Preston Campbell, PhD

The list keeps growing…and as you identify lipids that work for you, we can help bring them to scale for formulation and GLP tox studies, and into CGMP manufacturing to supply your CDMO of choice for Phase I LNP formulation studies. Many forget this process in itself, for just a single component of your LNP, may take months or longer to achieve, and/or require commercial licensing rights. The sooner you incorporate that into your plan the better, and our chemists are here to help guide you. #Caymanchem #LNP

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Great article by Danielle Joseph Closed Loop Partners.

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Fayetteville Secures $30 Million to Address PFAS Contamination; Support Needed for Bioremediation Solutions The Fayetteville Public Works Commission (PWC) has secured $30 million in state and federal funding to address PFAS contamination in the city's water supply. This funding is in addition to more than $60 million already secured for the development of an $80 million Granulated Activated Carbon (GAC) facility, which is expected to be completed in 2028. This facility will significantly increase Fayetteville's ability to filter PFAS from its drinking water. In addition, PWC was awarded $1 million for its Operation Clean & Clear program to inventory water service lines to comply with recent updates to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Lead & Copper Rule. Meanwhile, PWC is upgrading its P.O. Hoffer Water Treatment Plant to expand its powdered activated carbon (PAC) filtration system. This temporary solution will help reduce PFAS levels in drinking water until the GAC system is operational, which is expected to be completed by 2026. https://lnkd.in/dSqxBfPm While this funding is commendable, it is critical to also support innovative #PFAS bioremediation projects. Activated carbon absorption, while effective, is costly and requires a combustion process that is both #energy intensive and a significant source of #CO2 emissions. Therefore, I urge consideration of #bioremediation initiatives such as ASPIDIA that offer sustainable and cost-effective alternatives for PFAS remediation.

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Is precision fermentation the tortoise or the hare of biomanufacturing? It’s become a familiar story - a new, disruptive technology can initially only serve a small, technically challenging and expensive niche market, before laddering up into mass market expansion as capabilities build and costs fall… 🔬 This is an especially common story in the biotech world as our tools and platforms are SO expensive, particularly at early stages of development. 🌿 The field of molecular farming is experiencing this now. There’s incredible potential in the biosynthesis of valuable molecules in plants - fueled only by sunshine, rain and carbon dioxide. Theoretically this should be extraordinarily economical AND sustainable. 🖼️ But the reality is that making bioengineered plants is still half science and half art. It’s demanding experimental work and VERY slow if you approach it from a traditional perspective. 🧬 Because of this, the best molecular farming product targets are 1) high value molecules 2) that leverage the characteristics of the harvested plant biomass and 3) cannot be made with competing technologies like fermentation. 🧫 Technology development in precision fermentation is FAST in comparison and well understood. I wouldn’t enter molecular farming into a race against fermentation for the same product. Not quite yet, at least. 🧪 Of course fermentation has its own scale and efficiency challenges. Fermentation in turn loses the COGS battle to synthetic petrochemistry. Every. Single. Time. That’s why the blockbuster precision fermentation concepts have focused on complex biomolecules like enzymes, that simply cannot be chemically synthesized from cheap feedstocks like oil. ⏳ However… industrial synthetic chemistry was born in the 1800s… Precision fermentation got its start in the 1980s... and molecular farming only appeared in the past decade. Chemistry is dominant today, but it also had a hundred plus year head start. Which is another way of saying that biology is a very, very young technology... I wouldn’t bet against it. 🧪🧬🔬 #molecularfarming #bioengineering #biomanufacturing #fermentation #future

