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Antibody News

Unlocking the Potential of Biosimilars in Immuno-Oncology

Monday, October 16, 2023 - 09:31
Purple and blue antibodies with clear glass vial in the middle on a purple-blue background.

By Jennifer Jones, M.S.

Biosimilar Antibodies: Imitation Meets Innovation

In the ever-evolving medical landscape, a new class of pharmaceuticals is emerging as a game-changer, poised to transform the way we approach treatment options: Biosimilars. Biosimilars are biologics, such as antibodies and proteins, that demonstrate therapeutic equivalency to the original approved drug, also known as the reference product. The...

Illuminating the Future of Biological Research: mFluor Violet Conjugated Antibodies

Wednesday, September 20, 2023 - 10:16
Orange antibodies with a purple-blue fluorescent conjugate emitting a purple light on a dark purple background.

By Emily Cartwright, PhD

The Power of Fluorescence in Biological Research

In the realm of modern biology, technological advancements are continually reshaping the landscape of scientific exploration. Fluorescence technology has revolutionized the way scientists study the intricate machinery of living cells. By tagging specific molecules, like antibodies, with fluorescent markers, researchers can visualize and track their movements and interactions within...

Fighting Invisible Foes: Role of Animal Models in Infectious Disease Research

Friday, July 14, 2023 - 10:31
Four animal icons featuring monkey, chicken, mouse, and pig, on a blue background.

By Jamshed Arslan, Pharm D, PhD

 

Infectious diseases remain a significant global health challenge. They underscore an intricate game of cat and mouse between the pathogen and host, revealing interactions that can only be properly deciphered through the application of suitable biological models.1 Animal models, being the critical players in this pursuit, serve as the magnifying glass enabling us to delve into the microscopic world of host-pathogen interactions.

 

In the Heart of the...

Spheroids vs. Organoids: Which 3D Cell Culture Model is Best for You?

Friday, April 21, 2023 - 10:52
3D rendering showing fully complex organoids in fluorescent green, blue, and yellow colors with the appearance of floating in space.

By Jennifer Jones, M.S.

Spheroids and organoids are two words that, like “butter” and “margarine”, are often referred to interchangeably but have distinct meanings. The progression and adoption of three-dimensional (3D) cell culture models, such as spheroids and organoids, from traditional two-dimensional (2D) cell culture has helped researchers to better understand complex...

RSV and Influenza Viruses Take Center Stage as Early Infections Spike This Year

Friday, February 24, 2023 - 15:13
Influenza virus and RSV graphic Banner.

By Victoria Osinski, PhD

As our daily routines shift away from those of the peak pandemic days in 2020 and 2021, you may have found yourself or others getting sick a little more often this fall and winter. In November 2022, The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) Health Alert Network released a health advisory reporting increased respiratory virus activity. The frequency of infections and hospitalizations, especially amongst children, were higher than years prior and the CDC found increased incidence of both...

Post-COVID Conditions or Long COVID and COVID Long-Haulers

Thursday, December 22, 2022 - 13:12
COVID-19 Virus Banner.

By Jamshed Arslan, Pharm D, PhD

 

Post-acute infection syndrome (PAIS) is a phenomenon where ill effects of an infection persist even after the infection itself is over. PAIS in the case of COVID is called the long COVID or post-COVID conditions (PCC): sequelae of

Conventional Flow Cytometry vs. Spectral Flow Cytometry

Monday, November 14, 2022 - 11:17
Flow cytometry graphic banner

By Hunter Martinez

 

The flow cytometer is a critical piece of equipment in any immunologist’s arsenal. Flow cytometry allows for the acquisition of 4-6x105 cells per minute, each resolved at the single cell level. Scientists can interrogate protein, gene expression, as well as metabolic state of a cell using a flow cytometer.

 

The Basics of Cytometry

A cytometer accomplishes this feat using the principle of fluorescence. Fluorescence occurs when light from a laser is absorbed by a fluorophore, and then emitted as longer wavelength light or lower...

Is Monkeypox Still A Threat?

Monday, October 24, 2022 - 08:15
Monkeypox Graphic Banner.

By Jamshed Arslan, Pharm D, PhD

 

Monkeypox is not deadly like its cousin, smallpox, nor is it as contagious as COVID-19. Yet, it continues to scare the world. In May 2022, a multinational outbreak of a contagious pox (rupture of skin and mucous membrane) was in the news and by July 23, 2022, the World Health Organization (WHO) had declared monkeypox a “public health emergency of international concern”. People’s memory of fatal but now eradicated...

NPC1: A Potential Target For Triple-Negative Breast Cancer

Wednesday, October 5, 2022 - 09:15
Immunocytochemical analysis of NPC1 in HeLa cells.

