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Author: Alexandra Narin

Disease Modeling

Whitepaper: What is IND?

As personalized medicine and the discovery of de novo variants that cause disease continue to grow, researchers are increasingly in need of alternative models

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Disease Modeling

For Studying Host-Microbe Interactions, Why Choose Zebrafish?

Gut microbiota impacts nearly every aspect of health, but researching it can be tricky due to differences between humans and commonly used model organisms, as well as interindividual variability in humans. A relatively new model, zebrafish have become a gold-standard model for biomedical research, and are especially used to study host-microbe interactions. In this article we will discuss zebrafish’s contribution to recent microbiota research and the features that make them particularly well-suited for studying the host-microbe interactions.

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Microbiome

Is our Brain Health Reliant on our Gut?

In this article we will discuss the collection of new gut-brain publications, and how their findings could influence the approach and treatment of neurodegenerative diseases such as Multiple Sclerosis (MS).

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Gene Editing

The ABCs of Genetic Research

Here at InVivo Biosystems we spend a lot of time thinking, and talking, about genome editing. We thought it would be fun to compile a list of our frequently used terms – so here they are, our ABCs of genetic research.

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turmeric feature image
Nutraceuticals

Why Turmeric? Separating the Credible from the Con

Turmeric has become a buzzword in the health community, its market size growing immensely in the past few years: approximately doubling from $50.3 million in 2017 to $97 million in 2020, and is expected to continue this growth, jumping to $191.89 million by 2028 (Grand View Research, 2021; Schultz, 2021). But what separates turmeric from other health fads like the routinely debunked ‘celery juice detox’ trend?

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View from the Bench

Tips and Tricks for Successful Worm Picking

When working with C. elegans it is vital that you can deftly handle them. Worm picking, however, is a skill where practice makes perfect. At InVivo Biosystems, we have been working with C. elegans for more than 8 years, and our scientists will share some of their tips and tricks for worm picking in this article. Read on!

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Drug Discovery

From ED to AD: a drug repurposing success? How a performance-enhancing drug is giving insight into dementia

Recently, researchers at Cleveland Clinic’s Genomic Medicine Institute published an article in Nature Aging which has caused quite a stir in the medical community and media – in the article these researchers report that an analysis of over 7 million people, spanning six years, found that those taking the Erectile dysfunction (ED) drug sildenafil (marketed as Viagra) were 69% less likely to develop Alzheimer’s disease (AD). This being said, there are some important caveats to this study – and so, although media reports on this study include lines such as “the little blue pill could soon be prescribed to tackle dementia”, more realistic implications should be the takeaway (but not less exciting!).

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News & Announcements

COVID-19’s Impact on Working Parents

While the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted us all, it isn’t a mystery that it has disproportionately impacted parents who have faced added stress, work-from-home situations, and unpredictable school / daycare closures. A recent article in Science stressed that the pandemic was particularly disruptive for parents working in a scientific field, and that these effects would be felt for years into the future – as it takes approximately three years for research to go from the concept-stage to publication. Here at InVivo Biosystems our parents are reflecting on the challenges and triumphs they have faced over the last two years.

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Disease Modeling

How Probiotics are Being Used to Combat COVID-19

Beyond research into vaccines and traditional therapeutics, the medical community is exploring other ways of helping to prevent, and reduce, symptoms of COVID-19. One promising supplement is a common probiotic. In this article we will discuss the studies that have been conducted, their findings, and answer the question: who could benefit from taking probiotics?

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17 Minutes of Science

A Look Back: Sharing Some of our Customer’s Successes

As we enter 2022, we are reflecting on the exciting projects we’ve been involved with over the past few years, and the engrossing conversations we’ve had. To hear full-length versions of these conversations check out our 17 Minutes of Science podcast page.

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Drug Discovery

The In (vitro, vivo, silico)s and Outs of Research

Experiments fall into three categories – in vivo, in vitro, and in silico studies, and all of them have a different, but important role in research. This article will give a brief definition of each category and an overview of their research applications.

