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Why Automation Unlocks Virtual and Hybrid Event Monetization

The final part in our four-part series of recordings from the Event Innovation Lab at IMEX America focuses on the challenges around monetization of virtual and hybrid events Get a fresh and somewhat contrarian take on how to generate revenue from online event experiences As we continue to deal with the Covid pandemic its more The post Why Automation Unlocks Virtual and Hybrid Event Monetizationhttpswwweventmanagerblogcomevent-innovation-lab-monetization by Miguel Neveshttpswwweventmanagerblogcompost-authormiguel-neves appeared first on httpswwweventmanagerblogcom

Tue, 30 Nov 2021

Level Up Your Employee Onboarding Workflows With These Modern Process Management Strategies

onboarding workflowInstead of an alphabetic writing system the Incan Empire used a series of knotted and colored strings called quipuQuipu are still used in South America today primarily by herders recording livestock numbers but experts still only have theories about how the actual Incans used their quipu way back Some believe quipu were simple memory aids while others point to purely numerical record-keeping The latest trend is the theory that quipu were on their way to becoming viable alternatives to written languageonboarding-workflow-quipuSourcehttpswwwmuseolarcoorgenexhibitionpermanent-exhibitiononline-exhibitiontextiles-from-ancient-peruinca-quipusLooking at that image I know what youre thinking How could a series of knots ever represent a narrative about anythingTo be fair though the ancient world had a lot of weird record-keeping methods Youve probably encountered the Celts Ogham alphabet Viking runes and the Egyptians hieroglyphs because scholars have been able to figure out what those symbols mean but there are still many like the quipu we dont quite understandFor the most part we think these cultures followed a predominantly oral tradition which is why we dont have any documents explaining their languages Even the Romans who loved to write things down left us a language Latin we dont actually know how to pronounce All because no one thought about documenting their systems in a universally understandable way that would stand the test of timeNow hopefully your internal onboarding processes arent at risk due to your CEOs sibling overthrowing their rule or violent colonization by an invading force but if your organizations employee onboarding isnt a documented process anyone could use its about as useful to your company as an Incan quipu is to a 21st-century New YorkerHR has gone through so many changes in the past few years that its not even called HR anymore The same old systems that have worked just fine up to now just arent going to cut it anymore People managers need dynamic interactive processes that are flexible enough to meet the ever-changing needs of both their future new hires and their current workforceIn this Process Streethttpswwwprocessst post Im going to show you how to easily level up your employee onboarding so it doesnt become yet another antiquated system no one remembers how to use- Old-school employee onboarding mistakeshttpsprocessstonboarding-workflowonboarding-mistakes- Welcome to the HR People Management revolutionhttpsprocessstonboarding-workflowthe-new-hr- Next-generation employee onboarding automationhttpsprocessstonboarding-workflowonboarding-automationLets get startedOld-school employee onboarding mistakes88 of employeeshttpswwwsaplinghrcom10-employee-onboarding-statistics-you-must-know-in-2021 say that their organization sucks at onboarding One-third of that 88 points to inconsistent processes as the number one downfall Some companies are so bad at onboarding that 20 of their new hires wouldnt recommend their company as an employer just because of their onboarding experienceYou dont want to be one of those do youI get where youre coming from though You have a system set up thats worked so far You ended up here looking for some quick tips to get more organized not upend the whole thingonboarding workflow Process Street leading employee onboarding softwareMaybe your company is scaling up and youre looking at onboarding a few dozen employees all at once Maybe youve inherited a legacy system and have