Research News

The World Health Organization (WHO) has recommended a new vaccine, R21/Matrix-M, for the prevention of malaria in children. The recommendation follows advice from the WHO: Strategic Advisory Group of Experts on Immunization (SAGE) and the Malaria Policy Advisory Group (MPAG) and was endorsed by the WHO Director-General following its regular biannual meeting held on 25-29 September.

How are environmental changes, loss of biodiversity, and the spread of pathogens connected? The answer is a puzzle. Researchers from Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin have now described one piece of that puzzle in the journal eLife,* showing that the destruction of tropical rainforests harms the diversity of mosquito species. At the same time, more resilient species of mosquitoes become more prevalent – which also means the viruses they carry are more abundant. If there are many individuals of a given species, those viruses can spread quickly.

A new injectable solution that self-assembles into a gel under the right conditions could help manage HIV unlike any currently available methods, researchers have found.

The gel releases a steady dose of the anti-HIV drug lamivudine over six weeks, suggesting people living with HIV could have new therapy that doesn't require a daily pill regimen to prevent AIDS.

Antibiotic resistant bacteria are a threat to human lives, and yet the development of new drugs to treat bacterial infections is slow. A group of proven drugs used in cancer treatment for decades could possibly be the solution. A new class of antibiotics is now being developed by researchers at Linköping University in Sweden.

Ceftazidime in combination with avibactam is a last-line antibiotic, to be used as a targeted therapy for certain carbapenem-resistant Gram-negative infections and not to be used as an empirical therapy. But the antibiotic recently lost its exclusivity and became a generic drug in India. And scientists from ICMR are foreseeing certain potential adverse implications of introducing generic versions of ceftazidime/avibactam into the Indian market.

A research team led by scientists from City University of Hong Kong (CityU) has achieved a significant breakthrough by inventing a new class of near-infrared-activated photo-oxidants that can effectively kill cancer cells without requiring oxygen. The photo-oxidants induce a unique form of cancer cell death that can overcome cancer cell resistance. The findings offer a new strategy, called ‘photo-oxidation therapy’, and provide a promising direction for the development of anti-cancer drugs.

Max Planck Scientists from Dortmund show how the signaling molecules BMP and FGF act as antagonists during embryonic development and thus guide cell differentiation

A research team at the University of Basel and the SIB Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics uncovered a treasure trove of uncharacterized proteins. Embracing the recent deep learning revolution, they discovered hundreds of new protein families and even a novel predicted protein fold.

Adults with atopic dermatitis (AD) have a 34 percent increased risk of developing new-onset inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) compared with individuals who do not have the skin condition, and children have a 44 percent increased risk, according to a new study from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. Additionally, as the severity of AD increased, the risk of developing IBD rose.