Known as Verve-102, this treatment could revolutionize heart attack prevention and significantly lower LDL cholesterol levels (often referred to as “bad” cholesterol) with a single injection.
While statins can achieve similar cholesterol reductions, they typically require daily administration.
“This is the future,” stated Professor Riyaz Patel, an academic from the University of London and a doctor at Barts Health NHS Trust involved in the trial – BBC Science Focus.
“This is not a fantasy; it’s reality. We are actively implementing it. I was providing this treatment to my patient during the exam.”
Unlike statins, which gradually lower cholesterol, Verve-102 aims for a one-time alteration by “turning off” a specific gene called PCSK9 in the liver. This gene is crucial in managing the levels of LDL cholesterol that the liver can detect and eliminate from the bloodstream.
In simpler terms, a reduction in PCSK9 means less LDL in the bloodstream.
“The results are stunning,” Patel remarked. “This drug disables a small segment of your DNA, and your LDL cholesterol will be permanently 50% lower thereafter. That’s a game-changer!”
Cholesterol builds up in blood vessel walls, leading to plaque formation that can obstruct blood flow.
Elevated LDL cholesterol levels heighten the risk of this buildup, prompting millions (over 40 million in the US and over 7 million in the UK) to take daily medications like statins for cholesterol management.
The VERVE-102 clinical trial included 14 participants with familial hypercholesterolemia, a genetic disorder that heightens the risk of heart disease, heart attacks, and strokes due to extremely high LDL cholesterol levels.
Initial outcomes from Verve-102 injections show that all participants reacted positively to the treatment with no severe side effects.
Responses varied by dosage. The lowest dose group experienced an average LDL reduction of 21%, while the intermediate group showed a 41% reduction, and the high-dose group saw a 53% reduction.
Remarkably, one individual in the high-dose group achieved a 69% reduction in LDL cholesterol after receiving Verve-102.
Dr. Eugene Braunwald, a distinguished medical professor and Hershey’s professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School who did not take part in the study, noted that the preliminary data is “promising” and indicates “the potential for a new era in cardiovascular disease treatment.”
Verve is actively recruiting participants for further stages of clinical trials involving even higher Verve-102 doses in the UK, Canada, Israel, Australia, and New Zealand. The final results are expected to be revealed in the latter half of 2025.
Read more:
About our experts
Professor Riyaz Patel is a consultant cardiologist and clinical academic scholar at University College London (UCL) and Barts Health NHS Trust. He is a fully funded clinician scientist with the British Heart Foundation and serves as a professor of cardiology at UCL, where he investigates the causes of heart disease, focusing on cardiovascular risks and the genetics of coronary heart disease. He has established and led new cardiovascular prevention services at Barts Heart Center.
Kashiwara’s work is very abstract, but is seen as important
Peter Bagde / Typos1 / The Abel Prize
Red-tailed For his research on algebraic analysis, he received the 2025 Abel Prize, known as the Nobel Prize in Mathematics.
Professor of Kashiwara Kyoto UniversityJapan received the award “for his fundamental contributions to algebraic analysis and representational theory, particularly for the development of the theory of D-modules and the discovery of crystal bases.”
His work involves the use of algebra, focusing on investigating geometry and symmetry, and using those ideas to find solutions to differential equations that include the relationship between mathematical functions and their rate of change. Finding solutions to such equations can be particularly difficult, especially for functions with several variables, and therefore with several rates of change. These are known as partial differential equations (PDEs).
Kashiwara’s important work on the D-module, a highly specific area of algebraic analysis, including Linear PDE, was conducted surprisingly early in his career during his doctoral dissertation. He has worked with over 70 collaborators. Kashiwara said New Scientist He was pleased to win the Abel Prize, but he is still active and would like to make further contributions.
