https://karenohanlon-cohrt.journoportfolio.comRSS Feed for Karen O'Hanlon CohrtenSun, 22 Mar 2026 00:00:00 +0000https://www.tempobioscience.com/the-right-model-at-the-right-time-for-the-right-scientific-question/In this article, we summarize the strengths and limitations of animal- and human-derived cells, how new technologies have created inflection points in drug discovery, and why moving toward more human-relevant models is best approached in a stepwise strategic manner rather than an overnight replacement.Sun, 22 Mar 2026 00:00:00 +0000https://www.tempobioscience.com/the-right-model-at-the-right-time-for-the-right-scientific-question/https://www.tempobioscience.com/tempo-bioscience-ecm-based-or-ecm-free-for-3d-cell-culture/In this article, we compare ECM-based and ECM-free culture approaches across common 2D and 3D workflows, including surface coatings, embedded cultures, dome-based workflows, and Transwell applications, alongside ECM-free ultra-low-attachment (ULA) systems such as Lipidure-coated plates. By highlighting the strengths and limitations of each approach, we aim to help researchers select the format best suited to their experimental goals.Tue, 06 Jan 2026 00:00:00 +0000https://www.tempobioscience.com/tempo-bioscience-ecm-based-or-ecm-free-for-3d-cell-culture/https://capitainer.com/capitainer-blog-2025-year-in-review/https://capitainer.com/capitainer-blog-2025-year-in-review/Thu, 18 Dec 2025 00:00:00 +0000https://capitainer.com/capitainer-blog-2025-year-in-review/https://www.tempobioscience.com/how-do-transwell-and-teer-assays-help-us-understand-biological-barrier-function/In this article, we will look at how the Transwell assay is used more broadly to model various barrier-forming cell types including brain microvascular endothelial cells (BMECs), which are the principal cell type forming the BBB, keratinocytes, retinal pigment epithelial cells (RPEs), and others.Thu, 06 Nov 2025 00:00:00 +0000https://www.tempobioscience.com/how-do-transwell-and-teer-assays-help-us-understand-biological-barrier-function/https://www.tempobioscience.com/why-and-how-do-we-study-keraestinocytes-tempo-bioscience/In a previous article we introduced keratinocytes and looked at their biological functions and subtypes. Here, we explore some of the main reasons researchers study keratinocytes and the various approaches used. We focus on 2D assay formats, outlining their advantages and limitations, and provide a preview of how these compare with emerging 3D skin models. But first, let’s start with a brief recap on keratinocytes.Mon, 06 Oct 2025 00:00:00 +0100https://www.tempobioscience.com/why-and-how-do-we-study-keraestinocytes-tempo-bioscience/https://www.offalyexpress.ie/news/home/1909110/community-pride-shines-in-offaly-as-new-walking-track-officially-opens.htmlAs the dusk fell over Killurin on a bright evening last week, members of the local community watched with pride as Ethel Keenahan, founder of Killurin Community Alert and Development Group, cut the ribbon on Killurin’s Community Walking Track. In perfect timing, the track's solar lighting illuminated the walkway as Ethel thanked everyone for their contributions.Thu, 02 Oct 2025 00:00:00 +0100https://www.offalyexpress.ie/news/home/1909110/community-pride-shines-in-offaly-as-new-walking-track-officially-opens.htmlhttps://capitainer.com/alzheimers-blood-test-why-dont-we-screen-for-early-detection/Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is the leading cause of dementia, accounting for approximately 60-80% of all cases. Like other forms of dementia, AD is an incurable neurodegenerative condition that comes with progressive memory and language loss, confusion, mood changes, and severe cognitive decline over time. According to the Alzheimer’s Association, studies have found that 50% or more of patients with AD are not diagnosed until the moderate or advanced stage of disease, at which point they cannot benefit from new disease-modifying therapies. This highlights the urgent need for scalable early detection strategies including blood-based biomarkers to allow timely intervention and maximize the impact of emerging therapies.Tue, 23 Sep 2025 00:00:00 +0100https://capitainer.com/alzheimers-blood-test-why-dont-we-screen-for-early-detection/https://crisprmedicinenews.com/news/egenesis-receives-fda-clearance-for-gene-edited-pig-kidney-trial-in-end-stage-kidney-disease-patient/eGenesis announced on Monday that the US FDA has cleared its IND application for EGEN-2784, a multiplex gene-edited pig kidney product, to begin clinical testing in patients with end-stage kidney disease. The approval supports a Phase 1/2/3 trial to evaluate safety and efficacy at 24 weeks post-transplant.Wed, 10 