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Molecule(s) of the year
Inspired by Time's Man of the Year the AAAS journal Science used to give out an annual Molecule of the Year award. The award was renamed Breakthrough of the Year in 1996. Last December AAAS announced that for 2020 Breakthrough of the Year was “vaccines against...
San Diego #5 US Biopharma Cluster in 2020
A list of the ten top ranking biopharmaceutical clusters in the US was recently compiled by Genetic Engineering News. The list is based on available 2020 data for NIH funding, venture capital funding, patents, lab space and jobs. San Diego made #5 of the list. Yay!...
Honoring our friend and mentor, Ralph Reisfeld
Our dear friend and mentor, Ralph, passed in December after a long and fruitful life in science. Ralph leaves an important legacy as a pioneer in cancer immunotherapy and as a valued mentor, colleague and friend to many. We will miss him very much and want to share an...
Status of COVID vaccine approvals and trials
Wanted to share this interesting compilation of the updated status of COVID vaccines world-wide. Published and updated February 5 by Jef Akst in The Scientist.
Somatek looks back at 2020
It goes without saying, 2020 was a year with major challenges and disruptions. However, it was also a year of growth and new opportunities for the biotechnology industry and for Somatek. In the summer of 2020, Somatek moved into newly renovated laboratory facilities...
HAPPY 2021
Somatek wishes all its clients, colleagues, associates and friends a very happy and healthy New Year!!
Cold chain is a hot topic among investors
The Pfizer and BioNTech vaccine against COVID-19 received an emergency use authorization from the FDA last Friday, and thousands of doses are being rolled out across the country this week. But the vaccine, which must be stored at between -80 and -60 degrees Celsius, necessitates the utilization of a “cold chain” to keep it within this temperature range from the moment it leaves the manufacturing site to just before it is administered to a patient.
Positive but perplexing results from Oxford/AstraZeneca COVID vaccine trial
The University of Oxford’s COVID-19 vaccine candidate, developed in partnership with the biotech AstraZeneca, is the third vaccine this week to publicize promising data from its clinical trials. And, in a surprising twist, it appears that a lower dose of the vaccine does a better job at protecting participants from COVID than a higher dose.
Pfizer reports coronavirus vaccine with more than 90% efficacy
In what could prove to be a turning point in the fight against COVID-19, U.S. pharmaceutical giant Pfizer and German biotech company BioNTech announced yesterday that one of their coronavirus vaccines is more than 90% effective at preventing the viral disease, according to new data from its Phase III trial. They are predicting that they will have the requisite safety data for an Emergency Use Authorization from the FDA before the end of the month.
Chronic jet lag deregulates cancer cell microenvironment
Mounting evidence suggests that good sleep is critical to many aspects of our health. Circadian rhythms regulate the sleep-wake cycle in everything from mammals to fruit flies to plants, and keeps them synced up to the 24-hour cycle of the Earth’s rotation. In humans, circadian rhythms can be disrupted by chronic jet lag and shift work. New research indicates that disrupting these rhythms has negative consequences for both tumor size and microenvironment in mice.