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4. mRNA Platforms

Our mRNA Platforms – revolutionizing vaccine technology.

Our mRNA platforms are designed to activate or modulate the immune system from different angles, each providing a distinct strategy to address cancer or prevent infectious disease.

FixVac – off-the-shelf, indication-specific mRNA cancer vaccine platform

While every patient’s tumor has a unique composition, they can share certain sets of markers, so-called antigens. These markers are consistent within specific cancer types and are often expressed in many patients with the same type of cancer but not found in healthy cells in the body. As cancer cells have developed mechanisms to avoid detection by the immune system, a big challenge in treating cancer successfully is that the immune system does not recognize the cancer cells as malignant cells and thus does not trigger an immune response to attack and defeat this enemy. By presenting the right set of antigens for each cancer indication to the immune system, we can activate immune cells that recognize cancer-specific antigens and turn them against the cancer cells. This idea is the basis for our FixVac mRNA cancer vaccine platform. 

The architecture of our FixVac platform

Our FixVac (Fixed Vaccine) platform candidates consist of a fixed combination of mRNA-encoded non-mutated tumor antigens, which are known to frequently express within specific cancer types. The mRNA is formulated with our proprietary RNA-lipoplex delivery formulation which is designed to enhance mRNA stability in the body as well as to target antigen-presenting dendritic cells (DCs) – the boot camps of our immune system. By enhancing the presentation of these specific tumor antigens by DCs to the immune system, our FixVac candidates aim to trigger a strong and precise innate and adaptive immune response against cancer cells expressing one or more of the respective tumor antigens. This approach offers the potential to also treat cancers with low mutational burden effectively, which represents half of all patients with metastatic melanoma.

Dangerous places!

Hard autocracies

The highest level of a dictatorship is the hard autocracy. It concentrates power in a central place and, above all, prevents any rights to freedom and equality. Control organs are also either not equipped with appropriate powers, or do not exist in the first place.
  

Democracy Index Country
Afghanistan	0.02
Myanmar	0.06
South Sudan	0.06
North Korea	0.07
Syria	0.09
Eritrea	0.11
Somalia	0.11
Sudan	0.11
Chad	0.11
Yemen	0.12
Turkmenistan	0.13
China	0.13
Saudi Arabia	0.13
Belarus	0.14
Libya	0.14
Tajikistan	0.15
Laos	0.15
Nicaragua	0.15
Palestine	0.16
Guinea	0.16
Equatorial Guinea	0.17
Haiti	0.17
Venezuela	0.18
Mali	0.19
Bahrain	0.20
Cuba	0.20
Azerbaijan	0.21
Burkina Faso	0.21
Eswatini	0.22
United Arab Emirates	0.22
Cambodia	0.24
Qatar                                    Israel    Russia

THE MOST FUN WAY TO MAKE YOUR LIFE AWESOME!

