FEMA GRAS status for Sweegen’s sweet protein brazzein technology

Rancho Santa Margarita, Calif., May 04, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Global sweetness and flavor innovator, Sweegen has announced that its highly sought-after sweet protein Ultratia™ brazzein technology received the Generally Recognized As Safe (GRAS) status from the Flavor and Extract Manufacturers Association (FEMA).

“Our customers and the industry have eagerly anticipated our brazzein FEMA GRAS status, and now we are excited to offer it as the star sweet protein in our Sweetensify Flavors Collection,” said Luca Giannone, SVP of Sales. “We’re pleased to demonstrate our Ultratia brazzein in the newly launched Sweetensify Flavors Collection at the IFT First trade show in Chicago July 17-19, 2023.”

Brands are encouraged to visit Sweegen’s food and beverage application team at IFT First, the Sweegen booth, located at the South Building — S1619 — IFT, for a sensory experience and learn how it can easily fit into their food and beverage products.

Sweegen is the first to attain FEMA GRAS status and to produce brazzein commercially globally. The designation is important because it allows manufacturers to use Sweegen’s Sweetensify Flavors confidently, including the novel sweet protein brazzein in their product formulations.

Brazzein’s unique characteristics make it special, and its commercialization and scaling have been challenging until now. Brazzein is a rare sweet protein that originates from the fruit of the West African climbing plant, oubli. To produce brazzein sustainably, Sweegen uses a proprietary precision fermentation process, which creates clean high-purity ingredients.

“This important milestone in food and beverage creation symbolizes Sweegen delivering on its promise to brands for opening doors to scalable state-of-the-art technology for creating better-for-everyone food and beverages,” said Hadi Omrani, VP of technical and regulatory affairs. “The FEMA GRAS status is a testament to the safety of brazzein as a flavor modifier that our customers can trust to explore new and exciting taste-modulating solutions.”

Sweetensify Flavors for taste modulation improves and modulates a variety of taste attributes, which can help brands push the boundaries of healthier product innovation. Brazzein’s exceptional formulation qualities inspired Sweegen to launch Sweentisify Flavors in April 2023. It is the newest flavor tool starring its novel sweet protein Ultratia brazzein, which also features thaumatin II and other unique proteins.

“Sweegen’s product development teams have discovered remarkable synergies between Sweetensify Flavors and our Signature Stevia systems,” said Casey McCormick, VP of global innovation.

Sweet proteins like brazzein have an affinity for different taste receptors on the tongue, especially the receptor known as T1R3, which is associated with both umami and sweetness perception. Leveraging this unique attribute, Sweetensify Flavors will enable product developers to maintain the quality of characteristic flavors and sweetness while reducing the amount of sugar they use in products.

“Sweegen’s Ultratia brazzein has received great feedback from our customers during the initial formulations phase and tastings,” said Casey McCormick, VP of global innovation. “Now, the timing of the FEMA GRAS status perfectly coincides with the launch of Sweegen’s Sweetensify Flavors, which offers the best sensory experience in better-for-everyone products.”

Sweegen recently attained FEMA GRAS status for thaumatin II, a sweet protein complementary to brazzein. With the addition of brazzein, Sweegen continues to expand its portfolio of safe and effective taste modulating flavors that can help food and beverage manufacturers meet the demand for healthier and delicious products to align with consumers’ holistic approaches to wellness.

About Sweegen

Sweegen provides sweet-taste solutions for food and beverage manufacturers around the world.
We are on a mission to reduce sugar and artificial sweeteners in the global diet. Partnering with customers, we create delicious zero-sugar products that consumers love. With the best modern sweeteners in our portfolio, such as Bestevia® Rebs B, D, E, I, M, and N, and sweet proteins brazzein and thaumatin, along with our deep knowledge of flavor modulators and texturants, Sweegen delivers market-leading solutions that customers want, and consumers prefer. Well. Into the Future.

Forward-Looking Statements
This press release includes “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of the “safe harbor” provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1996. Sweegen’s actual results may differ from the estimates, assumptions, and other illustrative material contained herein, and consequently, a reader should not rely on these forward-looking statements as predictions of future events. These forward-looking statements include, without limitation, illustrative information regarding Sweegen’s bottom-up assumed market potential, assumed hit rate, and the resulting revenue based on these model inputs. These forward-looking statements involve significant risks and uncertainties that could cause the actual results to differ materially from the expected results.

