Hot plants

April 14, 2021
We look at a new discovery that could help us understand how to ensure crops are resilient in the face of rising temperatures, and the hate crimes bill moving through Congress and what it means for biotech. (833 words, 4 minutes, 9 seconds) NOTE: The CDC will convene…
BIO

We look at a new discovery that could help us understand how to ensure crops are resilient in the face of rising temperatures, and the hate crimes bill moving through Congress and what it means for biotech. (833 words, 4 minutes, 9 seconds)

NOTE: The CDC will convene a meeting of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) today at 1:30 PM to review six cases of rare blood clots among patients who received the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine. Read the joint statement

 

Hot plants

 
 

Researchers have identified a second gene related to how plants sense and regulate temperature—a discovery that could help us understand how to make crops more resilient in the face of climate change. 

The news: Researchers at UC Riverside identified a gene, Regulator of Chloroplast Biogenesis (RCB), a “novel temperature signaling component that functions collaboratively with HMR [Hemera]” to sense temperature changes, says the study published in Nature Communications.

“The sensation of temperature changes is essential for the survival of plants,” because “a shift in ambient growth temperature of only a few degrees can significantly alter the expression of hundreds of temperature-responsive genes, resulting in dramatic adaptive responses in plant development, growth, metabolism, and immunity,” the researchers explain.

“Because increases in global temperature are expected to drastically reduce crop productivity, understanding the mechanism of temperature signaling has become imminent to create a knowledge base for devising strategies to sustain crop production in a changing climate,” they continue.

What can we do with this knowledge? The “next steps in the lab will be to identify these two genes’ interconnected roles in growth, flowering, and other stages of plant development,” explains Agri-Pulse—and perhaps using gene editing to breed more resilient plants.

But we need to ensure policy allows discoveries like this one to be used practically beyond the lab—
read more about what we can do to modernize plant biotech regulations.

 

More Agriculture and Environment News: 

Agri-Pulse: Corporate giants' climate package take root, pressing farmers to go green
The companies that signed the appeal include Bayer (BIO member), Coca-Cola, Danone, Kellogg, Levi Strauss and Co., Mars, McDonald’s, Nestle, POET (BIO member), Sodexo, Starbucks, Syngenta and Walmart. Most of these companies also have made commitments of their own to slash the carbon footprint of their supply chains. (BIO members Biogen, Johnson & Johnson, and Novozymes NA also signed the letter, which can be found here.)

VOA: WHO calls for halt to sale of live wild mammals in markets
“The guidance aims to ‘reduce the risk of transmission of COVID-19 and other zoonoses in traditional food markets.’”

 
 
 
Twitter
 
LinkedIn
 
Facebook
 
 

Confronting an epidemic of hate

 
 

Anti-Asian racism is on the rise in the United States, fueled by reckless rhetoric associating COVID-19 with Asian-American Pacific Islander (AAPI) communities. As Congress is considering legislation to take action, we spoke with Paul Hastings, CEO of Nkarta Therapeutics and Vice Chair of BIO, about how and why the biotech industry should respond.  

There were nearly 3,800 anti-Asian racist incidents (mostly against women) between March 19, 2020 and February 28, 2021, according to Stop AAPI Hate—and we’ve seen several high-profile, violent incidents in recent weeks.

The Senate will move forward today on the COVID-19 Hate Crimes Act, “a rare bipartisan effort aimed at investigating and halting hate crimes against Asian Americans amid the coronavirus pandemic,” says The Washington Post.

(Inside baseball: “Typically, the Democratic-sponsored COVID-19 Hate Crimes Act might quickly face a filibuster, opposed by Republicans who prefer a different approach,” explains the AP. “But under the Senate leaders’ agreement struck at the start of the year, Republicans and Democrats pledged to try to at least try to debate bills to see if they could reach agreement through the legislative process.”)

Whatever happens, it’s critically important we stand with AAPI community—“a major part of the [biotech] industry,” as Paul Hastings told us. 

The biotech sector—and humanity—have greatly benefited from the involvement of members of AAPI communities. According to BIO’s The Right Mix Matters Report, members of AAPI communities constitute approximately 22% of employees of 98 member companies surveyed, including 9% of executives and 11% of board members identifying as AAPI. 

And while facing rising hate, they’ve been critical in the frontline response to COVID-19. According to the New American Economy Research Fund,  8.5% of all essential health care workers (including 1 in 5 physicians/surgeons and 1 in 11 nurses) and 1.2 million people working in food-related industries in the United States are members of the AAPI community.

BIO stands with AAPI communities against hate and acknowledges the work we need to do to combat it—read more. 

 

More Health Care News:

Endpoints News: Bain doubles down on Tony Coles’ quest to get a late-stage Parkinson’s drug through to market
“Bain and NovaQuest will drop $125 million in non-dilutive funding to drive Cerevel’s phase 3 program for Parkinson’s drug tavapadon, with up to $531 million in future milestones at stake.”

 
 
 
Twitter
 
LinkedIn
 
Facebook
 
 
BIO Beltway Report
BIO Beltway Report
 
Paragraph (sm) - Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Quis ipsum suspendisse ultrices gravida. Risus commodo viverra maecenas accumsan lacus vel facilisis sample link.
 

President Biden’s Wednesday: At 11 AM ET, the COVID-19 Response Team will give a briefing. At 2:15 PM ET, President Biden is expected to announce a complete withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan by September 11, 2021; he’ll visit Arlington Cemetery after. 

What’s Happening on Capitol Hill: As noted, the COVID-19 Hate Crimes Bill is moving through the Senate. We’re keeping an eye on two hearings: Senate Homeland Security Committee on lessons learned on pandemic preparedness, and House Energy & Commerce Subcommittee on Health on substance use and misuse during the pandemic. Ag Secretary Tom Vilsack will also testify in front of the House Appropriations Committee.

 
 
Paragraph (normal) - Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Quis ipsum suspendisse ultrices gravida. Risus commodo viverra maecenas accumsan lacus sample link.
 
Twitter
 
LinkedIn
 
Facebook