Category: News Commentary

Scientists around the world are researching how anti-cancer drugs can most efficiently reach the tumours they target. One possibility is to use modified bacteria as “ferries” to carry the drugs through the bloodstream to the tumours. Researchers at ETH Zurich have now succeeded in controlling certain bacteria so that they can effectively cross the blood vessel wall and infiltrate tumour tissue.

Pfizer Inc. (NYSE: PFE) and BioNTech SE (Nasdaq: BNTX) announced early data from a Phase 2/3 clinical trial (NCT05472038) evaluating the safety, tolerability, and immunogenicity of the companies’ Omicron BA.4/BA.5-adapted bivalent COVID-19 vaccine (Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 Vaccine, Bivalent (Original and Omicron BA.4/BA.5)).

Northwestern Medicine scientists have uncovered the mechanism behind why eating late at night is linked to weight gain and diabetes.

The connection between eating time, sleep and obesity is well-known but poorly understood, with research showing that overnutrition can disrupt circadian rhythms and change fat tissue.

Bayer announced that it has received a grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. As part of the grant, Bayer and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation have each committed more than US$ 12 million over four years to co-fund pre-clinical research activities with the goal of providing women globally with an option for non-hormonal contraception.

Research led by doctors and scientists at UCLA Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center and the UCLA Jane & Terry Semel Institute for Neuroscience & Human Behavior have identified a gene that may provide a therapeutic target for the deadly, treatment-resistant brain cancer glioblastoma multiforme (GBM).

The cognitive decline and memory loss observed in Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is attributed to the accumulation of β-amyloid protein (Aβ), which impairs neural function in the brain. Experimentation has shown that oxytocin, a peptide hormone primarily responsible for parturition, bonding, and lactation, also regulates cognitive behavior in the rodent central nervous system (CNS).

The journey between identifying a potential therapeutic compound and Food and Drug Administration approval of a new drug can take well over a decade and cost upwards of a billion dollars. A research team at the CUNY Graduate Center has created an artificial intelligence model that could significantly improve the accuracy and reduce the time and cost of the drug development process.

A highly innovative method using the latest technology has generated a comprehensive list of SARS-CoV-2 viral and human proteins that interact with each other, with one such interaction showing the virus directly influencing proteins that regulate the human immune system.

Wear and tear on joints can lead to inflammation, breakdown of cartilage and development of osteoarthritis. Scientists at UF Scripps Biomedical Research have found a possible new target to fight this painful cascade.

In a study published Thursday in the journal PLOS One,biochemist Patrick Griffin, Ph.D., and colleague Mi Ra Chang, Ph.D., describe a specific protein that manages activities within chondrocytes, a critical cell type that maintains healthy cartilage in joints.

Researchers have shown that the medication saracatinib shows promise as a treatment for idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF). Saracatinib worked as well or better than two approved drugs at reducing tissue scarring in preclinical models of IPF according to the study published in the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine.