Pharmaceuticals

In a remarkable twist of science, researchers have transformed a fungus long associated with death into a potential weapon against cancer. Found in tombs like that of King Tut, Aspergillus flavus was once feared for its deadly spores. Now, scientists at Penn and several partner institutions have extracted a new class of molecules from it—called asperigimycins—that show powerful effects against leukemia cells. These compounds, part of a rare group known as fungal RiPPs, were bioengineered for potency and appear to disrupt cancer cell division with high specificity.

Colistin, a last-resort antibiotic, is losing its power due to rising resistance—and the culprits might be hiding in your seafood dinner. A University of Georgia research team discovered colistin-resistance genes in bacteria found in imported shrimp and scallops from markets in Atlanta. These genes can hop between bacteria via plasmids, potentially turning once-curable infections into deadly threats.

Fresh concerns have emerged about the platelet studies underpinning the FDA approval of ticagrelor, AstraZeneca's multibillion-dollar heart drug. A new BMJ investigation reveals data discrepancies, missing lab readings, and questions about the integrity of the trial process. Notably, key results reported in a major cardiology journal were inaccurately presented, and some study contributors were omitted or denied involvement. With generics on the horizon, critics say these revelations highlight potential dangers, including severe rebound effects and bleeding risks, that were never properly disclosed.

A team at Kobe University has created a game-changing resource for autism research: 63 mouse embryonic stem cell lines, each carrying a genetic mutation strongly associated with the disorder. By pairing classic stem cell manipulation with precise CRISPR gene editing, they ve built a standardized platform that mirrors autism-linked genetic conditions in mice. These models not only replicate autism-related traits but also expose key dysfunctions, like the brain s inability to clean up faulty proteins.

A new Rutgers Health study reveals a surprising twist in the antibiotic resistance story: instead of simply killing bacteria, drugs like ciprofloxacin can actually trigger a kind of microbial survival mode. By crashing the bacteria's energy levels, the antibiotic causes E. coli to ramp up its metabolism, survive attacks, and mutate faster ultimately accelerating the evolution of drug resistance.

A breakthrough study from Keck Medicine of USC may have found a powerful new triple therapy for glioblastoma, one of the deadliest brain cancers. By combining Tumor Treating Fields (TTFields), which deliver electric waves into tumors, with immunotherapy and chemotherapy, researchers saw a major boost in survival.

Chronic inflammatory bowel disease is challenging to treat and carries a risk of complications, including the development of bowel cancer. Young people are particularly affected: when genetic predisposition and certain factors coincide, diseases such as ulcerative colitis or Crohn's disease usually manifest between the ages of 15 and 29 -- a critical period for education and early career development. Prompt diagnosis and treatment are crucial. Researchers have now discovered a therapeutic target that significantly contributes to halting the ongoing inflammatory processes.

Scientists in Australia have developed a smart, bacteria-repelling coating based on resilin the ultra-elastic protein that gives fleas their legendary jumping power. When applied to surfaces like medical implants or surgical tools, the engineered resilin forms nano-droplets that physically disrupt bacterial cells, including antibiotic-resistant strains like MRSA, without harming human tissue. In lab tests, the coating was 100% effective at keeping bacteria from sticking and forming biofilms, a key cause of infection after surgery.

An international clinical trial shows an innovative CAR-T cell immunotherapy is promising against aggressive T cell cancers and has manageable side effects.

Current regulations for nanomedicines overlook the effects of the different forms of the same element, such as ions, nanoparticles, and aggregates. In a recent study, researchers developed a new analytical method combining an asymmetric flow field-flow fractionation system and mass spectrometry to separately quantify these forms. This technique allows for better quality control and safety evaluation of metal-based nanomedicines, promoting their development and clinical use, with applications also extending to food, cosmetics, and the environment.

Parasitic worms that infect humans are not interbreeding with those that infect cattle as previously thought. This is good news for when it comes to controlling schistosomiasis, a disease caused by these worms that affects more than 200 million people globally.

Taking a statin medication is an effective, safe, and low-cost way to lower cholesterol and reduce risk of cardiovascular events. Despite clinicians recommending that many patients with diabetes take statins, nearly one-fifth of them opt to delay treatment. In a new study, researchers found that patients who started statin therapy right away reduced the rate of heart attack and stroke by one third compared to those who chose to delay taking the medication.

Scientists have fabricated two bed netting prototypes targeting malaria-causing blood parasites. They designed netting systems to deliver antimalarial drugs called Endochin-like Quinolones (ELQs) that destroy Plasmodium parasites transmitted by mosquitoes.

New research demonstrates how specially engineered bacteria taken orally can operate as a delivery system for vaccines and antiviral therapies.

SSRIs boosted the ability of T cells to kill cancer cells and suppressed tumor growth in both mouse and human tumor models.