Industry, Market, and Other Data
In this press release, we rely on and refer to information and statistics regarding market participants in the sectors in which Sweegen competes and other data. We obtained this information and statistics from our own internal estimates and third-party sources, including reports by market research firms and company filings. We do not expressly refer to these sources. All of this information involves a number of assumptions and limitations, and the sources of such information cannot guarantee the accuracy or completeness of such information. The industry in which Sweegen operates is subject to a high degree of uncertainty and risk due to a variety of important factors, any of which could cause results to differ materially from those expressed in the estimates made by Sweegen or third parties.

Cautionary Statement Concerning Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements, including, among other statements, statements regarding the future prospects for Reb M stevia leaf sweetener, brazzein, and thaumatin. These statements are based on current expectations, but are subject to certain risks and uncertainties, many of which are difficult to predict and beyond Sweegen’s control.

Relevant risks and uncertainties could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed in or implied by the forward-looking statements and therefore should be carefully considered. Sweegen assumes no obligation to update any forward-looking statements as a result of new information or future events or developments.

Attachments

Ana Arakelian, Head of Public Relations and Communications
Sweegen
+1.949.709.0583
ana.arakelian@sweegen.com

GlobeNewswire Distribution ID 8831913

Ai-Media Unveils AI-driven LEXI 3.0: The Future of Live Automatic Captioning

LEXI 3.0

Introducing the latest release LEXI, the world’s most advanced automatic captioning solution. With cutting edge features and unmatched accuracy, LEXI revolutionizes automatic captioning to deliver results that rival human captions at a fraction of the cost.

SYDNEY, Australia, May 03, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Ai-Media, the global leader in professional captioning solutions, is proud to announce the launch of LEXI 3.0, the new and improved version of its flagship live automatic captioning solution. With cutting-edge enhancements and new features, LEXI 3.0 is the world’s most accurate and advanced automatic captioning solution, delivering results that rival human captions at a fraction of the cost.

Independent audits confirm that LEXI 3.0 consistently delivers results with 35% fewer recognition, formatting, and punctuation errors than the previous version.

Critically, LEXI 3.0 introduces new automated features, including speaker identification and AI-powered caption placement to avoid on-screen interference. Average quality results have increased significantly from 98.2% to 98.7% NER with this release.

LEXI 3.0 is an affordable on-demand solution perfect for live captioning a wide range of content types – from linear TV broadcast, OTT, Live Sports, and live streams, to meetings, events, lectures, and more.

Ai-Media’s Co-Founder and CEO, Tony Abrahams, said:

“20 years in the making, we’ve finally cracked the holy grail of making live automatic captioning a reality. LEXI 3.0 is a game-changer. We’re seeing accelerating adoption of automatic captioning driven by a significant increase in quality, reduction in latency, and release of new AI features that previously required manual intervention, such as speaker changes and placement of captions to not obscure important visuals.

“LEXI 3.0 is available immediately for existing Ai-Media customers at no additional cost and is delivered with any iCap Encoder (hardware, Alta, and Falcon) connected to Ai-Media’s iCap Cloud Network.”

To learn more about LEXI 3.0, click here.

About Ai-Media

Founded in Australia in 2003, technology company Ai-Media is a global leader in the provision of high-quality live and recorded captioning, transcription, and translation solutions. The company helps the world’s leading broadcasters, enterprises, and government agencies ensure high accuracy, secure and cost-effective captioning via its AI-powered LEXI automatic captioning solution and end-to-end range of captioning hardware. Globally, Ai-Media technology delivers 7 million minutes of live and recorded media content, online events, and web streams every month. Ai-Media (ASX: AIM) commenced trading on the ASX on 15 September 2020. For more information on Ai-Media please visit Ai-Media.tv.

A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/0907bea0-b62d-4701-9a16-a712c101c4fe

Media Contact:
Fiona Habben
Senior Marketing Manager – Global
+61 411 727 592
fiona.habben@ai-media.tv

GlobeNewswire Distribution ID 8831119

Registration for GMAT™ Focus Edition to Open in August 2023

Free prep materials available two months prior to propel candidates to success on their business school journey

RESTON, Va., May 02, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — The Graduate Management Admission Council™ (GMAC), a global association representing leading business schools, today announced that registration for the GMAT™ Focus Edition, an updated version of the Graduate Management Admission Test™ (GMAT™) exam, will open on August 29, 2023 for testing in the fourth quarter this year. In addition, official GMAT Focus prep materials will be available on mba.com on June 6, 2023, with a free study planner of only six weeks to help test takers stick to a schedule, inform prep activities, and track progress, as well as a free GMAT Focus Official Starter Kit that comes with a sampler of 70 real GMAT questions and two full-length practice exams to help candidates establish performance baseline.