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Eric Barker  Unsubscribe	6:07 AM (8 hours ago)
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Barking Up The Wrong Tree December 9th, 2024 Before we commence with the festivities, I wanted to thank everyone for helping my new book become a bestseller! To check it out, click here. This Is The Most Fun Way To Make Your Life Awesome (Click here to read on the blog) “Carpe diem.” It’s the battle cry of motivational posters, Pinterest boards, and that one friend who just declared bankruptcy for the third time. It’s one of the oldest philosophical slogans around, first stated by Horace in 23 BCE. The poem he wrote it in, "Ode XI", is only eight lines long but, hoo boy, has it had legs. Look around and you still see versions of it everywhere – from “Dead Poets Society” to Nike (“Just Do It”), to #YOLO. But honestly: Seize the day? Buddy, I’m usually just trying to cope with the day. Can’t we just ask the day how it’s doing first? Maybe “Nudge the day,” or “Nod at the day politely”? Jokes aside – this is the problem. We don’t really know what the phrase means. It’s so overused it’s become the “live, laugh, love” of motivational slogans, right up there with “dance like no one’s watching” and “everything happens for a reason.” This is a phrase that sounds great but has also inspired every midlife crisis involving a sports car or a questionable tattoo. So what does it really mean? That’s up to you. But you’re going to get some options. We’re going to look at five different interpretations of this motto and see how they can help us live better lives. We’ll get insight from Roman Krznaric’s book, “Carpe Diem: Seizing the Day in a Distracted World.” Alright, let’s get seizing... 1) “Live This Day As If It Were Your Last” What a terrifying, maniacal slogan to live by. It’s like a corporate wellness email written by a death-obsessed cult leader. Every “last day” would involve liver failure, bankruptcy, and Googling “how to buy a tiger on Craigslist.” Now some people will say, “That’s not what the phrase means, Eric.” But it is how it’s often used. Carpe diem as get-out-of-jail-free card for impulsive behavior. “I maxed out my credit card, but carpe diem, am I right?” No, you’re wrong. Your credit score is crying. This version of carpe diem sounds like how an ancient Roman dude would justify really bad decisions. Because while life’s short, it’s not that short. But if we dial the intensity down a little, there is value here. While throwing your entire life into a hedonistic spiral is a surefire way to end up at rock bottom, every now and then, we need a little sprinkle of that chaos. Somewhere along the way, life turned into this endless to-do list where “joy” ranks somewhere between “call Comcast about that bill” and “figure out why your fridge is making that noise.” Yes, we should be responsible and make good decisions and all that. But sometimes we should not be that responsible. Eat the dessert, go to the concert, buy the plane ticket. This carpe diem isn’t truly about living every day like it’s your last -- but about remembering that, once in a while, you should choose the fun thing. Nobody’s going to hand you joy. Nobody’s going to ring your doorbell and say, “Congratulations! You’ve been selected to have a good time today. Please follow me to the rollercoaster and margarita station.” If we don’t give ourselves permission to step off the treadmill and do something stupidly wonderful now and then, we’re going to look back and wonder why we didn’t seize a few more ridiculous, glorious, indulgent days when we had the chance. Long-term hedonism? Disaster. But micro hedonism? A life saver. (To learn the four rituals that will make you happy all the time, click here.) Okay, one down. Let’s look at another interpretation that’s slightly less extreme but has a similar vibe... 2) “Live This Year As If It Were Your Last” The best part of living like you’ve got a year? You get to take advantage of life without burning everything to the ground. You’ve got time to be spontaneous andthoughtful. You’ve got urgency without panic. With a year, you stop waiting for the “right moment” to really live. Because, let’s be honest, none of us are getting that perfect time where everything lines up and life just makes sense. It’s not happening. When you’ve got a year, you stop thinking, “Maybe next year will be different” and start realizing that this is the year. This isthe life. There will be no mystical “better time.” And it’s also where gratitude comes in. With a year left, you start noticing things. You start realizing that your life’s pretty good in ways you’ve been too busy or too annoyed to appreciate. We forget to appreciate those things because we’re so busy worrying about the next thing, or the thing after that. With a year, you’re not acting impulsively – but you know there’s a deadline. And that’s something we often forget. (To learn how to stop procrastinating, click here.) Living like it’s your last day or last year is pretty straightforward. Now it’s time to turn carpe diem on its head and think more radically... 3) “Live This Day As If It Were Your First” Many of us are stuck in routines so dull, algorithms feel bad for us. We’re not in our lives. We’re just background extras in a movie, blending into the scenery while the main character has adventures. This is where “live like it’s your first day” comes in. It reminds you to snap out of it, to stop treating life like a boring rerun of a sitcom you’ve seen too many times. We need to be present. Yes, I know that sounds like advice you’d get from a yoga teacher named Serenity, but stay with me. The idea here is that if we stop living in autopilot mode -- if we stop scrolling through life like it's a Terms & Conditions page -- we can actually enjoy it. Remember when you first got your smartphone and it was like holding a miracle in your hands? You were playing with the flashlight feature and downloading every app like it was Christmas morning. Now you use it to refresh Instagram while sitting on the toilet. Living like it’s your first day makes you stop and go, “Wait a minute. This is a tiny marvel I’m carrying around in my pocket!” It forces you to wake up from your life-nap and actually experience what’s happening around you. It’s about seeing the world like a child again. With this perspective, you’re not waiting for some grand life event to snap you out of your malaise. You’re actively choosing to be amazed by the small, wonderful stuff around you. And life is packed full of small, wonderful stuff, if you’re paying attention. If this was your first day, you wouldn’t be stressed about your water bill or whatever dumb thing you have to do later. No, you’d just be mesmerized by the fact that water comes out of the tap and you don’t even have to dig a well or pray to some rain god to make it happen. If it’s your first day, you’re not going to guilt yourself over messing something up. You’re new! You’re learning! Burned dinner? No big deal. You’ll eat toast. Burned the toast? You’ve