Researchers at the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute (WEHI) in Melbourne, Australia, have developed a new vaccination approach that uses antimalarial drug compounds to transform mosquito bites from a source of deadly infection into natural immune boosters, according to a study published in Science. Targeting the Late Liver Stage to Build Durable Immunity The preclinical … Read more
Modern humans with non-African ancestry carry a Neanderthal growth hormone receptor variant that increases muscle mass and alters bone structure, according to a study published in Current Biology. Led by the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, researchers found this genetic legacy persists in roughly 20% of some South and East Asian populations. Neanderthal DNA … Read more
FOXA2 serves as a master transcription factor that coordinates pancreatic development, maintains islet cell identity, and regulates systemic glucose homeostasis, according to a review published in the journal Genes & Diseases (DOI: 10.1016/j.gendis.2025.101972). By orchestrating gene networks from early organogenesis into adulthood, FOXA2 ensures the functional integrity of insulin-producing β-cells and glucagon-secreting α-cells, providing a … Read more
Astrin Biosciences is expanding physician outreach and preparing a direct-to-consumer launch for Certitude, a proteomic-based breast cancer diagnostic test that leverages mass spectrometry and machine learning. According to the company, the test identifies high-risk patients and detects early-stage malignancies from a small plasma sample. How Proteomics and AI Outperform Traditional DNA Liquid Biopsies in Early … Read more
Liraglutide, a glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonist (GLP-1 RA), triggers rapid but largely reversible shifts in the gut microbiome of obese mice, according to a study published in the journal Microbiology Spectrum. Researchers found that while the drug alters bacterial community structure during active treatment, these changes largely normalize within seven days of discontinuing the medication. … Read more
Insilico Medicine published a collaborative study in the journal npj Precision Oncology, detailing how artificial intelligence and multi-omic analysis identified therapeutic targets in inverted papilloma-associated sinonasal squamous cell carcinoma (IP-SNSCC), a rare head and neck cancer. Conducted with researchers from the University of Chicago and Johns Hopkins University, the peer-reviewed paper offers the first comprehensive … Read more
According to a study published in BMC Biology, researchers at the USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences and Howard University have discovered that modern human immune responses bear genetic marks of ancient battles with infectious diseases, while also identifying rare variants linked to severe COVID-19. The findings bridge human evolution and infectious disease. … Read more
Cellular instructions for activating genes have remained nearly unchanged across two billion years of evolution, while the mechanisms used to switch genes off vary widely across branches of life, according to a study published in Nature Genetics by the Centre for Genomic Regulation (CRG) in Barcelona. Researchers used a new profiling method called iChIP2 to … Read more
According to new research published July 30, 2026, in the journal Science, modern human genomes contain genetic traces from two previously unknown archaic hominin lineages: a “ghost” lineage in Africa that mixed with Homo sapiens more than 50,000 years ago, and a “super-archaic” lineage dating back over 1.7 million years that left its footprint via … Read more
According to researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, modern human genomes contain stretches of DNA inherited from previously unknown extinct populations, dubbed “ghost ancestors.” While Homo sapiens is currently the only surviving human species, genetic analysis shows our ancestors repeatedly interbred with multiple hominin groups, rewriting our understanding of human evolution as a complex … Read more