For the past two decades clinical neuroscientist Leanne Williams, who lost her partner to suicide, has been studying what depression looks like in the brain and is now leading research linking symptoms to specific brain circuits, which could lead to more effective treatments and suicide prevention methods. One of Williams' teams is investigating how people with a certain subtype of depression respond to either transcranial magnetic stimulation or the Parkinson's disease drug pramipexole, and another is studying how suicidal thoughts manifest in the brain.

After a decade at Genentech, Chief Medical Officer and Global Head of Product Development Sandra Horning says it's a good time to retire and hand over a new building and promising pipeline -- including 26 drugs designated as breakthrough therapies -- to someone new. Among Horning's accomplishments since joining the company in 2009 as global head of oncology and hematology are shepherding 15 therapies through development and approval and working with the FDA to develop the breakthrough therapy designation.

Marrone Bio Innovations CEO Pam Marrone says she wants to build one of the largest biologicals company on the planet, and the company is on the right track with 50.7% revenue growth from 2016 to 2018. Marrone says one of her biggest challenges is improving awareness and correcting misunderstandings about controlling agricultural pests and weeds with microbes and other biological agents.

Marine genomicist Blanche D'Anastasi often can be found diving, snorkeling or being towed behind a boat in remote waters in search of sea snakes. The world's 70 species of sea snake are ecologically important, but their numbers are declining rapidly amid rapid industrialization, and D'Anastasi's research might help garner support for protecting Australia's Exmouth Gulf and its resident sea snakes.

Mustang Bio's lentiviral gene therapy MB-107 gained the FDA's Regenerative Medicine Advanced Therapy designation as a treatment for X-linked severe combined immunodeficiency, commonly known as bubble boy disease. Mustang Bio and St. Jude Children's Research Hospital are co-developing the therapy.

The FDA granted Chrysalis BioTherapeutics' investigational candidate TP508, or rusalatide acetate, Orphan Drug status, indicated for acute radiation syndrome, or radiation sickness. A regenerative peptide drug, TP508 instigates revascularization and the repair of multiple tissues.

Windtree Therapeutics' investigational drug istaroxime, being developed as a potential treatment for acute heart failure with reduced ejection fraction, received fast-track designation from the FDA this month based on results from its Phase IIb trial that showed the drug, injected intravenously, improved cardiac function in patients while also facilitating myocardial relaxation.

Cassiopea has filed a New Drug Application seeking the FDA's approval for its topical androgen receptor inhibitor cream clascoterone as a first-in-class acne treatment. The filing is supported by data from two of the company's late-stage trials testing the clascoterone cream or a vehicle cream over a 12-week period.

Amgen and co-collaborator Allergan released positive data from its second late-stage trial assessing their biosimilar candidate, ABP 798, in comparison to Roche's Rituxan, or rituximab, as a treatment for CD20-positive B-cell non-Hodgkin lymphoma. Results indicated the two drugs were comparable in terms of clinical equivalence, safety and immunogenicity.

Merck and Themis Bioscience of Austria have partnered for an exclusive license agreement and a research collaboration to discover and develop unspecified vaccine candidates. Themis has completed a midstage trial for its vaccine candidate MV-CHIK, which targets chikungunya.