Articles

Recent advances in chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy have opened exciting new avenues for the treatment of a variety of malignancies. Cytokine release syndrome (CRS), a powerful immune response to activated CAR T cells, is the primary side effect of CAR T-cell therapy, but existing CRS treatments can make CAR T-cell treatment less effective. In two recent studies, researchers used multiplexed cytokine immunoassays to better understand how CAR T-cell therapy triggers CRS and to identify strategies for early intervention in CRS development.

Astrid Irwanto is the co-founder and COO of NalaGenetics, a company taking a novel, personalized approach to understanding genetic susceptibility to drug reactions in Southeast Asian populations. A PhD in human genetics and postdoctoral research in genetics disease, along with personal experiences, fuel Astrid’s pursuits. In this interview, we discuss NalaGenetics’ approach to pharmacogenomics and why Astrid decided to translate her academic research to a molecular diagnostics company.

In recent years, biologics — drugs derived from living culture systems — have become increasingly significant in the fight against a plethora of conditions. Unfortunately, the efficiency of these drugs comes at a cost. A daily dose of a biologic drug costs, on average, 22 times more than conventional small-molecule drugs. Therefore, biosimilars are developed to make them more accessible. Lung cancer is an example where the development of biosimilars could increase treatment options available for patients.

As the third most prevalent cancer worldwide, colorectal cancer (CRC) is a significant global health burden. Biomarker identification and detection has proven a powerful strategy for improving CRC diagnosis and informing targeted treatment. Microsatellite instability (MSI) is a key biomarker in CRC, and with Droplet Digital PCR (ddPCR), MSI can be accurately detected using a wider range of sample types.

One-size-fits-all solutions cannot address the full range of molecular biology needs in areas such as biotech, biopharma, or molecular diagnostics. When your requirements exceed the existing offerings of reagents and plastics on the market, Bio-Rad can partner with you and provide custom solutions. For a deeper look into these customization opportunities, we spoke with Anna Lai, manager of Bio-Rad’s custom reagents program, and Jennifer Placek, who manages the company’s custom plastics.

Join Terence, a motivated undergrad, as he experiences the ups and downs of research using next-generation sequencing, learning valuable tips for successful NGS experiments along the way

The current gold standard in monoclonal antibody purification for most researchers is affinity purification with Protein A or G followed by size exclusion chromatography (SEC). Although robust and highly effective, this workflow does have critical pain points and inefficiencies, leaving researchers to feel that they must oversee every step of their workflow, not leaving their chromatography system unattended for more than a few minutes.

Autologous stem cell transplantation (ASCT) is an effective treatment strategy for multiple myeloma (MM) but isolating enough hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells (HSPCs) for transplantation can be challenging. The selective CXCR4 inhibitor motixafortide has been shown to be a safe and efficacious HSPC mobilization agent in a phase 2 trial when paired with G-CSF. Crees et al. (2023) report the results of the phase 3 trial, in which they used the ZE5 Cell Analyzer to explore motixafortide’s mobilizing effects.

Seychelle M. Vos, PhD, has a passion for science that was ignited at a young age while exploring her parents’ garden and the natural world around her. Now she studies some of the biggest questions in genome biology: how DNA structure and chromatin influence protein transcription. The molecular machines that physically couple transcription and DNA structure by changing the position of nucleosomes, interfacing with chromatin, and compressing DNA into loops, are the focus of Vos’ research.

The therapeutic potential of messenger RNA (mRNA) therapeutics has an unprecedented ability to target previously undruggable diseases. The poly(A) tail drives the therapeutic efficacy of the mRNA molecule. Using Droplet Digital PCR (ddPCR) technology to analyze poly(A) tail length and integrity yields unrivaled sensitivity, enabling developers to ensure high poly(A) tail integrity and, ultimately, functional therapeutic mRNAs.