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Drug Discovery

The Discrepancy Between Sexes: Clinical Models & Clinical Trials

Pharmaceutical drugs go through a rigorous process that tests their safety and efficacy before gaining FDA approval and being put on the commercial market. Traditionally, preclinical trials utilize mammalian models before clinical trials are performed (mammals are considered the gold standard of trials). But are these trials serving everyone? This article will discuss the pervasive inequality between the male and female sexes in drug development and what can be done about it.

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View from the Bench

What is the new Split hygromycin method? How does it differ from MosSCI? How can we use it to help you?

In 2020 a new method of inserting transgenes into the genome of C, elegans was introduced to the field, and was quickly adopted by InVivo Biosystems. In this article we will discuss the new Split hygromycin method, how it differs from the traditional MosSCI method, and what benefits this new method has both for us in the InVivo Biosystems lab, and for our customers.

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Aging & Healthspan

The Argument for Aging as a Disease

When asked how someone died, ‘they died of old age’ is an acceptable answer – it is given as the cause, like a heart attack, stroke, or cancer. However, unlike these other answers, aging is not classified as a disease. But should it be? This article will discuss the debate over whether aging should be considered a disease, the arguments for and against such a classification, what it would mean from a clinical standpoint, and how it would transform the pharmaceutical and nutraceutical industries.

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Disease Modeling

What’s Tau Got to Do With it?

Tauopathies are a type of neurodegenerative disease which get their name from the accumulation of Tau protein that occurs in all of them; these diseases include Alzhiemer’s disease (AD), Pick’s disease, progressive supranuclear palsy, and post-encephalitic parkinsonism, and more. Although there has been a concerted effort to better understand and treat Tau protein aggregation, all tau-targeting therapeutics developed so far have failed. This lack of discovery in the field suggests a better approach is needed to understand Tau protein. In a recent paper, Giong, Subramanian, Yu & Lee (2021) make the case for non-rodent models as a way forwards.

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Drug Discovery

FDA versus FTC Approval – What is the Difference?

In this article we aim to clarify the intent behind these therapies and what their labelling means by asking: Why aren’t nutraceutical products FDA approved? How do FDA and FTC approvals compare? And — how should you market your product? What legal issues do both tracks pose?

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CRISPR

The State of Knock-ins in Zebrafish

The recent advancements of CRISPR and next-generation technology has enabled researchers to create more precise zebrafish models of human disease. This being said, knock-in (KI) techniques in zebrafish still aren’t fully optimized. In this article we discuss the current state of CRISPR-Cas9-mediated targeted knock-ins in zebrafish, and what the future holds.

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Disease Modeling

A Gene Replacement Humanization Platform for Rapid Functional Testing of Clinical Variants in Epilepsy-associated STXBP1

Mutations in the STXBP1 gene are implicated in childhood epilepsies and several neurodevelopmental disorders, however, nearly half of the STXBP1 variants recorded in the ClinVar database are Variants of Unknown Significance (VUS). In a recent publication, members of the InVivo Biosystems team discussed their work creating humanized C. elegans that expressed STXBP1 in order to classify variants as benign or pathogenic.

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Drug Discovery

How Can a Drug Get to Market Faster? Explaining the FDA’s Expedited Drug Tracks

Getting a drug to market is notoriously difficult, taking 7-10 years and costing hundreds of millions of dollars. This, coupled with the Covid-19 pandemic’s impact on clinical trials, may make you wonder whether your drug is eligible for an expedited track. In this article we will discuss the current ways of expediting drugs, and which is best for your research.

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CRISPR

What’s a Knockout, Really?

The development of CRISPR-Cas9 editing has allowed researchers to quickly create precise gene knockouts (KO), but while CRISPR-Cas9 KOs have been highly publicized, are the different methods understood? In this article we will discuss the two available methods for creating knockout models using the CRISPR-Cas9 technology: their advantages and limitations, and how they are being used in research.

