The Children's Hospital of Orange County has received a $30 million estate gift from the late Robert L. Tidwell, the largest gift in its history. The donation will be allocated towards CHOC's 'Change CHOC, Change the World' campaign, which aims to make Orange County one of the safest and healthiest places for children in the nation.
A recent clinical study has shown that patient-specific vaccines can sometimes induce durable complete regression of progressing soft-tissue melanoma metastases. The vaccine was found to be effective in one particular patient who remained in complete remission for over two years, more than four years after her initial diagnosis.
The pivotal trial data demonstrate that the RNS System significantly reduced seizure frequency among people with medically intractable partial onset epilepsy. The device delivered brief and mild electrical stimulations to suppress seizures, with a mean percentage reduction of 29% in disabling seizures.
A Vaxfectin-formulated measles DNA vaccine has elicited protective levels of neutralizing antibodies and sterilizing immunity in juvenile and infant nonhuman primates, offering proof of concept for the technology. The vaccine showed no vaccine-related adverse events and was well-tolerated.
Invitrogen introduced its new free online scientific resource collection, iGene, allowing researchers to search for experimental reagents by gene or protein. The company also launched the Premo comeleon calcium sensor, which uses fluorescent protein color emission to detect calcium levels in live cells.
Xencor's engineered antibody Fc variants show enhanced effector functions, killing tumor cells 10 times more toxic than conventional treatments. These advancements hold promise for developing next-generation antibody therapeutics.
A Phase 1 trial of an Ebola DNA vaccine demonstrated strong immune responses in all fully vaccinated volunteers. The vaccine, developed by Vical, was well-tolerated and showed effectiveness against Ebola-specific antibodies.
Kereos is developing a nanotechnology program to diagnose and treat cancer, detecting solid tumors as small as 1-2 mm. The technology can deliver high concentrations of chemotherapeutic agents to tumors with low standard doses.