no idea what logic it runs on Maybe youre desperately looking for an alternative to convince your boss that the current methods are just awful and irredeemableYou have your reasons But completely revolutionizing the way things are done That sounds complicated risky and a little scaryThe truth is it doesnt have to be any of those things Optimizing your employee onboarding process is an investment in the future Your new hires experience will improve your experience will improve and your company will enjoy the benefits of a properly onboarded and thoroughly prepared workforceBut my employee onboarding spreadsheets really do workDo they reallyThink about it What is it those spreadsheets actually do for youNow I love a good spreadsheet as much as the next person but even I have to face facts Spreadsheets are static repositories of information that totally rely on the phalanges-power of a real live human to stay up-to-dateAll your spreadsheets documents and emails- Are scattered all over different inboxes computers and more and more often completed asynchronously across different time zones and countries- And as a result very easy to lose track of How many times have you had an email accidentally end up in spam- Dont provide a clear chain of ownership over individual tasks or even the onboarding process as a whole- Offer zero automation How much time do you spend chasing up this form or that form Dont you deserve a little automation in your lifeOf course you doDont work harder Work smarter Vinay Patankar CEO Process StreetWell what about using an HRM platform to manage employee onboardingHRM platforms are great For HRM And sure they all have some sort of basic plug and play onboarding function includedYou know the problem with that Its a basic plug and play onboarding function and your new hires are anything but basic or plug and playEvery company is unique which means that every companys onboarding process is unique Not only that but every department and team within your company is going to have different needs processes and requirements for their onboarding workflowsYour average pre-packaged HRM platform cant give you that But you dont have to be a full-stack engineer to create the solution your company needsAllow me to introduce you to the no-code platform that will help you build the software-driven workflows that fit your team whatever it needs to do like a gloveWelcome to the HR People Management revolutionProcess management is ubiquitous You do it all the time probably without even thinking about it That said there is good process management and not-so-good process managementUsing an effective process management platform makes all the difference Here at Process Street we build our processes around workflowshttpswwwprocesssthelpdocswhat-is-a-workflowIll walk through a specific example in the next section but the TLDR of it all is that a workflow is a standardized process that any person in a role should be able to complete intuitivelyhttpsprocessstpsychological-safety-hybrid-workplaceimprove-safety with little or no difficultyTheres an example I shamelessly thief from one of our designershttpswwwprocessstux-research-methods If you think of a car theres a pretty standard layout of where the steering wheel and so on will be Different models will have extra non-essential features in slightly different arrangements but the basic principles of a cars layout are universal If you learned to drive on a Toyota you can pretty much hop into a BMW and be on the road in a few minutesGood design is obvious Great design is invisible Joe Sparanohttpsjoesparanocom Graphic designerYour teams processes need to be that universal too You want a methodology so standardized that both the newest person on your team and the most experienced can accurately perform every step of the processNot only is this important for your employee onboarding process but every process an HR department or People Team uses has to have absolute accuracy You know exactly how complicated even the tiniest typo in an employees paperwork can beA modern process management platform like Process Street eliminates that risk of human error through automationIf were being honest with ourselves we all know that machines are just better at some things than humans are For