“I’m currently working on representative theory of quantum affine algebra and its related topics,” he says. “There’s a great guess: [the] “Affine epicenter speculation,” but I still don’t know how to solve it. ”
David Craven At the University of Birmingham, UK, Kashiwara’s work is very abstract and far from a direct real-world application, and even basic summary says that a minimum of a doctorate in mathematics is required. “That’s the level of these things being difficult,” he says. “It’s incredibly esoteric.”
However, Craven says that Kashiwara had a major impact on his field. “What he did is permeate theories of expression. If you want to do geometrical expression theory, you can’t escape from Kashiwara.
Gwyn Bellamy “All the big results on the field are [algebraic analysis] It was more or less due to him, and Kashiwara’s Abel Prize victory has been a long time.
Named after Norwegian mathematician Neils Henrik Abel, the Abel Prize is awarded annually by the King of Norway. Last year, Michelle Taragland won for his work in extreme studies of probability theory and randomness.
IIt's easy to believe that Elon Musk's reach is unlimited. But the richest people in the world are given a carte blanche to control the space satellite empire, own one of the biggest social media platforms, produce the world's bestselling electric cars, and gush the US government from Donald Trump, but there is a market where masks have not yet cracked properly.
Now, due to his new impact on the Trump administration and global geopolitics, Musk's entrance into the Indian market could be smoother and faster than expected, both on Tesla's electric vehicles and Starlink satellite internet.
When India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi traveled to Washington earlier this month to meet Trump, he sat down with Musk personally. There, according to the Indian government, the pair “discussed about strengthening collaboration with Indian and US organizations in innovation, space exploration, artificial intelligence and sustainable development.”
Trump said it more frankly: “I'm assuming him.” [Musk] I want to do business in India. ”
To date, India's 110% tariffs on imported electric vehicles have prevented Tesla from entering the fast-growing Indian market. However, Musk last year vowed that Tesla would be in India “as soon as possible as humanly possible.” And after his recent encounter with Modi, he appears to be keen to make it a reality.
Tesla has already started advertising for work in Mumbai and Delhi and has signed a lease to open its first showroom in Mumbai. If Tesla promises to invest $500 million in the factory that manufactures the car within three years, it could also take advantage of the new Indian government scheme, which will reduce import duties on electric vehicles to 15%. However, the tax credit only applies to the first 8,000 vehicles. This could push Tesla back.
The Tesla plant will benefit India, a country that is desperate for foreign investment and job creation, particularly in manufacturing. Nevertheless, Musk holds a checkered record of his commitment to investing in India. Last year, he left the Modi government's involvement after coming up with a high-profile plan to travel to India, hanging the possibility of a $3 billion investment to build a Tesla plant in the country, but cancelled the trip at the last minute. Instead, he rivaled China, another huge market that Musk would like to exploit in the same way to cut down on large transactions.
Elon Musk opened at the Tesla factory in Berlin, Germany in 2022. Photo: Patrick Pleul/AP
Tesla also faces tough competition with Indian manufacturers. Indian manufacturers manufacture and sell popular electric SUVs at about a quarter of the starting price of £35,000, which is far above the budget of most Indian families, when Tesla costs. (Tesla car sales have also plummeted worldwide, falling 45% in Europe in January.)
Trump also seemed less enthusiastic about Musk's ambition to start making Teslas in India. “If he builds a factory in India now, that's fine, but that's unfair to us. Trump told Fox News.
Another more advantageous finger in the Indian mask pie could be SpareLink's Starlink. Globally, masks already have the dominant lead on the satellite internet. There are more than half of all satellites in the sky.
Since 2021 he has been adamant about bringing Starlink into India. According to Deloitte, India's satellite internet currently has a small appetite, but is expected to grow to a $1.9 billion (£150 million) market by 2030, and is considered an important entry point for India's thriving telecom industry.
Earlier this year, after Trump took office, where Musk became very well-known, Indian Communications Minister confirmed that Starlink was in the process of seeking the security permits necessary to operate in India.
