The University of Southampton

Management expansion strengthens capabilities in developing new class of alpha radioligand therapies CAMBRIDGE, Mass. and OSLO, Norway and LONDON and BASEL, Switzerland, Oct. 5, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- ARTBIO, Inc. (ARTBIO), a clinical-stage radiopharmaceutical company developing a new class of targeted alpha radioligand therapies (ART), today announced the appointment of Nick Pullen, Ph.D., as Chief Scientific Officer. Dr. Pullen brings over 20 years of leadership experience in the biopharmaceutical space and has led drug discovery programs spanning multiple gene classes, modalities and indications, including oncology, neuroscience and immunology. In this role, Dr. Pullen will be responsible for overseeing all scientific research efforts to further leverage ARTBIO's scientific approach to radiopharmaceuticals and progress the company's differentiated pipeline. "We are pleased to welcome Nick to our team at this pivotal time for ARTBIO. Nick brings a wealth of highly relevant and valuable expertise in discovery and development of innovative therapies across multiple disease areas," said Emanuele Ostuni, Ph.D., Chief Executive Officer of ARTBIO. "I believe his broad experience, along with his commitment to bringing medicines to patients, will contribute greatly to building our R&D strategy as we progress our pipeline of alpha radioligand therapies based on the ideal Pb212 isotope." Prior to joining ARTBIO, Dr. Pullen served as Senior Vice President and Head of Research at Jnana Therapeutics. There he participated in their Series B and C fundraisings that together raised >$150 million; led a multi-target partnership with Roche; built a discovery pipeline; and put into development a first-in-class SLC6A19 allosteric inhibitor for the treatment of PKU. Before Jnana, Dr. Pullen was Vice President of Integrative Sciences at Celgene/BMS, and prior to that, he worked at Pfizer in several scientific leadership positions. Across both companies, Dr. Pullen was responsible for scientific and strategic leadership for many drug discovery programs. Dr. Pullen received his Ph.D. in GPCR Pharmacology from the University of Southampton in the United Kingdom and completed a post-doctoral fellowship at the Friedrich Miescher Institute in Basel, Switzerland. He is accredited with more than 50 peer-reviewed publications, patents, and book chapters. "Radiopharmaceuticals are possibly one of the most promising emerging approaches to directed cancer therapy. I am excited to be joining ARTBIO at this time in the company's growth, coupling the uniquely enabling AlphaDirect™ technology and the power of Pb212 with thoughtful biology and chemistry to develop a broad portfolio of cancer targeting therapies that have the potential to redefine cancer care," said Dr. Pullen. About ARTBIO ARTBIO is a clinical-stage radiopharmaceutical company redefining cancer care by creating a new class of alpha radioligand therapies (ARTs). The unique ARTBIO approach selects the optimal alpha-emitting isotope (Pb212) and tumor-specific targets to create highly targeted therapeutics. The company's AlphaDirectTM technology, a first-of-its-kind Pb212 isolation method, enables a distributed manufacturing approach for the reliable production and delivery of ARTs. ARTBIO is advancing three pipeline programs with lead program AB001 currently in first in human trials. ARTBIO is shaped by a long-standing scientific legacy with nearly a century of pioneering work in radiation therapy conducted at the University of Oslo and Norway's Radium Hospital. For more information, visit , and follow us on LinkedIn (@artbio-inc) and Twitter (@artbio_inc). SOURCE ARTBIO

