Genomic newborn screening using heel-stick blood spots can identify infants at high risk for early-onset cancers before symptoms appear, according to a Nature Communications study led by researchers from Dana-Farber/Boston Children’s Cancer and Blood Disorders Center, Mass General Brigham, and collaborators. Analyzing archived samples from 1,948 children in Michigan who developed solid or central nervous … Read more
Preclinical studies published in PNAS show that supercharged bifunctional antisense oligonucleotides efficiently skip mutated exons and restore dystrophin expression in Duchenne muscular dystrophy models, according to findings from Nanjing Antisense Biopharm researcher Pengchao Feng and his team. Bipartite Antisense Oligonucleotides Target Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy Duchenne muscular dystrophy is an X-linked recessive progressive muscle condition primarily … 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
Outlined in Nature Materials, the advanced biomaterial uses aptamer constructs to selectively harvest and concentrate endogenous healing substances, offering a potential breakthrough for patients with acute and chronic wounds that fail to heal on their own. How Biomaterial Scaffolds Target Chronic Wounds Millions of people worldwide suffer from hard-to-heal wounds like large burns, diabetic foot … Read more
Researchers at the University of Copenhagen have identified the protein NDRG1 as a potential therapeutic target for cancer, utilizing the antimalarial drug quinacrine to exploit specific cellular vulnerabilities. According to a study published in Science Signaling, high levels of NDRG1 correlate with poor patient survival, and inhibiting this protein creates a synthetic lethal interaction that … Read more
New cardiovascular risk guidelines in the U.S. are shifting how doctors classify patient health, moving away from race-based formulas toward more personalized metrics. Research published in JAMA, led by Allison Peng, MD, of the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, indicates that 22% of adults will change risk categories under the new PREVENT-atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease … Read more
Tertiary lymphoid structures (TLSs)—organized clusters of immune cells within tumors—are critical for effective cancer immunotherapy, according to a study published in Science. Researchers at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai identified type 1 conventional dendritic cells (cDC1s) as the essential architects that form and maintain these structures, suggesting a new path for improving … Read more
Researchers at the Institute of Science Tokyo have identified a molecular mechanism that causes the brain’s recovery window to close following an ischemic stroke. A study published in Nature, led by Jun Tsuyama and Takashi Shichita, reveals that the protein ZFP384 acts as a transcriptional “brake,” suppressing the reparative functions of microglia. By blocking this … Read more
New research published in eBioMedicine provides the strongest evidence to date that long COVID is linked to physical injury within the brain’s dopamine system. Researchers at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) in Canada used PET imaging to identify reduced dopamine nerve terminal density, offering a potential biological explanation for persistent symptoms like … Read more
Researchers at Virginia Tech have developed a new artificial intelligence tool, RNAbpFlow, capable of predicting 3D RNA structures without relying on evolutionary data or homologous templates. In blind testing, the model produced a correct overall structure for 12 of 14 RNA targets, compared with eight out of 14 for AlphaFold 3, according to research published … Read more