Oxford biotech firm secures £13.2m to develop world’s first treatment for rare, incurable and...

SynaptixBio, whose aim is to treat the genetic central nervous system disease TUBB4A-related leukodystrophy, has successfully raised £11.05m in its latest funding round to add to the £2.125m of seed funding from the last...

‘Biggest’ leap in identified lung health genes paves way for personalised risk score

Over 500 new genes have been linked to lung function for the first time, allowing a better understanding of  lung disease. The study, led by the University of Leicester and University of Nottingham, is the...

THE EVOLUTION AND POTENTIAL OF ELISA

‘Abbexa is a dedicated manufacturer and worldwide supplier of biological tools such as ELISA kits, antibodies, proteins, enzymes and other reagents and products designed for use in research’. ELISA (Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay) is a plate-based...

Science parks – a hotbed of innovation

Ralf Nöcker, CEO at ESPG It only takes a cursory glance at the torrent of innovative products coming out of California’s Silicon Valley to realise that something undeniably special can happen when a group of...

Games and stimulation mitigate cognitive decline in older adults

Older people may be able to boost their working memory with a new approach that couples online therapeutic games with a non-invasive brain stimulation technique. Working memory is critical for people to function well in...

All the world’s a microbe

How have humans ‘domesticated’ microbial chemistry? How did ‘chemical warfare’ among microbes lead to the evolution of antibiotics? How can we harness the amazing power of microbes for our future good? At a recent...

‘Avatar’ motion tech aids advances in disease research

AI and motion capture technology are helping track the progression of rare genetic diseases affecting movement - and could ultimately be used to monitor common medical conditions like strokes. In two ground-breaking studies, published in...

Addressing the language tax in life sciences

As a researcher, there are few things more vital to your reputation than your publishing record. But what if your native language is not English? Is this a significant problem? How can it be...

AI-powered simulations pair drugs with cancer patients

Finding solutions to complex diseases is top of the agenda for a collaboration between a leading UK innovation engine and a Budapest-based biotech firm. Cancer Research Horizons is part of Cancer Research UK, the world’s...

Synthetic routes to pharmaceuticals greatly expanded’

Crystallographers provide medicinal chemists with 1,800 additional pharmaceutical building blocks, leading to new and more effective treatments. A search of the Cambridge Structural Database (CSD) has found nearly 1800 conglomerate crystal structures — molecules that...

Bionanoscience ‘will precipitate a Fifth Industrial Revolution’

Professor Jonathan Heddle is set to embark on a new era in Bionanoscience at Durham University, thanks to a £4.8million Leverhulme International Professorship award. Currently based at Malopolska Centre of Biotechnology (MCB), Jagiellonian University in...

AI tailors artificial DNA for future drug development

With the help of artificial intelligence, Swedish researchers have succeeded in designing synthetic DNA that controls the cells’ protein production. The technology, developed at Chalmers University of Technology, can contribute to the development and production...

There’s more to collagen than cosmetics…

Big strides are being made in collagen clinical development, particularly in treatment of age-related conditions. Dr Gen Li, president and founder of Phesi, discusses the increase in collagen research, and its clinical and biological...

World-first test for new heart attack drug

The partnership between the University of Birmingham and Acticor Biotech will see patients with heart attacks treated with glenzocimab, a promising new class of drug, for the first time. A potential new drug to improve...

Global community will assess environmental impact of clinical trials

The collaborative initiative will publish a publicly available methodology for calculating and comparing the carbon footprint of centralised and decentralised clinical trials. A global, not-for-profit alliance that advocates for greater collaboration in life sciences R&D,...

Do AI models and the human brain process things in the same way?

Deep Neural Networks – part of the broader family of machine learning – have become increasingly powerful in everyday real-world applications such as automated face recognition systems and self-driving cars. Researchers use Deep Neural Networks,...