one machines dont seem to get bored or distracted when completing the same task over and over and over again In fact doing the exact same thing in the exact same way is kind of what theyre famous for So why not turn over those repetitious tasks to an expert in repetitionLets look at exactly how successful process management will make your routine tasks ten times easierNext-generation employee onboarding automationAs you can see in the video Process Street handles your workflows but through Slackhttpsslackcom Zapierhttpszapiercom and our own first-party integrationshttpswwwprocesssthow-to-use-automations you can create dynamic workflows that automate personalized messageshttpswwwprocesssthelpdocsgetting-started-building-your-own-automations keep track of authorizations and send reminders for follow-upsIll sound biased saying this but as someone who completed their employee onboarding using Process Street workflows I can assure you it was the most transparent stress-free onboarding Ive ever had And like most Millennials Im in the double digits for onboarding experiencesSo yes documenting your workflow with Process Street will make your job easier but it also makes your new hires job easier as well Theyll be able to see exactly whats expected of them every step of the way with additional resources and media gathered in one central locationWhat was once the most overwhelming part of starting at a new company can be turned into a seamless experience for everyoneOnboarding automation in actionClick here to get the Onboarding Remote Employees Checklisthttpswwwprocessstchecklistonboarding-remote-employeesYou can create workflowshttpswwwprocesssthelpdocsworkflows completely from scratch if you want but Process Street also has a huge library of pre-made workflowshttpswwwprocessstchecklist that you can use as they are or customize to suit your needshttpswwwprocesssthelpdocsediting-workflowsA wide range of features like conditional logic user permissionshttpswwwprocesssthelpdocsuser-permissions and task assignmentshttpswwwprocesssthelpdocstask-assignments give Process Street workflows their unique functionalityEvery role within a company has little particularities that are unique to that position and that position alone With your old-fashioned spreadsheet youd have to design completely separate documents for each individual roleNot only is that impractical but its a massive waste of time Process Streets conditional logic enables you to use the same onboarding workflow for every employee no matter which role theyre fillingConditional logichttpswwwprocessstconditional-logic creates branching pathways that can cover a variety of situations Once the workflow is assigned to a specific department or job title the relevant tasks will be triggered to appear as part of the workflow Any task that isnt needed stays hiddenOne onboarding process Every single employee And all you have to do is run a linkhttpswwwprocesssthelpdocsrunning-workflowsDont forget your employee handbookThe onboarding process is only half of the equation You also need a central hub that contains all the company policies and procedures that your new hires can access and view whenever they need itNow the traditional method is to have some huge binder stuck on a shelf somewhere with color-coded tabs and a list of appendices longer than your last meeting that definitely couldve been an email Its bulky difficult to update and no judgment when was the last you even looked at itThe Pages featurehttpswwwprocessstfree-knowledge-management-for-teams-with-pages is your new free-for-everyone knowledge basehttpswwwprocessstannouncing-pages that lives side-by-side with your interactive workflows With both on one platformhttpswwwprocesssthelpdocsdifference-workflows-pages means theres no need to keep process information in multiple locations providing team-wide transparency into what processes existJust check out this video to see how to get your employee handbook started on Process StreetWhats the best onboarding experience youve had Let us know in the commentsThe post Level Up Your Employee Onboarding Workflows With These Modern Process Management Strategieshttpswwwprocessstonboarding-workflow first appeared on Process Street Checklist Workflow and SOP Softwarehttpswwwprocessst

