July 28, 2022 | The American Heart Association hosts a six-month challenge testing heart failure and the social determinants of health; research accelerates for an NGS-based diagnostic test to identify cancer; a multi-year project enlists 10,000 people 95 and older to explore the biological and genetic underpinnings of exceptional longevity; and more. 

A 10-year collaboration agreement between Mayo Clinic and Mercy—a first-of-its-kind alliance between two large health care systems—will use the most current data science and years of de-identified patient outcomes to find diseases earlier and start patients on paths to better health more quickly. Mayo’s expertise in highly complex care and extensive investment in data science platforms, together with Mercy’s two centuries of innovative care delivery in diverse communities and vast clinical information–including more than 500 million de-identified patient encounters–will provide the opportunity to develop high-value solutions and algorithms leading to more optimal care for patients. The resulting algorithms will represent the next generation of proactive and predictive medicine to access best practices in medical care. Press release.

Synthego, the genome engineering company, announced that the company has broken ground on a 20,000-square-foot manufacturing facility designed to accelerate translational and clinical research development timelines for cell and gene therapies to as little as a year. The next-generation good manufacturing practices factory will enable Synthego to significantly expand the production of its precision gene editing tools, which support a broad panel of nucleases, and meet the needs of biopharma customers who are advancing the research and development of CRISPR-mediated gene therapies. Press release. 

Calyx, the eClinical, regulatory solutions, and services provider, announced that it entered a partnership with Qynapse, an artificial intelligence (AI) neuroimaging medical technology company. The partnership enables Calyx to deliver Qynapse’s precise and objective AI-powered neuroimaging analysis solutions, QyScore and QyPredict, to its global pharmaceutical and biotech customers to develop new medical treatments for central nervous system (CNS) disorders. Qynapse developed one of the most expansive datasets of proprietary algorithms designed to rapidly analyze and interpret brain scans, delivering more objectivity and precision for measuring drug efficacy and safety during CNS clinical trials. Press release. 

The American Heart Association and the Association of Black Cardiologists hosted a six-month data challenge in which researchers tested the relationships between heart failure, health disparities, and social and structural determinants of health. A peer review group of nearly 30 experts evaluated the results. Four teams of researchers won awards: Ambarish Pandey, M.D. (University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas), Gargya Malla, M.D., M.P.H., Ph.D. (University of Alabama at Birmingham), Jeffrey Tran, M.D. and Nancy Sweitzer, M.D., Ph.D. (University of Arizona Sarver Heart Center, Tucson, Arizona), and Vishal Rao, M.D., M.P.H. (Duke University Medical Center, Durham, North Carolina) and Melissa Caughey, Ph.D. (University of North Carolina–Chapel Hill). The research findings from all the winning studies are currently under consideration for publication in peer-reviewed scientific journals and are not yet publicly available. Press release. 

DNAnexus and Twist Bioscience Corporation announced a collaboration to accelerate research in designing, validating, and commercializing new, high-quality, next-generation sequencing (NGS)-based diagnostic tests. As part of the collaboration, Twist customers can use the integrated DNAnexus platform with Twist’s NGS Methylation Detection System and Unique Molecular Identifier (UMI) Adapter System to simplify data analysis after sequencing. The Twist NGS Methylation Detection System provides robust sample preparation and target enrichment solutions for identifying methylated regions in the human genome and uses extremely sensitive hybridization capture-based technology that can integrate into diagnostic tests. The Twist UMI Adapter System detects low-frequency variants in low-input sample sources such as cell-free DNA and can be used to enable cancer research. The DNAnexus platform allows users to easily explore and analyze complex datasets in a single, scalable, cloud-based environment. Press release. 

AiCure, an artificial intelligence (AI) and advanced data analytics company, announced that the DHA PTSD-DT Program would deploy AiCure's AI platform in its post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) adaptive platform trial to evaluate the efficacy of multiple PTSD treatments in both active service members and veterans. The trial aims to develop a precision medicine approach based on a patient's unique biological and clinical characteristics. By optimizing personalized treatment matching, the PTSD-DT Program and AiCure aim to improve service members' quality of life and maintain troop readiness while informing the development of future therapies. Press release. 

Cancer Research UK recently joined the UK Health Data Research Alliance. It will work in partnership with some of the UK’s leading health and research organizations to maximize opportunities for trustworthy use and sharing of data for research and development. Seventy members of the alliance will work to create consistent standards, create more transparency on available datasets, and shape regulations on the ethical use of health data at scale. As part of its membership, Cancer Research UK–and its innovation engine Cancer Research Horizons–will make information on datasets available on the Health Data Research Innovation Gateway, the UK’s portal for discovering and accessing health data. Press release. 

HRH The Duchess of Gloucester officially opened the Heart and Lung Research Institute, a major new addition to the Cambridge Biomedical Campus. The institute is a joint venture between the University of Cambridge and Royal Papworth Hospital NHS Foundation Trust. The institute has set an ambitious target of developing at least ten new drugs or diagnostic approaches for heart and lung diseases within five years. Over 380 researchers and clinicians will be located across various facilities, including the British Heart Foundation Cambridge Centre for Cardiovascular Research Excellence, Cystic Fibrosis Trust Innovation Hub, Wolfson Lung Injury Unit, and a clinical research facility due to open later this year. Press release. 

