Toxin News and Research

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Research offers a promising way to develop potent antivenoms against deadly snakebites

University of Maryland researchers discovered a new approach to treating venomous snake bites-using the same toxin-blocking proteins that snakes evolved to protect themselves.

29 Jul 2026

Scientists uncover how muscle actin filaments grow and renew themselves

Biophysicists unraveled a mystery of how muscles form at the molecular level and how they maintain their function.

29 Jul 2026

Novel interventional approach successfully treats rare hepatic myelopathy

Hepatic myelopathy (HM) is a rare neurological complication of decompensated chronic liver disease that profoundly impairs quality of life.

28 Jul 2026

Two heart nerve cell types sustain cardiac stability in mice

Researchers identified two major intrinsic cardiac neuron populations in mice: Npy-positive neurons regulate parasympathetic heart rate control and support coronary perfusion, while Ddah1-positive neurons help maintain electrical stability during extreme stress. Removing Npy-positive neurons caused fatal cardiac failure, whereas loss of Ddah1-positive neurons increased susceptibility to malignant arrhythmias and sudden cardiac arrest under stress.

23 Jul 2026

ddPCR and NGS for viral surveillance in antiviral drug development

hVIVO explains how ddPCR and NGS support viral surveillance in antiviral trials, from detection and quantification to resistance sequencing.

From hVIVO 20 Jul 2026

New portable strip test accurately detects mosquito-borne viruses

A research team has developed a multisite bridging-mediated lateral flow immunoassay (mbLFIA) that enables highly sensitive, portable detection of mosquito-borne viruses, using Chikungunya virus (CHIKV) as a model target.

17 Jul 2026

Targeting CMPK2-intervened redox metabolism to mitigate hepatic ischemia-reperfusion injury

HIRI is a major clinical challenge that occurs when blood supply to the liver is temporarily interrupted and then restored, as commonly seen in liver resection and liver transplantation.

16 Jul 2026

Computational framework identifies synergistic compound pairs in herbal medicines

Herbal medicines have long been used in disease treatment, often through formulas that combine multiple herbs to enhance therapeutic effects and reduce side effects.

16 Jul 2026

Machine learning framework enables low-cost water toxin detection

Portable screen-printed carbon electrode (SPCE) biosensors offer a rapid and low-cost way to detect microcystin-lysine-arginine (MC-LR), an extremely potent toxin produced by cyanobacteria during harmful algal blooms in freshwater.

11 Jul 2026

Study reveals why patients with rare leukemia develop resistance to tagraxofusp

Researchers at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center have identified why some patients with a rare type of leukemia, called blastic plasmacytoid dendritic cell neoplasm (BPDCN), eventually develop resistance to tagraxofusp, the first Food and Drug Administration-approved treatment for this disease.

7 Jul 2026

Research may help pave the way for new vaccine targeting diarrheal disease

Research led by the University of Bergen (UiB) and NORCE may help pave the way for a new vaccine targeting one of the world's leading causes of severe diarrheal disease.

25 Jun 2026

Plague emerged earlier than thought and hit hunter-gatherers hard

Ancient DNA from 46 Lake Baikal hunter-gatherers revealed two early plague outbreak phases about 5,500 years ago, with Yersinia pestis detected in 18 individuals. The findings suggest these basal plague strains caused lethal, child-heavy outbreaks long before dense farming societies, cities, or classical flea-borne bubonic plague emerged.

21 Jun 2026

Prehistoric plague killed hunter gatherers 5,500 years ago

Plague is commonly associated with rats, crowded medieval cities, and the epidemics that swept across Europe during and after the Middle Ages.

17 Jun 2026

Secondhand smoke exposure linked to higher blood cadmium levels

A new study finds that adults who simply breathe in secondhand cigarette smoke have about 1.5 times more of the toxin cadmium in their blood than people in smoke-free environments.

15 Jun 2026

Australia’s diphtheria outbreak shows why boosters, antibiotics, and better housing all matter

A 131-case diphtheria outbreak in Australia’s Northern Territory showed how toxigenic Corynebacterium diphtheriae can re-emerge even in highly vaccinated populations. Genomic and epidemiological evidence linked most cases to a dominant ST381 strain, with transmission shaped by overcrowding, poor skin health, and persistent health inequities.

15 Jun 2026

Researchers discover 45 new toxins produced by Salmonella bacteria

Researchers at the University of São Paulo (USP) in Brazil have discovered 45 new toxins produced by Salmonella bacteria, some of which are associated with foodborne infections.

11 Jun 2026

Study: Antibiotic resistance is increasing in Shiga toxin-producing E. coli

Resistance to antimicrobial agents is rising among human infections with Escherichia coli bacteria that produce the Shiga toxin, according to a study analyzing data from nearly 2,000 infections in the United States between 2010 and 2021.

8 Jun 2026

Genetically-modified hookworms successfully deliver medicine to animal hosts

Hookworms, intestinal parasites that infect hundreds of millions of people in under-resourced tropical regions around the globe, have evolved to survive inside the human gut for years, secreting molecules that enable co-existence with their hosts.

3 Jun 2026

Aged immune cells may drive memory decline by releasing a brain-aging protein

A preclinical mouse study in Immunity suggests that aged circulating CD8+ T cells can disrupt hippocampal function and impair learning and memory. The findings point to granzyme K, a secreted factor linked to age-associated CD8+ T cells, as a potential target for restoring aspects of cognition in aging.

17 May 2026

The complex peptide mixture that makes ant venom a powerful shield

In addition to serving as biochemical weapons for offense and defense, the venoms produced by ants in the subfamily Formicinae also fulfill additional roles. For example, the ants use it to protect their nests from pathogens. It has long been assumed that the primary constituent of these venoms, formic acid, was responsible for these functions.

14 May 2026