Earlier this year, GMAC introduced GMAT Focus Edition after extensive research efforts involving hundreds of school professionals and an in-depth concept testing with thousands of students globally. The GMAT, the most widely used business school admissions exam in the past seven decades, was redesigned with improved test taking experience and flexible new features to better support candidates of graduate business education. Schools will benefit from it as an improved element in their holistic admissions process.

“We want to encourage people with a broad set of qualifications, undergraduate backgrounds and lived experiences to understand the richness of their choice and take that leap forward on their business school journey,” said Joy Jones, CEO of GMAC. “It is our belief that GMAT Focus Edition will allow candidates to optimize their preparation for graduate business education while helping schools attract a global pool of qualified and diverse applicants.”

“This is an important evolution of the test,” said Bruce DelMonico, Assistant Dean for Admissions at Yale School of Management and a board member of GMAC. “In terms of the relevance and usefulness of the test, this is definitely a positive step that will be beneficial both to business schools and to candidates.”

More efficient, more flexible, and more insightful, in an all-new testing experience

The GMAT Focus Edition will feature three 45-minute sections: Quantitative Reasoning, which examines problem solving skills; Verbal Reasoning, which evaluates critical reasoning and reading comprehension but no longer incorporates sentence correction; and the newly developed Data Insights section, which measures candidates’ data literacy skills and ability to analyze and interpret data and apply it to real-world business scenarios. With these changes and the removal of the Analytical Writing Assessment (AWA), it is nearly one hour shorter than the current version of the GMAT and therefore requires less content to prepare. Besides new features that allow test takers to bookmark as many questions as they want, review questions within the remaining section time and change up to three answers per section, and to complete the three sections in any order, the enhanced Official Score Report now offers detailed performance insights that helps them assess strengths and identify focus areas at no additional cost.

“I think the redesign of the GMAT exam is testament to GMAC’s commitment to continuous improvement. Changes to the exam address the growing importance of certain competencies and the future of work – for example with the addition of Data Insight,” said Arnold Longboy, Executive Director, Recruitment & Admissions at London Business School.

New score scale and concordance to help assess candidate competitiveness

The GMAT Focus Edition’s Total Score, ranging from 205 to 805, is based on test taker performance on all three sections of the exam, with each section, ranging from 60 to 90, weighted equally. This change has been made to ensure that test takers and schools can easily distinguish from a GMAT Focus Edition score to the currently available GMAT Exam score, which ranges from 200 to 800. To understand a test taker’s relative competitiveness, one can use the concordance tables available on mba.com that link score distributions between the two versions of the exam by percentile. With the GMAT Focus Edition’s new score scale, percentile rankings deserve the primary attention from test takers and schools when looking to understand the results.

“When comparing scores of GMAT Focus Edition to the current version of the GMAT Exam, we encourage test takers and schools to compare percentile rankings rather than comparing total scores,” stressed Manish Dharia, director of product development at GMAC. “Because the Total Score scale and the score scale distribution have both changed, comparing total scores or section scores from the current version of the exam to the GMAT Focus Edition is not appropriate, accurate, or a meaningful comparison of performance. Scores of 600 and 605 may look similar, but they represent very different performance levels on different skills.”

Additional efforts to facilitate smooth transition and swift adoption

As GMAT Focus Edition rolls out for the remainder of 2023, the current version of the GMAT exam will continue to be available to candidates until early next year to facilitate their in-progress preparation and applications for business school. Also, to that end, the GMAT Focus Edition fees will remain the same as the current GMAT exam.

“Keep in mind, all GMAT exam scores – whether they are of the current GMAT or GMAT Focus Edition – continue to be valid for 5 years,” said Ashish Bhardwaj, senior vice president and head of market development at GMAC. “With the advance announcement of the new edition, we encourage candidates to proceed with registering and taking the GMAT exam in ways that best enable their pursuit of graduate management education.”

About GMAC

The Graduate Management Admission Council (GMAC) is a mission-driven association of leading graduate business schools worldwide. GMAC provides world-class research, industry conferences, recruiting tools, and assessments for the graduate management education industry as well as resources, events, and services that help guide candidates through their higher education journey. Owned and administered by GMAC, the Graduate Management Admission Test™ (GMAT™) exam is the most widely used graduate business school assessment.