Mon, 29 Nov 2021

How Medical Device Manufacturers Can Overcome Disruption to Save Lives

Imagine a scenario in which there is unprecedented demand for the products you manufacture but disruptions in the supply chain are making it difficult if not impossible to meet that demand and even if you do logistics bottlenecks are preventing them from getting where they need to go Many manufacturers have been running up against this problem since the pandemic beganNow imagine that peoples very lives literally depend on those products being manufactured and delivered to their destinationsIf youre in the medical device manufacturing industry youre likely thinking Welcome to my world Not only has it been as hard hit as any other manufacturer by supply chain disruptions and logistic backups the implications of the resulting shortages of the devices they manufacture may cost people their livesThe FDA is calling the shortages of medical devices at this critical time a public health emergency It published a device shortage listhttpswwwfdagovmedical-devicescoronavirus-covid-19-and-medical-devicesmedical-device-shortages-during-covid-19-public-health-emergency including the categories of personal protective equipment for medical workers testing supplies and equipment and ventilation-related products The list also outlines the specific products the estimated duration of the shortage and the reasons for the shortages along with what the government is doing about itThat list is illuminating and even frustrating for many reasons but its not all bad news Among the most common reasons for shortages including increased demand and supply chain issues which manufacturers have little control over there is also one culprit that manufacturers can control Requirements for complying with good manufacturing practicesAs medical device manufacturers know the FDA has strict compliance requirements that affect every part of the process from designing to manufacturing to testing to shipping even labeling In those processes there can be room for improvement Thats something manufacturers can do process improvements to get their products to market faster while still complying with the FDAThe FDA is calling the shortages of medical devices at this critical time a public health emergency httpswwwusccgcomwp-contentuploads202111unsplash-medical-device-doctors-surgeryjpgThe FDA is calling the shortages of medical devices at this critical time a public health emergencyWhat medical device manufacturers can do nowAt USC Consulting Group weve been helping manufacturers up their operational efficiency for more than 50 years We analyze what youre doing how youre doing it and how we can create greater efficiency using your existing resources A few tactics were implementing with our medical manufacturing clients to help mitigate these shortfalls and get their products to people who need them quicker includeInvestigate Lean Six SigmaLean manufacturing is nothing new The art of maximizing customer value while minimizing waste was pioneered by Henry Ford or Toyota depending on who you ask decades ago Six Sigma is a newer methodology designed to tackle defects in manufacturing While Lean looks at making processes more efficient and reducing process lead times Six Sigma focuses on cutting down on defects that can delay production In fact theyve joined to become one methodology in some circles Lean techniques help you get product off the line faster heightening your throughput Six Sigma strives to target the reason for any defects in the products These two techniques can conflict one sure way to cut down on defects is to slow down the process which runs counter to Leans goals Achieving the perfect balance between the two and getting the job done faster with fewer defects is indeed an art form and worth exploringUse SIOP to make your planning and forecasting bulletproofWe recommend using SIOP Sales Inventory and Operations Planning to elevate your planning process to achieve that perfect balance between your supply and demand Youve heard of SOP a popular business management process that involves sales forecast reports planning for demand and supply and other factors The goal is to help companies get a better more clear look at their operations and create better-informed strategy decisions allowing them to deliver what clients need in the most profitable wayIts a useful process but weve found a lot of our clients do not include inventory as a strategic tool in their SOP process Therefore they leave the I out of SIOP Adding inventory into the mix is just one additional step but we find it can be the key to the whole process When youre focusing on inventory it requires more careful planning and elevates the entire planning process up a notch When your inventory is optimized which is not an easy mark to hit in these days of supply chain disruption things tend to fall into place With SIOP you can make your inventory work harder for youDownload our free eBook Sales Inventory and Operations Planning Its About Timehttpsinfousccgcomsales-inventory-operations-planning-its-about-time to dive deeper into SIOPInvolve your frontline employeesWe call it the Employee Involvement Prototype EIP Its about engaging with your employees at the machine level and getting good data from the floor It includes anyone who has to do with the line and entails taking a look at those operations and processes with input from the men and women who are actually doing the job on an hour-by-hour basisFocus on throughput productivity and yieldTake a good look at whats happening on the line What is the drumbeat Are all your functions in sync Can you improve production by cutting redundant stepsFor more information on these two points download our whitepaper Strategies for Meeting Increasing Customer Demandhttpsinfousccgcomstrategies-for-meeting-increasing-customer-demand It goes into much more detail about how you can create that proverbial well-oiled machineWhen it comes to caring for people and providing the products they need time is of the utmost importance Medical device manufacturers understand they must overcome the worst supply chain disruptions to deliver to the people whose lives depend on themNeed help Give us a callhttpwwwusccgcomcontact-us We can save your operations so you can save livesLooking to optimize your supply chainhttpswwwusccgcomwp-contentuploads202002Supply-Chain-EoB-CTApngBack to top httpswwwusccgcomtop

