Scientists are finding clues for how to treat diabetes and hormone disorders in an unexpected place: a toxin from one of the most venomous animals on the planet.

A multinational research team led by University of Utah scientists has identified a component within the venom of a deadly marine cone snail, the geography cone, that mimics a human hormone called somatostatin, which regulates the levels of blood sugar and various hormones in the body.

Artificial intelligence (AI) can help identify molecules that could serve as new drugs for mental health disorders. AI can be used to predict the three-dimensional structures of important receptors and thereby speed up the development of potential drugs. This is the result of a new study from Uppsala University published in Science Advances.

In drug development, experimental methods are often used to determine the three-dimensional structures of target proteins and to understand how molecules bind to them.

RNA interference (RNAi) therapeutics have garnered significant attention in clinical research due to their potential for treating various diseases, including genetic disorders, viral infections and cancer. These therapeutics can target and silence disease-causing genes with high precision, minimizing off-target effects and improving treatment outcomes.

As the number of RNAi-based treatment studies expands, questions about how long RNAi benefits can last and if it’s possible to fine-tune RNAi need to be answered.

A team led by Jose Onuchic at Rice University and Paul Whitford at Northeastern University, both researchers at the National Science Foundation Physics Frontiers Center at the Center for Theoretical Biological Physics (CTBP) at Rice, has made a discovery in the fight against severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2), the virus responsible for COVID-19.

The team, in partnership with an experimental effort led by Yale University researchers Walter Mothes and Wenwei Li, has uncovered new insights into how the virus infects human cells and how it can be neutralized.

A fish on land still waves its fins, but the results are markedly different when that fish is in water. Attributed to renowned computer scientist Alan Kay, the analogy is used to illustrate the power of context in illuminating questions under investigation.

In a first for the field of artificial intelligence (AI), a tool called PINNACLE embodies Kay's insight when it comes to understanding the behavior of proteins in their proper context as determined by the tissues and cells in which these proteins act and with which they interact.

The body has a veritable army constantly on guard to keep us safe from microscopic threats from infections to cancer. Chief among this force is the macrophage, a white blood cell that surveils tissues and consumes pathogens, debris, dead cells, and cancer. Macrophages have a delicate task. It's crucial that they ignore healthy cells while on patrol, otherwise they could trigger an autoimmune response while performing their duties.

Natural killer (NK) cells engineered to express interleukin-21 (IL-21) demonstrated sustained antitumor activity against glioblastoma stem cell-like cells (GSCs) both in vitro and in vivo, according to new research from The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center.

The preclinical findings, published in Cancer Cell, represent the first evidence that engineering NK cells, a type of innate immune cell, to secrete IL-21 resulted in strong activity against glioblastoma, a cancer type in need of more effective treatment options.