By Natalia Gurule, PhD

 

Breast Cancer is a Heterogeneous Disease

Breast cancer is the most frequently identified malignancy in women, accounting for 30% of diagnosed cases of cancer in women in the US annually.1 Although it is so prevalent, 70-80% of patients with early stage, non-metastatic disease experience cures. By contrast, the 5-year survival rate for metastatic breast cancer is 29%.2 Molecularly, breast cancer can be separated into 5 subtypes: Luminal A, Luminal B, Luminal B-like, HER2+, and Triple-...

IRE1α Regulates Dendritic Cell Function in Response to Viral Infection

Friday, September 9, 2022 - 11:16
Immunohistochemical analysis of IRE1 alpha in human epididymis.

By Natalia Gurule, PhD

 

What is IRE1 alpha?

Inositol- requiring enzyme type 1 alpha (IRE1α) is a serine/threonine kinase that is one of the three transducers within the unfolded protein response (UPR) signaling pathway which becomes activated upon accumulation of misfolded proteins within the endoplasmic reticulum (ER).1 IRE1α contains two...

The NLRP3 Inflammasome: Macrophage Activator & Pathology Driver

Monday, August 22, 2022 - 14:03
R&D Systems Inflammasome activation pathway banner.

By Victoria Osinski, PhD

What is the NLRP3 Inflammasome?

With its critical role in innate immunity, the nucleotide-binding oligomerization domain-like receptor family, pyrin domain containing 3 (NLRP3) inflammasome is a sensor complex within cells that forms in response to endogenous danger signals, microbial motifs, and other environmental cues. The complex is made up of a sensor (NLRP3), an adaptor called the adaptor protein apoptosis-associated speck-like protein containing a caspase-recruitment domain...

Dual ISH-IHC: Better Together

Friday, July 15, 2022 - 13:08
Bio-Techne RNAscope ISH Banner.

By Jamshed Arslan, Pharm D, PhD

 

What is Dual ISH-IHC?

On their own, both

Good Things Come in Small Packages: The Power of LlaMABody-Camelid Antibodies

Friday, June 3, 2022 - 15:21
Banner image of llamas for LLaMABody product line.

By Jennifer Jones, M.S.

When you think of antibody producing animals in the lab you probably think of rabbits, mice, goats, and rats. But what about llamas? Llamas probably aren’t the first animal, or even the fifth animal, that comes to mind when you think of antibody generation, but they’ve recently garnered a lot of attention for their potential to treat COVID-19 through neutralization of the SARS-CoV-2 virus.1 Additionally, they’ve shown potential in combatting other...

Epigenetics of Depression: How Can Psychological Stress Alter Your DNA?

Wednesday, May 18, 2022 - 08:59
Banner schematic showing epigenetic modification targeting DNA.

By Emily Cartwright, PhD

How Can Psychological Stress Alter Your DNA?

Traumatic events, work demands, relationship conflicts, and health problems are all examples of psychological stressors that can result in physiological changes including increased cortisol and adrenaline levels. This change in gene expression manifests in physical symptoms such as increased heart rate, blood pressure, headaches, fatigue, muscle pain, and insomnia. In addition to changing gene expression in the short term, psychological stress can impart lasting changes to your DNA by modifying the epigenome.

...

Hypoxia-Dependent CAR Stabilizing Construct in T cells Improves Solid Tumor Targeting and Efficacy

Monday, April 11, 2022 - 08:54
Banner image showing a chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cell.

By Victoria Osinski, PhD

Despite advances in the development of cancer immunotherapies, those specifically targeting tumors still remains limited. Currently, there is great interest in utilizing chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cell therapies: a strategy that utilizes patients’ T cells and genetically engineers them to produce a T cell receptor to mount an attack against cancer cells. While CAR T cells can effectively kill cancer cells in tumors, they often come with off-tumor effects because these CARs’ target antigens are found endogenously in the body....

Tired T cells: Hypoxia Drives T cell Exhaustion in the Tumor Microenvironment

Monday, March 14, 2022 - 09:22
Banner image showing cancer cells in hypoxic conditions.

By Hunter Martinez

The paradigm shifting view of the immune system being leveraged to target cancer has led to numerous therapeutic breakthroughs. One major cell group responsible for this revelation is a T cell. T cells functioning in fighting cancer can become tired or “exhausted”.  T cell exhaustion is a state of cellular dysfunction resulting from repeated stimulation and chronic exposure to...

Synthetic Biotic Medicine as Immunotherapy Against Cancer: Evidence From Arginine-Producing Engineered Bacteria

Tuesday, February 1, 2022 - 09:12
3D banner image showing example of pathogenic bacteria.

By Jamshed Arslan, Pharm D, PhD

What do nuts, dairy and red meat have in common? In addition to the fact that they are all edible, one of the answers is L-arginine. This amino acid improves T cell’s response against tumor cells, which typically have low concentration of L-arginine. Increasing L-arginine intra-tumorally, in turn, increases the effect of immunotherapy drugs called immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs). To understand ICIs, consider two examples of...