Mon, 29 Nov 2021

Insights From IMEX & AWE

The Allseated team had a very busy week recently as we attended IMEX in Las Vegas while some of us also attended AWE in Silicon ValleyRonen Tsamir Allseateds VP of RD gained a ton of insight during his experiences at both conferences and is here to share his thoughts with us todayWe recently wrapped up a crazy amazing week where I went from the IMEX conference in Las Vegas to the AWE conference in Silicon ValleyAt IMEX we showcased the amazing capabilities we have developed at Allseated demonstrating the connection between people who are at a conference in-person and those who attended the conference using their PC mobile or virtual realityIn fact if we utilize the technology we have developed at Allseated to create events and content in virtual venues and combine it with events held in those same venues in the real world then we get very close to the Metaverse visionUnfortunately AWE the annual XR and 3D conference took place at the same time as IMEXSo after a lot of deliberation flight and hotel changes I left the amazing group of people at the Allseated booth and traveled to AWEAWE gave me the opportunity to mingle with people from all over the world who speak my language and no I dont mean Hebrew I mean the language of polygons vertexes shaders matrices and performance People who aspire to make higher-quality 3D break the boundaries of the GPU are curious about the meaning of the Metaversehttpswwwallseatedcomexvowhy-the-future-of-virtual-events-will-be-the-metaverse and discuss what XR is really all aboutI left the conference with two main insightsThe first is that many countries are investing in this We know about the big companies But at these events for the first time I heard about countries investing in the metaverse There were fascinating panels about Canada developing an ecosystem of XR companies in Vancouver and about China pushing Metaverse development as wellMy second insight was a central topic at the conferences hardware is the name of the game It is the biggest step to the next revolution the metaverse revolution About half of the exhibitions at the conferences were hardware startups with everyone trying to offer the most comfortable and accessible devices Its not only Meta formerly Facebook that is becoming more and more of a hardware company Oculus has begun to develop new chips for the Metaverse as wellSeeing the level of hardware we were introduced to at the conference it became clear that we could be about three years away from VR or AR being commercialallseated IMEXhttpswwwallseatedcomwp-contentuploads202111F82F2F15-8639-4565-BE35-A0A061E0C45D-e1637701284906jpegNow for a bit of technologyThere is big progress in AR Unfortunately as an Android evangelist or rather having difficulty with Apples limited environment I must say the significant progress is in the iPhone 13The ability to create a rough mesh that covers the entire space is big progress This means the phone camera has a 3D understanding of the environment allowing for amazing developments that interact with the environment around usIll be fair and say that HoloLens 2 also has such capabilities but for me until they will expand the little rectangle where the AR is shown they dont really have it There was also little consolation in the knowledge that soon Androids ARCore is expected to have the same capabilitiesI have seen impressive improvements in the ability to detect body and face kinematics through a simple iPad camera yet again Apple is ahead of everyone and the ability to dress the kinematics on a virtual avatar This topic especially interests me since at Allseated we put a lot of effort into connecting people in a real conference with those in a virtual conference This capability will allow us to transfer human movements in real conferences to an avatar in the metaverse or any other virtual conferenceBefore I completely exhaust you the last thing that I was excited about as someone who lives and breathes 3D on the WEB is the significant improvements of WebXR that now allow you to develop XR as a web application that does not fall far from native appsAlso I was surprised by the fast adoption of 3D rendering on the cloud and the ability to stream it in the browsers on any device via video tag This technology was inaccessible until recently and just broke out in recent months when Epic made it very easy to use through its Unreal engineIn summary theres a lot of development in 3D and XR but it will take a few more good years until these things become available for commercial use and most of us have daily access to XR devices alreadyIn the meantime Im on itThe post Insights From IMEX AWEhttpswwwallseatedcombloginsights-from-imex-and-awe appeared first on AllSeatedhttpswwwallseatedcom

Mon, 29 Nov 2021

Human LRRC15 protein is an inhibitory receptor for SARS-CoV-2 spike-mediated entry

In a recent study published on the bioRxiv preprint server researchers identified human LRRC15 as an inhibitory receptor for SARS-CoV-2 entry which directly binds to the receptor-binding domain RBD of the spike protein with a moderate affinity and inhibits spike-mediated entry