MIT researchers found a way to measure cell density quickly and accurately -- measuring up to 30,000 cells in a single hour. They also showed density changes could be used to make useful predictions, including whether T cells have become activated to kill tumors or whether tumor cells are susceptible to a specific drug.

An unprecedented international effort to decode how cells manage the transport of chemical substances has culminated in four groundbreaking studies This decade-long project provides the first comprehensive functional blueprint of chemical transport pathways in human cells.

Researchers have discovered how a parasite that causes malaria when transmitted through a mosquito bite can hide from the body's immune system, sometimes for years. It turns out that the parasite, Plasmodium falciparum, can shut down a key set of genes, rendering itself 'immunologically invisible.'

Scientists report that they have learned how certain combinations of rearranged genes can promote the progression of a rare type of kidney cancer.

A recent study reveals that the average duration of ADHD medication for children and adolescents is more than three years. However, reliable, controlled data on the safety of marketed ADHD medicines in children are available for only one year of follow-up.

Some patients with lupus who possess specific antibodies are at a higher risk of thrombotic events such as a blood clot, stroke or heart attack, a new study shows. The finding might help clinicians determine which patients may need early treatment and clinical monitoring for thrombotic events.

An international team of researchers has discovered saarvienin A, a new type of glycopeptide antibiotic. Their findings introduce a compound with strong activity against highly resistant bacterial strains.

A new treatment approach significantly improves survival rates for patients with aggressive, inherited breast cancers, according to researchers. In a trial where cancers were treated with chemotherapy followed by a targeted cancer drug before surgery, 100% of patients survived the critical three-year period post-surgery.

AI model EVE-Vax provides clues about how a virus may evolve and the immune response it could provoke.

A new strategy may help prevent or slow the progression of Type 1 diabetes.

Groundbreaking device instantly detects dangerous street drugs, offering hope for harm reduction A portable device that instantly detects illicit street drugs at very low concentrations, thereby highlighting the risks they pose. The device has the potential to address the growing global problem of people unknowingly taking drugs that have been mixed with undeclared substances, including synthetic opioids such as fentanyl and nitazenes.

Bacterial resistance negates the effect of antibiotics in the treatment of infection. Using mouse models, researchers now show that if antibiotics are administered with an enzyme called endolysin, the combined effect protects against infection by resistant bacteria in all bodily organs -- including the brain, which antibiotics alone have difficulty reaching.

Scientists have identified essential genetic code for a method called plasmid curing, which aims to 'displace' antibiotic resistance genes from bacteria.

Ear infections are a common and painful occurrence in infants and toddlers. Oral antibiotics are often prescribed for a week to treat the condition, but these drugs can trigger side effects that disrupt treatment, which can lead to infection recurrence and antibiotic resistance. Now, researchers report a topical antibiotic gel that, applied once, cured middle ear infection within 24 hours in chinchillas.

Chemists found a way to identify a complex sugar molecule in the cell walls of Mycobacterium tuberculosis, the world's deadliest pathogen. This labeling could lead to simpler, faster TB tests.

A new approach to drug design can deliver medicine directly to the gut in mice at significantly lower doses than current inflammatory bowel disease treatments. The proof-of-concept study introduced a mechanism called 'GlycoCaging' that releases medicine exclusively to the lower gut at doses up to 10 times lower than current therapies.

Semaglutide effectively treats liver disease in two thirds of patients, new research has found.

Recent disease modeling research challenges public health guidelines recommending conservative antibiotic use for cholera, suggesting that for some outbreaks, prescribing antibiotics more aggressively could slow or stop the spread of the disease and even reduce the likelihood of antibiotic resistance.

Artificial intelligence algorithms have now been combined with traditional laboratory methods to uncover promising drug leads against human enterovirus 71 (EV71), the pathogen behind most cases of hand, foot and mouth disease. The study showed that reliable antiviral predictions can be made even when only a modest amount of experimental data are available.

Depression, schizophrenia and other mental health conditions affect 1 in 4 people in their lifetime, but mechanisms underlying these conditions are poorly understood. New research has linked the body's immune response with schizophrenia, Alzheimer's disease, depression, and bipolar disorder. The study demonstrates mental health conditions might be affected by the whole body as well as changes in the brain. The findings could pave the way for better treatments of some mental health conditions.

Scientists built a model that allows them to diminish phage communities from a mouse gut microbiome -- and then bring them back -- without affecting the bacteria. On a test run of their model, researchers found evidence that phages may increase gut bacteria's sensitivity to antibiotics.

A new study has identified a specific mode of fat uptake by immune cells within tumors that serves as a metabolic checkpoint against anti-cancer immune responses.

Persistently high blood sugar and insulin resistance significantly increased the risk of worsening functional and structural heart damage during growth from adolescence to young adulthood, a new study shows.