Scientists have found early human migrants left Africa for Eurasia, across the Sinai peninsula and on through Jordan, over 80-thousand years ago. Researchers have proved there was a 'well-watered corridor' which funneled hunter-gatherers through The Levant towards western Asia and northern Arabia via Jordan. An international team of scientists has found early human migrants left Africa for Eurasia, across the Sinai peninsula and on through Jordan, over 80-thousand years ago. Researchers from the University of Southampton (UK) and Shantou University (China), together with colleagues in Jordan, Australia and the Czech Republic, have proved there was a "well-watered corridor" which funnelled hunter-gatherers through The Levant towards western Asia and northern Arabia via Jordan. Their findings, published in the journal Science Advances, support previous research conducted in Arabia suggesting this green, overland route, which is now desert, was favoured by travelling Homo sapiens heading north. 'Modern' humans evolved in Africa between 300 and 200 thousand years ago and dispersed out of the continent in several stages. It's thought that over tens of thousands of years they went on to populate Asia and then Europe. For this latest research, the team conducted fieldwork in the Jordan Rift Valley where they uncovered hand tools, known as 'flakes', on the edge of wadis -- now dry river channels which, tens of thousands of years ago, were full of water. The scientists used luminescence dating techniques to help establish the age of the sediment the tools were buried in. This method estimates how long it has been since sediment was last exposed to light. The results showed the tools were likely to have been used approximately 84 thousand years ago and then abandoned on the banks of the wadis and subsequently buried over time. Paul Carling, Professor of Geomorphology at the University of Southampton, comments: "It's long been thought that when the sea level was low, humans used a southern crossing, via the Red Sea from the horn of Africa, to get to southwestern Arabia. However, our study confirms there was a well-trodden passage to the north, across the only land-route from Africa to Eurasia. "Our newly published evidence is a key piece of the puzzle that shows humans migrated using a northern route -- using small wetland areas as bases whilst hunting abundant wildlife in the drier grasslands. Although previous studies have looked for large lakes as potential watering holes, in fact small wetlands were very important as staging posts during the migration." Dr Mahmoud Abbas, the study's lead author from Shantou University, China, said: "The Levant acted as a well-watered corridor for modern humans to disperse out of Africa during the last interglacial, and we have now demonstrated this is the case in the Jordan Rift Valley zone. "The paleohydrological evidence from the Jordan desert enhances our understanding of the environmental setting at that time. Rather than dry desert, savannah grasslands would have provided the much-needed resources for humans to survive during their journey out of Africa and into southwest Asia and beyond." The researchers say their study demonstrates the intimate relationship between climate change, human survival and migrations.

Archaeologists have discovered a major Palaeolithic cave art site, arguably the most important found on the Eastern Iberian Coast in Europe. Archaeologists have discovered a major Palaeolithic cave art site, arguably the most important found on the Eastern Iberian Coast in Europe. Over a hundred ancient paintings and engravings, thought to be at least 24,000 years old, have been found in a 500 metre-long cave in 'Cova Dones' or 'Cueva Dones' -- a site located in Millares near Valencia in Spain. The cave site is well-known by locals and often visited by hikers and explorers, but the existence of Palaeolithic paintings was unnoticed until researchers from the universities of Zaragoza and Alicante (Spain), and affiliated to the University of Southampton (UK), made the exciting discovery in June 2021. Findings of a study into the cave art, which highlight its true significance, are now published in the journal Antiquity. Dr Aitor Ruiz-Redondo, Senior Lecturer of Prehistory at the University of Zaragoza (Spain) and research affiliate at the University of Southampton (UK) comments: "When we saw the first painted auroch [extinct wild bull], we immediately acknowledged it was important. Although Spain is the country with largest number of Palaeolithic cave art sites, most of them are concentrated in northern Spain. Eastern Iberia is an area where few of these sites have been documented so far. "However, the actual 'shock' of realising its significance came long after the first discovery. Once we began the proper systematic survey we realised we were facing a major cave art site, like the ones that can be found elsewhere in Cantabrian Spain, southern France or Andalusia, but that totally lack in this territory." The research team of Dr Ruiz-Redondo, Dr Virginia Barciela-González, Senior Lecturer of Prehistory at the University of Alicante (Spain) and Dr Ximo Martorell-Briz, research affiliate at the University of Alicante (Spain), have painstakingly documented over a hundred 'motifs', or designs, at Cova Dones so far. The large number of motifs and the variety of techniques involved in their creation make the cave the most important Palaeolithic cave art site on the eastern Mediterranean coast of the Iberian Peninsula. In fact, it is probably the Palaeolithic cave with the greatest number of motifs discovered in Europe since Atxurra (Bizkaia), in 2015. The study highlights there are at least 19 confirmed animal representations, including hinds, horses, aurochs, and deer. Unusually, the majority of the paintings have been made using clay. Dr Aitor Ruiz-Redondo explains: "Animals and signs were depicted simply by dragging the fingers and palms covered with clay on the walls. The humid environment of the cave did the rest: the 'paintings' dried quite slowly, preventing parts of the clay from falling down rapidly, while other parts were covered by calcite layers, which preserved them until today." Although painting in clay is known in Palaeolithic Art, examples of its usage (or preservation) are scarce. In Cueva Dones, however, it is the main technique. The researchers say their investigations are at an early stage and there are still many areas to survey and panels to document -- so they are likely to reveal more art in the coming years.