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Overcoming CRISPR's side effects for therapeutic applications

CRISPR is a revolutionary tool that allows scientists to precisely modify the genome and gene expression of cells in any organism. It's a reagent - a substance that facilitates a reaction - that combines an enzyme with a programmable RNA capable of locating specific genetic sequences. Once guided to the correct spot, the enzyme acts like a pair of scissors, cutting, replacing, or deleting sequences of DNA.

7 Oct 2024

New platform mimics immune interactions to boost cancer treatment

Imagine a world where your own immune cells are transformed into cancer-fighting superheroes.

7 Oct 2024

Rice University leads development of innovative bioelectronic implant for obesity and diabetes

Rice University is part of a multiuniversity research team that has secured an award of up to $34.9 million from the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H) to accelerate the development of a bioelectronic implant designed to improve adherence for obesity and type 2 diabetes (T2D) treatment while reducing development and manufacturing costs.

3 Oct 2024

The impact of KRAS mutations on pancreatic cancer progression and survival

A common mutation in the KRAS gene is associated with improved overall survival in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) compared with other variants, in part because the mutation appears to lead to less invasiveness and weaker biological activity, according to a multicenter study conducted at Weill Cornell Medicine, NewYork-Presbyterian, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, and other institutions.

3 Oct 2024

Novel lipid nanoparticles enhance tissue-specific drug delivery

Penn Engineers have discovered a novel means of directing lipid nanoparticles (LNPs), the revolutionary molecules that delivered the COVID-19 vaccines, to target specific tissues, presaging a new era in personalized medicine and gene therapy.

1 Oct 2024

Organoids offer new hope for safer epilepsy treatment in pregnant women

University of Queensland researchers have made a significant step towards enabling women with epilepsy safer access to a common and highly effective anti-seizure medication.

30 Sep 2024

ADA Forsyth Institute secures $6.2 million grant for innovative dental material research

The ADA Forsyth Institute (AFI) has been awarded a $6.2 million grant from the National Institute of Oral and Craniofacial Research (NIDCR). Funded under the highly competitive RM1 mechanism, this five-year award will support a groundbreaking project to develop next-generation smart materials for dental fillings using physics-based artificial intelligence (AI).

30 Sep 2024

New noninvasive device promises early stroke risk detection

A team of researchers from the Keck School of Medicine of USC and California Institute of Technology (Caltech) have developed a potential new way to measure a person's stroke risk that is cost-effective and noninvasive, akin to a cardiac stress test.

30 Sep 2024

Hormone hepcidin identified as potential trigger for psoriasis

Scientists may have uncovered the root cause of psoriasis, a chronic and sometimes debilitating skin disease that affects 2-3% of the global population. The condition is characterized by red, scaly patches that impact the quality of a patient's life and can sometimes be life-threatening.

26 Sep 2024

Rice and Baylor receive $2.8 million to suppress inflammation and lung damage in ARDS patients

Rice University and Baylor College of Medicine have received $2.8 million in funding from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI), a division of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), for research on reducing inflammation and lung damage in acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) patients.

19 Sep 2024

New biomarkers offer hope for early detection and prevention of Alzheimer's

The failure to diagnose Alzheimer's disease, the most common form of dementia in the elderly, at an early stage of molecular pathology is considered a major reason why treatments fail in clinical trials. Previous research to molecularly diagnose Alzheimer's disease yielded "A/T/N" central biomarkers based on the measurements of proteins, β-amyloid ("A") and tau ("T"), and "N" encompassing neurodegeneration. A/T/N can be measured in brain tissue, by in vivo brain imaging techniques, and by analysis of cerebrospinal fluid and plasma.

18 Sep 2024

New tool ehrapy revolutionizes health data analysis

Led by Helmholtz Munich, scientists have developed an accessible software solution specifically designed for the analysis of complex medical health data.

12 Sep 2024

Scripps Research develops breakthrough technique for adding unique amino acids to proteins

It's a dogma taught in every introductory biology class: Proteins are composed of combinations of 20 different amino acids, arranged into diverse sequences like words.

11 Sep 2024

Harnessing bacteriophages as targeted treatments for drug-resistant bacteria

As antibiotic resistance becomes an increasingly serious threat to our health, the scientific and medical communities are searching for new medicines to fight infections.

5 Sep 2024

NSF AIRFoundry to advance RNA technology and nanoparticle design

In a typical foundry, raw materials like steel and copper are melted down and poured into molds to assume new shapes and functions.

3 Sep 2024

UCLA team develops automated HER2 scoring system with deep learning and pyramid sampling

HER2 is a critical protein that plays a pivotal role in breast cancer cell growth and aggressiveness. Its expression level is a key indicator for treatment decisions, including the use of HER2-targeted therapies.

30 Aug 2024

Carcinotech dominates summer awards season

Over the past six years, Carcinotech has been laser-focused on developing, optimising and commercializing our innovative drug development platform.

From Carcinotech 30 Aug 2024

Discovery of borderzone inflammation offers new avenues for heart failure prevention

Ischemic heart disease is the most common cause of death in the world. It begins with a "heart attack", also known as a myocardial infarction (MI), which causes part of the heart to die due to inadequate coronary blood flow.

29 Aug 2024

NSF funds UCSB-led Biofoundry to revolutionize biotechnology with unexplored microbes

This week, the National Science Foundation announced the award of a six-year, $22M grant to UC Santa Barbara under its biofoundries program for the establishment of the BioFoundry for Extreme and Exceptional Fungi, Archaea and Bacteria (ExFAB), a collaboration led by UC Santa Barbara (UCSB), together with UC Riverside (UCR), and Cal Poly Pomona (CPP). ExFAB establishes the nation's first biofoundry that focuses on largely untapped and unexplored extreme microbes. UCSB's award is one of only five grants made under NSF's BioFoundry program during this funding cycle, which awarded a total of $75M to the five selected universities.

29 Aug 2024

New implant offers hope for nerve repair after spinal cord injury

A research team at RCSI University of Medicine and Health Sciences has developed a new implant that conveys electrical signals and may have the potential to encourage nerve cell (neuron) repair after spinal cord injury.

28 Aug 2024