Challenge: Lupus is a chronic autoimmune disease in which the body immune system attacks its own tissues, causing inflammation and tissue damage. Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is the most common type. It affects 1/1000 individuals, mostly women. In healthy people, more than 50 billion cells die daily as part of a normal biological mechanism: replacing old cells by new ones. … Read More
MOHAMMAD A. QADIR
Prospective evaluation of the ONETest™ targeted metagenomic platform to identify respiratory tract pathogens for precise diagnosis and clinical trial recruitment
Challenge: Respiratory tract infections (RTI) are a leading cause of morbidity, mortality, and hospitalizations globally. Yet, many cases of RTI still go undiagnosed and RTI is often treated empirically because the etiologic agent(s) is unidentified. The current diagnostic approach is complex and often takes days to weeks. It may also fail to detect a broad spectrum of pathogens as well … Read More
ÉRIC MARSAULT
Bacterial ATP synthase inhibitors – A novel approach toward antibiotics targeting difficult-to-treat Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacterial infections
Challenge: Despite the availability of antibiotics, bacterial infections remain a major and growing health threat. Antibiotic resistance is a leading cause of deadly hospital-acquired infections worldwide. In 2017, the World Health Organization published a list of high-level threats bacteria for which new antibiotics are urgently needed. Among them, Staphylococcus aureus (SA) and its persistent forms, Methicillin-resistant SA (MRSA) and Pseudomonas … Read More
*MICHEL G. BERGERON
Selectomics to monitor and predict the emergence of resistance to antibiotics by using the human microbiome
Challenge: Antibiotics represent some of the most important drugs available to modern medicine because they can often treat bacterial infections that would otherwise pose a serious health threat. However, there is currently a lack of new antibiotic development by the industry due to reduced economic incentives as well as challenging scientific and regulatory requirements. To exacerbate the problem, bacteria targeted … Read More
*LOUIS-PHILIPPE VÉZINA
VLPExpress®: Novel high-throughput discovery platform to accelerate the development of new vaccines based on Virus-Like Particles
Challenge: Despite the enormous benefits that traditional vaccines have brought to human health in the last century, preventable diseases continue to claim millions of lives each year. New vaccine technologies that offer speed and versatility in production would have significant impact. The emergence of technologies based on Virus-Like Particles (VLPs) has paved the way for a new generation of vaccines … Read More
*BRENT RICHARDS
Identification of T Cell Receptor Somatic Mutations Driving Autoimmunity in Human Rheumatoid Arthritis
Challenge: Somatic mutations are de novo non-inherited mutations which can be passed down to other cells through the course of cell division. Their role has been well-established in cancer. However, the presence of somatic mutations in non-malignant disease has never been explored since it is unlikely that a single point mutation would be sufficient to cause disease. Linking somatic mutations … Read More
*MATTHIAS GÖTTE
A novel phage-based screening technology for antiviral
Challenge: Infection with herpes viruses is associated with several immunodeficient human diseases including the development of cancers. Patients receiving organ transplants are particularly sensitive to such infections. These patients are treated with antiviral agents; however, approved drugs are often associated with severe side effects and the development of resistance can compromise therapy. There is thus an urgent need to discover … Read More
*MICHAEL THOMPSON
New Processes Mimicking the Spray drying technique for the Preparation of Thermally Stable Vaccines
Challenge: The storage and worldwide distribution of vaccines represent complex issues for pharmaceutical companies due to vaccine instability at ambient temperatures. Spray drying is an established industrial processing technology for stabilizing many products as dried powders. Although studies have shown spray drying to be promising for preparing thermally stable vaccines in order to alleviate cold chain requirements, to date, no … Read More
*DANIEL LAROCQUE
A new platform to Assess Antigen Destruction and Evaluate the Efficacy of Immunotherapies and Vaccines
Challenge: The fight against cancer, infectious diseases and chronic disorders has been significantly advanced because of the development of effective immunotherapies, vaccines and immunomodulatory drugs. New pre-clinical tools to enable this new active field of drug discovery are needed further upstream in the discovery process. More functional and physiologically relevant readouts are necessary to address the lack of pre-clinical immunogenicity … Read More
