An antiviral drug used to treat SARS-CoV-2 remains effective against the newest variants of the evolving virus, according to Rutgers researchers.

The study, published in the journal Cell Research, is one of the first to explore the full extent of SARS-CoV-2 mutations.

Columbia Engineering researchers report that they have developed a "cloaking" system that temporarily hides therapeutic bacteria from immune systems, enabling them to more effectively deliver drugs to tumors and kill cancer cells in mice. By manipulating the microbes’ DNA, they programmed gene circuits that control the bacteria surface, building a molecular "cloak" that encapsulates the bacteria.

The first FDA-approved gene therapies are living drugs: immune cells taken from cancer patients engineered to target tumor cells. However, for many patients, these advanced therapies do not result in a long-lasting remission. Now, scientists at the New York Genome Center and New York University have developed a genetic screening platform to identify genes that can enhance immune cells to make them more persistent and increase their ability to eradicate tumor cells.

While many people in wealthier countries have been vaccinated against COVID-19, there is still a need for vaccination in much of the world. A new vaccine developed at MIT and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center may aid in those efforts, offering an inexpensive, easy-to-store, and effective alternative to RNA vaccines.

The p53 protein protects our cells from cancer and is an interesting target for cancer treatments. The problem is, however, that it breaks down rapidly in the cell. Researchers at Karolinska Institutet in Sweden have now found an unusual way of stabilising the protein and making it more potent. By adding a spider silk protein to p53, they show that it is possible to create a protein that is more stable and capable of killing cancer cells.

People who gained immunity - either through vaccination or exposure - against the original strain of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, also are likely to have some protection against the pathogen's omicron variant. That’s because the mutations that led to the variant’s emergence aren’t found in the regions of the virus that stimulates one type of cellular immune response,

Nanomedicines - typically drugs hidden within nanoscopic fatty membranes ('liposomes') - have potential to transform chemotherapy treatments, improving drug delivery and reducing toxic side effects for thousands of cancer patients every year.

Now, world first research conducted by the University of South Australia has identified that the frequently used chemotherapy drug (5-FU or Fluorouracil) is 100 per cent more effective at targeting tumours (rather than surrounding tissues) when administered using an optimised liposomal formulation.