Month: November 2025

Ubiquinol vs. N-acetylcystein (NAC)

Ubiquinol is the antioxidant form of coenzyme Q10 (CoQ10). NAC is a precursor for glutathione, the body’s antioxidant.

How and where ubiquinol is made:
Even when a supplement label says “Made in the USA,” the active ingredient is usually imported from Japan, primarily from Kaneka Corporation, and U.S. companies typically handle the encapsulation and packaging.
Ubiquinol is produced through microbial fermentation using specialized yeast strains. These microbes generate CoQ10, which is then extracted and purified from the culture broth. After purification, the CoQ10 (usually in the ubiquinone form) must be reduced to ubiquinol in a tightly controlled, oxygen-free environment. Because ubiquinol oxidizes easily, it is then encapsulated with stabilizers to protect it and maintain potency.

How and where NAC is made:
L-cystein is produced by formation using bacteria or derived from plant sources, and reacted with acetic anhydride, adding an acetyl group. The US does not make large amounts of raw NAC, mostly imported from China, India, Italy and Japan.

If you should choose one between ubiqunol and NAC for your supplements. Which is yours?
It depends on your purpose, but we could think:
CoQ10/Ubiqunol supports cellular energy production (mitochondria) and protects membranes from oxidative damage.
Best for people with heart issue, statin therapy (could reduce CoQ10), aging-related energy decline.
Ubiqunol is more easily absorbed than regular CoQ10, especially in older adults, because it is active form.

NAC is a precursor to glutathione, the body’s master antioxidant. It helps detoxification and supports liver and lung health.
Aging people may use ubiqunol, and people exposed to environmental toxins, heavy excercise, or heavy duty could take NAC.

Let’s move further questions about the direct injection method of NAC or Ubiqunol, and to the brain for brain health? You might be interested in it.
You may already know the oral medication is really limited to the cellular delivery.
CoQ10|ubiquinol is lipid-soluble, and reach brain tissue, although very hard to reach the heart or liver. NAC is a water-soluble small molecule, and although it is still hard to pass BBB, but NAC reaches better into the brain, heart and liver than ubiqunol.

Which choice could be better economically?
Comparing daily doses and prices between NAC (600-12,00mg/day, cost ~$0.10-$0.30 per day) and Ubiquinol (100-200 mg/day, ~$1.00-$2.00 per day) indicates, NAC could be an economic choice. NAC has no patents, and low raw material cost, and easy to synthesized.

Taking NAC chronically is generally considered safe for most people, but you may check with your doctor.

May you hear about injectable NAC as well?
Who/where injectable NAC is Manufactured?

  • Cumberland Pharmaceuticals Inc (Tenesseee, USA)
  • Glenmark Pharmaceuticals (NC, USA)
  • Fresenius Kabi USA LLC
  • Exela Pharma Science LLC
  • Sagent Pharmaceuticals Inc
  • Eugenia Pharma
  • Somerset Therapeutics LLC
  • Zambon
  • Taj Pharmaceuticals, India
  • Hanwha Pharma, Korea
  • GC Welbeing, Korea
  • Myungin Pharma, Korea
  • Aju Pharm, Korea


Who is currently Receiving injectable NAC or studied for it?
acetaminophen overdose as you know,
Acute liver failure – non-acetaminophen
Alcoholic hepatitis
Contrast-induced nephropathy
In Korea, injectable acetylcysteine is used for acute bronchitis as well as acetaminophen overdose.
The packing sizes are different from the package in the USA and other countries for it.
Neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s, Gaucher diseases and Multiple sclerosis are under the clinical trials currently.
Dendrimer-NAC is also under clinical trial in aged macular degeneration.

해바라기 차강석 씀 | Sunflower, by Char, Kang Seok

해바라기

2025/11/13 차강석 씀

병든 병아리처럼
자꾸 목이 꺾인다

정신이 혼미해지고
전방이 아늑해진다

이대로 받아들이면
생이 끝날 것 같다

내 마음에 점을 찍고
나른히 해바라기를 한다!

Sunflower

My drooping neck
like a frail and ailing chick,

My thoughts dissolve into mist
the world ahead grows dim.

If I give in to it as it is,
my life might end here

I place a dot in my mind,
and lazily turn into a sunflower.

Personalized gene-editing

KJ Muldoon (infant) is the first person in the world who received  in vivo gene-editing therapy making medical history in 2025. It was made at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia/Penn Medicine. 

KJ was born with a rare metabolic disorder known as severe carbamoyl phosphate synthetase 1 (CPS1) deficiency, a life-threatening metabolic disorder that impairs the body’s ability to clear ammonia. 

Genetic Analysis:

Genetic analysis revealed that KJ inherited two distinct truncating (nonsense premature stop) variants in the CPS1 gene: Q335X (it means Glutamine into Stop codon at the site of CDS 335) and E714X (glutamic acid into stop codon at CDS 714). If you want to see the variant details about this mutation, click here:

Gene-Editing Treatment: 

A team led by Drs. Rebecca Ahrens-Nicklas and Kiran Musunuru developed a therapy delivered via lipid nanoparticles to the liver that uses a base-editing CRISPR. The first dose was administered in February 2025 (at 6-7 months old) and followed by further escalating doses in March and April (7-8 months old). 

