—The Scientist magazine named Fitchburg-based Promega’s “High BiT” protein-tagging system as one of its top 10 innovations of 2017. The product emits a bright light, allowing researchers to “quantify the abundance of a protein of interest, whether it be in the cell or on the cell surface,” Chris Eggers, a senior research scientist at Promega, told the publication. The High BiT tag can reportedly be incorporated in a variety of places on a protein of interest using CRISPR-Cas9, a gene editing technique that allows researchers to cut out or replace genes in any living organism with DNA.
—Madison–based Cellectar Biosciences (NASDAQ: CLRB) said it plans to enroll up to 40 additional patients in a Phase 2 clinical trial of its lead drug candidate, which has the potential to treat malignant tumors and certain forms of blood cancer, including multiple myeloma. The company said it will enroll more multiple myeloma patients in the clinical trial because the data it has collected up to this point showed that the drug, CLR 131, “exceeded pre-specified criteria for clinically meaningful benefit.” Cellectar said it plans to share more data from the Phase 2 trial, as well as its Phase 1 study of CLR 131, in 2018.
—Marquette University opened a lab dedicated to studying and advancing blockchain technologies, according to a blog post by Heather Sullivan, who works in the Milwaukee university’s business school. Blockchain is a way of creating a public record of transactional data so that those transactions can later be authenticated, but also which allows the parties involved to keep certain information private by encrypting it. Sullivan wrote in the blog post that the Marquette Blockchain Lab will seek to attract “students, faculty, and community partners from across disciplines and industries” to work together on blockchain projects. Last month, Marquette held its first-ever blockchain conference, which featured leaders from large Milwaukee financial services companies like Northwestern Mutual and Fiserv (NASDAQ: FISV). Read the full story here.
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