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Disease Modeling

From Unknown to Known: How the Zebrafish Model is Playing a Vital Role in the Undiagnosed Diseases Network

The Undiagnosed Diseases Network brings together experts across the USA, combining clinical care and research to find diagnoses for undiagnosed patients. Zebrafish are extremely valuable disease models in this research, as they reduce the cost and speed up the process of identifying therapeutic targets. In this blog we highlight one rare disease whose mechanism was successfully identified using zebrafish.

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CRISPR

Let’s Fail Faster: Why Scientific Failures Should be Accepted as Progress

In the scientific community there is an emphasis on positive results: getting published, having a drug be approved, etc. However, crucial learning happens when experiments don’t work – in fact, these “failures” may be some of the most important learning experiences. In this article we discuss the need to shift the focus from failing less, to failing faster and some of the resources available to researchers so they can expedite their own work.

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Disease Modeling

The 3Rs of Animal Research: Are the guidelines working? How can we do better?

A common saying in science is that, “good science and good animal welfare go hand in hand.” In this article we provide an overview of the 3Rs (Replacement, Reduction and Refinement: guiding principles for the humane use of animals in research), look specifically at the UK’s well-documented implementation of them, and discuss how new techniques and technologies can continue to improve animal welfare.

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CRISPR

So What is Humanization?

Humanized animal models are becoming more widely used as new gene editing techniques become available and there is a push for a more personalized approach to medicine, but what exactly is humanization? In this article we discuss the history, the types of humanized models, and how they can be applied to your research.

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Disease Modeling

The Next Generation of Animal Models: Humanized Models

New ‘humanized models’ have the potential to revolutionize the study of clinical diseases, creating models with higher validity than more traditional models. This in turn has the power to expedite getting results from the bench to the bedside. In this article we will discuss the current state of animal models and the future that humanized models make possible; as an example, we will specifically focus on the models of Alzheimer’s Disease (AD).

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Aging & Healthspan

The Lifespan Assay Survival Kit [Whitepaper]

The nematode Caenorhabditis elegans has provided remarkable insights into the biology of aging. The precisely measurable lifespan of worms has proven to be an efficient tool to assess the impact of various genetic, physiological and environmental factors on organismal aging. Lifespan assays can be labor intensive and time consuming. In this article, we will highlight the critical considerations that could make or break your lifespan assay. Our aim is to help you interpret a variety of different procedures by emphasizing the crucial considerations to ensure the success of running a lifespan assay.

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Disease Modeling

An Updated Comparison of Common Model Organisms Part 2: Organisms for Modeling Epilepsy

According to the Epilepsy Foundation 1 in 26 people in the U.S.A will develop epilepsy at some point in their life, however, epilepsy is a very diverse condition which makes researching it especially challenging. In this blog, we will discuss the model organisms commonly used in epilepsy research, and how their characteristics act as advantages and limitations when modeling epilepsy.

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Disease Modeling

An Updated Comparison of Common Model Organisms

Model organisms are essential to experimental research, allowing researchers and scientists to address a variety of questions. While no model is perfect, some models are more suitable for investigating specific questions than others. In this blog, we provide an overview of many commonly used model organisms, and compare their advantages and limitations.

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Drug Discovery

Drug Repurposing for Neurological Disorders

Neurological disorders are extremely widespread, affecting over 1 billion people worldwide, and have debilitating effects, impacting the brain, spinal cord, cranial nerves, and peripheral nerves. Despite this, many neurological disorders lack effective treatment. One strategy that offers an attractive way to find better therapies is drug repurposing. Also known as drug reprofiling or drug repositioning, drug repurposing identifies new purposes for pre-existing compounds, and offers reduced time frames, decreased costs, and improved success rates. While drug repurposing for neurological disorders has gained attention in the past decade, it is still an underused approach. In this article we will discuss drug repurposing, its benefits, its place in neurological drug research, and its recent success.

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