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IMAGE: A nurse tests students for COVID-19 as they arrive on the UC San Diego campus. view more
Credit: Erik Jepsen/UC San Diego
University of California San Diego was awarded five Rapid Acceleration of Diagnostics (RADx) projects by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), totaling nearly $33 million over four years. The purpose of the RADx initiative is to speed innovation in the development, commercialization and implementation of technologies for COVID-19 testing.
There are several programs within the RADx initiative, including the RADx Underserved Populations (RADx-UP) program, which funds projects aimed at understanding why some communities are disproportionately affected by COVID-19 and reducing the factors associated with these disparities, and the RADx Radical (RADx-rad) program, which supports innovative approaches to addressing gaps in COVID-19 testing.
UC San Diego receives $33 million from NIH for five COVID-19 diagnostic projects
University of California San Diego was awarded five Rapid Acceleration of Diagnostics (RADx) projects by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), totaling nearly $33 million over four years. The purpose of the RADx initiative is to speed innovation in the development, commercialization and implementation of technologies for COVID-19 testing.
There are several programs within the RADx initiative, including the RADx Underserved Populations (RADx-UP) program, which funds projects aimed at understanding why some communities are disproportionately affected by COVID-19 and reducing the factors associated with these disparities, and the RADx Radical (RADx-rad) program, which supports innovative approaches to addressing gaps in COVID-19 testing.
Designer DNA Helps Treat Multiple Myeloma in Mice by Angela Mohan on January 21, 2021 at 12:20 PM
Targeted approach helps to treat myeloma by silencing IRF4, a gene that allows myeloma stem cells and tumor cells to proliferate and survive.
Past studies have shown that high IRF4 levels are associated with lower overall survival rates for patients with the disease, as per the team of researchers at University of California San Diego School of Medicine and Ionis Pharmaceuticals.
Many patients with multiple myeloma, a type of blood cancer, eventually develop resistance to one treatment after another. That s in part because cancer stem cells drive the disease cells that continually self-renew. If a therapy can t completely destroy these malignant stem cells, the cancer is likely to keep coming back.
Antisense Oligo Targets IRF4 Gene to Treat Multiple Myeloma
Source: OGphoto/Getty Images
January 21, 2021
Scientists at the University of California San Diego School of Medicine and Ionis Pharmaceuticals are taking a new, targeted approach to the treatment of myeloma: silencing IRF4, a gene that allows myeloma stem cells and tumor cells to proliferate and survive. Past studies have shown that high IRF4 levels are associated with lower overall survival rates for patients with the disease.
Cell Stem Cell, the team reports on their work which involved inhibiting IRF4 with an antisense oligonucleotide, an engineered piece of DNA specifically designed to bind the genetic material coding for IRF4, causing it to degrade. The oligonucleotide, an investigational antisense medicine developed by Ionis and known as ION251, lowered disease burden, reduced myeloma stem cell abundance, and increased survival of mice bearing human myeloma, according to preclinical study data.
Many patients with multiple myeloma, a type of blood cancer, eventually develop resistance to one treatment after another. That's in part because cancer stem cells drive the disease cells that continually self-renew. If a therapy can't completely destroy these malignant stem cells, the cancer is likely to keep coming back.