Professor Joseph C. Wu of Stanford University explains how stem cells, human-relevant models and AI are helping researchers predict which drug candidates are most likely to succeed before clinical trials. Researchers now have access to technologies that were unimaginable mere decades ago, from genome editing to patient-derived organoids. Despite these advances, many promising drug candidates [...]
Vaccines that do not need to be kept cool in a fridge have been successfully trialed in patients for the first time, say UK scientists. Currently, most vaccines need to be refrigerated or frozen – but around half are wasted each year, mainly because they become unusable after getting too hot or too cold. [...]
A mushroom sold in markets and served in restaurants in Southwest China has an unusual warning attached to it: cook it thoroughly, or you may start seeing tiny people. For decades, people have reported extraordinarily detailed hallucinations after eating certain wild mushrooms, describing dozens or even hundreds of miniature humanlike figures walking across tables, [...]
Artificial Intelligence has been used to design brand new viruses that are fully functional and can replicate in the laboratory, say US researchers. It is the first time whole genomes have been successfully designed by AI. The resulting 16 novel viruses were created to infect bacteria and pose no threat to people. The breakthrough [...]
This book explores the revolutionary potential of atomically precise manufacturing technologies to transform global healthcare, as well as practically every other sector across society. This forward-thinking volume examines how envisaged Factory@Home systems might enable the cost-effective domestic fabrication of (among myriad consumer products, including nutritious gourmet foods) advanced autonomous nanomedical devices that have the capacity to address most [...]
If the Phase I trial is successful, Moderna plans to quickly initiate Phase II and Phase III trials of its Ebola vaccine. Moderna has initiated a Phase I trial of its mRNA Ebola vaccine for the Bundibugyo variant, just as Africa is readying itself for research. The first-in-human Phase I trial (NCT07737717), which will [...]
Summary: Researchers introduced a highly reproducible three-dimensional human brain tissue model capable of replicating complex neurodegenerative processes in Alzheimer’s disease. Developed over nine years using human stem cells, the self-organizing tissue spheroids integrate functional neurons, astrocytes, and microglial immune cells into micro-architectures the size of half a pinhead. The engineered tissue model faithfully expresses key [...]
Chemotherapy may kill most ovarian cancer cells, but the few that survive can turn dangerously active. By releasing fructose, they may help nearby tumor cells break free and spread. Researchers at The Wistar Institute uncovered this unexpected chain reaction while studying treatment-induced cellular senescence, a state in which damaged cancer cells stop dividing but [...]
Virus reactivations by SARS-CoV-2 could worsen initial symptoms and increase risk of Long Covid. Early in the COVID-19 pandemic, scientists noticed that a SARS-CoV-2 infection can “wake up” other, dormant viruses already present in the body. A study out today in Nature extends those and subsequent observations, documenting viral reactivation for a cohort of more than 1000 [...]
A single-cell study reveals major changes in immune cells, genome organization, and gene regulation within the aging human hippocampus, offering important insights into brain aging and dementias associated with age. Between roughly ages 50 and 75, the cellular landscape of the human hippocampus begins to shift. Immune cells change, the genome’s physical organization weakens, [...]
