Category Biology/Biotechnology

Engineered “stealth” immune cells from MIT and Harvard show promise for fast, safe, and powerful cancer treatment. Scientists have created a new and more advanced form of immune-based cancer therapy using engineered cells known as CAR-NK (natural killer) cells. Like CAR-T cells, these modified immune cells can be programmed to recognize and attack cancer, but they rely on a different type of immune cell that naturally targets abnormal or infected cells.

A team from MIT and Harvard Medical School has now developed a more effective way to engineer CAR-NK cells that dramatically reduces the chance of the body’s immune system rejecting them...

In a new study using AI and machine learning, EPFL researchers have found that it’s not only what we eat, but how consistently we eat it that plays a crucial role in gut health.

The gut microbiota is the community of microorganisms, including bacteria, viruses, fungi and other microbes, that lives in our digestive systems—some of these microbes are helpful and others can be harmful.

Many previous studies have shown that what we eat has an impact on our gut microbiota...

Scientists at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have uncovered a new way that brown fat, a type of fat that burns energy, can boost the body’s metabolism. This process allows cells to consume more fuel and generate heat, improving overall metabolic health. Conducted in mice, the research points to new possibilities for using brown fat to address metabolic conditions such as insulin resistance and obesity.

The findings were published Sept. 17 in Nature.

Brown fat is unique because it turns energy (calories) from food into heat. Unlike white fat, which stores energy, or muscle, which uses it immediately, brown fat helps keep the body warm in cold environments...

Researchers have demonstrated a new and sustainable way to make the chemicals that are the basis of thousands of products—from plastics to cosmetics—we use every day.

Hundreds of thousands of chemicals are manufactured by the chemical industry, which transforms raw materials—usually fossil fuels—into useful end products. Due to its size and its use of fossil fuel feedstocks, the chemical industry is responsible for roughly 6% of global carbon emissions.

But researchers led by the University of Cambridge are developing new methods that could one day lead to the “de-fossilization” of this important sector.

They have developed a hybrid device that combines light-harvesting organic polymers with bacter...