got cereal! Burned the cereal? I don’t even know how you managed that, but there’s a lesson in there somewhere. I’m not asking you to turn into some overly optimistic psycho who’s blown away by ceiling fans. But living like it’s your first day does make you less cynical. You start to realize that the world isn’t just this repetitive cycle of boring crap. It’s a series of moments that, if you look at them the right way, are actually kind of fantastic. (To learn how to deal with negative thoughts, click here.) There’s definitely value in treating today like it’s your first day. Or you could treat it like it’s your second day... 4) “Live This Day As If You Were Living It For The Second Time” Viktor Frankl said, “Live as if you were living already for the second time and as if you had acted the first time as wrongly as you are about to act now.” Wow, what an awkwardly phrased sentence. Translation: he’s saying we should pause and think: “What if I lived like I already screwed this day up once, and now I get a do-over?” Like you’re hitting the cosmic Ctrl+Z on life. “Groundhog Day” meets “Edge of Tomorrow.” Take a mental lap around your day and say, “Okay, where am I most likely to do something catastrophically stupid? How about I… don’t?” But it’s not just about avoiding mistakes. It also opens your eyes to opportunities you would’ve blown right past the first time around. Like when someone asks if you want to grab coffee, and your default response is, “Nah, I’ve got too much going on”. Second-Time-You knows that saying yes to that get together would make you much happier. Now some might think this will lead to second guessing every action and they’ll end up looking like a glitchy character from The Sims. But this isn’t about being some perfect machine. It’s about lowering your regret tally just a little while seizing more opportunities. (To learn how to be more positive, click here.) Okay, let’s round this all up – and then we’ll learn the most extreme version of carpe diem. It’s a perspective that can lead to an all-around better life... Sum Up Here are your options for how to “seize the day”... Live This Day As If It Were Your Last: On the surface this sound like you’re trying to turn your life into some sort of Jackass-meets-the-Purge situation. But it doesn’t need to be that extreme. If you’re not occasionally ditching responsibilities to belt out “Total Eclipse of the Heart” to a crowd of strangers in a karaoke bar at 2 a.m., you’re not living. Live This Year As If It Were Your Last: It’s not the end… but you can see it from here. You have time, but not too much time. This can help you prioritize without going crazy. And you’ll be more grateful. Live This Day As If It Were Your First: “Be present” isn’t just a Pinterest quote for people who wear hemp. Really look around and notice the things you’ve come to ignore. See the world like a child again. Live This Day As If You Were Living It For The Second Time: With the weight of that invisible, non-existent first day looming over you like a disapproving gym coach, you’ll skip some of the dumb decisions that usually leave you feeling like you’ve been hit by the regret bus. And you’ll seize those opportunities that make life memorable. So what’s the fifth and final perspective on carpe diem? This one comes to us from Friedrich Nietzsche. Yes, Nietzsche. The same guy whose most famous photo makes him look like he’s waiting for someone to ask him why the moustache is that big. He had an idea that is basically like “Live This Day As If You Were Living It For The Second Time” -- but on hard mode. It’s called “the eternal recurrence.” Now, if you’ve never heard of this cheery concept, here’s the gist: imagine you’re stuck in a loop where you have to live your exact same life, over and over, for eternity. No do-overs, no upgrades, no escape. Excited yet? Yeah, I didn’t think so. Do you know what it's like to relive a Monday morning status meeting forever? That’s how you break a person. If I wanted that kind of repetition, I’d just rewatch the most cringeworthy moments of my life on a loop (which, fun fact, I already do at 3 a.m.). The eternal recurrence sounds like the greatest guilt trip of all time. Suddenly, every little decision carries the weight of eternity. Why would anyone choose this perspective? Nietzsche didn’t come up with this to terrify us. No, his point is this: If you had to live your life on repeat, wouldn’t you want it to be a life you could actually tolerate living again and again? And maybe even enjoy? He’s trying to force us to think, “Maybe I can tweak my life so that, when I’m reliving it for the quadrillionth time, I won’t cringe so hard I pull a muscle.” It’s a philosophical Post-it note on your brain that says, “Live like your choices matter.” Because they do. Living like you’d want your life to recur isn’t about crafting some perfect existence. It’s about reducing your daily idiocy percentage and doing a few of the things that could make it better. He was talking about deliberately forging a life that feels meaningful, fulfilling, and, most of all, worth repeating. That’s something we can all get behind. Now none of these 5 approaches to carpe diem comes with a guarantee. Whether you choose to squeeze as much joy as possible into a single day, live like a time-traveler, or reexperience each moment forever, the conclusion is the same: seize something. A day, a year, an idea. You’ll be able to say “I’m living my best life” – and actually mean it. Even your mistakes will be the kind that make people say, “I wish I had the guts to do something like that,” which, let’s be honest, is pretty high up there as far as compliments go. Either way, it’s going to be a good story. And ultimately, that’s what matters: that you’re in the story, not watching someone else’s. Grabbing life with both hands is better than casually waving at it from the couch. Do not be a part of the world that would rather empty Netflix queues than bucket lists. So, go ahead. Carpe that diem. Grab it with sticky fingers, mess it up, make it yours. No one ever said, “I really admire how restrained you were with your potential.” ***If you are one of those lovely people who bought "Plays Well With Others" please leave a review on Amazon here. Thanks!*** Email Extras Findings from around the internet... + Want to know how to grow your professional relationships? Click here. + Want to know what drives the feeling of FOMO? Click here. + Want to know how to feel relaxed but also alert? Click here. + Miss my prior post? Here you go: New Neuroscience Reveals 4 Secrets That Will Make You Lose Weight. + Want to understand the neuroscience behind heartbreak? Click here. + You read to the end of the email. Your day is already half seized as far as I'm concerned. As always, I thank you. And what better way for me to express my gratitude than by saying -- yes, Crackerjack time: Do dogs resemble their owners? For the answer, click here. Thanks for reading! Eric PS: If a friend forwarded this to you, you can sign up to get the weekly email yourself here.

