“As a neonatologist and neuroscientist, it’s frustrating that we don’t have any treatments to counteract the harmful effects of bleeding in the developing brain, even though we know it often leads to lasting problems,” says Petersen, director of the Neuro-Intensive Care Nursery at UC San Francisco (UCSF), associate professor of pediatrics at UCSF, and a […]
In a study that reshapes what we know about COVID-19 and its most perplexing symptoms, scientists have discovered that the blood coagulation protein fibrin causes the unusual clotting and inflammation that have become hallmarks of the disease, while also suppressing the body’s ability to clear the virus. Importantly, the team also identified a new antibody […]
Katerina Akassoglou, PhD, FASPET ASPET is pleased to award Dr. Katerina Akassoglou, PhD from the University of California, San Francisco, the 2024 Pharmacia-ASPET Award for Experimental Therapeutics. This award recognizes outstanding research in pharmacology and experimental therapeutics, basic laboratory or clinical research that has had, or potentially will have, a major impact on the pharmacological treatment of disease. Dr. […]
The glaring absence of treatments for such a widespread condition drove a team of scientists at Gladstone Institutes to uncover, on a molecular level, how traumatic brain injuries trigger neurodegeneration—and just as importantly, how to target that process to prevent long-term damage. “We set out to address the fundamental question of exactly what happens in the […]
“Our study answers, for the first time in a comprehensive way, how blood that leaks into the brain hijacks the brain’s immune system to cause toxic effects in brain diseases,” said Akassoglou, who is also director of the Center for Neurovascular Brain Immunology at Gladstone and a professor of neurology at UC San Francisco (UCSF). […]
In patients with neurological diseases like Alzheimer’s disease and multiple sclerosis, immune cells in the brain known as microglia that normally fulfill beneficial functions become harmful to neurons, leading to cognitive dysfunction and motor impairment. These harmful immune cells may also contribute to age-related cognitive decline in people without dementia. Read more here.
Katerina Akassoglou and colleagues provide single-cell RNA-sequencing and phosphoproteome analyses of CNS microglia and macrophages in response to blood proteins including activated complement and fibrin. Their findings point to potential therapeutic targeting of microglia activation by immune and vascular signals.
Therini Bio, Inc., a biotech company focused on developing fibrin-targeted therapies to treat inflammatory neurodegenerative and retinal diseases, today announced the initiation of first-in-human dosing for a Phase 1 trial of its lead asset THN391, a fibrin-targeting therapeutic candidate for Alzheimer’s disease. Read the full article here.
Therini Bio has raised a $36 million Series A and will head to the clinic with an antibody that neutralizes fibrin, a blood clotting protein, that it hopes could have broad applications in tamping down inflammation. Read more here.
