Virongy Biosciences, Inc.

06/26/2024

🌠🚨PRODUCT LAUNCH🚨🌠

In light of the ever-intensifying situation with Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza A (HPAI H5N1), the scientists at Virongy Biosciences, Inc. have developed an HPAI H5N1 clade 2.3.4.4b pseudovirus 🧬🦠 modeled after an isolate taken from the Texas dairy farm worker 🐄 who became infected with the virus in late March.

HPAI H5N1 viruses have been on the CDC's watchlist for a while now. They are particularly dangerous because they have the capability to spread from mammal-to-mammal 🐄➡️🐈. HPAI H5N1 clade 2.3.4.4b first entered the Northern Hemisphere in 2021. When it spread, it spread fast and hard. Officially classified as an outbreak, a recent article released by the CDC describes how the virus has turned fatal for cats who are drinking unpasteurized milk 🥛 from infected cows.

The article also warns about how HPAI viruses have pandemic potential🌎 Already, three dairy cattle workers have been infected in the United States - two in Michigan and one in Texas. Though their symptoms have been mild and each has since recovered, the deadly potential of these viruses have been displayed in countries like Ecuador and Chile where humans have contracted HPAI H5N1 clade 2.3.4.4b and become seriously ill 🤒

Together, we can prevent the HPAI H5N1 pandemic before it happens. Our Hybrid-Alpha HPAI H5N1 clade 2.3.4.4b Pseudoviral Neutralization Assay Kit serves as a platform for quick, easy, and reliable quantification of neutralizing antibodies, viral variants, and antiviral drugs 💊 Help us protect both humans and animals alike from HPAI H5N1 before the situation becomes out-of-hand 🛡️

Learn more about HPAI H5N1 clade 2.3.4.4b by visiting this article released by the CDC: https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/30/7/24-0508_article

Visit our product page to learn more about our new Hybrid-Alpha HPAI H5N1 clade 2.3.4.4b Pseudoviral Neutralization Assay Kit: https://virongy.com/product/influenza-a-pseudoviral-neutralization-assay-kit/

Virongy's Pseudoviral Neutralization Assay Kit offers a more robust reporter signal - rapid and robust gene expression from the alphavirus vector.

05/31/2024

🚨📰BREAKING NEWS!!!🚨📰

Yesterday, May 30th, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released a statement confirming the THIRD case of H5 Bird Flu in a human in the United States 😮 This is now the second highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) case in the state of Michigan. Like the other two cases in Michigan and Texas, the individual works on a dairy farm and was exposed to infected cows 🦠🐄

Thus far, the CDC has found one major difference between this case and the previous two: the person who contracted HPAI DID display symptoms of an upper respiratory infection. These included:

➡️ Cough 😮‍💨
➡️ Eye watering 💧
➡️ Eye discomfort 👁️

The patient was given oseltamivir, an antiviral treatment for influenza viruses, and is recovering well 🏥

Now the question is, has the CDC changed it's public human health risk assessment? 🤔

In short, no, it hasn't. The CDC stresses that these cases are sporadic. Although individuals who are frequently exposed to infected or potentially infected animals should be taking extra precautions 🧤😷, the CDC's assessment of the general public's health risk remains low.

Read more about this breaking news in the CDC's newsroom release 📰: https://www.cdc.gov/media/releases/2024/p0530-h5-human-case-michigan.html

For more breaking news, subscribe to our monthly 📅 newsletter: https://rb.gy/isydg 🧠

Press releases, advisories, telebriefings, transcripts and archives.

05/24/2024

It's 🤓

Did you know that as of March 31st, 2024, 7 countries generate 99.7% of their electric energy ⚡ from renewable sources ♻️🤯?!? These seven countries are Albania, Bhutan, Nepal, Paraguay, Iceland, Ethiopia and the Democratic Republic of Congo. On top of this, another 40 countries produced at least 50% of their electricity from renewable sources such as wind💨, water🌊, solar☀️, and geothermal🌋 energies. That's a whole lot of renewable energy! 🌎

Click the link below to learn more about who's using renewable energy: https://www.independent.co.uk/tech/renewable-energy-solar-nepal-bhutan-iceland-b2533699.html

Scientists say we have reached an ‘irreversible tipping point’ that will see fossil fuels phased out

05/22/2024

From the scientific journal Nature: "Millions of people died of COVID-19 because the fundamental principle of equity between nations was ignored during the outbreak. That must not be allowed to happen again"

Millions of people died of COVID-19 because the fundamental principle of equity between nations was ignored during the outbreak. That must not be allowed to happen again.