Sep 2025 00:00:00 +0100https://crisprmedicinenews.com/news/egenesis-receives-fda-clearance-for-gene-edited-pig-kidney-trial-in-end-stage-kidney-disease-patient/https://crisprmedicinenews.com/news/tiger-reporter-mouse-facilitates-evaluation-of-genome-editing-delivery-methods/Researchers at various institutes in the United States have developed the TIGER mouse model that enables precise visualisation of gene-editing delivery success across multiple tissue types. The fluorescent reporter system provides a quantitative assessment of editing efficiency while maintaining compatibility with existing transgenic mouse lines.Tue, 09 Sep 2025 00:00:00 +0100https://crisprmedicinenews.com/news/tiger-reporter-mouse-facilitates-evaluation-of-genome-editing-delivery-methods/https://capitainer.com/dried-urine-sampling-for-patient-centric-kidney-health-management/In a previous article, we explored the possibilities for dried urine testing as an alternative to standard liquid urine testing, with a particular focus on patient convenience, sample stability, and accuracy. Here, we take a closer look at kidney function testing, specifically examining the key biomarkers that can be measured, the patient populations that benefit most, and how dried urine sampling could transform routine primary care screening through at-home sampling for patient-centric kidney health and chronic disease management.Tue, 19 Aug 2025 00:00:00 +0100https://capitainer.com/dried-urine-sampling-for-patient-centric-kidney-health-management/https://crisprmedicinenews.com/news/yolt-203-awarded-ema-orphan-drug-designation-for-treatment-of-primary-hyperoxaluria-type-1/YolTech Therapeutics announced earlier this week that the European Medicines Agency has granted Orphan Drug Designation to YOLT-203, its investigational CRISPR therapy for primary hyperoxaluria type 1.Thu, 31 Jul 2025 00:00:00 +0100https://crisprmedicinenews.com/news/yolt-203-awarded-ema-orphan-drug-designation-for-treatment-of-primary-hyperoxaluria-type-1/https://crisprmedicinenews.com/news/clinical-update-yoltechs-base-editing-therapy-yolt-101-gains-chinese-ind-approval/YolTech Therapeutics announced on Monday that the Chinese National Medical Products Administration has approved its IND application for YOLT-101 in heterozygous familial hypercholesterolemia. YOLT-101 is a novel base-editing therapeutic candidate designed to permanently disrupt the PCSK9 gene in the liver to reduce disease-driving low-density lipoprotein cholesterol.Wed, 16 Jul 2025 00:00:00 +0100https://crisprmedicinenews.com/news/clinical-update-yoltechs-base-editing-therapy-yolt-101-gains-chinese-ind-approval/https://www.tempobioscience.com/2d-vs-3d-cell-culture-choosing-the-right-model-by-tempo-bioscience/In our last article, we compared 2D organ-on-a-chip devices and 3D organoids with respect to their use in drug discovery, highlighting their importance in modeling diseases and evaluating efficacy and safety during drug discovery and development . We also presented the major catch-22 challenge in disease modeling; disease biology is complex and developing a ‘good’ disease model requires a deep understanding of disease mechanisms and pathogenesis, both of which come through gathering Real-World E...Sun, 13 Jul 2025 00:00:00 +0100https://www.tempobioscience.com/2d-vs-3d-cell-culture-choosing-the-right-model-by-tempo-bioscience/https://capitainer.com/an-introduction-to-hypothyroidism/Hypothyroidism is an endocrine condition that occurs when the thyroid gland doesn’t produce and release sufficient thyroid hormone into the bloodstream. The condition typically develops slowly over many years, and while symptoms may not be obvious during the early stages, undetected and untreated hypothyroidism can lead to serious health complications over time, including high cholesterol, cardiovascular problems, goiter, nerve damage, infertility and others.Thu, 10 Jul 2025 00:00:00 +0100https://capitainer.com/an-introduction-to-hypothyroidism/https://www.engenes.cc/post/the-impact-of-nucleic-acid-contamination-in-bioprocessing-and-protein-purification-workflowsWithin biotech, it's hard to think of an application that doesn’t involve proteins in some way or another. Whether it's research to identify and characterize proteins of interest, structural biology, development of a therapeutic protein or industrial fermentation, protein purification will be a key part of the workflow. Many approaches to protein purification exist and one step common to all is the need to eliminate host nucleic acids that are released during the process. While nucleases – enzymes that digest DNA and RNA – are critical for this step, commercial products often come at extremely high prices that limit