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NY Illumina/GRAIL lawsuit Part 1: Conflicted Deal Process (continued from https://lnkd.in/gCFnVprG) The complaint goes into detail on the negotiation that took place during August 2020 as GRAIL pushed Illumina up for an initial $6B offer (🤯) to $8B (🤯🤯) to $10B including performance bonuses (🤯🤯🤯). And then this - there was NO DUE DILIGENCE: "On September 6, 2020, management apprised the Board of additional information concerning a potential transaction with GRAIL. The presentation noted that despite multiple offers and counters, “formal diligence” had not yet been conducted, but would focus on multiple issues. SIX DAYS LATER, on September 14, 2020, the acquisition was unanimously approved by the Illumina Board. Aravanis also attended this meeting." This confirms by worst fears - Illumina spent over $8B on a deal that never underwent due diligence 🤯 My theory is that Illumina had hired Aravanis from GRAIL and so figured they had the inside scoop on what was going on in GRAIL. They somehow ignored the fact that the person they were relying on to advise them on the deal stood to make $10M or more if Illumina purchased GRAIL. Sheer idiocy by the board: Aravanis clearly should have played no part in the process but was present at the board meetings. This is so obvious a f*ck up that a coverup was later attempted: also from this complaint: "Chairman Thompson and the Board published two letters to shareholders that falsely claimed that (due to his large GRAIL holdings) Aravanis had been “recused from any decisions to sign and close the GRAIL acquisition.” The Aravanis hiring was only most obvious conflict of interest - the entire negotiation was full of problems resulting from the intertwined relationships between the two companies (half the GRAIL board were ex-Illumina execs and board members). From the complaint: "Illumina’s one-month Acquisition process appears to have suffered from other process failures. Board members learned from an anonymous survey of Illumina’s directors and officers that during [the] GRAIL acquisition, there were multiple streams of unauthorized communications between an Illumina Board Member and GRAIL Board Members and the bankers.” Speaking of banker, famously Goldman Sachs represented both Illumina and GRAIL in the deal; note though that the higher the price of the deal, the higher their compensation 🤯

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No discussion today in the Illumina earning calls on GRAIL financials but they're in the Illumina press release: another giant loss: -$2B. No surprises there I guess but what I think is interesting is revenue: last 3 quarters are $30M, $27M, $29M. So the company burns $180M a quarter to generate $30M in sales and no growth. Super interested to hear the Q&A on their first earnings call next week...market cap is about $450M, about half the $1B or so they have in the bank...

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The roll out of MoCRA continues. Mandatory facility registration and product listings under the Modernization of Cosmetics Regulations Act went into effect today, July 1. Also noted that while the FDA hasn't yet provided detailed guidance related to MoCRA's safety substantiation requirements, the essence of this requirement is already in effect and fully enforceable by the FDA. Affected cosmetic companies are advised to be able to provide safety data for their products "derived from scientifically robust methods." Being able to demonstrate that your cosmetic-related facility is in a state of control has always made good business sense; now it's a regulatory requirement.

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A new version of `gencode` module of OakVar has been released, based on the latest GENCODE v46. In addition to more transcripts, this module will explicitly show which transcripts are MANE Select and MANE Plus Clinical to assist better assessment of the clinical relevance of variants as well as has isoform-level transcript-to-UniProt mapping. It comes with the updated companion widgets as well. Try it with `ov install gencode`! To start with OakVar, https://docs.oakvar.com.

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Happy Monday all! Check out this open access Nature Comm paper by Ming et al., "Structural basis for mouse LAG3 interactions with the MHC class II molecule I-Ab." Abstract: The immune checkpoint protein, Lymphocyte activation gene-3 (LAG3), binds Major Histocompatibility Complex Class II (MHC-II) and suppresses T cell activation. Despite the recent FDA approval of a LAG3 inhibitor for the treatment of melanoma, how LAG3 engages MHC-II on the cell surface remains poorly understood. Here, we determine the 3.84 Å-resolution structure of mouse LAG3 bound to the MHC-II molecule I-Ab, revealing that domain 1 (D1) of LAG3 binds a conserved, membrane-proximal region of MHC-II spanning both the α2 and β2 subdomains. LAG3 dimerization restricts the intermolecular spacing of MHC-II molecules, which may attenuate T cell activation by enforcing suboptimal signaling geometry. The LAG3-MHC-II interface overlaps with the MHC-II-binding site of the T cell coreceptor CD4, implicating disruption of CD4-MHC-II interactions as a mechanism for LAG3 immunosuppressive function. Lastly, antibody epitope analysis indicates that multiple LAG3 inhibitors do not recognize the MHC-II-binding interface of LAG3, suggesting a role for functionally distinct mechanisms of LAG3 antagonism in therapeutic development. #drugdiscovery #cancerresearch #immunooncology #immunotherapy #lag3 #tcells #scientificresearch

