Attack on Covid-19
With Covid-19 causing havoc around the world, the biopharmaceutical industry is playing a key role in the hunt for treatments and preventative vaccines, as well as donating expertise and goods to the treatment efforts.
HIV drug targets
Between 2007 and 2017, Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania and Malawi had aimed to put 4,525,635 people living with HIV/AIDS on anti-retroviral treatment (ART), as agreed under the US President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR).
Biomedical
DNA encoded libraries (DELs) may be used on purified protein targets to find ligands that bind, but that requires a purified sample of the protein, which can be difficult to obtain. Krusmark and co-workers at Purdue have established a way to use DELs on living cells.
Sanitising Covid-19
A sudden spike in demand for hand cleaning sanitisers has triggered acute shortage in Kenya and Uganda, along with the emergence of fake sanitisers. It has also spurred government incentives to woo manufacturers to produce more of the licensed products – which in the case of Kenya should have an ethanol content of at least 60%.
Alzheimer’s biomarker
An international team of researchers has discovered a new biomarker that could be used to detect Alzheimer’s disease decades before symptoms emerge.
Advanced materials
X.-J. Wang and M. Hong have managed to identify a suitable catalyst that was able to polymerise β-angelica lactone.
Clean aviation
Despite huge turbulence from Covid-19, the aviation industry is still working towards the EU goal of reducing emissions by 75% by 2050
Immunoassay for sepsis
Nearly 50m cases of sepsis were reported in 2017 worldwide, with some 20m cases occurring in children under five years old, according to a recent report in The Lancet. Millions of people die as a result every year. Alberto Escarpa and his colleagues have now reported a proof-of-concept immunoassay using micromotors.
Quantum keys to lock down data
Modern society is dependent on data security, but rapid advances in computing technology leave present day data protection methods vulnerable to hacking. Quantum key distribution (QKD) is an encryption protocol that uses the quantum properties of light to generate secure random keys.
Different future
While the world is in virtual lockdown due to the coronavirus Covid-19, some observers are desperately looking for any welcome signs of relief from the pandemic. Whether it is the reversing of the number of deaths as the current wave passes through the population as appears to have happened in China, and may be happening in Italy, or another possible impact.