Over the years, the perception of inflammatory diseases has changed drastically. The advent of cytokine inhibitors meant great improvement to many patients, especially those suffering from rheumatoid arthritis. However, these treatments remain symptomatic. Together with Janssen Pharmaceutica, world-renowned rheumatologist Lars Klareskog is ready to take the research and treatment of inflammatory joint disease to the next level.
It has long been known that exposure to microbes can play a protective role against the subsequent development of asthma. Researchers from GIGA of the University of Liège provide an explanation and propose to use this discovery to set up a strategy of cell therapy to treat asthma in humans. Their discovery is published in Immunity.
Up to 1 billion people in the world suffer from neurological disorders. Currently, many brain scans are still evaluated by visual inspection. Quantification of different biomarkers in these brain scans can improve diagnosis, patient monitoring and, eventually, patient outcome. The Leuven-based company Icometrix provides software to bring quantification of brain scans into clinical trials and clinical practice. We should stop eye-balling images of brain scans and step into the world of quantitative analysis.
Grail has vowed to change the field of cancer diagnostics via simple blood tests and ctDNA analysis. Their Big Data approach, in which the company will build an atlas of DNA found in the blood, convinced major investors, such as Bill Gates and Jeff Bezos, of the technology’s potential. A whopping $1 billion was gathered in the company’s series B financing round. Yet, do Grail and its technology deserve this huge ticket?
