News
Outlook for 2021 from CellFree Sciences
Our outlook for 2021 written by Ozawa, the President and CEO of CellFree Sciences Co., Ltd., was published on the international industry journal MED TECH Outlook.
A set of 1118 human transcription factors was made by our expression system to study side effects of "thalidmide"
A joint effort by several universities and research institutes in Japan, including our strategic technology partners Dr. Satoshi Yamanaka and Professor Tatsuya Sawasaki at the Proteoscience Center of Ehime University, conducted a comprehensive study using a human protein array comprising 1,118 human transcription factors produced in our wheat germ cell-free protein expression system. Screening those proteins led to the discovery that thalidomide and its metabolite 5‐hydroxythalidomide induce teratogenicity via the cereblon neosubstrate PLZF.
Thalidmide was originally used as a sleeping drug for pregnant women but had caused terrible side effects. Later it was found that Thalidmide and its derivatives are potent drugs for treating leprosy and multiple myeloma. These are highly effective drugs that are now sold for about 1 trillion yen per year in the world for treatment of blood cancers such as multiple myeloma. However, these drugs require a strict safety management to avoid teratomas. The new finding reported here will help to develop better thalidmide derivatives that could avoid any risk for teratoma formation.
For details, please click here.
Please click here for a paper on this research.
CellFree Sciences responded to new State of Emergency in Japan
On January 7th, 2021, the Government of Japan declared the State of Emergency for Tokyo and the three neighboring prefectures of Kanagawa, Saitama and Chiba in response to claiming numbers of COVID-19 cases in the area. The new measures will be in effect until February 7th, 2021 according to the present government plans.
CellFree Sciences is fully supporting the actions of the Japanese Government! We have taken actions to protect our staff following government directions and to make our contribution to help stopping the further spread of the virus.
We will make best efforts to support our customers also during the State of Emergency.
All orders will be processed as usual as we know about the importance of the work our customers are doing.
Please contact us for more information.
Season Greetings From CellFree Sciences
Season Greetings
From CellFree Sciences!
Our way of saying thank you.
With the year ending, we want to thank you for working together with CellFree Sciences and express our sincere wishes for the Seasons and a Happy, Healthy and Prosperous New Year!
This year had been complicated for all of us with life been very much dominated by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and the suffering it had broad to many people worldwide. But there is also hope in the times of the pandemic, which showed more than ever the importance of life sciences and the contribution we can make to bring the pandemic to an end. It fills us with pride that also our wheat germ cell-free expression system is used in the response to the COVID-19 pandemic to prepare viral proteins for research and the development and production of diagnostic products now available on the Japanese market. CellFree Sciences is committed to keep on supporting medical research and to work for better solutions in global health.
CellFree Sciences will start into 2022 with new service for protein-protein interaction assay with using protein array and campaign for custom synthesis service.
We all at CellFree Sciences are looking forward to being at your service again in 2022 supporting your important projects with our reagents and services. Please contact us and let us know about your needs and requirements. It is our commitment to work for our customers and partners to make your projects successful.
With all the very best wishes for you and yours for a better New Year 2022 from all of us at CellFree Sciences!
Our wheat germ cell-free expression system was used in a study to clarify the side effects of thalidomide.
Furihata, H., Yamanaka, S., Honda, T. et al. published in Nature Communications the results from a jointed project conducted by researchers at the University of Tokyo, Nagoya Institute of Technology, and our strategic partner the Proteo-Science Center at Ehime University using structural biology for determining the mechanisms behind side effects of immunomodulatory drugs like Thalidomide and its metabolite 5-hydroxythalidomide.
Thalidomide is used as an effective anti-cancer drug for treatment of multiple myeloma, although it exhibits side effects that cause developmental disorders in children during pregnancy. It is hoped that the results will help in the future to design better immunomodulatory drugs that mitigate the side effects.
This publication can be freely accessed: here.
We will be at BioJapan 2020.
CellFree Sciences will be at BioJapan 2020 at the PACIFICO Yokohama, Japan from October 14 to 16, 2020.
Please visit us at the following booth locations.
◇Booth No. and Name:
D-51/Cell Free Sciences with Ehime University (Protein Island Matsuyama)
◇Presentation:
Presentation Stage B
Date and time: October 14 15:00-15:30
We are looking forward to welcome you and to provide you with more information on the use of our protein expression products and services.
Reported in MED TECH Outlook.
The international industry journal MED TECH Outlook reported on our company as a Top IN VITRO DIAGNOSTIC solution provider in APAC 2020.
For further details, Please click here.
The development serological markers for detecting recent Plasmodium vivax infection has been successful
The international research group comprising of Proteo-Science Center, Ehime University’s Dr. Eizo Takashima, Dr. Masayuki Morita, and Dr. Takafumi Tsuboi along with CellFree Sciences Co., Ltd.’s Dr. Matthias Harbers succeeded in developing a serological diagnostic marker that can identify those with dormant liver stage infections, which are the causes of Plasmodium vivax recurrences.
This result has been achieved by an international joint research project with the main members including Proteo-Science Center, Ehime University, CellFree Sciences Co., Ltd., The Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research (WEHI), Pasteur Institute, and Foundation for Innovative New Diagnostics (FIND).
Further, this project was started with assistance from the Global Health Innovative Technology Fund (GHIT Fund) between October 2015 and March 2017.
This research result allows the diagnosis of Plasmodium vivax’s dormant liver stage parasites which has been a difficult challenge in eliminating malaria, for the first time in the world. It can be seen as an important result to safely and effectively promote the treatment.
The paper regarding this research result has been published on the May 12th (Tues.) 2020 issue of the Nature Medicine.
Development and validation of serological markers for detecting recent Plasmodium vivax infection
Contributed to support the development of monoclonal antibody detection of the novel coronavirus
The joint research group, which primarily studies under Dr. Akihide Ryo for Yokohama City University, has succeeded in the development of monoclonal antibodies to specifically detect novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) antigens, and has utilized our company's Wheat Germ Cell-free Protein Expression System in the production of the antigen.
For further details, Please click here.
Ehime University et al. receive research grant for development of malaria vaccines
The Proteo-Science Center (PROS), Ehime University et al. research group, which is the strategic technical partner of our company, has received a research grant totaling approximately 600 million yen for research to develop transmission-blocking vaccines for malaria elimination from Global Health Innovative Technology Fund (GHIT Fund).
Up to now we have supplied wheat germ extract to support malaria research through wheat germ cell-free protein expression system and it is our hope this malaria vaccine development will be one more step of progress in the battle to malaria elimination.