05/21/2024

📰🚨 Newsletter Alert! 📰🚨

Ever wondered how we got from the discovery 🔍 of lentiviruses as a viral genus to lentiviral gene therapy 🧬📦? This month, we're delving into the Science of Lentiviruses. From their discovery all the way to the third generation of lentiviral vectors, our May newsletter is going to talk about everything Lentivirus 🦠!

To pique your interest 🧐, we've highlighted several fun facts from the newsletter:

1. The first lentiviral vector use as a tool for gene therapy was derived from the notorious human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) 🦠
2. Some lentiviruses have incubation periods of months or even years 🤯
3. In 1843 in France, what would later be called Equine Infectious Anemia (EIA) ravaged horses and became the first recorded lentiviral outbreak 🐎
4. Lentiviruses are able to permanently incorporate transgenes into host cells - making them ideal gene therapy candidates 🧬
5. Lentiviruses can infect infect both dividing and non-dividing cells - again making them ideal gene therapy candidates 🧫
6. A scientists named Didier Trono is credited with the idea of creating a vector for gene delivery using the lentivirus HIV-1 👨‍🔬
7. To date, there exist three lentiviral packaging systems - with the third being the safest and most efficient system yet 📦
8. The United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved of about a dozen lentiviral gene therapies - and more approvals are surely not far behind 📃

To get the full scoop🥄, read our Science of Lentiviruses Newsletter here: https://conta.cc/4aH0naq

For more interesting biotech facts and news, subscribe to our monthly newsletter: https://rb.gy/isydg 🧠

Virongy's Monthly Newsletter Did you know the first recorded lentiviral outbreak impacted horses in France in 1843? Yes! No, I didn't! We at Virongy are seeking to help progress the lentiviral gene th

05/03/2024

It's 🤓

that viruses evolve faster than any other organism!? 🦠💨🦠Scientists believe that this fact coupled with viruses' short replication times ⏰ and large population size make them so dangerous ⚠️ to humans and other species.

Want to learn more? Our is releasing early next week! 📆 Sign up to get the full scoop at https://rb.gy/isydg 🥄

Sign Up Here!

05/01/2024

If you're a visual learner like a few of us here at Virongy Biosciences, Inc. 👀✋, a video protocol is just what the doctor ordered. In this one, we show you how to use our rapid Hybrid-Alpha Pseudovirus (Ha-PV) system 🦠 to run a neutralization assay. Ha-PV serves as a platform for quick, easy, and reliable quantification of neutralizing antibodies, viral variants, and antiviral drugs 💊

More helpful videos like this one can also be found on our YouTube page!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ndg0cnXjUxw&t=8s

Learn more about our HA-PV system on our website:

https://virongy.com/product/pseudoviral-neutralization-assay-kit/

How to use Virongy's Pseudovirus Neutralization Assay Kit. Virongy's Neutralization Assay enhances the accuracy and workflow in testing the efficacy of antib...

04/30/2024

This article published few hours ago in Gene Therapy 🧬 highlights a new Koala Retrovirus (KoRV) pseudotyped lentiviral vector 🦠 that is able to transduce primary human Natural Killer or NK cells. These cells could hold the key 🔑 to the yet unopened door 🚪 of cell therapy in the treatment of solid, cancerous tumors. The KoRV pseudotyped lentiviral vector could be the gene delivery system these cell types need 📦 Read the article linked below to learn more about this budding technology!

Allogeneic cell therapies, such as those involving macrophages or Natural Killer (NK) cells, are of increasing interest for cancer immunotherapy. However, the current techniques for genetically modifying these cell types using lenti- or gamma-retroviral vectors present challenges, such as required c...

04/25/2024

Our Lentiviral Vector Customization Tool is live ✂️🧬🦠!

