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Study finds COVID-19 mRNA vaccine sparks immune response to fight cancer

Patients with advanced lung or skin cancer who received a COVID-19 mRNA vaccine within 100 days of starting immunotherapy drugs lived significantly longer than those who did not get the vaccine, researchers have found.

The observation by researchers at the University of Florida and the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center is a defining moment in a decade-plus of research testing mRNA-based therapeutics designed to "wake up" the immune system against cancer.

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Bias can lead to better therapies

About one-third of all drugs approved by the Food and Drug Administration target the largest family of cell membrane receptors called G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs).

GPCRs are indispensable for maintaining human health as they play a role in nearly every physiological function. These receptors are embedded in the membranes of cells and detect a wide variety of biological signaling molecules arriving outside the cell.

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Epigenetic reprogramming safely modifies multiple genes in T Cells simultaneously for CAR-T therapies

Arc Institute, Gladstone Institutes, and University of California, San Francisco, scientists have developed an epigenetic editing platform that enables safe modification of multiple genes in primary human T cells, addressing a key manufacturing and scalability challenge in next-generation cell therapies. The research, published October 21, 2025, in Nature Biotechnology, demonstrates how CRISPRoff and CRISPRon can reprogram a patient’s own T cells for therapeutic purposes without the cell toxicity and DNA damage associated with traditional gene editing approaches.

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Study helps to understand the role of genetics in the body weight

Estonia's obesity rate has been steadily climbing and so have scientific efforts to understand why. New study, published in Nature Communications, takes a closer look at the genes behind body weight and how they might point toward future treatments for obesity.

For decades, scientists have sought a single "obesity gene."

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Personalized brain stimulation offers new hope for people with hard-to-treat epilepsy

Doctors and researchers at the University of Pittsburgh and UPMC have developed a new treatment for epilepsy patients who don't respond to medication and aren’t candidates for surgery. Their approach, published today in Nature Communications, uses deep brain stimulation (DBS) that is tailored to each patient's unique brain wiring.

Epilepsy affects more than 50 million people worldwide, and about a third of those do not respond to medication.

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New trial finds diabetes drug and nasal insulin improve brain health in  early Alzheimer's disease

A clinical trial from Wake Forest University School of Medicine shows that two widely available medications, the diabetes drug empagliflozin (Jardiance) and intranasal insulin, safely improve brain health in people with mild cognitive impairment and early Alzheimer's disease. The study, published in Alzheimer’s & Dementia, the journal of the Alzheimer's Association, marks the first time empagliflozin has been tested in non-diabetic patients with Alzheimer's disease. The results show promising effects on memory, brain health and brain blood flow.

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Could cardamom seeds be a potential source of antiviral treatment?

Plant-based materials have traditionally been used to treat a variety of viral infections. Now, researchers have found that cardamom seed extract, as well as its main bioactive ingredient, 1,8-cineole, can have potent antiviral effects through its ability to enhance the production of antiviral molecules known as type I interferons via nucleic acid 'sensors' inside cells.

Plant-based treatments have traditionally been used to treat a wide range of diseases, including viral infections. Medicinal plants and herbs have been a rich source of 'bioactive' compounds (i.e. compounds that have a biological effect), which have been used by pharmaceutical companies in antiviral products.

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Acarbose degradation mechanism guides design of next-generation antidiabetic drug

Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) is a chronic metabolic disorder marked by hyperglycemia. Acarbose is a potent glycosidase inhibitor widely used in the clinical treatment of T2DM. However, acarbose-preferred glucosidase (Apg) in K. grimontii TD1 degrades acarbose to acarviosine-glucose (M1) and acarviosine (M2), affecting its efficiency.

In a study published in Nature Communications, a research team led by GU Yang from the Shenzhen Institutes of Advanced Technology (SIAT) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, along with collaborators, revealed the detailed molecular mechanism of Apg hydrolyzing acarbose.

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Unlocking the blueprint for a powerful plant-based drug

Researchers at UBC Okanagan have uncovered how plants produce mitraphylline, a rare natural compound that may help fight cancer.

Mitraphylline belongs to a small group of plant molecules called spirooxindole alkaloids. These compounds have unusual "twisted" ring structures and are known for their strong effects, like fighting tumours and inflammation.

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Could slime mold microbes be a source of potent antimicrobials?

The cellular slime mold Dictyostelium discoideum is a soil microbe that produces diverse natural products with potential antibiotic activity. Previously, three chlorinated compounds had been detected in Dictyostelium, but only the most abundant compound (CDF-1) was identified and shown to be almost as effective an antimicrobial as ampicillin. In research published in FEBS Open Bio, investigators optimized lab culture conditions of Dictyostelium cells to boost the levels of low-abundance chlorinated compounds and to characterize their antimicrobial properties.

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