Category Biology/Biotechnology

Successful cancer treatment approach extended to autoimmune disease. Researchers have shown that the cancer therapy known as CAR-T can be applied to multiple sclerosis (MS), an autoimmune disease of the nervous system. The findings extend the powerful tool of immunotherapy to autoimmune diseases, a class of diseases that are often debilitating and difficult to treat.

The cancer therapy known as CAR-T has revolutionized treatment of some blood cancers since it was introduced in 2017. The therapy uses genetically altered immune cells to home in on cancer cells and destroy them.

Now, studying mice with an autoimmune disease similar to multiple sclerosis (MS), researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St...

Unique experiments involved ‘mini-organs’, animal research, donated human organs, volunteers and patients. Cambridge scientists have identified an off-patent drug that can be repurposed to prevent COVID-19 — and may be capable of protecting against future variants of the virus — in research involving a unique mix of ‘mini-organs’, donor organs, animal studies and patients.

The research, published today in Nature, showed that an existing drug used to treat a type of liver disease is able to ‘lock’ the doorway by which SARS-CoV-2 enters our cells, a receptor on the cell surface known as ACE2...

Researchers report the synthesis of semiconductor ‘giant’ core-shell quantum dots with record-breaking emissive lifetimes. In addition, the lifetimes can be tuned by making a simple alteration to the material’s internal structure.

A new study involving researchers at the University of Illinois Chicago achieved a milestone in the synthesis of multifunctional photonic nanomaterials.

The group, which included collaborators from Pr...

The effect of medicines on women and men can differ significantly. This also applies to the currently most promising anti-aging drug rapamycin, as researchers from the Max Planck Institute for Biology of Ageing in Cologne and University College London have now shown. They report in Nature Aging that the drug only prolongs the lifespan of female fruit flies, but not that of males.

In addition, rapamycin only slowed the development of age-related pathological changes in the gut in female flies. The researchers conclude that the biological sex is a crucial factor in the effectiveness of anti-aging drugs.

The life expectancy of women is significantly higher than that of men...