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James Hayward

Newsletters March 25, 2020

No. 486: On mega-moons, linear DNA and innovative immigrant services – and yes, lots of coronavirus stuff

  The unusual: Welcome to Wednesday, dear readers, and the midpoint of another weird and wild workweek, as the Great Coronavirus Pandemic continues to reshape our world and the regional and global innovation economies scramble to keep up. Please celebrate alone: It’s March 25 out there, the U.N.’s International Day of Solidarity With Missing or Detained Staff Members, which is actually about U.N. employees who made the ultimate sacrifice, but seems oddly redefined today. To…

Biotech March 2, 2020

Island firm speeds coronavirus vaccines toward tests

By GREGORY ZELLER // Just weeks after announcing an expanded international collaboration targeting the menacing novel coronavirus, Applied DNA Sciences is preparing to mass-produce four potential vaccines. Leveraging the Stony Brook-based biotech’s unique DNA-manufacturing abilities, Rome, Italy-based Takis Biotech will test potential vaccines against the coronavirus (now going by COVID-19) in laboratory mice, on a large scale. Applied DNA expects delivery of four DNA-based “preclinical vaccine candidates” from Takis this month, and “within weeks” will…

Biotech February 13, 2020

Applied DNA to speed up coronavirus countermeasures

By GREGORY ZELLER // Look out, coronavirus – Applied DNA is coming for you. Adding to its growing portfolio of cutting-edge Polymerase Chain Reaction-based projects, Stony Brook-based Applied DNA Sciences is expanding its Joint Development Agreement with Italian R&D company Takis Biotech, with the headline-making 2019-nCoV in their sights. Already hot on the trail of new cancer vaccines, the partners will now work on a “linear DNA” vaccine against the dreaded Wuhan, China-based illness that’s…

Biotech October 22, 2019

Pending patent a cellulosic score for Applied DNA

By GREGORY ZELLER // A Stony Brook-based biotech on the leading edge of DNA-based product authentication is about to add another U.S. patent to its growing collection. Applied DNA Sciences, which has raced to the front of the Polymerase Chain Reaction-based forensic-traceability field, has received a Notice of Allowance from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office for its “Methods of Marking Cellulosic Products” – meaning its application to patent the technique has been allowed, and…

Biotech September 19, 2019

‘Linear DNA’ combo shows punch in cancer fight

By GREGORY ZELLER // Mark another impressive victory for LineaRX, this time in a two-front battle against cancer. The Stony Brook-based biotech with innovation in its DNA (literally) has lent its unique DNA-sequencing technology to two vaccine-candidate tests run by Italian R&D company Takis Biotech, which is hot on the trail of new therapeutic cancer vaccines. It might be catching up. On Thursday, LineaRX announced that both vaccines – each produced in “linear DNA” form…

Mergers & Acquisitions August 12, 2019

For Applied DNA, new blood – and a shot in the arm

By GREGORY ZELLER // Just 11 months after spinning off from its parent company, a Stony Brook startup with expansion in its DNA has made its first corporate acquisition. LineaRX, a subsidiary of Applied DNA Sciences, has acquired the physical assets and intellectual property of Vitatex Inc., a private biotech with close ties to Stony Brook University and a patented method of isolating Invasive Circulating Tumor Cells in standard blood samples – spotting metastatic cells…

Biotech July 9, 2019

For secure signatures, DNA is mightier than the sword

By GREGORY ZELLER // One of Long Island’s busiest biotechs has (literally) inked an exclusive security deal with a leading global penmaker. Stony Brook-based Applied DNA Sciences this week announced a five-year agreement with German manufacturer Montblanc-Simplo GMHB, master of not only “luxury writing instruments,” according to the Hamburg-based company’s website, but a wide range of watches, jewelry, eyewear, leather goods and other personal (and personalized) products. Pens, however, will be the focus of the…

