Research News

Patients with advanced melanoma skin cancer survive for longer without their disease progressing if they have been treated with a combination of two drugs, nivolumab and ipilimumab, than with either of these drugs alone. New results show that these patients also do better regardless of their age, stage of disease and whether or not they have a cancer-driving mutation in the BRAF gene.

Self-assembled DNA nanostructures can be used in molecular-scale diagnostics and as smart drug-delivery vehicles.
Researchers from Aalto University have published an article in the recent Trends in Biotechnology journal. The article discusses how DNA molecules can be assembled into tailored and complex nanostructures, and further, how these structures can find uses in therapeutics and bionanotechnological applications. In the review article, the researchers outline the superior properties of DNA nanostructures, and how these features enable the development of efficient biological DNA-nanomachines. Moreover, these DNA nanostructures provide new applications in molecular medicine, such as novel approaches in tackling cancer. Tailored DNA structures could find targeted cells and release their molecular payload (drugs or antibodies) selectively into these cells.

Researchers have used non-invasive direct brain control system to get a person, with complete paralysis in both legs owing to spinal cord injury, to walk again. The research was published in the Journal of NeuroEngineering and Rehabilitation.

A new study has revealed that taxol can also be derived from a kind of microbial 'bandage' that protects these trees from disease-causing fungi. This finding may lead to a less expensive synthetic process for making more of the cancer-fighting substance. The study appeared in Current Biology.

A study from 20 countries other than the United States has revealed that people who are treated for addiction are far more likely to smoke. The research team found that people in addiction treatment programs around the world use tobacco at two to three times the rate of people who are not being treated for addiction. The study is published in Addiction.

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New research shows that taking blood pressure medications at bedtime whilst asleep halves the risk of developing type 2 diabetes. The study is published in Diabetologia.

Researchers have created smarter immune cells that produce and deliver a healing protein to the brain while also teaching neurons to begin making the protein for themselves. The study was published in PLOS One.

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Researchers have developed a promising titanium and gold based compound that destroys kidney cancer cells. The findings appeared in the journal Chemical Science.

A new study warns that if you often feel dizzy, faint or light-headed after getting up, these symptoms could indicate greater risk of developing brain disease such as Parkinson's or dementia, and even an increased risk of death. The findings appeared in the online issue of the journal Neurology.

Glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) is the most commonly occurring brain tumor in adults. A new research has now revealed that activating a specific family of proteins may stop the spread of this most lethal and aggressive brain cancer. The study appeared online in Molecular Biology of the Cell.