Bacteria with the personal touch
The trillions of bacteria that call your body home — collectively known as the microbiome — appear to be unique to you like a fingerprint, writes Sarah C.P. Williams.
That’s one conclusion of a detailed...
New research into microplastics and nanoplastics urgently needed due to ‘significant’ health threat
A new metastudy published in Cambridge Prisms: Plastics by Cambridge University Press, has identified a body of evidence demonstrating the negative impact of microplastics and nanoplastics (MPs and NPs) on human health and identifying...
Bacteria insights could boost rare cancer treatment
The microbiome can identify those who benefit from combination immunotherapy across multiple different cancers, including rare gynaecological cancers, biliary tract cancers and melanoma.
Researchers from the Wellcome Sanger Institute, the Olivia Newton-John Cancer Research Institute...
Brain scan tech takes major step forward
Advanced MRI scanners being developed by University of California Berkeley will allow doctors and scientists to see the brain in greater detail than ever before, which could lead to ground-breaking treatments for brain disorders...
Study paves the way for new cirrhosis treatments
The world’s most extensive clinical study into liver cirrhosis has been announced by Newcastle University, University of Edinburgh and r esearch-driven global biopharmaceutical company, Boehringer Ingelheim.
The ADVANCE (Accelerating Discovery: Actionable NASH Cirrhosis Endpoints) study...
£13m disease early warning system for England to open at University of Bath
Water-based community health monitoring Centre of Excellence will detect disease outbreaks.
A new £13 million Centre of Excellence in water-based health monitoring will be established at the University of Bath following a major funding award.
The...
Bacterial Biofilms: A game-changer in the battle against infection
Bacteria, those tiny, often-misunderstood microorganisms, have revealed a groundbreaking secret that could transform our approach to combating infections. Luiza Beirão Campos, of the European Science Communication Institute (ESCI), explains how.
Bacteria are notorious for banding...
Improved radionuclide supply can transform nuclear medicine
Targeted Alpha Therapy (TAT) is a promising cancer treatment in nuclear medicine, but the supply of alpha-emitting radionuclides - which the treatment relies on - is very limited. A lack of alpha-emitting radionuclides in...
The promise of immuno-oncology: An R&D perspective
Dr Robin Knight, CEO and co-founder, IN-PART, discusses emerging cancer immunotherapies.
Cancer immunotherapy, also referred to as immuno-oncology, is gaining traction. New treatments are becoming available all the time, and they’re showing incredible promise in...
All hands to the pumps – how bacteria evolve resistance to antibiotics
Bacteria can rapidly evolve resistance to antibiotics by adapting special pumps to flush them out of their cells, say researchers from the Quadram Institute and University of East Anglia.
The findings, published in the journal...
Leukaemia diagnosis and treatment on brink of huge change
UK scientists hope they can learn to better predict leukaemia (blood cancer) occurrence, and develop improved drug screening pathways to treat the disease, with funding worth £12million.
Two projects – led by the University of...
Attacking cancer cells from the inside out
The power of proteins is being harnessed to stop cancer cells in their tracks.
“Proteins are the workhorses of the cell,” said Walid A. Houry, professor of biochemistry at the University of Toronto (U of...
New microscope uses photonics for insights into ‘superbugs’
Scientists are building a new super-resolution microscope that uses laser light to study the inner workings and behaviours of superbugs to gain new insights into how they cause disease.
The microscope will allow scientists to...
Cutting to the chase – how a folded piece of paper is saving lives
Around the world, many hundreds of millions of people are infected by parasitic diseases such as malaria and schistosomiasis. Many more millions of people are affected by the impact of these diseases with profound...
Regulator protein key to malaria parasite’s lifecycle
Malaria remains a significant threat to human health with approximately 216 million cases annually and over 400,000 deaths worldwide. It is caused by the Plasmodium parasite, which has a complex lifecycle involving transmission to...
Discovery aids disease elimination efforts
David Horn: Professor of Parasite Molecular Biology, University of Dundee
Researchers at the University of Dundee have identified a new drug target in parasites that cause major neglected tropical diseases, a discovery that contributes towards a...