Jonathan Smith, Author at Labiotech.eu

About

Reporter for Labiotech. I hail from the UK. I was born in Bristol, studied Neuroscience in the University of Bristol, and trained mice in Eisai, Hertfordshire, for one year. I then tickled locusts for my Ph.D. at the University of Leicester, before eventually ending up here!
Out of the office, I travel, play video games and board games, drink beer and play the piano.

Articles by Jonathan Smith

Startup Scout 18 Jan 2019

This Biotech Turns Rejected Organs Into Drug Testing Models

Engitix, a spinout from University College London, makes accurate disease models from human tissue that include the extracellular matrix from outside of the cells, an often overlooked but essential factor in the way cells behave inside our bodies. Mission: To make disease models in the lab that include the extracellular matrix, making them more […]

January 18, 2019 - 4 minutesmins - By Jonathan Smith

News and Trends 17 Jan 2019

Scientists Create Prosthetic Ears Using 3D Bioprinting

Swiss researchers are developing cellulose-based materials for 3D bioprinting, which could lead to implants such as prosthetic ears. 3D-printed implants have big potential in the field of regenerative medicine. Although still at an early stage, this technology is enabling the development of customized prosthetics, such as skin and joint cartilage. One big focus in […]

January 17, 2019 - 3 minutesmins - By Jonathan Smith

sanofi biomunex cancer therapy bispecific antibodies 1

News and Trends 15 Jan 2019

Sanofi Obtains License for French Company’s Antibody Engineering Platform

Sanofi has signed a licensing deal with French biotech Biomunex, whose antibody technology has the potential to develop new immunotherapy treatments for cancer and infectious diseases. Sanofi will give Biomunex an upfront payment, along with further installments upon achieving key development milestones. The amounts have not been disclosed. Biomunex is able to make a wide variety […]

January 15, 2019 - 2 minutesmins - By Jonathan Smith

picometrics technologies Huntingtons disease neuron

News and Trends 15 Jan 2019

Huntington’s Could Be Diagnosed in Five Minutes With This Lab-on-a-Chip

Using a lab-on-a-chip device, Swiss scientists have found a way to diagnose the neurodegenerative condition Huntington’s disease from DNA in the blood in just five minutes, rather than the five hours currently required. When carrying out the diagnosis of Huntington’s patients, the patient’s DNA is typically extracted from white blood cells. Regions of the […]

January 15, 2019 - 2 minutesmins - By Jonathan Smith

More News! 14 Jan 2019

Inhaled Lung Disease Treatment Encounters Mixed Results in Phase II Trial

An inhaled drug from British company Verona Pharma has failed to significantly improve lung function in patients with the lung disease chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, though it did produce some benefits. The 79 patients in the phase II trial suffered from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, a condition where inflammation in the lungs restricts the airways […]

January 14, 2019 - 3 minutesmins - By Jonathan Smith

News and Trends 14 Jan 2019

Update: French Biotech Considers Takeover After Failed Leukemia Drug Trial

Update (14/01/2019): An anonymous French company on Euronext has made an offer to take over Hybrigenics Pharma. This takeover bid could be good news for Hybrigenics, which has been planning to dissolve the company after the failed Phase II trial of its only candidate, a treatment for acute myeloid leukemia. The financial details of the offer […]

January 14, 2019 - 2 minutesmins - By Jonathan Smith

Startup Scout 11 Jan 2019

This Company Automates Cancer Research from Bench to Bar Charts

In the academic city of Oxford, UK, the company Arctoris is working to make life easier for cancer lab researchers, letting them ‘order’ experiments online using its robotic facilities and data analysis tools. Mission: To cut down researchers’ workloads by automating cellular, molecular, and data analysis techniques in cancer research. As any molecular biologist will […]

January 11, 2019 - 3 minutesmins - By Jonathan Smith

pixium vision retinal implant dry age related macular degeneration

News and Trends 10 Jan 2019

This Retinal Implant Lets Visually-Impaired Patients See Patterns

An electronic chip from French company Pixium Vision, inserted behind the retina to treat age-related macular degeneration, has shown excellent results in a small clinical trial. The five patients in the feasibility study suffered from dry age-related macular degeneration, the most common cause of visual impairment in people over 65 in Europe. In this incurable […]

January 10, 2019 - 3 minutesmins - By Jonathan Smith

amryt skin gene therapy epidermolysis bullosa

News and Trends 8 Jan 2019

Topical Gene Therapy Shows Early Promise for Inherited Skin Disease

A gene therapy applied to the skin, developed by UK company Amryt Pharma, showed positive preclinical results for the treatment of a rare genetic skin disease. The disease, called recessive dystrophic epidermolysis bullosa (RDEB), is one of a group of diseases in which sufferers have mutations in proteins vital to the integrity of the […]

January 8, 2019 - 3 minutesmins - By Jonathan Smith

News and Trends 7 Jan 2019

Sanofi Invests €80M in mRNA Cancer Vaccine Company

Sanofi is to make an €80M equity investment in the German biotech BioNTech, and the two have agreed to co-develop a cancer vaccine based on injecting messenger RNA into solid tumors. This agreement is an extension of Sanofi and BioNTech’s collaboration, which began in 2015. The two companies will continue to co-develop and co-commercialize a candidate […]

January 7, 2019 - 3 minutesmins - By Jonathan Smith

Best in Biotech 31 Dec 2018

European Biotech’s Biggest News of 2018

With this year coming to a close, it’s now time to look back at the biggest biotech news stories of 2018 in Europe, which include CRISPR-Cas9 controversy, big financial deals, and spider silk airplanes. The year 2018 brought a lot of change to the biotech industry in Europe, with clinical trials, approvals and Brexit […]

December 31, 2018 - 12 minutesmins - By Jonathan Smith

News and Trends 19 Dec 2018

Could We Use CRISPR to Light up Future Christmas Trees?

Scientists in the UK have proposed a way to make bioluminescent Christmas trees using the gene editing tool CRISPR-Cas9. CRISPR-Cas9 is a revolutionary gene editing tool that makes it easier to edit the genome. For this reason, it is now a standard tool in research and development centers worldwide, and companies such as the German chemical […]

December 19, 2018 - 2 minutesmins - By Jonathan Smith

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