Research News

Antibiotic resistant bacteria are a threat to human lives, and yet the development of new drugs to treat bacterial infections is slow. A group of proven drugs used in cancer treatment for decades could possibly be the solution. A new class of antibiotics is now being developed by researchers at Linköping University in Sweden.

Ceftazidime in combination with avibactam is a last-line antibiotic, to be used as a targeted therapy for certain carbapenem-resistant Gram-negative infections and not to be used as an empirical therapy. But the antibiotic recently lost its exclusivity and became a generic drug in India. And scientists from ICMR are foreseeing certain potential adverse implications of introducing generic versions of ceftazidime/avibactam into the Indian market.

A research team led by scientists from City University of Hong Kong (CityU) has achieved a significant breakthrough by inventing a new class of near-infrared-activated photo-oxidants that can effectively kill cancer cells without requiring oxygen. The photo-oxidants induce a unique form of cancer cell death that can overcome cancer cell resistance. The findings offer a new strategy, called ‘photo-oxidation therapy’, and provide a promising direction for the development of anti-cancer drugs.

Max Planck Scientists from Dortmund show how the signaling molecules BMP and FGF act as antagonists during embryonic development and thus guide cell differentiation

A research team at the University of Basel and the SIB Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics uncovered a treasure trove of uncharacterized proteins. Embracing the recent deep learning revolution, they discovered hundreds of new protein families and even a novel predicted protein fold.

Adults with atopic dermatitis (AD) have a 34 percent increased risk of developing new-onset inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) compared with individuals who do not have the skin condition, and children have a 44 percent increased risk, according to a new study from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. Additionally, as the severity of AD increased, the risk of developing IBD rose.

An innovative phase 2 clinical trial led by Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in collaboration with 10 major brain tumor centers around the country and designed to find new potential treatments for glioblastoma has reported initial results in the Journal of Clinical Oncology. While none of the three therapeutics tested so far improved overall survival of patients, this adaptive platform trial, the first of its kind in neuro-oncology, has the potential to rapidly and efficiently identify therapies that benefit patients.

New research provides insight about the bedrock scientific principle that mitochondrial DNA — the distinct genetic code embedded in the organelle that serves as the powerplant of every cell in the body — is exclusively passed down by the mother.

ProMyelocytic Leukemia (PML) protein controls various biological functions, such as apoptosis, senescence or stem cell self-renewal. PML may elicit these functions by scaffolding the spherical shells of PML Nuclear Bodies (NBs), which subsequently act as hubs of post-translational modifications, in particular sumoylation, for the broad range of proteins trafficking through their inner cores. PML NBs are disrupted in Acute Promyelocytic Leukemia (APL) driven by the PML-RARA oncogenic fusion protein.