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Scanning electron micrograph of breast cancer cells. [Steve Gschmeissner/Science Photo Library, Getty Images] The results of a preclinical study by researchers at Baylor College of Medicine have uncovered a strategy that triple negative breast cancer (TNBC) cells use to boost their ability to metastasize. Metastasis is the leading cause of cancer-related deaths and scientists are investigating ways to prevent it. Findings from the new study, carried out in vitro and through studies in live mice, highlight new possibilities for developing clinical interventions to treat metastatic TNBC patients for whom there are no specific therapies. Research lead Chonghui Cheng, MD, PhD,…

Credit: Meletios Verras / iStock / Getty Images Plus Researchers at Case Western Reserve University, in collaboration with colleagues at the University of Pittsburgh, say they have developed a method to enhance natural killer (NK) cells taken from people living with HIV to target reservoirs of the virus that remain dormant in the body despite daily antiretroviral therapy (ART). The study, published in mBio, a journal of the American Society for Microbiology, detailed the development of enhanced NK (eNK) cells which one day may reduce or replace daily ART dosing by boosting the immune system to provide long-term control of…

Just how far mass spectrometry—the use of tools measuring the mass-to-charge ratio (m/z) of one or more molecules present in a sample—has progressed over the past century can be seen in a new exhibit highlighting the development of the technology that has been commissioned by the American Society for Mass Spectrometry and is on display at Clemson University until next summer.The exhibit begins with a discharge tube, the instrument that led British physicist Sir J.J. Thomson (1856-1940) to discover the electron in 1897, a breakthrough that earned him the 1906 Nobel Prize in Physics. Following that are the first mass spectrograph developed…

Credit: Skynesher/Getty Images SSI Diagnostica (Group SSDI) acquired InDevR, which provides new analytical technologies, including multiplexed approaches to enable accelerated development and manufacturing of vaccines and other biotherapeutics. The addition strengthens SSID’s pneumococcal vaccine QC testing with next-generation multiplexing assays and enhanced customization capabilities, according to a company official, who adds that InDevR also brings expertise in influenza and mRNA vaccine QC testing. SSI Diagnostica Group, which has two complementary portfolios with both Life Science and In Vitro Diagnostics, serves three main application areas: vaccine development, disease surveillance, and diagnostic testing. Last year, SSID Group expanded its In Vitro Diagnostics offering through the acquisition of Gulf Coast…

Dutch biotech and leading neuroscience lab team up to explore a new way of protecting brain cells by fixing the cell’s waste system. In the race to treat Parkinson’s disease, most therapies still arrive late. After neurons are already struggling and damage has quietly accumulated for years. Netherlands-based biotech Mair Therapeutics is taking a different route. Instead of chasing symptoms, the company is going back to the cell’s maintenance system. Mair announced a scientific collaboration with Radboud University to advance its work on TMEM175, a lysosomal ion channel increasingly linked to Parkinson’s disease [1]. The partnership will bring Mair’s experimental…

Researchers have made rapid progress in recent years toward understanding the molecular underpinnings of non-human organ rejection, offering hope that organ shortages can be overcome through xenotransplantation. Over 100,000 patients are on organ transplant waiting lists in the U.S. alone, and an average of 13 people die each day before getting a chance at a transplant. Safe and effective xenotransplants could help patients bridge the time between organ failure and the availability of a human transplant, or eventually, serve as a permanent alternative. In the 1960s, scientists made some of the first successful attempts using organs from non-human primates. Since…

Credit: Rasi Bhadramani / iStock / Getty Images Plus Joseph “Joe” Ecker, PhD, is an epigenetics hipster. The Salk Professor and Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) investigator has been thinking about epigenetics long before it became fashionable. Prior to epigenetics becoming tangled with claims about trauma, inheritance, and memory, Ecker was already cataloging which epigenetic signals persist, which fade, and which are artifacts. His lab has spent years mapping DNA methylation across plants, brains, and single cells. To Ecker, epigenetics has always been less about a vehicle for airy “nature vs. nurture” arguments and more about the data. Most recently,…

Human norovirus (HuNoV) is a leading cause of acute viral gastroenteritis worldwide, causing symptoms ranging from discomfort to severe outcomes in young children, the elderly, and people who are immunocompromised. While its spread is common, effective treatment and preventative strategies are lacking due to the difficulty in cultivating the virus in laboratory settings. Researchers at Baylor College of Medicine, led by Mary Estes, PhD, worked with intestinal organoids, specifically human intestinal enteroids (HIEs), to identify why the growth of norovirus in culture stops and to determine methods to maintain growth. Typically, norovirus samples are collected from infected individuals via stool…

Credit: CIPhotos / iStock / Getty Images Plus Researchers at the Hungarian Centre of Excellence for Molecular Medicine (HCEMM) have identified five dominant patterns of protein-altering mutations in cancer that help determine how tumors interact with the immune system. The research, published in Molecular Systems Biology, showed that rather than just simple tumor mutation burden, five distinct patterns of protein-altering mutations, called amino acid substitution signatures help determine whether a tumor is visible to the immune system or remains immunologically “cold.” The findings add a method to help determine which patients will respond to immunotherapy despite a high mutational burden.…

A study released by Google Cloud late last year offered some eye-opening insights into where life sciences and healthcare executives are using artificial intelligence (AI), where they are not, and most importantly, where they are finding a return on investment (ROI) from their AI spending. For years, drug developers have long cited drug development purposes as key reasons for using AI—such as finding challenging drug targets, training large language models for drug discovery, facilitating biomanufacturing, and slashing the time and expense of R&D. Shweta Maniar, global director, life sciences strategy & solutions for Google Cloud However, Google Cloud’s report, The…