causes neurons in the area of the brain that controls movement to weaken or die. Up to 50 percent of patients with PD suffer from dementia. The timing, severity, and effects of that dementia differs — and the reason for the varying vulnerability of different brain …
Could Chicken Antibodies Temporarily Prevent COVID-19 Infections?
Although the first COVID-19 vaccines approved by governmental regulators are slowly being rolled out in certain countries, a safe and effective COVID-19 vaccine is not currently available worldwide. To continue fighting the pandemic, researchers are exploring new and innovative ways to protect people from SARS-CoV-2. One team of researchers from Stanford University is currently working …