Gene-Editing Design

The team chose to target one of the two mutants (rather than both), and selected the Q335X variant for the adenine base editing (A—>G conversion). Maybe this is a good strategy because of off-targets and bystand targets.

Outcome: 

Doctors reported that the treatment was successful in correcting the genetic defect and reducing ammonia levels in KJ’s blood. He was able to go home from the hospital in June 2025 and is currently thriving. 

We do not know editing efficiency, off-target and by-stand target rate, but saved a life. 

For more detailed news, please click here

(biotech news) Personalized CRISPR startup, Aurora, Jan 9 2026

포도, 차강석 씀 | Grapes, by Char, Kang Seok

포도

10/17/2025

알알이 포도송이가
먹음직스럽게 열려 있다

물방울을 먹음은
포도송이는 싱싱하기까지 하다

포도알을 입에 넣고
터트리면 온 우주를 부스는 기분이다

별들은 고정된 자리에서
벗어나 회오리를 일으킨다

별들은 서로 충돌하여
폭발을 하고 가루가 된다

가루가 된 별들은
좁디좁은 틈도 부드럽게 들락인다

Grapes

Clusters of grapes

 ripen and tempting.

When they drink the drops of water

they gleam with life.


 I place a grape in my mouth

and as it bursts,

I feel as if I’ve shattered the whole universe.

The stars break free

from their fixed places

and swirl in a whirl.

They collide,

explode,

and turn to powder.

That stardust,

slips gently through
even the narrowest cracks.

Antibodies: From immunization to Screening


Quite a long time ago, during my Ph.D. studies, the process of generating new antibodies to study novel molecules typically began with producing proteins for immunization. This involved creating expression vectors for the full-length protein, extracellular domains, or specific regions, or synthesizing peptide fragments. The proteins were then used to immunize mice, rabbits, or ferrets, with repeated boosts to obtain sera containing polyclonal antibodies. Next, B cell hybridomas were generated, and individual hybridoma cell lines were established. These lines were screened using techniques such as Western blot, immunoprecipitation, and other immunoassays to identify antibodies that were effective for the intended research purpose.


Currently, we observed antibody based drugs such as anti-VEGF and anti-TNF. So I talked about antibody libraries today.


Discovering the Right Antibody: How Antibody Libraries Speed Up the Search

To find an antibody that targets a specific antigen, scientists must sort through billions of possibilities to find the best match. That might sound impossible—but thanks to antibody libraries, this search is now faster and more efficient.

Also some antigens, particularly secreted or membrane proteins, are very difficult to produce antibodies because of the high similarity between the human protein and the immunized animals’ own (self vs non-self problem). Using a library can be a good starting point to identify antibodies.


What Are Antibody Libraries?

An antibody library is a large collection of antibodies with diverse binding properties. Researchers can screen these libraries to find antibodies that tightly bind to a chosen target, such as a virus protein or disease marker.

There are three main types of antibody libraries:

  1. Immune libraries – made from individuals who have already been exposed to the antigen.
    • Pros: Naturally evolved, high-affinity antibodies.
      • Cons: Limited to one specific antigen.
  2. Naive libraries – made from donors who have not been exposed to the antigen.
    • Pros: Can be used to target many different antigens.
    • Cons: Usually produce antibodies with moderate affinity.
  3. Synthetic and semi-synthetic libraries – built entirely in the lab using DNA synthesis.
    • Pros: Fully customizable, no need for donors or immunization.
    • Cons: Require advanced design and synthesis tools.


Are there mice that produce human antibodies?

Yes

RenMab and RenLite are humanized mouse platforms developed by Biocytogen for therapeutic antibody discovery. Both generate fully human antibodies, but they differ in design and applications. RenMab mice have their heavy chain (VH) and light chain (VL) loci fully replaced with human sequences, providing complete diversity in both chains. This makes RenMab ideal for discovering monospecific, high-affinity antibodies against a wide range of targets. B cells from immunized RenMab mice produce unique VH and VL combinations, resulting in antibodies with diverse antigen-binding sites.

RenLite, in contrast, is optimized for bispecific antibody discovery. It has a fully human heavy chain repertoire but uses a single common kappa (κ) light chain for all B cells. Each antibody arm still has six CDRs (three from VH, three from the shared VL), but the heavy chain drives binding diversity. The common light chain ensures correct heavy/light chain pairing when combining two arms into a bispecific antibody, reducing mispairing and simplifying manufacturing. However, this is a different method from CrossMab.


You might visit and see the scientific papers: 
Christopher Thomas Schott, 2007 
Nils Lonberg and Dennis Huszar, 1995
Kazuto Shimmoya et al., 2004


How Are Antibody Libraries Screened?

Once a library is created, scientists use display technologies to “show” the antibodies to their target antigens in a process called biopanning. This helps identify the strongest binders.

The most common display systems include

  • Phage display: antibodies are shown on the surface of viruses that infect bacteria.
  • Yeast display: antibodies are presented on yeast cells, allowing researchers to work with full-length antibodies (closer to therapeutic ones).


Guide to Antibody Libraries | Biocompare.com

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