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SMILE, CAMERAS ARE EVERYWHERE!

😄😄😄 

GENTLE PEOPLE:

  THE RELIGIOUS HOLY DAYS WHICH  HAVE TRAPPED AND INDOCTRINATED HUMAN BEINGS FOR SO LONG...ARE TODAY REPLACED BY:

HAPPY LIFE DAYS! 

CREATE AS MANY AS POSSIBLE EVERYWHERE AND ANYTIME!

SMILE AT NEW BABIES AND CHILDREN AND LAUGH, LAUGH, LAUGH!

SHOW THEM BY EXAMPLE HOW TO SMILE AND GRIN AND HOW TO, LAUGH, LAUGH, LAUGH!    😄😄😄

 =================================

  AND IF YOUR PARENTS WERE TO WORN-DOWN BY LIFE TO SHOW YOU HOW TO LAUGH AND GRIN WHEN YOU WERE A BABY,  TRY LOOKING IN A MIRROR AND PRACTICE SMILING AND LAUGHING THE WAY TELEVISION AND MOVIE STARS SMILE AND LAUGH. 

  TRY TO BE HONEST AND FEEL TRUE JOY WHEN YOU SMILE BECAUSE PHONY SMILES ARE EASILY RECOGNIZED. FOR EXAMPLE: WATCHING TOO MANY PHONY ADVERTISING COMMERCIALS PROMPTED MILLIONS OF PEOPLE TO RUN TO THEIR BATHROOMS DURING COMMERCIAL BREAKS. IN REVENGE, T.V. SPONSORS CUT COMMERCIAL TIMES TO SECONDS RATHER THAN MINUTES, AND SCATTERED DOZENS OF MINI-ADVERTISING COMMERCIALS ACROSS THEIR PROGRAMING. THAT CREATED MESSY BATHROOMS WHICH IN TURN CREATED RECORD SALES FOR BATHROOM CLEANERS WHICH ARE NOW SPONSORED ON TELEVISION COMMERCIALS. 😄😄😄 

1

STOP THE WAR MONGERS AND HAVE A HAPPY HOLY TIME !

     Do you consider yourself intelligent? If you answer yes, please explain the concept of eternity or, without eternity,  just how did the universe begin? Was there something before the Big Bang? If eternal energy is too much to consider, how about discovering a cure for cancer?

    As a perpetual student without the authority from authorities to label myself a BA or PHD or a Master of anything; I don't care if I lack authority! I never cared and was content to remain out of the way of authorities, intellectual and otherwise, as much as possible. I can remember when school authorities beat the joy-of-freedom out of naive children and replaced it with fear.  In later years, that changed as monsters in human form gained political power and created wars where children died!

  Over the years I discovered zero authorities who could explain the origin of universally changing energy. I also wait for the day somebody discovers a cure for cancer. As for the Big Bang theory, it remains a theory and I surmise without authority, that something had to fuel the 'Big Bang' explosion? Something existed before the Big Bang which logically negates the big bang as the beginning of the Universe! Maybe God was playing with fire crackers?  Sorry! Could not resist!