More than 12 million prospective students a year trust GMAC’s websites, including mba.com, to learn about MBA and business master’s programs, connect with schools around the world, prepare and register for exams and get advice on successfully applying to MBA and business master’s programs. BusinessBecause and GMAC Tours are subsidiaries of GMAC, a global organization with offices in China, India, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

To learn more about our work, please visit www.gmac.com

Media Contact:

Teresa Hsu
Sr. Manager, Media Relations
Mobile: 202-390-4180
thsu@gmac.com

GlobeNewswire Distribution ID 8829077

Amii welcomes over 2000 of the world’s brightest minds in AI to annual Upper Bound event

Four days of events include keynotes, panels, demos and socials from world-leading AI researchers and innovative business leaders

EDMONTON, Alberta, May 02, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Amii (Alberta Machine Intelligence Institute) welcomes the world AI community to Edmonton, Alberta, Canada for Upper Bound, May 23-26. All are invited to attend the multi-day event, with diverse programming catered for AI researchers, industry leaders, pop culture enthusiasts and anyone who has ever been curious about artificial intelligence.

In-person and virtual tickets start at $0. Registration and schedules are available at upperbound.ai 

A celebration of AI excellence in Alberta and beyond, Upper Bound will take over Edmonton with a full event schedule and more than 100 events taking place in the downtown core. Upper Bound is pleased to welcome our 2023 keynote speakers including:

  • Richard S. Sutton, trailblazing AI researcher and Amii Chief Scientific Advisor, considered by many as the pioneer of reinforcement learning | Ticket Access: Community Pass, Upper Bound Pass, Talent Bursary All Access and Online Pass 
  • Cam Linke, CEO, Amii | Ticket Access: Upper Bound Pass, Talent Bursary All Access and Online Pass
  • Peter Stone, Executive Director of Sony AI America | Ticket Access: Academic Symposium and Upper Bound Pass (limited)
  • Marlos Machado, Amii Fellow & Canada CIFAR AI Chair | Ticket Access: Academic Symposium 

“AI is the most important tool of our time, and it continues to dominate global conversation,” says Cam Linke, CEO of Amii. “Upper Bound puts a spotlight on Alberta’s AI leadership and legacy and is a celebration of AI that welcomes everybody to learn, network, discuss and join in on the conversation. This is an invitation for the world’s AI community to experience the best of what Amii and Canada has to offer in scientific excellence, start-up creation and industry application — so they can leave inspired by the connections they’ve made, the information learned, and their ambitious ideas realized.”

Upper Bound is an AI event for everyone and includes sessions, demos, networking events and socials open for a range of ages and familiarity with AI. Scheduled events include:

  • An Academic Symposium, showcasing leading research and organized by Amii Fellows from the University of Alberta, one of the world’s top academic institutions for AI research.
  • Panels on AI in industry, including discussions on innovative applications of AI in industry; the demand for AI talent; advancing cellular agriculture; ventures and start-ups; and more.
  • AI & Culture, high-energy and fun events for all AI enthusiasts.
  • Social and networking opportunities with daily coffee catch up, beers with peers and the hottest ticket in town, the official Upper Bound Party.

Last year more than 2,000 attendees from 38 countries attended the inaugural event. Amii awarded Talent Bursaries to over 500 recipients from around the world to cover travel and accommodation costs with over 69% of recipients self-identified as members of underrepresented groups in STEM.

This year, Amii has awarded over $500,000 in Talent Bursaries to support 700 recipients from 22 countries to Upper Bound in person. An additional 612 global Talent Bursary applicants received Online Pass access for live-streamed content and full immersion in the Upper Bound app.

Upper Bound is proudly presented by Amii. One of Canada’s three centres of AI excellence as part of the Pan-Canadian AI strategy, Amii is an Alberta-based, non-profit institute that supports world-leading research in artificial intelligence and machine learning and translates scientific advancement into industry adoption. Learn more at amii.ca.

Media Contact

Lynda Vang, Communications Specialist

E: lynda.vang@amii.ca

GlobeNewswire Distribution ID 8829558

Student Researchers Use UAE-Developed Generative AI Technology to Find New Brain Tumor Drug Targets

Abu Dhabi, May 02, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Three high school students – Andrea Olsen from Oslo, Norway; Zachary Harpaz from Boca Raton, Florida; and Chris Ren from Shanghai, China – co-authored a paper using a generative artificial intelligence (AI) engine for target discovery from Insilico Medicine (“Insilico”) called PandaOmics to identify new therapeutic targets for glioblastoma multiforme (GBM). GBM is the most aggressive and common malignant brain tumor, accounting for 16% of all primary brain tumors. The findings were published on April 26 in the journal Aging.

Much of the technology behind PandaOmics is being developed in Insilico’s Generative Artificial Intelligence and Quantum Computing Research and Development Center in Abu Dhabi, the region’s largest AI-powered biotechnology research center.