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Synthetic Biology is a truly disruptive technology. It is the artistic engineering of biology, achieving feats that might not have previously seemed possible. Here are three interesting examples of companies using Synthetic Biology to disrupt industries. Capra Biosciences has revolutionized chemical production using synthetic biology. Co-founders Elizabeth Onderko and Andrew Magyar discovered a way to repurpose biofilm to create retinol, a powerful anti-aging ingredient, at a fraction of the cost. Biofilm is an aggregate of microorganisms that adhere to surfaces, often responsible for infections. The process they use occurs in a bioreactor, a system engineered for developing biological mass. Their technology could impact industries such as industrial lubricants, personal care, aviation, aerospace, and electric vehicles. Ergbio uses innovative fermentation processes to manipulate biology and produce incredible outcomes. Imagine a world where agricultural waste and leftover wood chips can be transformed into aviation fuel. This company, led by founder Vineet Rajgarhia, who pioneered PLA bioplastics at Cargill and holds patents for polylactic acid (A type of plastic made often from sugarcane and corn), is turning this vision into reality. As these trends progress, and are supported with sound market strategies and adequate funding, these groundbreaking technologies have the potential to challenge traditional fossil fuel industries and contribute significantly to a more sustainable world. Kraig Biocraft Laboratories, Inc. modifies the DNA of silkworms to make spider silk. Spider silk is a remarkable and strong biological product. Though much lighter than steel, it has a stronger strength-to-density ratio. When I spoke to Jon Rice, COO, he told me that their silk products have applications in military, industrial, and consumer markets. Their product is in high demand; the company is profitable and even publicly traded (OTCQB: KBLB). These companies are great examples of the disruptive potential of synthetic biology. At Fruitionary, we spotlight groundbreaking innovations through our exclusive articles. If your startup is pushing the boundaries in this field, reach out to me at [email protected].

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Great scoop by Jared Whitlock on the Illumina/GRAIL SEC investigation. As I noted yesterday, increasing numbers of people being questioned by the SEC and obviously Jared has had some good chats. Jared is an actual journalist and gets everything verified from at least two sources, so you can be sure this is the real deal: "Endpoints News has learned that agency investigators have asked about whether forecasts by Grail’s management were too aggressive, and have asked about objections from inside the company by some employees who had reservations about the numbers." [more hints that the wall of silence is weakening, remember the GC just got his own counsel different to the board's? 🤔 ] This also reflects with the rumors I've heard (eek maybe they came from me 🤪) that the SEC is also looking into GRAIL's publicly stated FDA timelines which may be in direct contradiction with what the FDA had actually told GRAIL confidentially (something to the effect of "you guys are crazy if you think this shitty NHS data is going to get you IVD this decade"): "Last year, Grail reported $93.1 million in revenue, or about one-fifth of the conservative scenario in that same 2020 forecast. Grail had originally anticipated full FDA approval by now, a key milestone to set up insurance and government coverage for its pioneering cancer test." 👮👮👮