  And so, I don't label myself an authority of any kind. I do, however, question authorities about almost everything, especially so called leaders who create wars for profit and territory! Maybe they do not understand how energy slowly changes and they, also, will die!

  How and why energy constantly changes within the universe from hot to cold and back again, remains a mystery!

    In my very early years in school, one particularly intelligent science teacher proclaimed to his captive students, that energy cannot be created or destroyed but constantly changes from one form to another. His concept of eternal energy stuck in my mind. We were going to be around in one form or another, forever!

  A few years later, while wasting my time in school watching the clock, it dawned on me that Time is a measure created by humans. We humans created Time to measure changing energy and absolutely everything is energy... including life! Humans discovered how energy moved and changed constantly and we created a concept called time to measure our changing energy. Time is a human construct and energy is not! So where did energy come from? Don't ask me, I'm not an authority, remember! I was forced to waste my energy listening to people who had zero understanding of the Universe.

  Curious humans created science and with science discovered many different forms of energy. Fast and slow constantly changing energy. Life itself changes constantly.

  Time does not exist except as a measure of changing energy, created by and for humans to measure how long they remained alive. Human political war mongers are terrified of death! They will send others to fight and die while they remain safe behind the battle lines hoping for a long life! The other species do not understand time and they basically, don't care!

  In order to understand life and death, we humans discovered how to control energy and how Time Clocks were good tools for measuring and understanding and controlling energy changes. With time, we also created religions for that purpose. Today, without authority, I wish science-free religious people around the world...Happy Holy Days... but please, do not call yourselves religious and then go and fight in a religious war, or  worse, create a war to win territory! Don't waste your precious energy. Life is too short!

  Since my own death is close, I wonder if I should plant a garden or take dancing lessons? O.K. not funny!  

Bye for now! 

J.N.R. signing off!

Sophie Scholl would laugh at: Putin and Netanyahu. She laughed in the face of death.

Which is the iconic photo ever taken in human history?

The photos of Sophie Scholl taken right before her execution by the Nazis in 1943, really gets to me. She knows her days are numbered, she’s only 21 years old and the portable guillotine that will soon behead her is already brought in. And yet she looks like a defiant punk rocker with her short hairstyle. She laughs in the face of unavoidably certain death.

Scholl, together with her brother who’d be executed alongside her, had been leaving leaflets in books. Leaflets against her own government. That was her “crime” — little notes. Unbelievably poignant, to-the-point and powerful little pieces of writing. Her final words are worth reading even today: Scholl, together with her brother who’d be executed alongside her, had been leaving leaflets in books. Leaflets against her own government. That was her “crime” — little notes. Unbelievably poignant, to-the-point and powerful little pieces of writing. Her final words are worth reading even today:

“The real damage is done by those millions who want to 'survive.' The honest men who just want to be left in peace. Those who don’t want their little lives disturbed by anything bigger than themselves. Those with no sides and no causes. Those who won’t take measure of their own strength, for fear of antagonizing their own weakness. Those who don’t like to make waves—or enemies. Those for whom freedom, honour, truth, and principles are only literature. Those who live small, mate small, die small. It’s the reductionist approach to life: if you keep it small, you’ll keep it under control. If you don’t make any noise, the bogeyman won’t find you. But it’s all an illusion, because they die too, those people who roll up their spirits into tiny little balls so as to be safe. Safe?! From what? Life is always on the edge of death; narrow streets lead to the same place as wide avenues, and a little candle burns itself out just like a flaming torch does. I choose my own way to burn.”

“A little candle burns itself out just like a flaming torch does. I choose my own way to burn.” Powerful. Incredibly powerful. This is the sort of thing worth reading. I just woke up and wanted to share it here because it moved me. Did something to me. Stirred the soul, and it’ll stir yours, too.

Scholl’s words ring as true in the year 2024 as they did 81 years ago when she penned them down — too many of us are, indeed, living small and unremarkable lives, scared not to “rock the boat”, trying to avoid trouble. Few of us have the moral and physical bravery to put it all on the line for a higher purpose.

TODAY’S ARMED CONFLICTS

Our Rule of Law in Armed Conflict Online Portal (RULAC) classifies all situations of armed violence that amount to an armed conflict under international humanitarian law.

Today, it monitors more than 110 armed conflicts and provides information about parties, the latest developments, and applicable international law. Some of these conflicts make the headlines, others do not. Some of them started recently, while others have lasted for more than 50 years.

DISCOVER