Innovation Through Adversity - Stepping Towards Solutions

Challenges like low approval rate compounded by rising R&D costs have pushed the drug discovery industry into a state of urgent and constant change. Challenges like low approval rate compounded by rising R&D costs have pushed the drug discovery industry into a state of urgent and constant change. We have witnessed the shift from Zinc Finger Nuclease to CRISPR-based genome editing, in vitro models to 3D mini organs and high throughput screening to high content analysis, just to name a few developments. Knowing this, what kind of progress lies ahead? Are our future scientists going to use ‘human-on-a-chip’ technology, interconnected 3D human organs on a microfluidic chip, to develop customized drugs for individuals? Or is it possible that a merging of two completely different disease-fighting strategies such as immuno-oncology and microbiome will lead to a new one? Perhaps an ‘Oncobiome’ is just around the corner. We are excited about such innovative possibilities.

On that note, here are 8 promising picks for this month. #sparkofinnovation

1. ‘Ultimate DISCO’ (uDISCO)

Visualize a whole animal at once and see how its organs work together by shrinking the body up to 65 percent and making them transparent, with preserved key proteins made fluorescent for imaging.

2. Vmax™ Cells

Employ a fast-growing molecular biology host, Vmax™ cells, as an alternative to E. coli in protein expression, molecular cloning, and other bio-based processes.

3. ProteoCarta™ Assay for Neurodegenerative Disease

Detect and quantify over 100 CNS-associated proteins in human cerebral spinal fluid or plasma in a single multiplexed Multiple Reaction Monitoring (MRM) assay.

4. NgAgo Gene Editing System

Use Natronobacterium gregoryi Argonaute (NgAgo), a DNA-guided endonuclease, for genome editing in human cells.

5. Fluoppi - A Fluorescent Based Technology

Detect protein – protein interactions in living cells with a high signal-to-noise ratio.

6. MAP-seq - A Brain-Mapping Technique

Capture the connections between brain cells using RNA bar codes.

7. C2c2 CRISPR System

Use the RNA-targeting CRISPR to manipulate RNAs for transcript editing or translational control.

8. Hubrecht Organoid Technology

Test drugs on patient-derived organoids and create a so-called “Living Biobank” to understand why patients respond differently to different drug treatments.

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Let’s keep the conversation going — use hashtag #sparkofinnovation to join the conversation on Twitter and Facebook!