Jyotiraditya Scindia said: “If you check all boxes, you'll see the license. In their case [Starlink] Do it, we will be very happy. ”
However, in India, communications, including satellite internet, are one of the most strictly regulated and controlled industries in India, putting a huge obstacle in the way that foreign companies such as masks are allowed to have security permits.
In particular, Musk's close ties and business interests in China, and the use of Starlink in the Ukrainian War, was viewed as an insurmountable cybersecurity issue, SpareLink's ability to control access to satellite Internet from abroad. Government Undermody in India routinely orders internet providers to block important online content and uses internet blackout as a means of information management.
These fears could be raised after sources in Myanmar and neighboring India's Manipur state told the Guardian earlier this year that Starlink was already being used by the state's militant groups to avoid the regular internet closures imposed after the outbreak of ethnic violence.
A recent report from an Indian think tank warned that Starlink is a “wolf in sheep's clothing” and cited use by the US intelligence reporting agency and the military, and that it could be used to undermine India's safety.
However, some believe that after Trump's election, the Indian government may want to take those concerns to the side. “I think India had doubts about giving security clearance to Musk's Starlink before the US election results began,” said Nikhil Pahwa, founder of Indian tech news platform Medianama.
“One of the things we rely on India is our control of internet access and control over our operators. But now that Musk is part of the US government, his leverage in India has certainly increased, and it is possible that Starlink Clearing Security approval has improved dramatically.
Starlink can provide satellite internet to rural areas, but some have raised fears that it could be used to undermine India's safety. Photo: Nikolas Kokovlis/Nurphoto/Shutterstock
Pahwa said the Indian government's decision on Starlink is “as many political decisions as it is a security decision.”
What's known as “Starlink diplomacy” — opening the country to mask satellites in an obvious attempt to satisfy the Trump administration — was already evident in neighbouring Bangladesh, where the country's interim leader, Mohammed Yunus, suddenly expanded an invitation to launch Starlink within 90 days.
Even before Trump was re-elected, the Indian government had already piloted Starlink's ambitions in favour of its ambitions. In October, the government announced that broadband satellite spectra would be allocated administratively rather than auctions. “We will do our best to serve the people of India at Starlink,” Musk responded with an X.
This decision means Starlink has a much better opportunity to compete with Indian telecom companies in the fight to manage the country's satellite internet market. He has encountered rage from some of the country's biggest operators, including Jio, who also has vast ambitions in the satellite internet space, and has since lobbyed the government to reverse its auction decisions.
One of the main advantages of satellite internet is that it can provide internet access even in the most remote areas. However, in India, most people living in rural areas are unlikely to be able to afford it unless the subsidies are large.
Technology analyst Prasanto K Roy said that if Starlink cuts a significant amount of what he did in Africa, it could lead to a price war with India's biggest carrier if he repeats what Starlink did in the US at a price of around $10 compared to $120. A successful mobile internet, Jio came from undercutting all competitors to make Indian mobile internet the cheapest in the world, but could follow.
“Starlink isn't as easy in India like other markets, so there's a very strong competition here, so it's going to be difficult to get monopoly even at low prices,” says Roy.
He added: “People using Starlink will obviously be a very small niche at the top of the socioeconomic pyramid. But once he gets the hold, that's something that masks can really be utilized in India.”
In a groundbreaking scientific achievement, a mouse with two male parents has successfully reached adulthood.
Researchers utilized embryo stem cell engineering to accomplish this milestone by accurately correcting an important gene involved in reproduction. Double-headed mouse.
This innovative method has allowed scientists to overcome previously insurmountable barriers in reproducing single-identified mammals.
In previous experiments, using two male mice resulted in genetic issues during fertilization, leading to severe congenital defects and early termination of mouse embryo development.
However, the researchers of this new study suspected that these genetic issues were caused by “imprinted” genes, which are inherited from both male and female parents.
“The unique characteristics of imprinted genes have led scientists to believe they are the fundamental barriers to mammal reproduction,” said Research co-author Professor Qi Zhou.
