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Interim Chief Executive at BIA
Creative Antibiotics and AMRI in substance development agreement
Creative Antibiotics Sweden AB has signed an agreement with AMRI, Inc for the development of one of Creative Antibiotics’ substance classes, the INP- 1750/1855 class, for the treatment of infections caused by the Pseudomonas aeruginosa bacteria. The agreement includes the screening of two AMRI large- substance libraries to find new substances that are effective against Gram-negative bacteria. The agreement with AMRI is
The BioIndustry Association (BIA) has appointed Glyn Edwards as its interim chief executive in place of Nigel Gaymond, who has left the BIA to pursue other opportunities. Edwards was previously CEO of Antisoma. Prior to joining Antisoma, he worked in a variety of business development roles in the biotech and health care industries. He was also a member of the BIA Board. He has a BSc in Biochemistry from Bristol University and an MSc in Economics from the London Business School.
Scil Proteins appoints new CSO
Scil Proteins has recently appointed Dr Ulrich Haupts as its new chief scientific officer. He joins Scil Proteins from Bayer HealthCare, where he held the position of director of protein optimisation for the past three years. Prior to that, he spent seven years at Direvo Biotech (which was subsequently acquired by Bayer Schering Pharma in 2008) as department head of assay development, and later as vice president of R&D Biopharmaceuticals. In addition, he also worked at SmithKline Beecham UK. He received his PhD in 1996 from the Max Planck Institute for Biochemistry and performed a post-doctoral fellowship at Cornell University in mass spectrometry and fluorescence correlation spectroscopy.
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part of Creative Antibiotic’s project in small molecules that inhibit the T3SS virulence mechanism. The project is one of four cornerstones in the company’s research and development platform, the other three comprising natural products, proteins/peptides that affect the T3SS virulence mechanism, and a bacterial toxin specific for Gram-negative bacteria. Creative Antibiotics was founded in 2000 to commercialise
World Precision Instruments launches Cell Tester cell biology tool
World Precision Instruments Inc has launched Cell Tester, a novel cell biology research tool for use in the emerging field of ‘mechano transduction’, that enables researchers to study the influence of mechanical force, stress or strain on cells and how these cells react to stimuli. The resulting data can help providfe information on how individual muscle cells sense stress and stretch, and whether this contributes to the heart’s ability to adjust pumping capacity as a function of the fluid filling state. Many cells in the human body are constantly under the influence of mechanical stresses. These include skeletal muscle cells, heart cells, so called smooth muscle cells in the wall of blood vessels and hollow organs such as the bladder and
gastrointestinal tract as well as sensory neurons. Mechanical stretching activates mechano
transduction signalling pathways in cells that have broad implications for cell health and disease. Insights into how cells respond to additional stresses could give researchers insight into disease progression and potentially on how intervention therapies impact on these responses. The ability to do this on single cells opens up the possibility of using live human cells as an alternative to animal models of a disease. Working at a rate of more than1,000 measurements per second, the Cell Tester employs state-of-the-art optics, nano positioning and force sensor technology to deliver sensitive and reproducible force measurements facilitating the quantification of the very small forces that individual cells can generate. At the same time, the instrument uses miniature piezo crystal-based motors to push or
research at Umeå University and the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden. The company has developed and patented a number of substances against bacterial infections, so called virulence blockers. The substances block the capabilities of certain bacteria to cause disease without eliminating them. If bacteria are disarmed rather than eliminated, the risk that they develop drug resistance decreases.
pull cells and so changes their length or imposes stress. “In combination with a laser- scanning confocal microscope, we have been able to follow the fate of calcium release inside heart cells,” remarked Professor W. J. Lederer, Center of Biomedical Engineering and Technology, University of Maryland School of Medicine. “Being able to gain insight into the relationship between mechanical stress and aberrant calcium release, thought to cause possible lethal arrhythmias, will help support the discovery of new targets for the treatment of heart disease.” For further information visit
www.wpiinc.com
The Peptide Conference 2012 registration open
Attendee registration is now open on the avakado Media website
www.avakado.eu for The Peptide Conference 2012 being held at Chilford Hall Conference Centre, Cambridge, UK from April 17-18, 2012. Attendees will benefit from a top-quality speaker line-up presenting papers on a wide range of applications of peptides as analytical tools, diagnostics and therapeutics, as well as on
the latest technologies for the synthesis and manufacture of new peptide classes, including complex peptides. A tabletop exhibition for companies offering peptide R&D and manufacturing technologies and services also features. The conference runs in parallel with the Dynamic Outsourcing for Life Sciences event.
Contact us to find out more
about attending the conference or to book a table-top exhibtion stand. For conference enquiries contact contact Tom Mulligan at: Email:
tom@avakado.eu Tel: +44 (0)1403 220755. To book your low-cost tabletop exhibition stand contact Mark Harrington at: Email:
mark@avakado.eu Tel: +44 (0)1403 220753 See also
www.avakado.eu
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