News Releases
Schiel Honored with Flemming AwardDr. John Schiel April 19, 2021 - Dr. John E. Schiel, NIST Research Chemist and IBBR Fellow, was awarded an Arthur S. Flemming on April 15, 2021 for his leading role in the development of a protein therapeutic measurements and standards program that works closely with the biopharmaceutical industry, regulators, and instrumentation companies. Specifically, John led a team of NIST scientists in developing a world-first monoclonal antibody reference material, ... Read More |
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IBBR Fellow Vincent Njar Receives Inaugural Distinguished University Professor DesignationDr. Vincent Njar March 30, 2021 – Vincent Njar, PhD has been recognized with the designation of Distinguished University Professor by the University of Maryland, Baltimore (UMB). Dr. Njar is Head of Medicinal Chemistry Section, Center for Biomolecular Therapeutics, Institute for Bioscience and Biotechnology Research (IBBR) Fellow, and Professor, Department of Pharmacology, University of Maryland School of Medicine. This designation represents the highest appointment bestowed on a faculty member at UMB, recognizing excellence as well as impact and significant contribution to the nominee’s... Read More |
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European Patent for Method to Detect Protein Aggregation in a Biopharmaceutical Product Granted to IBBR Investigator Bruce Yu and CoworkersDr. Katharine Briggs (left), Dr. Bruce Yu (center) and Dr. Marc Taraban (right) in September 2019, shortly after they relocated from the University of Maryland, Baltimore campus to IBBR/USG. Photo Credit: Katharine Briggs February 26th 2021 – A European patent has been granted by the European Patent Office (EPO) for an invention assessing biopharmaceutical aggregation using magnetic resonance relaxometry to IBBR Fellow Bruce Yu, PhD, a Professor of Pharmaceutical Sciences at the University of Maryland, School of Pharmacy and Director of the School’s Bio- & Nano-Technology Center... Read More |
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Patent Pending for Novel Antimicrobial-Development Technology Stemming from IBBR CollaborationCaptCpl-1 is a pneumococcal-specific endolysin composed of a GH25 enzyme active domain (EAD) and a cell wall binding domain (CBD). PlyCA contains two EADs, GyH and CHAP, but has no activity against pneumococcus. ClyX-1 is a chimeric endolysin, made from insertion of the Cpl-1 CBD in between the two PlyCA EADs. ClyX-1 not only has activity against pneumococcus, but its activity is 100-fold higher than Cpl-1, presumably due to synergistic activities of the two PlyCA EADs and specificity provided by the Cpl-1 CBD. January 22, 2021 - A group of NIST and University of Maryland scientists has... Read More |
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Consortium Led by IBBR Fellow John Moult Fosters Advances in Protein Structure PredictionPart of a plant virus glycoprotein. Computed structure blue, experiment magenta January 19, 2021 - Reports from the recent 14th Critical Assessment of Structure Prediction (CASP) community experiment show substantial progress in computing the structure of protein molecules. The three-dimensional structure of proteins provides key insights into understanding many aspects of their function, including disease mechanisms, the effect of genetic mutations, and facilitates the development of new therapeutics and vaccines. IBBR Fellow. Dr. John... Read More |
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IBBR Fellow Contributes to Research Team That Characterizes the Structure of a Respiratory Syncytial Virus Vaccine CandidateArrangement of the RSV F fusion protein trimers around the nanoparticle carrier core in the vaccine material, as determined by solution X-ray and neutron scattering. January 14, 2021 - IBBR Fellow Alexander Grishaev and collaborators at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and Novavax characterized the structure of a nanoparticle vaccine candidate for Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV), a virus that can cause severe respiratory infections in children. The team applied advanced biophysical measurement... Read More |
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IBBR Publishes 2020 Issue of BioNEXUS MagazineJanuary 11, 2021 -- The Institute for Bioscience and Biotechnology Research (IBBR) is pleased to share the second issue of BioNEXUS magazine. BioNEXUS highlights IBBR's efforts to advance understanding of the structure and function of biomolecules and biological systems and to apply these discoveries to analytical tool innovation and to disease prevention and treatment. The current issue of BioNEXUS includes a feature on The Next Vaccine: How Far We Have Come and the Hope for Tomorrow as well as stories about therapeutic discovery,... Read More |
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IBBR Fellow Zvi Kelman Receives Department of Commerce Gold Medal AwardDecember 7, 2020 – IBBR Fellow Zvi Kelman has been recognized for scientific achievement with the Department of Commerce Gold Medal Award. Dr. Kelman, Director of the Biomolecular Labeling Laboratory at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and Adjunct Professor at the Department of Cell Biology and Molecular Genetics, University of Maryland College Park, received this award as a member of a NIST research team on the project “Developing a suite of standards including the first NIST living reference material to strengthen the nation's response to potential biothreats”.... Read More |
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Protein Structures Identified by IBBR Team Provide Insights into T Cell Recognition of Targets for Cancer TherapiesAugust 4, 2020 – Adoptive T cell therapy (ACT) is a treatment for patients with several forms of cancer. This therapeutic effect is mediated by T cells through recognition of tumor neoantigens, which are proteins not previously recognized by the immune system. To better understand interactions between neoantigens and T cell receptors (TCRs) that could impact therapeutic development, a team in the laboratory of IBBR Investigator Dr. Roy Mariuzza, Professor, UMCP Department of Cell Biology and Molecular Genetics, in collaboration with IBBR Fellow Brian Pierce, Assistant Professor, UMCP... Read More |
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Assuring Quality of Vaccines at the Point-of-Care: IBBR Team Advances Detection MethodJune 08, 2020 - Analytical techniques to evaluate the condition of vaccine formulations are critical to quality assurance of these substances. Certain vaccines, including those with aluminum adjuvants, can be sensitive to freezing, which would damage the vaccine, and therefore deviations from temperature ranges prescribed for storage and transport need to be monitored. A method for detecting freezing events of liquid vaccines is described in a recent publication in the journal Vaccine featuring work by the laboratory of Bruce Yu, PhD, a professor of pharmaceutical sciences at the... Read More |
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