“Even in the artificial creation of a two-cell embryo or double-headed embryo, they were unable to develop properly and stalled at a certain point due to these genes.”
Based on this theory, researchers altered 20 important imprinted genes using various methods before implanting the modified embryos into surrogate mothers.
Their findings revealed that these genetic edits not only allowed for the creation of double-headed mice but also enabled them to survive to adulthood.
“These discoveries offer compelling evidence that imprinted abnormalities are the primary barriers in mammals,” said co-author Professor Guan Zan Ruo from SUN YAT-SEN University.
“This approach greatly advances the manipulation of embryo stem cells and cloned animals, paving the way for progress in regenerative medicine.”
However, researchers noted that only 11.8% of surviving embryos successfully developed to birth, and some did not survive to adulthood due to developmental disorders.
In fact, most of the adult mice displayed abnormal growth and lifespan, and the surviving mice were infertile.
The team is actively working to address these issues by investigating whether altering a specific gene can improve embryo development. They also plan to extend their research to include larger animals like monkeys, though the use of this technology in humans remains uncertain.
Read more:
Y chromosome has disappeared. Is this the end of man?
Mice display emotions on their faces like humans
Male mice transformed into females using previously considered “junk” DNA.
Ion traps can control atoms for quantum experiments
Y. Colomb/National Institute of Standards and Technology/Scientific Photo Library
After decades of investigation, researchers observed a series of atoms undergoing a one-dimensional phase change. This was so elusive that it could only happen in a quantum simulator.
“There is only one motive [for our experiment] I'm trying to really understand basic physics. “We're just trying to understand the fundamental states that matter can be in,” he says. alexander shuckardt at the University of Maryland.
He and his colleagues used electromagnetic fields to arrange 23 ions of the element ytterbium in a line, forming a nearly one-dimensional chain. The device can be used for quantum computing, but in this case the researchers used the chain as a simulator instead.
In it, they built a 1D ytterbium magnet one atom at a time. Previous calculations predicted that this type of magnet would become unmagnetized when warmed, thanks to quantum effects. However, no experiments have achieved this phase transition in the past.
One reason for the difficulty is that systems such as quantum computers and simulators typically only work properly when they are very cold. So heating them to cause a phase transition can cause them to malfunction, Schuckert says.
To get around this, he and his colleagues tuned the initial quantum state of the atoms so that over time, the collective state of the 1D magnet changes as if the temperature were increased. This revealed a phase transition that had never been seen before.
The result is very unusual, he says, because chains of atoms are generally not supposed to undergo phase transitions. Mohammad Maghrebi at Michigan State University. The researchers were able to manipulate it precisely because each ion could interact with other ions over large distances, even if they weren't in contact. This caused the entire line to engage in abnormal collective behavior.
Because their simulator allows for such exotic states of matter, it could be used to study theoretical systems that are extremely rare or may not exist in nature, Maghrebi said. say.
Schuckert suggests that quantum simulators could also help explain the strange electrical or magnetic behavior that some materials exhibit in the real world. But for that to happen, these devices will have to be able to reach higher temperatures than they currently do. Currently, researchers can only create models at extremely low temperatures, but within five years it may be possible to simulate even higher temperatures, he says.
And if the simulator could be made larger, for example by arranging ions in two-dimensional arrays, many more existing theoretical systems could be studied, he says. andrea trombettoni at the University of Trieste, Italy. “This would suggest new physics to explore,” he says.
The US Congress is talking about extraterrestrial life again. But despite some evidence, this question remains frustratingly unanswered. Professor Michael Bolander, an expert on the impact of contact with extraterrestrial intelligence on human law, details newly released documents from the Department of Defense.
fall asleep faster
Heightened thoughts are one of the most common symptoms of sleeplessness. So if you're having trouble getting depressed because of your brain, Just won't shut up – You might want to try cognitive shuffle. This simple guide will show you how to do it (and even better, you can do it from bed with your eyes closed).
Changes in Earth's rotation
Scientists are revealing how human activity and increased demand for water have a bigger impact on the Earth's rotation than the melting of polar ice sheets.
