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Turning the flu virus into a powerful tool to fight cancer

A recent Views & Comments article published in Engineering highlights advances in repurposing influenza viruses as flexible therapeutic platforms for infectious diseases and cancer, driven by progress in reverse genetics and viral vector engineering.

14 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

Regular arts and physical activity linked to slower aging

Research shows that leisure activities, including arts engagement and physical exercise, are linked to slower epigenetic aging and improved health outcomes.

14 May 2026

Four-week diet intervention shifts biological aging markers

A short-term shift to whole-food, plant-based diets alters aging biomarkers in older adults, suggesting rapid physiological adaptation rather than age reversal.

14 May 2026

Colbopasvir plus sofosbuvir achieves high cure rates in chronic hepatitis C

In this real‑world multicenter study (Wenzhou, China), 113 chronic hepatitis C patients received colbopasvir (60 mg) + sofosbuvir (400 mg) daily for 12 weeks. Overall SVR12 was 99.1% (112/113). SVR12 was 100% for genotypes 3a, 3b, 6a, and compensated cirrhosis, 93.3% for genotype 1b, and 90% for HBV co‑infection.

14 May 2026

Art history may help doctors better understand obesity stigma

Understanding how obesity has been portrayed in art across the ages can make doctors more empathic and less judgmental, which should lead to their patients achieving better outcomes, new reasearch at this year's European Congress on Obesity (ECO 2026) argues.

14 May 2026

New standards improve quality of donated prosthetic feet worldwide

Researchers have proposed new standards into the decades' old prosthetic donations market, improving the quality of lower limb prosthetic feet by two-thirds – a major quality of life boost for recipients.

14 May 2026

Four OICR-funded studies explore transformative approaches in cancer care

Four new research studies funded by the Ontario Institute for Cancer Research (OICR) will deliver cutting-edge innovations by maximizing the impact of existing research and making the most out of patient contributions.

13 May 2026

Sequential TACE after SBRT improves outcomes in recurrent hepatocellular carcinoma

Comparative data on sequential transarterial chemoembolization (TACE) after stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT) in recurrent hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) remain limited. This study aimed to evaluate the efficacy of this combination.

13 May 2026

Qureight to support Mediar Therapeutics' Phase 2 trial of MTX-474 in diffuse cutaneous Systemic Sclerosis

Qureight, an end-to-end imaging CRO that provides enterprise-grade imaging and precision endpoints for clinical trials with a focus on lung and heart disease, and Mediar Therapeutics (Mediar), a clinical-stage biotechnology company advancing first-in-class therapies designed to halt fibrosis, today announced Qureight's AI-powered 3D quantitative imaging analytics platform and services will be used to support Mediar's Phase 2 EncompaSSc clinical trial.

From Qureight 13 May 2026

Base editing approach repairs deadly Dravet syndrome mutation in mice

Gene editing can repair a DNA error in mice that causes Dravet syndrome, a rare, incurable, and potentially deadly form of childhood epilepsy. After the edit, the mice have far fewer seizures and live much longer.

13 May 2026

Wearable wireless polygraph tracks hidden stress signals

Northwestern University engineers have developed a small, wireless polygraph system you can wear.

13 May 2026

Battery-free wearable sensor continuously monitors health through sweat

University of California, Irvine researchers have invented a wearable, wireless, battery-free, bioelectronic sensor to monitor users' health by analyzing molecular biomarkers in human sweat.

13 May 2026

Experts urge WHO to strengthen airborne virus precautionary measures

With three people dead and 11 cases from the recent hantavirus outbreak on a cruise ship, UMD's internationally renowned expert on airborne viruses, Dr. Don Milton, joins public health colleagues in an opinion piece in the British Medical Journal (BMJ) calling on the World Health Organization (WHO) to shift its default response to emerging respiratory viruses.

13 May 2026

Gene panel predicts chemotherapy response in triple-negative breast cancer

Researchers at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center have characterized cancer cell-specific features in the tumor microenvironment (TME) of early-stage triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) tissues, identifying specific macrophage subtypes associated with chemotherapy response.

13 May 2026

Next-generation cancer therapy shows early promise as treatment candidate for glioblastoma

A next-generation cancer therapy being developed at McMaster University has shown early promise as a treatment candidate for glioblastoma, the most aggressive and most common type of primary brain cancer in adults.

13 May 2026

Air pollution linked to rising kidney disease hospitalization risks

A study supported by FAPESP and published in the journal Scientific Reports showed a strong correlation between the concentration of particulate matter in the air of São Paulo, Brazil – primarily emitted by vehicle fuel combustion – and kidney disease.

13 May 2026

Immune cell discovery reveals new pathway for hepatitis B treatment

Fifteen years ago, doctors in Europe noticed a remarkable thing happening in people with chronic hepatitis B infections. When patients went off their medications, the virus started to come back - and then some of the patients were cured.

13 May 2026

Obesity drugs and surgery linked to greater fat-free mass loss

A new systematic review and meta-analysis of studies presented at this year's European Congress on Obesity in Istanbul, Turkey (12-15 May) shows that diet and exercise interventions result in a lower proportion of fat-free mass loss compared with obesity surgery or obesity drugs among people undergoing a weight loss of 10% or more.

13 May 2026

Semaglutide significantly reduces obesity in treatment-resistant young adults

A weekly dose of semaglutide (2.4 mg) leads to a clinically significant reduction in body mass index (BMI) and related health outcomes in young adults with severe obesity who are treatment resistant following hospital-based non-pharmacological obesity care during childhood, according to a randomized controlled trial being presented at this year's European Congress on Obesity (ECO) in Istanbul, Turkey (12-15 May).

13 May 2026