Immune Cell Metabolic Flux Influences Type I Diabetes

Friday, December 17, 2021 - 09:01
Banner image showing mitochondrion and metabolic pathways and targets, from Tocris.

By Hunter Martinez

What is Immunometabolism?

It is well established that abnormal metabolic environments can be a risk factor for disease development. One characteristic example is the role of dyslipidemia (high levels of lipids) in development of

Harnessing Natural Killer Cell Activity for Anti-Tumor Immunotherapy

Wednesday, November 24, 2021 - 09:34
Banner image showing the workflow for Natural Killer (NK) cells.

By Victoria Osinski, PhD

What’s “Natural” About Natural Killer (NK) Cells?

For immunologists, the term cytotoxicity often conjures up images of an army of antigen specific CD8+ T cells deploying to find and kill their target cells. However, natural killer (NK) cells are a distinct subset of cytotoxic immune lymphoid cells with both innate and adaptive immune functions. Innate functions are first-...

Understanding ‘Y’ in Breast Cancer: Crucial Role of DNA/RNA-binding Protein YB-1 in the Development, Pre-Invasive, and Metastatic Phases

Thursday, October 21, 2021 - 10:08
Akt expression in immersion fixed MDA-MB-231 breast cancer cell line using Mouse Anti-Akt Monoclonal Antibody and stained with NorthernLights 557-conjugated IgG Secondary Antibody.

Jamshed Arslan, Pharm D, PhD

In the United States, 1 in 8 women will be diagnosed with breast cancer in her lifetime.1 Despite the prevalence, cancer genesis is a mystery. The heterogeneity of cancers makes it difficult to study the precise mechanism of breast cancer development in vivo. Yet, research has shown that...

Successful Transplantation of Friedreich Ataxia Induced Pluripotent Stem Cell (iPSC)-Derived Sensory Neurons in Dorsal Root Ganglia of Adult Rodents

Thursday, October 7, 2021 - 15:31
3D rendering of neuronal induced pluripotent stem cells as a banner image.

Jamshed Arslan, Pharm D, PhD

The dorsal root ganglia (DRG) are a collection of cell bodies of sensory nerves carrying sensory information – including nociception, mechanoreception and proprioception – from peripheral nervous system (PNS) to the central nervous system (CNS). Degeneration of DRG, as observed in the autosomal recessive disease Friedreich ataxia (FRDA), manifests physiologically as impaired speech, difficulty walking, and loss of sensation in arms and legs. To mitigate FRDA, cell replacement therapy (CRT), such as...

Taking Biomarker Discovery From 2D to 3D: Increased Biological Activity of EVs Isolated From 3D Prostate Cancer Cultures

Friday, September 24, 2021 - 10:03
3D rendering of extracellular vesicles released from cells as a banner image.

Jamshed Arslan, Pharm D, PhD

Tissues within the human body are made of a three-dimensional (3D) arrangement of cells working together to perform vital functions. The commonly used 2D monolayer cultures have limited expandability and cell-cell communication, making them less relevant to human physiology. By contrast, in 3D cultures, such as spheroids or organoids, cells can easily permeate through the scaffold allowing the cells to stretch out and have...

Using CometChip to Characterize Extracellular Regulators of DNA Repair: Does CD73 Levels in Cancer Cells Affect DNA Repair by Regulating Levels of Intracellular NAD+?

Thursday, August 26, 2021 - 11:50
3D rendering of CometChip as a banner image.

By Natalia Gurule, PhD

 

Historically, DNA repair pathways have been viewed from a tumor cell centric vantage point. Currently, the tumor microenvironment (TME) is recognized as having the potential to be a source of components that can participate in how a cancer cell responds to DNA damage. Within the TME, there are metabolites that can promote tumor cell growth and modulate immune cell...

Staufen1 Overabundance and the Consequent mTOR Hyperactivity in Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, Spinocerebellar Ataxia Type 2, Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, and Huntington’s Diseases

Thursday, August 12, 2021 - 15:24
3D rendering of neurons as a banner image.

Jamshed Arslan, Pharm D, PhD

Neurodegenerative disorders involve loss of function and, ultimately, death of neurons. Selective neuronal vulnerability has been observed in a variety of neurodegenerative diseases. For example, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and spinocerebellar ataxia type 2 (SCA2) attack motor neurons, while Alzheimer’s disease (AD),...

Early T cell response is associated with mild COVID-19 and rapid SARS-CoV-2 clearance

Thursday, July 29, 2021 - 10:10
3D rendering of T cells as a banner image.

Jamshed Arslan, Pharm D, PhD

SARS-CoV-2 induces both humoral and cellular immunity. A vaccine or natural infection invokes SARS-CoV-2-specific humoral components (antibodies from activated B cells) and cellular response (CD4+, CD8+ T cells) that can protect against subsequent infections. Following SARS-CoV-2 infection, the levels of...

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