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Credit: Steven McDowell / Science Photo Library / Getty Images Oncology, an industry awash with ever-more sophisticated drugs, has a target problem. Industry reports from 2025 reveal that oncology R&D is highly concentrated, with ~25% of drug-target pairs targeting 38 targets and over 80% of cancer targets facing multiple competing clinical candidates. In other words, oncology R&D primarily concentrates on a tiny slice of the (theoretically) druggable world. This extremely limited target set is rooted in a lack of specificity—cell types and states for the most part cannot be isolated by a single biomarker. The silver lining is that there…
A fungus quietly living inside a common medicinal plant might hold the key to making an important cancer drug more accessible. Vinblastine, a chemotherapy agent used for decades to treat cancers such as lymphoma, breast cancer, and cervical cancer, is traditionally extracted from the Madagascar periwinkle (Catharanthus roseus). But the plant produces the compound in extremely small amounts, making production costly and environmentally taxing. In a new study, biochemist Sunil S. More, PhD, of Dayananda Sagar University in Bangalore, India, and his colleagues report that an endophytic fungus—one that lives harmlessly inside plant tissue—can also make vinblastine, raising the prospect…
Credit: piyaset / Getty Images While lifestyle modifications may go some way to delay the signs of aging, research from two transatlantic biobanks has revealed the importance of genes in determining the rate at which DNA mutates as we grow older. The Nature study revealed dozens of genes that regulate the expansion of DNA repeats—in which short genetic sequences become longer and more unstable with age. It showed these expanded DNA repeats are present in most people’s genomes and are far more widespread than previously thought. The findings suggest DNA repeat measurements could one day act as blood-based biomarkers to…
This postdoc develops advanced microscopy systems to accelerate biomedical research.Image credit:Miguel de Jesus, ©iStock.com, BlackJack3DQ | What’s your research background? My name is Miguel de Jesus. I look back at my career so far and realize in post that I’m a science wanderer. I started out in the Philippines studying chemistry, took on an internship in molecular biology and diagnostics, found work in clinical studies utilizing cellular therapeutics and immunotherapy, moved to New York for my PhD in T cell biophysics and immunobiology, and am now a postdoctoral researcher working on cutting-edge microscopy and tech development.Q | How did you…
Credit: peterschreiber.media/Getty Images Northwestern University researchers have developed a peptide-based treatment that can significantly reduce long-term brain damage after a stroke, a major cause of long-term disability. Published today in the journal Neurotherapeutics, their study showed that the experimental therapy could be delivered intravenously and cross the blood-brain barrier without the need for surgery or invasive injections directly into the brain. Stroke treatment currently focuses on restoring blood flow to the affected area of the brain as soon as possible, typically removing the blood clot through medication or surgery. However, the sudden return of blood flow can have long-term consequences…
Abstract blue and purple DNA molecule helix and brain. Genetic biotechnology engineering concept. Low poly style design. Geometric background. Wireframe light graphic connection structure. Vector More than 50 million Americans live with chronic pain. Drugs are currently available; however, close to 80% of the 600,000 deaths attributed to drug use in 2019 were related to opioids with about 25% of those deaths caused by opioid overdose. In addition, nearly half of Philadelphians who responded to a 2025 Pew survey reported knowing someone with opioid use disorder (OUD) and one-third knew someone who had died as the result of an overdose.…
Company aims to extend human healthspan via a combination of preventive RNAi therapeutics and AI-powered risk prediction. Preventive health biotech Corsera Health today announced it has secured an $80 million Series A financing to advance its mission to boost human healthspan by “predicting and preventing” cardiovascular disease. The Boston-based company also revealed has begun dosing participants in its first in-human clinical trial of its lead program – an RNA interference therapy aimed at lowering cholesterol. Corsera was co-founded by John Maraganore and Clive Meanwell, long-time collaborators responsible for bringing multiple cardiovascular drugs to market and building companies such as Alnylam,…
Credit: STEVE GSCHMEISSNER/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY/Getty Images Researchers at Case Western Reserve University have developed a modified radioligand therapy (RLT) for late-stage prostate cancer that is designed to maintain tumor control while reducing damage to the salivary glands, and adverse event that that often leads patients to discontinue their treatments. This approach uses a newly engineered prostate-specific membrane antigen (PSMA)-targeting molecule called PSMA-1-DOTA, which binds more tightly to prostate cancer cells than existing therapeutic ligands and shows significantly lower uptake in salivary tissue. Details of the development of PSMA-1-DOTA are detailed in a study published in Molecular Imaging and Biology. The…
Broadcast Date: Wednesday, January 21, 2026Time: 08:00 PST, 11:00 EST, 16:00 GMT2025 was a rollercoaster year for the cell and gene therapy field. Stories such as the successful treatment of ‘Baby KJ’ using a bespoke gene editor developed through a public–private partnership, and the exciting news of a gene therapy breakthrough for Huntington’s disease, bring immense hope for the future of medicine. But the tragic news of patient deaths in high-profile trials for muscular dystrophy and a landmark CRISPR trial using lipid nanoparticles threatens to derail progress and investment just as the biotech sector appeared to be turning around.In The State of Cell…
The brain has long been regarded as the organ that underlies consciousness and, therefore, as the primary organ in the definition of identity. The symbolic centrality that the brain holds among other organs in the collective imagination is also reinforced, from a physiological point of view, by the role that the brain and the entire nervous system play within the bodily system. In fact, the nervous system is, among various physiological systems, uniquely capable of gathering, processing, and interpreting information from the internal and the external environment and driving coordinated responses across the cardiovascular, endocrine, immune, metabolic, and behavioral domains…