A study uncovers intricate details about protein function at the molecular level. The discovery could transform disease diagnostics and treatment.

Historically, small molecule drugs have been precisely designed down to the atomic scale. Considering their relatively large complex structures, nanomedicines have lagged behind. Researchers argue this precise control should be applied to optimize new nanomedicines.

'Cold' tumors are resistant to common immunotherapies. Researchers have uncovered a master regulator that can be manipulated to prevent tumor growth in mice.

Piperacillin, an antibiotic in the same class as penicillin, effectively cured mice of Lyme disease at 100-times less than the effective dose of doxycycline, the current gold standard treatment. At such a low dose, piperacillin also had the added benefit of 'having virtually no impact on resident gut microbes.'

The global burden of chronic kidney disease (CKD) is rising, with more than 800 million people affected worldwide. Vascular diseases in patients with CKD are unique and grouped as uremic vascular diseases. One of them, calciphylaxis, typically affects patients with end-stage, advanced kidney disease. It is a condition characterized by severe, painful and non-healing skin ulcers with no known cure. Researchers have now discovered a novel biological pathway, called the IL6 pathway, central to the skin lesion initiation and progression. Blocking this pathway they believe, will likely prevent progression of the skin ulcers and resolve the pain seen in patients with calciphylaxis.

A bacteria killing coating created by scientists has been used in trials of a new paint that can be applied to a range of surfaces to effectively kill bacteria and viruses, including difficult to kill species such as MRSA, flu and COVID-19.

Oral hormone therapy may benefit heart health in menopausal women. A new analysis of data from the Women's Health Initiative found that estrogen-based oral hormone therapy had a long-term beneficial effect on biomarkers of cardiovascular health, including cholesterol.

Older adults with cancer respond just as well as younger patients to immune checkpoint inhibitors despite age-related immune system differences, according to a new study.

Breakthrough research could make any IV drug able to be taken orally for a range of hard-to-treat cancers and other diseases, and redefine how medicines are designed, evaluated and delivered.

For adults over the age of 65, higher levels of both insomnia symptoms and sleep medication use were associated with higher risk of disability a year later, according to a new study.

Some medications are seen as a 'fix-all' solution, not addressing the root problem.

Scientists could reshape cancer treatment by helping powerful drugs work better in the body by exploiting a surface protein called CD36 that helps pull substances into cells. This dramatically improves the uptake of a promising class of cancer-fighting drugs called PROTACs. The new drug design deliveries up to 22 times more of he drug inside cancer cells, and tumor suppression in mice.

Mycobacteria are the world's most deadly bacteria --c ausing infectious diseases including tuberculosis (TB), which alone kills more than one million people each year. New drugs to fight these infections are desperately needed, as the number of cases of antibiotic-resistant mycobacteria is on the rise. Scientists have now used advanced imaging techniques to provide a detailed look at how a tiny virus, known as a phage, invades Mycobacteria.

Complex protein interactions at synapses are essential for memory formation in our brains, but the mechanisms behind these processes remain poorly understood. Now, researchers have developed a computational model revealing new insights into the unique droplet-inside-droplet structures that memory-related proteins form at synapses. They discovered that the shape characteristics of a memory-related protein are crucial for the formation of these structures, which could shed light on the nature of various neurological disorders.

Monitoring blood levels of DNA fragments shed by dying tumor cells may accurately predict skin cancer recurrence, a new study shows.

Identifying a key protein's role could improve the common mental health medications and point to new treatments for inflammation-related diseases, a medicinal chemist says.

Researchers have developed a new, neuroplasticity-promoting drug closely related to LSD that harnesses the psychedelic's therapeutic power with reduced hallucinogenic potential.

Scientists explored selectively blocking the CYP3A4 protein responsible for breaking down large swaths of approved drugs, providing a way to improve drug efficacy.

Researchers have discovered a way to get anti-inflammatory medicine across the blood-brain barrier, opening the door to potential new therapies for a range of conditions, including Alzheimer's disease, multiple sclerosis, Parkinson's disease and cancer cachexia.

Researchers have discovered that 'DEAD-box helicases 54 (DDX54)', a type of RNA-binding protein, is the master regulator that hinders the effectiveness of immunotherapy -- opening a new path for lung cancer treatment.

Rsearchers have developed the first wearable device for measuring gases emitted from and absorbed by the skin. By analyzing these gases, the device offers an entirely new way to assess skin health, including monitoring wounds, detecting skin infections, tracking hydration levels, quantifying exposure to harmful environmental chemicals and more.

A new study maps how specific lactic acid bacteria can enhance both the flavor and nutritional quality of plant-based dairy alternatives. The findings may have wide-reaching perspectives for the further development of sustainable foods.