Diagnostic devices reimagined
Diagnostic devices are coming on in leaps and bounds but you may be surprised to learn that one device that’s remained much the same since the late 1950s is the colonoscope. One researcher working...
Research deepens understanding of malaria parasite
Science carried out in Nottingham helped to form the foundation for the latest breakthrough in the global fight against malaria.
Researchers in the University of Nottingham’s School of Life Sciences were responsible for the identification...
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...
Treading the path less travelled – A different approach to patient recruitment
In a previous issue, we spoke to Professor Miles Witham about his work to facilitate the participation of older people in clinical trials. Now we hear from Sarah Montague about a trial engaging homeless...
Thriving commercial ecosystems will help universities to keep making an impact beyond Covid-19
Throughout 2020, the life sciences sector has been in the limelight. In the effort to overcome COVID-19, the sector has put into action an unprecedented global application of expertise. The deployment of great minds,...
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...
Combatting antibiotic resistance
In the UK alone, the government estimates there are currently 5,000 deaths each year because antibiotics no longer work for some infections. Worldwide, drug-resistant infections are set to kill more people than cancer and...
Stanford shows that breast cancers punch tunnels into neighbouring tissue
Stanford researchers have found that malignant breast cancer cells can extend protrusions known as invadopodia to dig escape tunnels through surrounding tissue, revealing a possible new target for therapies.
Cancers pose the greatest danger when...
New research predicts a positive future for biosimilars
The prospect of reducing treatment costs for payors supports a positive future for biosimilars
Biosimilar approvals in the US market still significantly lag behind Europe despite an evolving regulatory landscape and three new...
New material to treat wounds can protect against resistant bacteria
Researchers at Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden, have developed a new material that prevents infections in wounds – a specially designed hydrogel, that works against all types of bacteria, including antibiotic-resistant ones. The new...
Forget sweet dreams – sweet genes could explain why a bad night’s sleep makes...
Parents of newborns might feel like they have aged a few years in those early months of sleepless nights. Now, scientists at the University of Leicester are investigating whether the secret to both a...
Major study describes brain pathology of domestic violence
A major international brain autopsy study of women who had experienced intimate partner violence reveals substantial damage in the brain, but no evidence of chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), the neurodegenerative disease recognised among contact...
Students’ discovery could help treat Alzheimer’s
Four chemistry students from the University of St Andrews have helped to discover a class of molecules that can help accelerate DNA repair which could in turn help treat of diseases such as Alzheimer’s.
The...
How chromosomes find a happy medium
By Sabrina Richards
Staff writer at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center
Hutch scientists show how chromosomes communicate to balance crossovers during sex-cell formation
Scientists at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center have worked out the molecular underpinnings of...
Unravelling the mysteries around type-2 diabetes
Researchers at University of Leeds have pinpointed a molecule mutation that plays a key role in the disease.
For more than 30 years, scientists have been trying to unravel the mystery of how a key...
Research reveals how Tau aggregates can contribute to cell death in Alzheimer’s disease
New evidence suggests a mechanism by which progressive accumulation of Tau protein in brain cells may lead to Alzheimer’s disease. Scientists studied more than 600 human brains and fruit fly models of Alzheimer’s disease...