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Scientists identify key protein driving severe flu in older people

Scientists have discovered why older people are more likely to suffer severely from the flu, and can now use their findings to address this risk.

8 Sep 2025

New insights into how breast milk supports baby’s internal clock

Breast milk is the first 'super food' for many babies. Full of vitamins, minerals, and other bioactive compounds, it helps build the young immune system and is widely considered the optimal source of infant nutrition.

5 Sep 2025

Research reveals how neutrophils orchestrate the mobilization of zinc to fight microbes

A research team from Umeå University, Sweden, in collaboration with Ghent University, Belgium, has made a groundbreaking discovery about how the body's first immune defense, neutrophils, orchestrate the mobilization of zinc to fight microbes.

5 Sep 2025

Scientists uncover human proteins hijacked by SARS-CoV-2 for replication

Despite vaccines and treatments, SARS-CoV-2-the virus that causes COVID-19-continues to pose a global health threat, driven by new variants and its ability to hijack human cells in ways that still aren't fully understood.

5 Sep 2025

Penn State researchers reveal new function of antibody-producing cells

The body has an intricate system to defend against infections where each type of immune cell plays a distinct role. Now, a study led by researchers from the Penn State College of Medicine has uncovered a new function of the immune cells that are known for making antibodies.

3 Sep 2025

Generative AI creates life-saving antibiotics from scratch

What if generative AI could design life-saving antibiotics, not just art and text? In a new Cell Biomaterials paper, Penn researchers introduce AMP-Diffusion, a generative AI tool used to create tens of thousands of new antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) - short strings of amino acids, the building blocks of proteins - with bacteria-killing potential.

2 Sep 2025

Study reveals how dormant E. coli bacteria survive antibiotics

A groundbreaking study by researchers from Wuhan University, York University (UK), and Peking University has uncovered how Escherichia coli (E. coli) persister bacteria survive antibiotics by protecting their genetic instructions.

2 Sep 2025

New off-the-shelf immunotherapy for metastatic kidney cancer could help improve outcomes

UCLA researchers have developed a new kind of immunotherapy that uses specially engineered immune cells equipped with built-in weapons to attack kidney cancer tumors and reprogram their protective environment - all without the need to customize treatment for each individual patient.

29 Aug 2025

Tumor microbiota identified as predictors of prognosis in gastrointestinal cancers

Microbes inside cancerous tumors can influence the spread of disease and the effectiveness of treatment. Those roles make them appealing targets for new therapies and offer ways to better predict risk.

28 Aug 2025

New experimental system replicates tuberculosis transmission with unprecedented precision

Tuberculosis has been a scourge upon humanity throughout history. In killing more than a million each year worldwide, it remains the leading cause of death from a single infectious pathogen.

28 Aug 2025

Can the gut microbiome adapt to protect the brain after stroke?

Alterations in gut microbiota post-stroke may drive metabolic changes, presenting opportunities for innovative therapeutic strategies in acute stroke recovery.

28 Aug 2025

Why Salmonella Dublin poses a food safety threat in beef and dairy

The study on Salmonella Dublin highlights its genomic similarities and resistance traits, raising concerns for food safety and antimicrobial resistance.

27 Aug 2025

Novel monoclonal antibodies show promise in preventing severe mpox disease

A team from the Microbiology Department at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai has discovered three powerful monoclonal antibodies from a person who had previously been infected with mpox (formerly known as monkeypox).

26 Aug 2025

Mitochondria fight infection by starving parasites of essential nutrients

You've heard that mitochondria are the "powerhouse of the cell." Now get ready for "mitochondria are the infantry of the cell!"

26 Aug 2025

New research reveals why blood clotting malfunctions in inflammatory bowel disease

Inflammatory bowel disease, in which the immune system attacks the gut, is a painful chronic condition that affects three million Americans. Rates of IBD are rising, and there's currently no cure. IBD can also be deadly: up to 8% of people with the disease develop blood clots, which can lead to heart attack and stroke.

25 Aug 2025

Small peptide produced by gut bacteria identified as key factor in kidney fibrosis

A molecule made by bacteria in the gut can hitch a ride to the kidneys, where it sets off a chain reaction of inflammation, scarring and fibrosis - a serious complication of diabetes and a leading cause of kidney failure - according to a new study from researchers at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and Mie University in Japan.

25 Aug 2025

AI tool reveals how TB drugs kill bacteria at the molecular level

Tuberculosis (TB) is the world's deadliest infectious disease—and one of the hardest to cure. Standard treatment requires a cocktail of multiple drugs over at least six months, and one in five patients have a type of TB that resists these first-line medications.

25 Aug 2025