Researchers from VIB-UGent Center for Medical Biotechnology, University of Iowa (USA) and other collaborators, developed a novel approach to better understand a basic defense mechanism of our immune system. Central is ISG15, a small protein with a role in the immune system. With the newly developed method, scientists can now identify and study proteins tagged with ISG15, allowing them to

U.S. Medicare patients with multiple sclerosis often pay, on average, nearly $7,000 out of pocket to treat their condition each year. And, even though drug companies have provided no new treatment breakthroughs, the price of these disease-modifying medications is rising by 10% to 15% each year for the past decade.

Artificial Intelligence can be used to predict molecular wave functions and the electronic properties of molecules. This innovative AI method developed by a team of researchers at the University of Warwick, the Technical University of Berlin and the University of Luxembourg, could be used to speed-up the design of drug molecules or new materials.

The University of Barcelona (UB) and Hospital Clínic de Barcelona collaborate with Boehringer Ingelheim Inc. to improve the efficiency of nintedanib, an antiangiogenic and antifibrotic drug, for the treatment of lung cancer. This public-private collaboration enabled researchers identify molecular mechanisms underlying the lack of efficiency of this drug in squamous cell carcinoma, a sub-type of non-small cell lung cancer, and the important role of smoking in this lack of effectivity.

Given consumer concern that statins may be associated with memory or cognitive decline, a new study published today in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology may offer reassurance, as no difference was found in the rate of memory or cognitive decline of elderly statin-users compared to never-users.

Researchers from the Faculty of Medicine and the Institute for Molecular Medicine (FIMM) at the University of Helsinki have developed a computational model, Combined Essentiality Scoring (CES) that enables accurate identification of essential genes in cancer cells for development of anti-cancer drugs.

A protein that drives growth of pancreatic cancer, and which could be a target for new treatments, has been identified by researchers at the Crick. The study, published in Nature Cell Biology, looked into the most common type of pancreatic cancer, pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma. This is an aggressive cancer that develops from secretory and tubular cells of the pancreas.