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James Hayward

Pandemic Primer January 26, 2021

Innovation in the Age of Coronavirus

The evolving COVID-19 pandemic and proliferating SARS-CoV-2 immunization programs continue to reshape the world around us, and myriad Long Island forces – large and small, corporate and nonprofit, industrial and academic – continue to meet the challenge. Innovate Long Island presents Innovation in the Age of Coronavirus as a running journal of this region’s resourceful response to the greatest global challenge since World War II. Stay healthy, dear readers.     ‘Community vaccination kits’ grace…

Coronavirus January 11, 2021

FDA: Applied DNA’s assay kit can detect UK mutant

By GREGORY ZELLER // Only two COVID-19 test kits earning U.S. Food and Drug Administration Emergency Use Authorization can detect the mutant “UK strain” – and one of them is produced on Long Island. Applied DNA Science’s Linea COVID-19 Assay Kit has been identified by the FDA as “potentially able to identify certain SARS-CoV-2 mutations, including a mutation found in the UK,” the company said this week. That’s a direct reference to B.1.1.7, the faster-spreading…

Biotech December 1, 2020

Applied DNA shoots, scores on multiple COVID fronts

By GREGORY ZELLER // It’s been a big week for one of Long Island’s boldest biotechs. Applied DNA Sciences, a Stony Brook-based leader in polymerase chain reaction-based DNA manufacturing, has earned New York State approvals for the veterinary trial of a COVID-19 vaccine candidate developed in conjunction with Italian startup EvviVax, a spinoff of frequent Applied DNA partner Takis Biotech. The Stony Brook biotech – which focused primarily on DNA-based supply-chain authentication before its 2015 acquisition…

Newsletters November 4, 2020

No. 545: Hanging with Cronkite, King Tut and Long Island particle physicists, as the smoke clears

  Is it over? Not quite, dear readers – but the voting is done, there’s a hard stop on those miserable campaign commercials and the endless election signs blockin’ out the scenery … one day, like a miracle, they will disappear. So, there’s that. Welcome to Wednesday, very much The Day After. Sincerest congratulations to the 150 million-or-so Americans who exercised their right to vote this year, many under challenging conditions that ranged from unfortunate…

Biotech July 20, 2020

Science, numbers back Applied DNA’s COVID-19 serums

By GREGORY ZELLER // With scientists around the world racing toward a COVID-19 vaccine, serums manufactured by a Long Island biotech are showing significant promise – both medically and economically. Stony Brook-based Applied DNA Sciences and its lab partner, Italian innovator Takis Biotech, said this week that five linear-DNA based COVID-19 vaccine candidates developed by Takis and manufactured by Applied DNA “yielded strong antibody and T-cell responses” in laboratory mice, even at “very low doses”…

Startups July 9, 2020

Applied DNA ups ante, again, with Clinical Labs spinoff

By GREGORY ZELLER // One of Long Island’s busiest biotechs has spun off another local startup, this time focused on testing its own potential breakthroughs. Stony Brook-based Applied DNA Sciences, which has quickly evolved from an upstart DNA-based supply-chain authenticator to a leader in unique DNA manufacturing, has launched Applied DNA Clinical Labs LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary dedicated to the commercial development of two key verticals: Applied DNA’s virology tests, designed to quickly detect…

Biotech May 5, 2020

Gains on two fronts: Same-day test, virus ‘neutralizer’

By GREGORY ZELLER // An ambitious Long Island biotech is reporting exciting progress in a two-front battle against the raging novel coronavirus. Stony Brook-based Applied DNA Sciences on Tuesday announced that it has applied for FDA approval of its Linea COVID-19 diagnostic kit, which detects SARS-CoV-2 – the novel coronavirus that causes the COVID-19 disease – with same-day results. The announcement comes one day after Applied DNA and Italian biopharma Takis Biotech said the first…

Biotech April 15, 2020

LI biotech speeds COVID-19 vaccine candidates to Italy

By GREGORY ZELLER // With preliminary lab tests looking good, an innovative Long Island biotech is rushing a quintet of potential COVID-19 vaccines overseas. Stony Brook-based Applied DNA Sciences announced Wednesday that it has completed “design qualifications” and shipped five COVID-19 vaccine candidates to Italian biopharma Takis Biotech, a frequent collaborator working closely with Applied DNA to counter the coronavirus. The vaccine candidates were produced using the Stony Brook biotech’s proprietary, polymerase chain reaction-based LinearDNA…

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…