medicine

Researchers at Tokyo Medical and Dental University have developed a groundbreaking genome-editing technique to treat Charcot–Marie–Tooth disease by reducing PMP22 protein levels, showing potential for a new clinical therapy in a field with limited existing treatments. AAV gene therapy-based genome editing recovered myelination in human CMT1A patient nerve differentiated from iPS cells. Credit: Department of Neuropathology, TMDUScientists at Tokyo Medical and Dental University have created a new genome-editing method that…

Researchers at PSI have developed antibody-like proteins that enhance the effect of botulinum toxin A1 (Botox), potentially enabling faster relief in medical therapies. The study reveals that these proteins, called DARPins, might accelerate the toxin’s impact, offering new possibilities in pain and muscle spasm treatment.Researchers at the Paul Scherrer Institute have made a breakthrough in enhancing the medical applications of botulinum toxin A1, commonly known as Botox. By creating antibody-like proteins, they have…

The Supreme Court of the United States ruling last year that colleges and universities can no longer take race and ethnicity into consideration as a specific basis for granting admission delivered a significant blow to diversity efforts on campuses nationwide. This ruling applies to medical education, where the lack of a diverse physician workforce is a known factor that leads to health care inequalities.Without affirmative action, how can we recruit the next generation of physicians to care for people from…

Now some key patents have expired, and the US Food and Drug Administration has paved the way for biosimilar versions of insulin—so-called because they’re almost identical to another product already on the market. For a product to be biosimilar, it must be highly similar in structure to the original and work just as well in patients.Owen’s company, founded in 2020, has designed supercharged E. coli-like bacteria that can produce much greater amounts of insulin than existing strains used in insulin production. To do that,…

Researchers have created an AI model to predict the best methods for synthesizing drug molecules, significantly improving efficiency and sustainability in pharmaceutical development.Researchers have created an artificial intelligence system capable of predicting where a drug molecule can be chemically altered.A collaborative team from LMU, ETH Zurich, and Roche Pharma Research and Early Development (pRED) in Basel has employed artificial intelligence (AI) to devise a novel technique for predicting the optimal method for…

If there’s one thing we can all agree upon, it’s that the 21st century’s captains of industry are trying to shoehorn AI into every corner of our world. But for all of the ways in which AI will be shoved into our faces and not prove very successful, it might actually have at least one useful purpose. For instance, by dramatically speeding up the often decades-long process of designing, finding and testing new drugs. Risk mitigation isn’t a sexy notion but it’s worth understanding how common it is for a new drug project to…

Artificial intelligence (AI) quickly evolved from a plotline in science fiction novels to something that touches our lives every day. Its virtually endless applications come with nearly equal risks and rewards and a plethora of public debate. But the fact remains that AI in healthcare is life-changing—literally. So while it may feel impossible to garner universal acceptance and adoption of AI in healthcare, it’s paramount we do so, and that starts with regulating the industry. That’s why I was glad to see that after years…

The FDA has provided clearance for a medical device called Osteoboost, a vibrating belt that improves bone density in patients with osteopenia. The device, which was developed by California-based startup Bone Health Technologies and in part with NASA, is the first medical device of its kind to get regulatory approval as a treatment option for postmenopausal women.One in two older women who have experienced menopause gets osteoporosis (the disease that comes after prolonged and untreated osteopenia), which is characterized…

To keep IL-12 inside tumors, scientists at Strand designed a set of instructions called a genetic circuit that tells the mRNA to make the inflammatory protein only when it detects the tumor microenvironment. The circuit is designed to sense levels of microRNA—molecules that naturally regulate gene expression and give off different signatures in cancer cells versus healthy ones. The genetic circuit instructs the mRNA to self-destruct if it goes anywhere other than its intended target.“We’ve engineered the mRNA so that they…

According to this book, there are more than 5,000 euphemisms around the world for menstruation. Not that its author, Dr Jen Gunter, tends to be euphemistic. Once described as “the world’s most famous – and outspoken – gynaecologist”, she is already the author of The Menopause Manifesto and The Vagina Bible – a book that became a bestseller despite ads for it being banned on social media because algorithms flagged “vulgar, obscene or distasteful” words.Language and the naming of things are important to Gunter, and she is…