Insilico Medicine announced that the company identified multiple unreported potential therapeutic targets for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) using its proprietary AI-driven target discovery engine, PandaOmics. The research was in collaboration with Answer ALS, the largest and most comprehensive ALS research project. PandaOmics helped analyze the expression profiles of central nervous system (CNS) samples from public datasets and direct induced pluripotent stem cell-derived motor neurons (diMN) from Answer ALS. As a result, the team identified twenty-eight targets from CNS and diMN samples; suppression moderately or strongly rescued neurodegeneration for 18 targets (64%). Press release. 

The Terasaki Institute for Biomedical Innovation (TIBI) formally signed a collaborative agreement with San Francisco-based Openwater. TIBI fosters personalized medicine with its scientific research platforms for physiological models, devices, implants, cells, biomaterials, and nutrition. Openwater offers extensive resources, including ultrasonic systems, to produce medical imaging technologies. Openwater’s collaborative effort with TIBI will construct in vitro tissue models that closely mimic human tissue systems in the body. The project's success may lead to the development of therapeutic applications such as personalized medical treatments, high-throughput platforms for drug screening, and novel therapies. Press release. 

A research group from Turku Bioscience Centre in Finland developed a new method for studying microbiota through metaproteomics for human health, disease prediction, prevention, and treatment. The technique is a new mass spectrometry-based approach, which enables extensive studying of protein levels in complex microbiota samples. It utilizes the latest mass spectrometry technology and advanced computational methods, enabling significantly better coverage and reproducibility of the results. The computational approach has been published as open-source software and is freely accessible to the research community. Press release. 

Bruker Corporation launched PhenoRisk PACS RuO, a research-use-only nuclear magnetic resonance test for molecular phenomics research on post-acute COVID syndrome (PACS)–or “long COVID” patients. It uses a multiplexed combination of biomarkers discovered at the Australian National Phenome Center at Murdoch University. The PhenoRisk PACS RuO test characterizes metabolic and proteomic biomarkers of SARS-CoV-2 pathobiology, even in asymptomatic acute COVID cases, thereby enabling multi-organ risk assessment, recovery, and therapeutic research in multiple long COVID dysfunctions. The test also quantifies composite signals for groups of glycoproteins and phospholipids, indicating inflammation and cardiovascular disease risk. Press release. 

University of Essex researchers are investigating the genetic differences underpinning the higher prostate cancer rates in Black men. The project was funded as part of Prostate Cancer Research’s program addressing the health inequalities in prostate cancer. For example, black men are twice as likely to be diagnosed with prostate cancer than White men and 2.5 times more likely to die from the disease. The researchers will investigate a specific DNA code that only exists in about 50% of Black men, which may increase prostate cancer risk. The project will expand on this to look for other DNA code differences between ethnicities. Press release. 

Aarhus University's Centre for Ear-ElectroEncephaloGraphy (ear-EEG) developed a technology that can monitor an astronaut’s sleep non-invasively and discreetly. The project, Sleep in Orbit, will examine the differences between sleep patterns on earth and in space by using ear-EEG-based sleep monitoring to ensure the best possible living and working conditions for astronauts. The ear-EEG is a small apparatus placed in the ear to measure tiny voltage changes on the skin's surface caused by electrical activity in the brain's neurons. The technology will travel to the International Space Station. Press release. 

In collaboration with the Boston University College of Medicine, the American Federation for Aging Research and Albert Einstein College of Medicine launched a multi-year project dubbed the SuperAgers Initiative. This effort will enlist the help of 10,000 people, 95 and older, with their family members–the largest group assembled–to explore the biological and genetic underpinnings of exceptional longevity. Members of this SuperAgers Community may be eligible to join the SuperAgers Family Study, a research effort to find the combination of genes and biology that creates exceptionally long lives. The findings should help develop new therapies targeting the aging process while simultaneously addressing multiple age-related diseases and conditions. Press release. 

Care Access announced the acquisition of Instituto Brasil de Pesquisa Clínica (IBPClin), a clinical trial center in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, as the first step in bringing its decentralized clinical trial delivery model to Latin America, where hard-to-reach, underserved, and traditionally underrepresented communities would gain unprecedented access to clinical trials. Care Access has pioneered a unique clinical trial delivery model through a mobile research infrastructure, traveling clinical professionals, and virtual investigators. The acquisition of IBPClin, one of the largest research centers in Latin America, is the first of many steps that pave the path towards global decentralized trial delivery and achieve results on dramatically faster timelines. Press release. 

Curavit Clinical Research, a virtual contract research organization, has been selected by digital therapeutics (DTx) company Swing Therapeutics to be a virtual site for its pivotal trial of an investigational digital therapeutic for fibromyalgia. Curavit will remotely recruit, screen, consent, and enroll participants in Swing’s PROSPER-FM randomized clinical trial across the United States. By eliminating physical and geographic barriers to trial participation and execution, Curavit can scale quickly and improve patient enrollment by at least 10x over a traditional trial. There are no physical logistics with a DTx–no shipping, storing, chain of control, cold storage, or biohazards and endpoints can often be captured within the DTx application itself, naturally aligning decentralized clinical trials with DTx studies. Press release.