Tue, 30 Nov 2021

Develop a Successful Career Path with Planning, Pragmatism

In an industry not known for offering crystal-clear career paths its even more important for clinical research practitioners to fashion their own plan to get from point A to point B if they want to successfully climb the ladder says Erika Stevens MA principal consultant with Recherche Transformation RapideFor Stevens its about mastering the fine line between planning and pragmatism Dont pigeon-hole yourself with too many preconceived notions about where your career should go she advises While its important to have an honest sense of your own professional strengths and weaknesses Stevens advocates being open to a new track or opportunity you might not have considered beforeThe clinical research industry is growing exponentially both in demand for workforce and the roles and responsibilities required to thrive she notesUnsure of your next move Dont be afraid to volunteer for an interesting new project especially if its a little out of your comfort zone Stevens says In her own past shes gotten involved in remediation and corrective and preventive action CAPA projects that helped her see new opportunities in existing and future job situationsStevens also urges professionals to chase after new skills with an eye on the next position theyd like to hold For example take on management or administrative tasks if youd like your career to go in either of those directions she advises From CRA to VP A Professional Path Join Stevens and Dr Quincy Birdsong of Lipscomb University at ACRP 2022 as they share their non-traditional career paths in clinical research Take away insights for your own professional development and career opportunities View Session Details https2022acrpnetorg2022-program2022422from-cra-to-vp-a-professional-pathBe bold by going after something even if you arent 100 prepared Stretch beyond your comfort zone because you dont have to fully competent on day one in many situations Stevens notes Its clearly a different matter if something directly impacts patient safety but in many aspects of clinical trials there is time to ramp up and learn she adds Expand your tool kit and dont be scared away if you arent completely comfortable giving something new a try she saysACRP 2022 logohttps2022acrpnetorgFinally Stevens is a big fan of the leap and the net will appear school of thought Dont be afraid to leap into something new she says Be open to something you hadnt even thought of the day before and be opportunistic as you propel your career forwardAuthor Michael CauseyThe post Develop a Successful Career Path with Planning Pragmatismhttpsacrpnetorg20211129develop-a-successful-career-path-with-planning-pragmatism appeared first on ACRPhttpsacrpnetorg

Mon, 29 Nov 2021

Is healthcare marketing fit for the future?

What happens in an already fast-changing environment when a mixture of pandemic technological acceleration and social change disrupt accepted normsStagmar surveyed just over 100 of the most influential healthcare marketers across the globe These were Top Tier marketers with 80 being Director level and above and a similar proportion 79 coming from the Pharmaceuticals and Medical Technology segmentsThe insights the marketers shared with us are powerful informative and clearThere was a consensus amongst the Marketers that we are entering a period of unprecedented change Almost universally our respondents shared their belief that the importance of marketing will be significantly higher in the future that it has been in our immediate past And they made it clear that what got us to today will not lead us through tomorrowIt is time for marketing to step up to the plate and put change into practiceGiven the indisputable need for stronger marketing how does the industry fair in terms of its marketing capabilities Around 7 in 10 rated the industrys understanding of products as excellent but alarmingly less than 10 recorded similar levels of confidence when asked about their organisations understanding of marketing and customers In normal times this would be a cause for concern but with the advancing challenges facing the sector our respondents recognised that the moment for change is nowThe leaders were very clear that creativity and innovation must be the cornerstones of our new way forward But there was a very pessimistic view about the industrys ability to be creative When asked about the relative creativity of healthcare marketers not a single respondent could rate it as 55 and only 20 45 The majority concluded simply that we lacked creativityFailure to think differently is always unhealthy in marketing but in todays world our respondents fear it could be fatalDigital though slowly adopted has fared reasonably well About half felt they were behind the curve and the rest ahead of the curve This is an industry that sees itself as varied but with strong vital signs A deeper look confirmed a strong desire to be omnichannel with regard to delivery but hardly anyone felt their organisations were truly omnichannel yetOur 100 Top Tier respondents also recognised that the way forward depends on the transformation of our people rather than process or technology Talent in the industry is certainly high but the View from the Top suggests our industry desperately needs more courageous minds rather safe pairs of handsSo is the industry fit for the future The Views from the Top are that the raw ingredients are there but that there are areas of urgent need Find out what in the full report herehttpswwwstragmarcomRelated ContentThe evolution of the pharma incubatorhttpswwwreuterseventscompharmamultichannelevolution-pharma-incubatorHow well is pharma incubating innovationhttpswwwreuterseventscompharmamultichannelhow-well-pharma-incubating-innovationSpeeding pharmas slow sustainability journeyhttpswwwreuterseventscompharmamultichannelspeeding-pharmas-slow-sustainability-journeyPrimary EventPharma USA 2022 formerly eyeforpharma Philadelphiahttpswwwreuterseventscompharmaeventspharma-usa-2022-formerly-eyeforpharma-philadelphiaPrcisHealthcare marketing is an industry more usually attuned to supporting the health of others but with so many changes and pressures we knew the industry itself would benefit from a thorough health checkPremiumFreemiumChannelsMultichannelhttpswwwreuterseventscompharmahttp3Asocialeyeforpharmacomtaxonomyterm7989Patients and Medicalhttpswwwreuterseventscompharmapatients-medicalClinicalhttpswwwreuterseventscompharmaclinicalColumnhttpswwwreuterseventscompharmacolumn