their use. This article outlines why nucleic acid contamination is a major problem in protein purification and presents the modern-day solutions.Mon, 07 Jul 2025 00:00:00 +0100https://www.engenes.cc/post/the-impact-of-nucleic-acid-contamination-in-bioprocessing-and-protein-purification-workflowshttps://crisprmedicinenews.com/news/intellia-reports-positive-three-year-follow-up-data-from-phase-1-crispr-trial-in-hereditary-angioede/Intellia Therapeutics has reported positive three-year follow-data from the ongoing Phase 1/2 trial of lonvo-z (formerly known as NTLA-2002) in patients with hereditary angioedema. The data show that a single dose of the in vivo CRISPR-based therapeutic candidate eliminated severe inflammatory attacks in all patients with a favourable safety profile. A Phase 3 trial is ongoing.Wed, 18 Jun 2025 00:00:00 +0100https://crisprmedicinenews.com/news/intellia-reports-positive-three-year-follow-up-data-from-phase-1-crispr-trial-in-hereditary-angioede/https://crisprmedicinenews.com/news/eli-lilly-to-acquire-verve-therapeutics-to-advance-one-time-cardiovascular-treatments/Eli Lilly announced today that it will acquire Verve Therapeutics for up to $1.3 billion to develop single-dose base-editing treatments for people with high cardiovascular risk.Tue, 17 Jun 2025 00:00:00 +0100https://crisprmedicinenews.com/news/eli-lilly-to-acquire-verve-therapeutics-to-advance-one-time-cardiovascular-treatments/https://crisprmedicinenews.com/news/modalis-partners-with-solve-fshd-to-develop-crispr-therapy-for-facioscapulohumeral-muscular-dystroph/Modalis Therapeutics has partnered with SOLVE FSHD to advance the development of an experimental epigenome-editing therapy for facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy. The collaboration will fund Modalis' MDL-103 programme, which is designed to silence the expression of the disease-causing DUX4 gene.Mon, 09 Jun 2025 00:00:00 +0100https://crisprmedicinenews.com/news/modalis-partners-with-solve-fshd-to-develop-crispr-therapy-for-facioscapulohumeral-muscular-dystroph/https://www.tempobioscience.com/chips-and-beyond-the-attraction-of-3d-organoid-models-in-drug-discovery/To address the shortcomings of in vitro cell-based assays, such as those that rely on primary or immortalized rodent or animal cells, two popular solutions have emerged. These are the organ-on-a-chip devices and 3D organoids. This article will introduce both of these solutions and discusses the applications, benefits and drawbacks, and experimental complications of each. We hope that this overview will assist scientists in experimental planning and design.Sun, 08 Jun 2025 00:00:00 +0100https://www.tempobioscience.com/chips-and-beyond-the-attraction-of-3d-organoid-models-in-drug-discovery/https://crisprmedicinenews.com/news/crispr-cas9-screens-uncover-nr2f2-as-a-key-regulator-of-endocrine-resistance-in-breast-cancer/Using CRISPR-Cas9 screens, researchers in the United States and Belgium have identified NR2F2 as a key driver of endocrine resistance in breast cancer. Their findings, published in Science Translational Medicine, open new avenues for "endocrine sensitisers" to augment existing endocrine therapies.Thu, 05 Jun 2025 00:00:00 +0100https://crisprmedicinenews.com/news/crispr-cas9-screens-uncover-nr2f2-as-a-key-regulator-of-endocrine-resistance-in-breast-cancer/https://capitainer.com/an-introduction-to-psa-testing-for-prostate-cancer/PSA testing measures prostate-specific antigen levels in blood to screen for prostate cancer. While the test is highly sensitive, PSA’s limited specificity can lead to unnecessary biopsies since elevated levels may result from benign prostate conditions. Modern screening programs often combine PSA testing with digital rectal examinations and/or MRI imaging to improve diagnostic accuracy and reduce invasive procedures while emerging technologies such as at-home blood sampling are expanding testin...Wed, 28 May 2025 00:00:00 +0100https://capitainer.com/an-introduction-to-psa-testing-for-prostate-cancer/https://bioquicknews.com/the-science-of-itching-from-mosquito-bites-to-chronic-conditions/Did you know that itching has a purpose? Far from being merely an annoyance, itch is now recognized as a complex sensory system with important biological functions. In a recent primer, researchers at University of California Berkeley summarize significant discoveries about the molecular and cellular mechanisms underlying acute and chronic itch, setting the stage for future therapeutic innovations.Sat, 24 May 2025 00:00:00 +0100https://bioquicknews.com/the-science-of-itching-from-mosquito-bites-to-chronic-conditions/https://crisprmedicinenews.com/news/the-latest-clinical-trial-updates-from-crispr-medicine-news/This