With this tool, you can create made-to-order 📦 lentiviral vectors that are delivered right to your doorstep 🚪! You're able to choose anywhere from 1 to 4 open reading frames for your vector. You also have the option to choose your own promoter, open reading frame(s), and selection marker or you can choose from our extensive database 📚 Once the custom lentiviral vector is purchased, a scientists at Virongy Biosciences, Inc. will review the specifics of the vector to make sure we can provide you what you're looking for 👩‍🔬👨‍🔬

Want the vector turned into a plasmid? We can do that too! 🦠

Get in contact with a scientist at Virongy Biosciences, Inc. today to begin your custom lentiviral vector journey: https://virongy.com/product/lentiviral-vector-customization-tool/

04/24/2024

From symbiont to organelle - the nitroplast's debut. A recent publication from Science tells of a newly discovered organelle that fixes nitrogen in marine alga. This job was previously thought to only be done in a symbiotic relationship between plant and bacteria. Read the article linked below for more information!

https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.ado8571?utm_campaign=SciMag&utm_source=Facebook&utm_medium=ownedSocial&fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTAAAR0mKJdS7sruEbg8JXSIHaXnaLrwfeZhVr97afP5ziG-q5ph4oindK9SxCI_aem_AXxVERwVEHiflmiDO8Tp4_Y1Qu0LtfPsq7xVzhXfFEAlUK-6xcT0eZmNStBxd_eJhk6qpED3nZoGtsiytq__WGKR

A bacterial endosymbiont of marine algae evolved to an organelle

04/17/2024

Avian Influenza Outbreak in Cows... And Humans?

On April 1st, 2024 a person working on a dairy farm caught Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI) A(H5N1). Is it possible that the outbreak in cows happening around the country could turn into an outbreak in humans? Is this strain more infectious to humans? Read Virongy's Breaking Newsletter to find out more about this developing story!

Breaking News From Virongy   For more information on gene therapies, please navigate to the following links: Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza A (H5N1) Virus Infection Reported in a Person in the U.S.

04/10/2024

🚨Gene Therapy: How We Got Here and Where We're Headed🚨

The United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) defines human gene therapy as a therapy that ”seeks to modify or manipulate the expression of a gene or to alter the biological properties of living cells for therapeutic use". But what exactly does this mean 🤔⁉️ What was the first gene therapy⁉️ How many different kinds of gene therapies are there⁉️ And how does gene therapy work⁉️ In this issue, we delve into the science and history of gene therapy! 📖

Let's start with the basics of gene therapy 🧬:

There are two main categories of gene therapy - in vivo and ex vivo gene therapy. The main difference between these two categories is that in ex vivo gene therapy, cells are removed from the body 🧫 to then have gene(s) delivered to them externally while in vivo gene therapy delivers genes directly to the cells themselves! 💉

There are three main approached to gene therapy - each falling into one of the two categories. These are:

1. ➕ Gene Addition is for diseases where the patient is lacking a certain protein. In this approach, a viral vector delivers the gene of interest to the patient’s cells 🦠📦🧬 By adding in a specific gene for a desired protein, the modified cell is now able to make more of that protein! One recent FDA-approved gene addition drug is Elevidys which is for individuals with Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy (DMD) 💪!

2. ❌Gene Silencing: is geared toward diseases where too much of a protein is being made. When the gene gets delivered to its target cell, it either fully inhibits or at least slows the progression of the gene making the unwanted protein. Inclisiran was recently approved by the FDA and it is a gene silencing therapy meant to treat people with low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C or the ‘bad’ kind of cholesterol) who are at a high risk for developing heart disease ❤️‍🩹

3. 🎯 Gene Targeting: is a very precise kind of gene therapy. Instead of becoming incorporated into the DNA of the host cell upon delivery by a viral vector, gene targeting therapy uses certain systems to manually change, or edit, the DNA already in that cell ✂️🧬 One great example of this kind of gene therapy is the CRISPR/Cas9 system and the first-ever FDA-approved gene targeting therapy Casgevy for sickle cell disease (SCD) 🌙🩸!

📰 To learn more about these gene therapies, their history, and more recent FDA-approved drugs, read this week's at https://conta.cc/3OKroRF and join our mailing list to stay informed https://rb.gy/isydg 🧠

Virongy's Monthly Newsletter   For more information on gene therapies, please navigate to the following links: What is Gene Therapy? After Decades of Evolution, Gene Therapy Arrives Gene Therapy The L