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NY Illumina/GRAIL lawsuit Final Part: Summation "Illumina’s directors and officers, foreseeing their non-exculpated liability in connection with their decision to close the Acquisition in spite of the EC standstill order, determined to shift that liability to Illumina at a cost of up to $100 million, made that shifting of liability a requirement before they would approve the Acquisition, and at the same time abandoned $150 million in insurance for the Company that could have funded Illumina’s financial losses associated with the Acquisition. At no time was this approved by a disinterested vote of disinterested directors or stockholders, and it was not fair to Illumina. By stripping away the Company’s insurance down to $0, while at the same doubling their D&O insurance to $300 million, Illumina’s directors and officers abandoned their fiduciary duties to the Company and left Illumina unprotected while protecting themselves at Illumina’s expense." "Prior to acquiring GRAIL, Illumina’s financials were strong, and its share price reflected that as it traded at its closing peak of $524.24 on August 16,2021. However, after the Acquisition, GRAIL acted like a millstone around Illumina’s neck, costing billions of dollars to maintain while providing no benefit to Illumina." "The Acquisition ultimately dropped Illumina’s cash balance to zero. On March 8, 2021, Illumina entered into a credit agreement with Bank of America for $750 million to help pay for the Acquisition and to keep the lights on at Illumina. When that proved insufficient to carry Illumina’s rising costs, on March 16, 2021, Illumina issued another $1 billion in notes. Less than two years later, on January 5, 2023, Illumina deemed it necessary to sign another $750 million credit agreement to “finance the working capital needs, and for general corporate or other lawful purposes, of Illumina and its subsidiaries.” Illumina has been unable to seek any other potential acquisition opportunities as it spent the bulk of its cash balances on the Acquisition." "By reason of the Director Defendants’ positions with the Company as directors, they owed the Company and its stockholders a duty of loyalty. deSouza and Dadswell owed the same duty of loyalty as Illumina officers. By closing the Acquisition, Defendants breached that duty in three ways: causing a knowing violation of the law, consciously disregarding their fiduciary duties and engaging in self-dealing."

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After soaking up insights at the Ginkgo Bioworks, Inc. Ferment event and gearing up for the SynBioBeta conference, conference strategy is top of mind. Conferences are prime for networking and learning, but it's post-event where true connections and impact happen. Here are 4 tips to maximize your post-conference impact and drive meaningful change for your business. #Ferment2024 #ConferenceStrategy

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You wouldn't build a house with one tool, so why build proteins that way? The EntoEngine is the first biomanufacturing platform for proteins that expands the protein production toolkit to >200 distinct cell types (i.e. the tools). This enables production of the most complex proteins that traditional systems fail to express. Bravo to our team of brilliant geneticists Anzer Khan, Connor Davis, and Sophie Keegan that put together this informative article on benefits of our Drosophila genetics toolkit.

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Want to become a protein design master? 🎓️ New tools and techniques are being developed every day for generating protein structures. 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗹𝗱 𝗼𝗳 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝘁𝗲𝗶𝗻 𝗱𝗲𝘀𝗶𝗴𝗻 𝗶𝘀 𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗴𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗿𝗮𝗽𝗶𝗱𝗹𝘆. AI and machine learning algorithms now allow us to explore vast protein sequence and structural spaces, providing insights into protein stability, function, and folding pathways. But how do we become confident and proficient in this exciting new world of protein design? I recently participated at the VIB workshop in computational protein design where we explored 🎯 RFdiffusion 🎯 ProteinMPNN 🎯 ColabFold There is nothing better than having a clear view and the good tools. I had nice discussions about current AI models and the future directions of the field. Many things are possible but it is not magic! 🪄 I want to express my gratitude to the group of Anastassia Vorobieva whom I had the pleasure to talk to and discuss around AI-technologies and models for  antibody generation. And you, which symposium/workshop  or training did you find interesting on the subject? Philippe. Thank you Anastassia Vorobieva, Alexander Botzki and their team for the nice organisation and the insightful discussions! PS: I've launched EVOBody™, a unique platform allowing biotech leaders to develop antibody projects from concept to generation with minimal risk in 6 weeks only, for a maximum impact. Apply for access to our program by clicking on 'Schedule a Meeting' under my profile.

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