Olsen, a student at Sevenoaks School in Kent, UK, began interning at Insilico Medicine in 2021, after discovering her interest in neurobiology and technology. For the current paper, the fifth scientific paper she has co-authored before turning eighteen, she and other researchers used PandaOmics to screen datasets from the Gene Expression Omnibus repository maintained by the National Center for Biotechnology Information and found new therapeutic targets implicated for treating both aging and glioblastoma multiforme.

Ren, a student at Shanghai High School International Division, has an interest in biology and biomarkers and joined them in the summer of 2022.

While there would seem to be a clear connection between aging and cancer, Olsen says their findings were more nuanced. “Sometimes, instead of aging, the body switches to cancer mechanisms, which was really interesting to discover.” She hypothesized that “the body is trying to preserve itself in a way that it is switching back to embryonic processes of cell division.” GBM is caused by a genetic mutation that leads to uncontrolled growth of glial cells, or cells that surround neurons in the brain. Even with existing therapies, the median survival for GBM patients is only 15 months.

Harpaz, a student at Pine Crest School in Ft. Lauderdale, had an early interest in computer science and AI and soon developed a passion for biology as well. “I wanted to combine my two favorite topics, computer science and biology, into what I think is the most interesting field of biology – aging research,” Harpaz says. He discovered generative AI drug discovery company Insilico Medicine whose founder and CEO, Alex Zhavoronkov, PhD, connected him with Olsen. The two young researchers began collaborating on the glioblastoma project and ultimately presented findings at the Aging Research and Drug Discovery (ARDD) conference in Copenhagen, where they together launched the Youth Longevity Association (TYLA).

In this latest paper, the three teens used PandaOmics to analyze the genes and identified three that were strongly correlated with both aging and glioblastoma and could serve as potential therapeutic targets for new drugs.

“We selected the genes that were overlapped to be highly correlated in 11 of the 12 datasets, and we split our data into young, middle aged, and senior groups,” said Harpaz. “We mapped this to the importance of the gene expression to survival.” After identifying two genetic targets for glioblastoma and aging – CNGA3 and GLUD1 – they cross-referenced their findings with earlier findings from Insilico around genes strongly correlated with aging and identified a third target – SIRT1.

“I learned a lot about conducting a research project,” said Ren, who helped review the three targets. “The PandaOmics platform really made the project accessible to me. As a high school sophomore, I did not have sufficient experience for advanced research and analysis, however, I was still able to navigate the PandaOmics platform after a brief period of training to process and compare datasets of glioblastoma.”

The students say they are eager to continue their studies in AI and biology into college and to move the GBM research forward from target discovery to drug development.

“The best way to take this research further is going to be using Insilico’s Chemistry42 software, where we can take the targets we identified through PandaOmics and generate small molecules, potential drugs, with these targets that have the potential to treat glioblastoma and aging at the same time,” says Harpaz.

Prior to her internship at Insilico, Olsen says: “I never knew that AI could be so helpful in finding completely new therapeutic targets. For me, that was an incredible opportunity to dive into the field of research, aging, longevity, and neuroscience. It really kick-started my entire career.”

“I am truly impressed by the commitment of these young researchers,” says Zhavoronkov. “I hope their work will inspire other young people excited about science and technology to look at how they can use AI tools to discover new targets and treatments for both aging and disease.”

 

About Insilico Medicine

Insilico Medicine, a clinical-stage generative artificial intelligence (AI)-driven drug discovery company, is connecting biology, chemistry, and clinical trials analysis using next-generation AI systems. The company has developed AI platforms that utilize deep generative models, reinforcement learning, transformers, and other modern machine learning techniques for novel target discovery and the generation of novel molecular structures with desired properties. Insilico Medicine is developing breakthrough solutions to discover and develop innovative drugs for cancer, fibrosis, immunity, central nervous system diseases, infectious diseases, autoimmune diseases, and aging-related diseases. In early 2023, the Company opened the Insilico Medicine Generative Artificial Intelligence and Quantum Computing Research and Development Centre in Abu Dhabi, the region’s largest AI-powered biotechnology research center. The R&D hub brings together global talent in artificial intelligence and software development to expand the capabilities of Insilico’s end-to-end AI-driven drug discovery platform, Pharma.AI, explore aging research and sustainable chemistry, and support the digital transformation of healthcare in the region.

For more information, visit www.insilico.com

Attachment

Jamila Alhammadi 
Insilico Medicine
475-225-0843
j.alhammadi@insilicomedicine.com

GlobeNewswire Distribution ID 8829593