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Biotech

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…

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Biotech June 5, 2018

SBU joins elite HHS business-development task force

By GREGORY ZELLER // Stony Brook University will join an elite roster of national institutions in a new business-development feeder system devised by the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services. Introduced Tuesday as a business-accelerator program under the auspices of BARDA, HHS’s Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority, the nationwide network will foster development of new “health security” protocols – that is, preparedness to respond to threats ranging from chemical attacks and radiological terrorism…

Genetics June 4, 2018

Feinstein ‘risk index’ could get the jump on lupus

By GREGORY ZELLER // A complex research effort led by top Feinstein Institute scientists has opened the door to a wide range of early-intervention protocols for the dreaded disease lupus. A Feinstein Institute for Medical Research team led by immunologist and Professor Betty Diamond has developed a system for identifying a person’s risk for lupus by examining antibodies and a specific protein complex found in the blood. Ideally, scientists may use these unique markers to…

Biotech May 23, 2018

Envisagenics’ artificial intelligence wows real investors

By GREGORY ZELLER // They’re on a major roll at Envisagenics Inc., a Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory spinoff that’s piling up some hefty research grants. Now based in New York City, the biotech announced this week that it’s been awarded a $1.5 million Small Business Innovation Research Phase II grant from the National Institutes of Health – the second time the NIH has backed the data-crunching startup. The new award is earmarked for the continued…

Biotech May 7, 2018

How to speak cytokine: a bioelectronics breakthrough

By GREGORY ZELLER // You can bet they didn’t use secret decoder rings. In a major feat of bioengineering and neurological science, a team of doctors at Northwell Health’s Feinstein Institute for Medical Research has intercepted and decoded specific signals the human nervous system uses to communicate immune and inflammation status to the brain – a potentially ginormous forward leap for bioelectronic medicine. This latest bioelectronic breakthrough at what has become the international nerve center…

Biotech April 26, 2018

Grant backs NYU Winthrop’s out-of-the-skull thinking

By GREGORY ZELLER // A “surprise grant” from the Alzheimer’s Disease Resource Center will further some promising Alzheimer’s-related research underway at NYU Winthrop Hospital. The Mineola hospital’s Research Institute announced Wednesday that researcher Allison Reiss, head of the institute’s Inflammation Section, has received a $10,000 grant from ADRC – a Bay Shore-based advocacy group – to support her work with human stem cells. Reiss’ team – including NYU Winthrop researchers Aaron Pinkhasov, Irving Gomolin, Joshua…

Biotech April 5, 2018

Memo to Applied DNA: It’s payday in Pennsylvania

By GREGORY ZELLER // Memorandums of understanding are swell and all, but for a scrappy enterprise forever waging a bottom-line battle, nothing beats getting paid. So, Stony Brook-based Applied DNA Sciences should be very happy to receive the first of two “milestone payments” accompanying the March 31 signing of a new licensing deal with Pennsylvania manufacturer Colorcon Inc. Announced Thursday, the license and cooperation agreement grants Colorcon the exclusive worldwide right to add Applied DNA’s…