Mon, 29 Nov 2021

New approach could overcome fungal resistance to current treatments

https1bpblogspotcom-rYbDJBEkjUXOp9613EQyIAAAAAAAArKQfhH6p3w55I4kf4Qu17jTvATQ1Ns5adUAwCPcBGAYYCws340albicansjpghttpswwwamazoncomKathryn-At-Home-Simple-Entertainingdp1423640713pdrdw6T0ohpfrdpd12edb90-0e5b-498c-816a-9ba65872c34fpfrdrBJD1PDPHAE9VYMZMWRQDpdrdr34d9f036-74b6-494f-bce9-7a72c5f229a6pdrdwgaxBuJpdrdi1423640713psc1linkCodeli3tagpharmigpharma-20linkId0727d576183e0eba0facc28344dc7186languageenUSrefaslissilCurrent medications arent particularly effective against fungi The situation is becoming more challenging because these organisms are developing resistance to antimicrobial treatments just as bacteria are Now researchers report in ACS Infectious Diseases that they have identified compounds that tackle these infections in a new way -- by interfering with fungal enzymes required for fatty acid synthesis -- potentially opening the door to better therapiesSuperficial infections by Candida or other types of fungi can cause irritating but relatively minor conditions such as oral thrush and athletes foot but invasive infections can result in debilitating and deadly diseases such as cryptococcal meningitis and some hospital-acquired infections More people are getting these infections because of the growing use of invasive surgery implanted catheters and immunosuppressive therapy And some patients such as those with severe COVID-19 or HIV are especially susceptible to fungal infections In addition treatments can be toxic and often dont work in part because of increasing resistance Current targets for these compounds include molecules necessary for making fungal cell walls As an alternative Glen E Palmer and colleagues began looking for potential therapies that could work through a different mechanism and thereby avoid the drawbacks of these drugsThe researchers zeroed in on fungal fatty acid FA synthase and desaturase enzymes which are essential for the growth and virulence of human fungal pathogens Its been difficult to devise a rapid chemical assay to find inhibitors for these enzymes since its hard to isolate the enzymes So the team instead combined genetic engineering with a whole-cell assay to screen thousands of small molecules Although none of the tested compounds blocked FA synthase activity in Candida albicans cell cultures 16 inhibited FA desaturase activity A core acyl hydrazide structure was found to be key to the activity of several of these molecules which were effective even against drug-resistant strains of several infectious species of fungi while showing little to no toxicity to mammalian cells The researchers note that these compounds are promising leads for further development as antifungal agentsSeeChristian DeJarnette Chris J Meyer Alexander R Jenner Arielle Butts Tracy Peters Martin N Cheramie Gregory A Phelps Nicole A Vita Victoria C Loudon-Hossler Richard E Lee Glen E Palmer Identification of Inhibitors of Fungal Fatty Acid Biosynthesis ACS Infectious Diseases 2021 DOI 101021acsinfecdis1c00404httpdxdoiorg101021acsinfecdis1c00404Posted by Dr Tim Sandle Pharmaceutical Microbiology Resources httpwwwpharmamicroresourcescomPharmaceutical Microbiology c Dr Tim Sandle httpwwwpharmamicroresourcescom

Mon, 29 Nov 2021