week's clinical update includes FDA RMAT designation to Beam Therapeutics' BEAM-302 for the treatment of alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency as well as an IND clearance issued to Ensoma for its lead programme EN-374 in chronic granulomatous disease.Wed, 14 May 2025 00:00:00 +0100https://crisprmedicinenews.com/news/the-latest-clinical-trial-updates-from-crispr-medicine-news/https://crisprmedicinenews.com/news/crisprmed25-poster-prize-winners-highlight-diverse-advances-in-crispr-medicine/At the CRISPR Medicine Conference 2025 (CRISPRMED25) held in Copenhagen earlier this month, four researchers were recognised for their outstanding poster presentations. The winning posters highlighted a diverse range of advances in the gene-editing field, from new technical insights about how epigenetics influence safety in gene editing to innovative T-cell engineering methods, legal frameworks for equitable access, and novel therapeutic approaches to thalassaemia.Tue, 22 Apr 2025 00:00:00 +0100https://crisprmedicinenews.com/news/crisprmed25-poster-prize-winners-highlight-diverse-advances-in-crispr-medicine/https://crisprmedicinenews.com/news/wrapping-up-crisprmed25-and-gearing-up-for-crisprmed26/A look back on some of the CRISPRMED25 highlights from four exciting days of scientific dissemination and collaboration. The CRISPRMED25 in-person conference brought together nearly 400 participants from 34 countries to engage in world-class science, critical discussions, and inspirational stories from those directly impacted by gene-editing technology.Fri, 18 Apr 2025 00:00:00 +0100https://crisprmedicinenews.com/news/wrapping-up-crisprmed25-and-gearing-up-for-crisprmed26/https://www.tempobioscience.com/explore-further-more-on-human-podocytes-and-proximal-tubules/In this article, we look at how podocytes and proximal tubules contribute to kidney fibrosis, which is a key end stage in most progressive kidney diseases, and explore their importance in drug-induced nephrotoxicity assessment. After a quick recap on kidney biology, we introduce kidney fibrosis and nephrotoxicity, providing a brief overview of what is known about how podocytes and proximal tubular cells respond to injury and their potential roles in kidney fibrosis. We also highlight how these specialized cell types serve as critical models for evaluating potential kidney damage during drug development.Wed, 09 Apr 2025 00:00:00 +0100https://www.tempobioscience.com/explore-further-more-on-human-podocytes-and-proximal-tubules/https://crisprmedicinenews.com/news/crisprmed25-virtual-event-roundup/At the CRISPRMED25 Virtual Event, five oral presenters and eleven poster contributors from academia and industry shared advances across a range of gene-editing modalities and therapeutic areas, spanning early-stage research to clinical trial data.Tue, 08 Apr 2025 00:00:00 +0100https://crisprmedicinenews.com/news/crisprmed25-virtual-event-roundup/https://capitainer.com/heavy-metal-blood-tests-what-patients-need-to-know/In this article for Capitainer, I take a deeper dive into heavy metal blood tests, covering what they are, how they work and what the results can tell healthcare providers. Note: This is an educational blog post about heavy metal blood tests and does not constitute medical advice. Consult a qualified medical practitioner for any health concerns.Fri, 21 Mar 2025 00:00:00 +0000https://capitainer.com/heavy-metal-blood-tests-what-patients-need-to-know/https://crisprmedicinenews.com/news/fda-clears-first-ever-in-vivo-gene-editing-trial-for-chronic-hepatitis-b-in-the-united-states/Durham-based Precision BioSciences has received IND clearance for PBGENE-HBV, making it the first investigational in vivo gene-editing therapy to enter a clinical trial for chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) in the United States. PBGENE-HBV is designed to eliminate cccDNA and inactivate integrated HBV DNA that current treatments cannot effectively address.Wed, 19 Mar 2025 00:00:00 +0000https://crisprmedicinenews.com/news/fda-clears-first-ever-in-vivo-gene-editing-trial-for-chronic-hepatitis-b-in-the-united-states/https://crisprmedicinenews.com/news/beam-therapeutics-reports-clinical-proof-of-concept-data-for-beam-302-in-alpha-1-antitrypsin-deficie/Eight months after dosing the first patient with BEAM-302, Beam Therapeutics has shared exciting safety and efficacy data indicating that a base-editing approach could transform treatment for patients with alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency.Wed, 12 Mar 2025 00:00:00 +0000https://crisprmedicinenews.com/news/beam-therapeutics-reports-clinical-proof-of-concept-data-for-beam-302-in-alpha-1-antitrypsin-deficie/