Biotechnology Focus Podcast

Zymeworks, ProMetic Life Sciences, Innovative Targeting Solutions all back in the news again; Saskatchewan researchers make a breakthrough on a devastating pig virus, and healthcare behemoth GE partners with STEMCELL Technologies.We have this and more on this week’s Biotechnology Focus Podcast! Welcome to Biotechnology Focus Podcast. I’m your host Shawn Lawrence. Story 1 We kick things off this week in the prairies, where in less than a year, University of Saskatchewan (U of S) scientists have developed and tested a prototype vaccine that could protect the North American swine industry from a virus that has killed more than eight million pigs and cost more than $400 million in lost income since 2013. The Porcine Epidemic Diarrhea Virus (PEDV) hit the U.S. in 2013 and spread to Canada in 2014. It is a coronavirus, a virus group which includes important emerging human diseases such as SARS and MERS. It was first discovered in Europe, and has become increasingly problematic in Asian countries. Occurring only in