New year, new you?
Can you change your personality? Cognitive neuroscientist Dr. Christian Jarrett has researched techniques and methods that he claims can help you become more confident, outgoing, and fulfilled.
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Worst ideas of the 21st century: Hindsight is a wonderful thing. Here are some of the most promising innovations of the past 25 years that failed miserably.
21st century image: The world is full of wonders, and high-definition cameras allow you to see them in more detail than ever before. Check out our favorite images from the first 25 years of the 21st century.
Q&A: Answers to the best pub quiz trivia. This month: Can I build a death ray in my garden? How far back in time can I go back in time and still be able to breathe? How can I see Saturn in the night sky? How many abs can I get? Or? What is the biggest snowman ever built? How can polar bears smell food from far away?
No. 414 Released on Tuesday, December 27, 2024
don't forget that BBC Science Focus Also available on all major digital platforms. There is a version of android, Kindle Fire and Kindle e-readers,but also, iOS app For iPad and iPhone.
Stem cells are produced in the bone marrow and develop into different types of blood cells.
Katerina Conn / SPL/ Alamy
Human blood stem cells have been grown in a laboratory for the first time, which could dramatically improve how certain types of cancer are treated.
The lab-grown cells have so far only been tested in mice, but when injected into the animals, they resulted in functional bone marrow similar to levels seen after umbilical cord blood cell transplants.
Treating cancers such as leukemia and lymphoma with radiation and chemotherapy can destroy blood-forming cells in the bone marrow. A stem cell transplant means new healthy bone marrow and blood cells can grow. The umbilical cord is a particularly rich source of stem cells, but there is a limited amount they can provide, and the transplant may be rejected by the body.
The new method allows researchers to create stem cells from actual patients, eliminating supply issues and reducing the risk that the patient's body will reject the stem cells.
First, they transformed human blood and skin cells into so-called pluripotent stem cells through a process called reprogramming. “This involves temporarily switching on four genes, so that the patient's cells revert to an earlier stage of development that can become any cell in the body,” he said. Andrew Elefanti At the Murdoch Children's Research Institute in Melbourne.
The second step is to turn the pluripotent cells into blood stem cells. “You start by making thousands of tiny, free-floating balls of cells, each containing a few hundred cells, and then you induce them to turn from stem cells to blood vessels to blood cells,” Elefanti says. This process, called differentiation, takes about two weeks and produces millions of blood cells, he says.
When these cells were then injected into mice that lack immune systems, they produced functional bone marrow in up to 50 percent of cases. That means they made the same cells that carry oxygen and fight infection as healthy human bone marrow, Elefanti says. “This unique ability to make all blood cell types over an extended period of time defines them as blood stem cells,” he says.
Abbas Shafi A researcher from the University of Queensland in Brisbane said the work was an “exciting step forward” towards new treatments for blood cancers. “It's never been done before and has great potential for the future.” But even once animal testing is complete, he said a lot of human research still needs to be done before the technique can be used in the clinic.
Simon Cohn Researchers at Flinders University in Adelaide, Australia, say a key advantage of their approach is that it can be scaled up to produce “an essentially limitless supply” of blood stem cells, but they add that the work is based on blood or skin cells, and success rates and blood cell diversity depend on the starting cell type.
“This suggests that treatments are inconsistent even at the preclinical stage in mice, and will need to be addressed before clinical trials in human patients,” he says.
Those who suffer from the throbbing pain of migraines know how challenging everyday tasks can become. However, a new medication, if taken at the first signs of a migraine, could potentially prevent the onset of debilitating symptoms.
The drug, ubrogepant, has recently been approved for use in the US and is available in the UK, although not covered by the NHS. A study funded by AbbVie, the manufacturer of ubrogepant, revealed that taking the pill at the first indication of a migraine can prevent severe headaches from developing.
