Lab-grown ‘mini-stomachs’ could shed light on children’s COVID symptoms

A ‘lab-grown model’ of the human stomach, that can be used to study how infections affect the gastrointestinal system, has been developed for the first time. A UCL-led team of international scientists have built on...

Precision breeding for a sustainable future: unpacking the future of genomics

Neil Ward, General Manager of PacBio EMEA, examines the potential impact of the UK’s Precision Breeding Bill. Genomic sequencing holds the potential to unlock powerful insights that will advance our understanding of all life. In...

DMT-assisted therapy: changing the way we think about depressive disorders

A ‘spirit molecule’ from the Amazon could be a game changer in the treatment of major depressive disorders. Dr Carol Routledge, of Small Pharma, talks to Karen Southern about her pioneering work with DMT. Psychedelic...

Growing microtumours in a dish hailed as ‘rapid way to identify tumour genes’

Researchers have identified a new way to screen genes that cause several different types of cancers to grow, identifying particularly promising targets for precision oncology in oral and esophageal squamous cancers. The study, published in...

Potential breakthrough in treatment of rare disease

Biotech company Actigen has initiated a clinical development programme for GNR-055, a potentially breakthrough treatment for the life-limiting, rare disease mucopolysaccharidosis II (MPS II) (also known as Hunter syndrome). Occurring in around 1 in...

An old scientific controversy is resolved… plants do make sounds!

For the first time ever, researchers at Tel Aviv University have recorded and analysed distinct sounds from plants. The click-like sounds, similar to the popping of popcorn, are emitted at a volume similar to human...

Bringing patients and providers together one tweet at a time

As an open forum for human interaction, social media have become the great equalizer of health information – providing a means for patients and health care providers to connect outside of the hospital or...

£7m invested in fight against antimicrobial resistance

Phico Therapeutics Ltd, a biotechnology company developing engineered phage technology as the basis of a new generation of antibiotics to overcome antibacterial resistance, has announced £7m in new investment. The financing was led by growth...

Adult Vaccination

“Vaccination can provide cost-effective protection against a host of diseases throughout life, but remains an underused public-health strategy in adults for the promotion of healthy ageing. Without specific vaccination programmes for the adult population...

IBM releases novel AI-powered technology to accelerate medical research for COVID-19

IBM has today released a new set of cloud- and AI-powered technologies to help researchers, doctors and scientists accelerate COVID-19 drug discovery. These novel resources, from across IBM and available beginning today (Friday 3 April)...

Relentlessly searching for the cure

Martina Slapkova - Research Information Co-ordinator at the Motor Neurone Disease Association Motor neuron disease (MND), also known as Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis across the globe, has been puzzling researchers and clinicians ever since it was...

Shaping the science of oncology

Dr Fiona McLaughlin is the new Chief Scientific Officer of Avacta’s Therapeutics Division. She talks to Karen Southern about her mission to develop first and best-in-class cancer drugs. From the day that Dr McLaughlin –...

WEAPONISING THE FIGHT AGAINST ANTIBIOTIC RESISTANCE

Could faecal transplants be an effective weapon in the fight back against antibiotic resistance? A research team at Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust intends to find out, once and for all. By HELEN...

Depression up, Covid-19 down in disease study list

Depression is now one of the top five most studied disease areas in clinical development, according to new global analysis by Phesi. The mid-year analysis of all this year’s trials to date reveals that Covid-19...

New treatment on horizon against ‘parasite’ mitochondria

A groundbreaking study has solved the old enigma in mitochondrial DNA disorders and advances the prospect of enhanced treatments for patients. It not only resolves a long-standing conundrum in the molecular pathology of mitochondrial disease,...

Clinical trials for gene and cell therapies

In early 2020, the Cell and Gene Therapy Catapult (CGTC) reported that there were 127 ongoing trials in advanced therapy medicinal products (ATMP) in the UK. This represented 12 percent of trials globally, helping...