Biotech June 17, 2019

With synthetic opioids lurking, DNA detector scores

By GREGORY ZELLER // With synthetic opioids increasingly implicated in the alarming number of drug-overdose deaths plaguing the nation, a stalwart Long Island biotech’s DNA-based tracking technology has received a major endorsement. The peer-reviewed scientific journal PLOS ONE has published a paper by Stony Brook-based Applied DNA Sciences on the molecular tagging of pharmaceuticals – a next-gen supply-chain authenticator that Applied DNA considers unforgeable, inescapable and particularly useful in a world where counterfeit drugs are…

Newsletters April 5, 2019

No. 394: On cancer centers, secure weed and Asian affairs (plus: naughty books in Huntington)

  Don’t know how you do it: But you’ve done it again, dear reader – it’s Friday and you’re sprinting toward the finish line of another busy workweek, with another well-earned weekend in the offing. Nicely done. It’s April 5 out there, and if you had Alexander Nevsky’s Russian forces turning back the Teutonic Knights in the Battle on the Ice on this date in 1242, pozdravlyayu! The state gratefully collects 200 rubles on your…

Awards and Events March 27, 2019

Breakfast of champions

Hundreds turn out to honor LI’s brightest innovators (photos by Bob Giglione) In a rare breakfast networker that delivered all the feels, Innovate Long Island saluted its 2019 Innovators of the Year Tuesday at the Crest Hollow Country Club in Woodbury. More than 200 guests turned out to honor two dozen of Long Island’s brightest and boldest researchers, inventors, entrepreneurs and executives, including 2019 Master of Innovation Mitch Maiman and Stony Brook University Vice President…

Biotech February 14, 2019

New licensing deal adds fresh buzz to joint venture

By GREGORY ZELLER // A partnership between a Stony Brook biotech and a Canadian pharmaceutical-solutions provider is growing like a weed. Less than a year since introducing the world’s first DNA-based cannabis-tagging system and just five months since they upgraded the system to accommodate large-scale growers, Applied DNA Sciences and Canadian/Panamanian cohort TheraCann International Benchmark Corp. have inked an exclusive licensing deal. The skinny: a long-term licensing agreement pairing Applied DNA’s proprietary CertainT supply chain…

Biotech February 4, 2019

Globetrotting Applied DNA has it made in Taiwan

By GREGORY ZELLER // Look out, Asia – here comes Applied DNA Sciences. Picking up where it left off at the end of a hyper-busy 2018 – in which it expanded its DNA-based supply-chain-authentication portfolio to include pharmaceuticals manufacturing in Pennsylvania, legalized marijuana distribution in Canada and a host of other supply chains in domestic and international markets – the Stony Brook-based biotech is sending its product-traceability solutions deep into to “the heart of Asia’s…

Biotech October 30, 2018

Applied DNA makes its bed, U.S. retailers to jump in

By GREGORY ZELLER // Inspired by Applied DNA Sciences’ molecular-tagging technology, a global textiles manufacturer is climbing into bed with the “circular economy.” Actually, India-based GHCL Ltd. has already bedded the so-called circular economy (referencing a regenerative system in which waste and emissions are minimized by narrowing energy and material loops, mostly through recycling and manufacturing upgrades). The manufacturer is knee-deep in recycled materials, including entire linen lines formulated from recycled polyethylene terephthalate (you may…

Biotech October 16, 2018

At LineaRX, putting the horsepower behind the CAR T

By GREGORY ZELLER // Marking a big step in the war against cancer, a Stony Brook-based startup has initiated pre-clinical development of a non-viral, plasmid-free chimeric antigen receptor modified T-cell manufacturing platform. In English: A novel platform designed to develop and manufacture new pharmaceutical treatments, including treatments for different forms of cancer. The tech comes from LineaRx Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary that officially spun off from Stony Brook-based Applied DNA Sciences in September. Noting…

Biotech September 18, 2018

With new spinoff, biotech goes all-in on DNA sales

By GREGORY ZELLER // A Stony Brook biotech with a growing international reputation for supply-chain security has spun off a new company focused on DNA modification and production. Stony Brook-based Applied DNA Sciences on Tuesday announced the formation of LineaRx Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary that will concentrate on commercializing the parent company’s extensive experience in the design, manufacture and chemical modification of DNA by large-scale polymerase chain reaction – big news for scientists working…