Important Innovations

  1st Pfizer/BioNTech COVID Vaccine,  Now Moderna Vaccine                                    Source: Moderna COVID Vaccine Moderna Vaccine is 94.5% Effective, Pfizer More than 90% More hope in the fight against the COVID-19 global pandemic.  Cambridge, MA based biotech Moderna reports that it has a COVID vaccine candidate that is 94.5% effective against the deadly virus .  COVID-19 has infected more than 55 million people and taken more than 1.3 million lives globally as of today.  Pfizer/Germany's BioNTech Vaccine Moderna has the second highly acclaimed vaccine candidate since Pfizer/BioNTech announced theirs a few days ago.  Pfizer claims their vaccine has a more than 90% effective rate. These vaccines have to be approved by regulatory authorities, but their results look very promising and are giving global medical experts hope of quick turnaround depl...

Surprising Enterprise to Meet Global Vaccine Need Source:  CureVac TESLA & CureVac of Germany - Could It Be a Gamechanger? Tesla, the world's top electric vehicle manufacturer, is working with a German biotech CureVac to develop a COVID-19 vaccine.  CEO Elon Musk says, as a side project, he's building RNA microfactories for CureVac and possibly for other vaccine research groups.  On Twitter, Musk has said synthetic RNA has "amazing potential" as an approach to immunizing patients against COVID-19. CureVac Credentials CureVac is one of only 18 drug companies around the world with COVID-19 vaccine candidates in clinical testing.  The company is working with so-called messenger mRNA, which deliver instructions from DNA to the body's protein makers - ribosomes.  CureVac's approach is to customize mRNA to command ribosomes to make proteins that fight specific diseases like COVID or create antibodies to fight them.  Several other drug companies i...

Personalized Wound Healing That's Mobile Medicine on the Cutting Edge This is remarkable innovation.  Millions of Americans suffer from non-healing wounds.  A team at Wake Forrest University have developed a 3D bioprinter that can selectively layer skin cells to heal a large wound or burn.  The process is personalized to the patient.  The bioprinter is filled with the patient's own skin cells. Several Firsts There are a number of firsts involved in this innovation.  The bioprinter is mobile and can be wheeled directly to the patient's bed.  It enables on-site management of large wounds by 3D laser scanning and measuring them in order to deposit cells directly where they're needed to create new skin.  It selectively layers in two types of cells.  Fibroplasts are placed on the deepest part of the wound and keratinocytes on top. Mimics Natural Healing The 3D bioprinter and the healing process it delivers replicate natural tissue and prom...