Blog - Humane Genomics

Regulating Viral Replication using RNA Aptazymes

August 28, 2023 Chad Moles 0 Comment

The biggest problem in cancer therapeutics is selectivity. Using oncolytic viral therapies, high selectivity can be achieved using the combination of selective infection and selective replication. Here, we want to address selective replication. For DNA viruses, this can be accomplished with promoters to control transcription and genome replication. However, for RNA viruses, this does not work. A potential solution to control replication for RNA viruses is the use of aptazymes. Aptazymes are self-cleaving units composed of a riboswitch and an aptamer….

Announcing our first publication

May 8, 2023 Chad Moles 0 Comment

We are thrilled to announce the publication of Humane Genomics’ first article. We contributed a chapter to the International Review of Cell and Molecular Biology (IRCMB). This is a book series by Elsevier, as part of a special issue on Viral Vectors in Cancer Immunotherapy. Our review, titled “Rational selection of an ideal oncolytic virus to address current limitations in clinical translation,” offers valuable insights for investors, virologists, and newcomers to the field alike. In our article, we summarize the…

AACR poster session review

May 1, 2023 pete 0 Comment

We were thrilled to present a poster of our work at AACR. It is one of the biggest conferences on cancer research, with 22,000 visitors. To get accepted, we had to write an abstract, which was reviewed, and we needed to be sponsored by an existing member. For us this was Dr. Sanjeev Vasudevan, whom we work with at Texas Children’s. Our poster gave a brief overview on our platform and the work we have done on Hepatoblastoma (liver cancer…

Presenting at AACR

April 10, 2023 pete 0 Comment

We are excited to announce we are presenting at the AACR annual meeting for the first time. AACR is the American Association for Cancer Research and its meeting is the largest in the world of cancer research. Last year, over 20,000 scientists, clinicians and other health care professionals, and survivors and patient advocates from around the world traveled to New Orleans. The AACR meeting for 2023 is held in Orange County Convention Center, Orlando, Florida and we have been invited…

Introduction – Brenda

March 9, 2023 pete 0 Comment

Q: Tell me a bit about yourself Hello! My name is Brenda and I grew up in Montgomery County Maryland. I spent a lot of my weekends visiting DC going to museums and visiting monuments nearby. The National Museum of Natural History is where I first fell in love with research and it helped shape a lot of my interests and career path. The exhibits and stories they told sparked my curiosity for science and discovery. When I visit home…

Rational Design of Oncolytic Viruses

February 23, 2023 pete 0 Comment

In this post we give an overview of the history of using viruses as potential treatment for cancer. We also outline the challenges a great viral therapy needs to overcome. Last, we review our approach to rationally design and engineer safe and effective oncolytic viruses. History and current state Since the middle of the last century there has been anecdotal evidence that virus infections can help in curing or slowing down cancer. Unfortunately these infections happened randomly and the results…

Our platform

December 16, 2022 pete 0 Comment

In this post, I would like to introduce the Humane Genomics Artificial Virus Platform. Why develop an artificial virus platform? For decades, a lot of research has been conducted to see if natural viruses can be used as cancer therapeutics, with limited success. Over the last 10 years, the technology to engineer, to build viruses specifically as cancer therapeutics has matured. However, most technology approaches to make these viruses are complicated, error prone, time consuming and expensive. To address these…

Introduction – Rupsa

November 18, 2022 pete 0 Comment

Q: Tell me a bit about yourself. My name is Rupsa Basu and I am a viral immunologist by passion and a backpacker at heart. My mantra of life is to dream, believe and achieve. As a seven years old kid, I started dreaming about becoming a scientist and developed an increased interest in reading science fiction and detective fiction stories. After reading the book “Selfish Gene” in elementary school, I got inspired with nature’s scientific secrets and slowly idolized…

Year in review 2020

January 23, 2021 pete 0 Comment

Looking back, 2020 was quite the year. We designed 200 unique oncolytic viruses, and we confirmed 163 viruses are working (replication competent) in the lab. Among these, we engineered 42 glycoproteins, 29 promoters and 14 therapeutic genes. We generated more than 10 billion virus particles over the year, which we tested in 11 research cell lines and 8 patient derived cells. Building on our in vitro success, we also conducted 2 mouse studies. How did the year unfold chronologically?…

Introduction – Taylor

January 10, 2021 pete 1 comment

Q: Tell me a bit about yourself. My name is Taylor Flaat and I am from Panama City Beach, Florida, although I was actually born in Grand Forks, North Dakota. We moved from Grand Forks when I was just two years old and my family has been in Panama City ever since. I grew up an avid fisherman and baseball player, with my favorite food definitely being the homestyle cooking of my mom and grandma! I did my undergraduate degree…