German China
Sanofi’s acquisition of Principia Biopharma will allow expansion of the SAR442168 development programme into other central nervous system diseases and therapeutic areas.  (Deposit Photos )
Business Deal

Sanofi to Takeover Principia Biopharma

With this acquisition, Sanofi aims to further strengthen its core R&D areas of autoimmune and allergic diseases. The move will also provide full control of the brain-penetrant BTK inhibitor SAR442168 in multiple sclerosis which is expected to make commercialisation more efficient and eliminate royalty payments in the future.

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A male stickleback (Gasterosteus aculeatus) during spawning time. (Joakim Hansen/Azote)
Sweden: Ecology

A Wave of Sticklebacks: How a Tiny Fish Takes Over an Entire Ecosystem

Large numbers of three-spined stickleback have gradually taken over larger parts of the Baltic Sea’s coastal ecosystem, shows a new scientific study. Stickleback is a small prey fish common in aquatic food webs across temperate Europe. The stickleback contributes to local ecosystem ‘regime shifts’, where young-of-the-year pike and perch decline in individual bays, and these shifts gradually spread like a wave from the outer archipelago into the mainland coast.

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A polymer nanofiber, smaller than one hundredth the size of a human hair, mounted on a MEMS mechanical testing device. The inset shows two devices positioned perpendicularly so that adhesion and friction forces could be simultaneously measured at the intersecting point of contact. (Grainer College of Engineering)
USA: Nanotechnology

Measuring Adhesion and Friction of Polymer Nanofibers

Using a device small enough to fit on the head of a pin, researchers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign gained new knowledge about the properties of polymer fibers at the nanoscale — knowledge that can inform the design and manufacturing of products made up of random networks of filaments, such as robust filters designed to block foreign particles from entering our lungs.

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