Newsletter May, Recent advances in. Life Sciences

Transcription

1 Newsletter May, 2018 Recent advances in Life Sciences VOLUME 1/ISSUE 2

2 IN THIS ISSUE: 01 Base Editors in CRISPR This article presents a base editing approach to expand the scope and efficiency of CRISPR mediated genome editing. Patent portfolio of some of the pioneers in gene editing has been illustrated. 02 Artificial Intelligence in insulin infusion pumps This article highlights recent FDA approval for a trial involving Artificial Intelligence-powered insulin infusion device for diabetes management. Similar products in the market that use artificial intelligence in insulin infusion pumps are discussed. Base Editors in CRISPR Since CRISPR was first declared as a breakthrough platform for genome editing, it has been actively researched by scientists and researchers for various applications. Despite the rapid advancements in CRISPR tools, the occurrence of random indels and the efficiency of the cuts are still areas of concern among researchers. Designer nucleases with a broad range of targets such as CAS9 molecules with modified PAM sites have been suggested as a potential solution. One of the problems with such nucleases is the occurrence of off-target nicks. Consequentially, the off-target nicks need to be identified and repaired to correct such errors. David Liu and team from Harvard have made remarkable progress in editing single nucleotide bases with high specificity with a technique called base editing. The advantage of the base editing technique is that it is not dependent on Non-Homologous End Joining (NHEJ) or Homology Directed Repair (HDR). The team were able to manipulate cellular DNA repair response to favour desirable gene editing outcomes with minimal indel formation ( 1%). Liu s team have published several articles on their research between (See 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6). 1

3 We developed programmable molecular machines that go to a target site of our choosing in the genomic DNA of a cell and directly convert one base to another base without making a double-stranded break in the DNA -Liu. According to Liu, the ultimate goal is to be able to change a DNA base to another DNA base at will, cleanly, and with high efficiency, regardless of whether it is an organism or a plant or an animal. If we can get there, I think the potential for societal benefit is high, he added Beam Therapeutics, a firm founded by David Liu, Keith Joung and Feng Zhang, has assembled a CRISPR portfolio by licensing key technologies from Harvard, Broad institute and Editas Medicine. The firm is focussed on developing genetic medicines through base editing. A quick check of the patent portfolio of David Liu revealed 303 unique patent applications across the world. One-third of these applications focus on CRISPR related gene editing of which 9 patent applications (4 patent families) relate to nucleobase editing. Fig. 1 shows technology-wise split-up of patent portfolio of David Liu at a broad level 2

4 Feng Zhang and Keith Joung are listed in 390 and 135 patent applications, respectively. Feng Zhang and Keith Joung do not own patent rights related to base editors. Most of Feng Zhang s patent applications focus on CRISPR related gene editing. Fig.2 shows the CRISPR related patent portfolio comparison of Feng Zhang and Keith Joung. * All CRISPR related applications have been considered to plot this bar chart. The data for 2017 and 2018 may be incomplete due to the 18 month publication lag time Beam Therapeutics recently announced that it has raised $87 million in Series A financing led by F-Prime Capital Partners and ARCH Venture Partners. Base editing shows plenty of promise as the next revolutionary technology within CRISPR, earning it the nickname CRISPR

5 Artificial Intelligence in insulin infusion pumps Artificial Intelligence-powered tools may play a vital role in the micromanagement of diabetes. Recently, FDA approved the home-use clinical studies of an autonomous bionic pancreas developed by Beta Bionics. The device (ilet) employs artificial intelligence to vary hormone doses in adults and children with Type 1 diabetes. The trial will employ fast-acting insulin Fiasp and integrate glucose data from a Dexcom G5 Continuous Glucose Monitoring System. Fig. 3 shows the ilets Bionic Pancreas system by Beta Bionics According to the press release, the device is intended to mimic human pancreas by using dosing algorithms which are driven by machine learning to autonomously calculate and dose insulin and/or glucagon as needed, based on data from a continuous glucose monitor. ilet requires only the user s body weight for initialization and takes it from there. Once initialized, ilet engages its machine-learning artificial intelligence to autonomously control the individual s blood-glucose levels, and to continuously adapt to the individual s ever-changing insulin needs. 4

6 A quick glance at some of the products in the market that use one or more machine learning methods in their functioning is provided below: Admetsys Smart Pancreas TM Admetsys has developed a first-of-its-kind artificial pancreas for hospital and surgical care, leveraging adaptive learning algorithms and counterbalancing treatment of insulin and glucose Admetsys Smart Pancreas TM creates an adaptive, computational model of the patient's metabolism, and infuses precisely-optimized, treatment insulin to reduce high glycemic levels and glucose to raise and support falling levels. Fig. 4 illustrates Admetsys Smart Pancreas TM which displays the insulin and glucose levels and also offers choices to manage treatment 5

7 Bigfoot s AI-driven Insulin delivery system Bigfoot Biomedical is on a mission to bring an automated artificial pancreas system in the form of an algorithm-controlled insulin pump, which can be viewed with an app on a phone. Based on the user s Continuous Glucose Monitoring (CGM) system, the system can monitor and adjust the user s insulin as needed. Fig. 5 illustrates the components that interact in Bigfoot Biomedical s model of AI operated system. Bigfoot is aiming to harness the power of artificial intelligence to optimize the dosing and delivery of insulin for people with insulin-requiring diabetes. The firm announced $55million in Series B financing. 6

8 Guardian Connect with Sugar.IQ Medtronic won an FDA approval earlier this year for its Guardian Connect Continuous Glucose Monitoring (CGM) system. It is the first CGM that comes with access to Sugar.IQ smart diabetes assistant. Using supercomputers to analyze glucose, food and insulin intake of the user, this technology can predict high or low glucose and insulin levels up to 60 minutes in advance. With IBM Watson Health s AI technology, the Sugar.IQ TM assistant (shown in Fig. 6b) continually analyzes how an individual s glucose levels respond to their food intake, insulin dosages and daily routines among other factors. Together with the Guardian Connect system (Fig. 6a), the Sugar.IQ assistant can turn a b Fig. 6a and 6b show Guardian Connect and the Sugar.IQ TM assistant stats display Patents related to this technology include (Insulin pump based expert system), US B2 (Infusion pump) and (Therapy management system) There remains a need for FDA approved Artificial Intelligence-powered devices which allow for complete and customized management of diabetes indicating an opportunity for innovation and improvement in this area. With Artificial Intelligence entering every domain and walk of life, it won t be long before this technology takes over diabetes management. 7

9 Invent Search Prosecute Issue Monetize MaxVal Group, Inc Grant Road, Suite B Los Altos, CA Phone: info@maxval.com 8