Cancer treatment is often a case of robbing Peter to pay Paul. You may well have some success with chemotherapy, but subsequent damage to otherwise healthy organs and tissue is a trade-off that clinicians and patients have had to juggle with for decades. But, thanks to a chance meeting at the Hudson Institute in Melbourne, lung cancer patients could be looking at more effective chemo with fewer side effects. read more
The bacteria that call your gut home can have a tremendous impact on your overall health, but exactly how the bugs do so is a web that’s still being untangled. To investigate, researchers at Harvard Medical School have deleted a single gene from one gut bacteria species and found that it alters the metabolism of the host, reducing their weight gain. read more
Chronic skin wounds may be notoriously difficult to treat, but at the same time they shouldn’t be over-treated, subjecting patients to more antibiotics than is necessary. That’s why scientists have developed a “smart” bandage that only dispenses medication as needed. read more
Cerebral small vessel disease (SVD) is one of the most commonly associated causes of age-related dementia and stroke. New research, led by the University of Edinburgh, may have finally uncovered the mechanism by which SVD causes brain cell damage, as well as a potential treatment to prevent the damage, and possibly even reverse it. read more
Although finger-prick blood glucose tests are a daily necessity for millions of diabetics, a less-painful alternative may be on the horizon. Led by Prof. George Shaker, a team from Canada’s University of Waterloo is looking at using radar and artificial intelligence (AI) to do the job. read more
Cancer is one of humanity’s biggest killers, but scientists are coming up with some creative ways to fight back. Researchers at the University at Buffalo have developed new kinds of nanoparticles that can infiltrate, heat up and kill cancer cells more effectively and efficiently than similar methods. read more
A new cancer drug known as cancer drug has moved through phase I human trials, and the results are promising. Taken orally, the drug targets what are known as RET-driven cancers, including types of thyroid and lung cancers, which are normally hard to treat. read more
Strong and light, spider silk is one of the most impressive materials in the natural world. Both the real thing and synthetic versions have been used to improve everything from clothing to car seats, cooling electronics to preserving produce, making sweet music or helping people hear it, and even patching up severed nerves. Now, scientists in Germany and Switzerland have found a new use for spider silk – wrapping up cancer drugs to protect them until they can reach their tumorous targets. read more
Antibiotics are effective at killing bacteria (for now, at least), but they aren’t very picky, indiscriminately wiping out both good and bad bacteria. This can upset the fragile balance of your microbiome, which is increasingly being linked to general health and wellbeing. Now, researchers at Penn State have developed a new approach to make a drug that can single out a specific, opportunistic bacteria known as C. difficile. read more
There’s a limited supply of donor human corneas, meaning that not everyone who needs an eyesight-saving transplant can get one. As a result, biosynthetic corneas have recently been developed. These could become quicker and easier to produce, as scientists have now successfully 3D-printed the things. read more
