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Credit: Mohammed Haneefa Nizamudeen/Getty Images Screening detects more cases of colorectal cancer at an early stage, according to new research based on data from over 278,000 Swedish 60-year-olds. While other studies have shown the benefits of screening, this one was unusual as it included patients who underwent one of two interventions or no screening at all (usual care). The interventions were colonoscopy or fecal immunochemical testing (FIT) followed by colonoscopy if indicated. The study, which is a collaboration between Uppsala University and Karolinska Institutet, has been published in Nature Medicine. The lead author is Marcus Westerberg, PhD, docent at Uppsala…

Artificial intelligence (AI) is moving from offline analysis into the laboratory itself, reshaping how experiments are designed, executed, and interpreted. In chemistry and materials science, autonomous platforms already run closed-loop discovery cycles. In the life sciences, breakthroughs like protein-structure prediction and AI-guided drug discovery highlight AI’s transformative potential. Yet in bioprocess engineering, the path to autonomy is less straightforward. A recent review by Laura Marie Helleckes, Dr.-Ing., an Eric and Wendy Schmidt AI in Science postdoctoral fellow at Imperial College London, and her colleagues argue that fully autonomous “robot scientists” are neither realistic nor desirable for most bioprocess applications—at least…

Credit: Judith Wagner Fotographie / Getty Images A U.S. study has provided evidence as to why steroids may be useful to treat certain respiratory viruses in babies but not others. The findings revealed different immune signatures for respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) and severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), which could help guide treatment. Interferon activation was common with both infections, the researchers report in Science Translational Medicine. But inflammation emerged as a critical point of divergence, potentially explaining why anti-inflammatories are effective against COVID-19 but not RSV. “Our study provides insights that may inform clinical decision making regarding the…

Astellas Pharma has agreed to co-develop and co-commercialize Vir Biotechnology’s most advanced immuno-oncology asset, the prostate cancer candidate VIR-5500, through a collaboration that could generate more than $1.7 billion for the San Francisco biotech, the companies said. VIR-5500 is a Phase I dual-masked T-cell engager (TCE) candidate designed to target Prostate-Specific Membrane Antigen (PSMA), and developed through the PRO-XTEN® platform licensed by Vir. PRO-XTEN is designed to keep TCEs “masked” or inactive until they reach the tumor microenvironment, in order to reduce off-target effects and improve the drug’s “therapeutic index” or safety margin. VIR-5500 is one of three PRO-XTEN-developed TCEs…

Startup aims to ‘unlock prevention’ by combining images, video, voice and other health data collected by our phones. Berlin-based digital health startup YOU(th) Health Tech today announced $4.5 million in new funding to advance its smartphone-based preventive screening platform. By analyzing face videos, voice recordings, eye photos, skin images, typing patterns and step data, the platform is claimed to assess more than 50 digital biomarkers spanning multiple organ systems in less than two minutes. With demand for prevention on the rise, YOU(th)’s founders argue that practical barriers continue to limit its uptake. The company is built on premise is that…

Credit: Nemes Laszlo / Science Photo Library Researchers at UCLA say they have developed a way to prevent cancer immunotherapies from being starved of energy inside solid tumors, addressing a common treatment problem of T cell exhaustion. The findings, published in Cell, showed that giving engineered T cells cellobiose, a glucose disaccharide found in plant cellulose, provided an exclusive source of energy that was inaccessible to cancer cells, allowing immunotherapies to sustain their efficacy. “A problem with solid tumors is that the immune system tries to fight the cancer, but the tumor cells deplete the key nutrient glucose from their…

A study by researchers at The Jackson Laboratory (JAX), the Broad Institute, and Yale University has identified how specific genetic changes function in cells to influence disease risk and other human health traits. By probing regions of DNA previously linked to disease, the scientists created high resolution maps of DNA variant activity, helping pinpoint the exact changes that shape blood pressure, cholesterol levels, blood sugar and other complex human traits. The study takes on a long-standing challenge in human genetics. Scientists have known for years that certain regions of the genome—often spanning tens of thousands to millions of DNA letters—are…

Credit: Callista Images/Getty Images A once-daily, single-tablet regimen combining bictegravir and lenacapavir maintained viral suppression at rates comparable to complex multi-tablet regimens in treatment-experienced adults with HIV-1, according to data from the Phase III data ARTISTRY-1 trial. Study results, published in The Lancet, showed that in the trial’s patient population that had a median age of 60 years, decades of prior antiretroviral therapy, high levels of historical resistance, and multiple comorbidities, nearly 96% of participants who switched to the fixed-dose combination sustained HIV-1 RNA levels below 50 copies per mL at 48 weeks, a benchmark of viral suppression. “Simplifying HIV…

Credit: Yuichiro Chino / Moment / Getty Images Apheris, a Berlin-based company focused on enabling governed, private, and secure access to data for machine learning, has announced the launch of the ADMET Network, a federated initiative that allows pharmaceutical companies to collaboratively train models for absorption, distribution, metabolism, excretion, and toxicity (ADMET) predictions without sharing proprietary data.  The team exclusively told GEN Edge that five founding members, including Lundbeck, Orion Pharma, Recursion, Servier, and one additional entity not disclosed at this time, have each committed a sizable 80% of their relevant data to train a global ADMET foundation model accessible to all partners.  Drug discovery touts a staggering 90% failure rate…

Credit: Stevens INI Researchers at the University of Southern California (USC) have found that changes in blood flow and oxygenation of the brain could identify early clues of the development of Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia. Published in the Alzheimer’s and Dementia journal, their approach could offer a non-invasive and low-cost alternative to brain imaging methods used today to detect Alzheimer’s before symptoms appear. “Amyloid and tau are often considered the primary players in Alzheimer’s disease, but blood flow and oxygen delivery are also critical,” said Amaryllis A. Tsiknia, PhD candidate at USC and lead author of the…