Research News

A new universal flu vaccine protects against diverse variants of both influenza A and B viruses in mice, according to a new study by researchers in the Institute for Biomedical Sciences at Georgia State University.

The researchers designed a single, universal influenza vaccine candidate with key cross-protective, less variable parts of the influenza A and B viruses: multi-neuraminidase protein subtypes known to be major antiviral drug targets and the universally conserved M2 ectodomain protein.

Israel based scientists found out that the rates of hospitalization and death due to COVID-19 were significantly lower among those who received nirmatrelvir in patients 65 years of age or older.

At the beginning of the surge of the omicron variant in January 2022, the Israeli authorities decided to pursue two lines of defense to protect the vulnerable and high-risk populations from severe Covid-19: a second booster dose and antiviral therapy.

In the war against cancer, one of the most critical battles is waged on a cellular level as T cells from the immune system are altered in the lab to attack cancer cells. This form of immunotherapy, called chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy, can be a life-saving treatment resulting in tumor control lasting ten years or longer. 

Researchers from Trinity College Dublin have developed a new gene therapy approach that shows promise for treating the dry form of Age Related Macular Degeneration (AMD) – a progressive eye disease that affects up to 10% of adults over 65 years of age and is a leading cause of severe vision impairment and blindness in this age group.

Many tumor cells mist themselves with a protective perfume that disables the immune system. But a drug already approved for other purposes can apparently render this weapon harmless. This is shown in a study by the University of Bonn and the University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, which has now appeared in the Journal for ImmunoTherapy of Cancer. The researchers now want to further optimize the compound. In the medium term, this could pave the way for new anti-cancer drugs.

Novel discovery has revealed how the tau protein, a critical element in the formation of Alzheimers disease, is also involved in normal learning processes in the healthy brain, potentially providing a focal point for future drug therapies.

Employing a sensitive method named proximity labelling, the team aimed to identify all proteins that tau comes in contact with within brain cells, labelling and identifying the whole collection of interacting proteins as they went.

Morphogens are molecules that travel from biological cell to cell to pattern tissues in the embryo. These molecules are important not only for the embryo during development, but also for the adult during tissue repair. However, the way these morphogens are distributed to ensure patterning occurs is still not fully understood.

A historically overlooked rod-like projection present on nearly every cell type in the human body may finally be getting its scientific due: A new study has found that these appendages, called cilia, on neurons in the brain have a key role in ensuring a specific dopamine receptor’s signals are properly received.

A common, economic, and easy method of administering drugs is orally, by swallowing a pill or capsule. But oral administration is the most complex way for the human body to absorb an active pharmaceutical ingredient, because the bioavailability of the drug in the gastrointestinal tract depends on the medication’s ingredients and the stomach’s dynamic physiological environment.