Before a migraine attack, some individuals experience early warning signs like sensitivity to light and sound, fatigue, neck pain, stiffness, and dizziness. Identifying these symptoms can help in timely treatment with ubrogepant to inhibit the protein CGRP in the brain responsible for migraines.
The research conducted by Dr. Richard B. Lipton and his team involved 518 participants who were able to predict the onset of migraines within a few hours. Those who took ubrogepant reported being able to function normally two hours after ingestion, with fewer limitations on their activities even after 24 hours.
While promising, ubrogepant may not be effective for those who experience sudden migraine attacks without warning signs. Regardless, experts view this development as a positive step in migraine treatment, providing hope for those who suffer from this common but debilitating condition.
About our experts:
Dr. Steven Ross, a professor and vice chair of clinical affairs in the Department of Neurology at Pennsylvania State University College and Penn State Health, USA, has conducted extensive research in neurology, medicine, and pediatric emergency medicine.
Astrophysicists from the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) Collaboration have conducted test observations that achieve the highest resolution ever obtained from Earth’s surface by detecting light emanating from the center of a distant galaxy at a frequency of about 345 GHz. When combined with existing images of the supermassive black hole at the center of Messier 87 and the Milky Way galaxy at a lower frequency of 230 GHz, these new results not only produce a 50% sharper picture of the black hole, but also a multi-color image of the region just outside the boundaries of these cosmic monsters.
This artist’s impression shows the locations of radio observatories on Earth that took part in the EHT Collaboration’s pilot experiment to produce the highest-resolution observations from the ground. Image courtesy of ESO/M. Kornmesser.
In 2019, the EHT Collaboration released images of M87*, the supermassive black hole at the center of Messier 87, and in 2022, they released images of Sagittarius A*, the supermassive black hole at the center of the Milky Way galaxy.
These images were obtained by linking multiple radio observatories around Earth, using a technique called Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI), to form a single “Earth-sized” virtual telescope.
To get higher resolution images, astronomers typically resort to larger telescopes, or greater distances between observatories acting as part of an interferometer.
But because the EHT was already the same size as Earth, a different approach was needed to increase the resolution of ground-based observations.
Another way to increase a telescope’s resolution is to observe shorter wavelengths of light, and that’s exactly what the EHT Collaboration is currently doing.
“The EHT has seen the first image of a black hole at 1.3 millimeter wavelengths, but the bright ring created by the black hole’s gravity bending light still appears blurry because we’ve reached the absolute limit of how sharp an image we can make,” said Dr Alexander Raymond, an astronomer at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
“At 0.87mm, the images will be clearer and more detailed, which may reveal new properties, some previously predicted, but also some perhaps not.”
To demonstrate detection at 0.87 mm, EHT researchers carried out test observations of distant, bright galaxies at this wavelength.
Rather than using the entire EHT array, they used two smaller subarrays, including ALMA and the Atacama Pathfinder EXperiment (APEX).
Other facilities that will be used include the IRAM Thirty Meter Telescope in Spain, the Northern Extended Millimeter Array (NOEMA) in France, and the Greenland Telescope and Submillimeter Array in Hawaii.
In this pilot experiment, scientists achieved measurements down to 19 microarcseconds, the highest resolution ever achieved from the Earth’s surface.
But it hasn’t yet been able to capture an image: Though it has robustly detected light from some distant galaxies, it hasn’t used enough antennas to be able to accurately reconstruct an image from the data.
This technical test opens up new avenues for studying black holes.
With the full array, the EHT can see details as small as 13 microarcseconds, the equivalent of seeing a bottle cap on the Moon from Earth.
This means that at 0.87mm we can obtain images with approximately 50% higher resolution than the previously published M87* and Sagittarius A* 1.3mm images.
What’s more, it may be possible to observe a black hole that is more distant, smaller and fainter than the two black holes imaged so far.
“Observing changes in the surrounding gas at different wavelengths will help us solve the mysteries of how black holes attract and accrete matter, and how they can launch powerful jets that travel across the Milky Way galaxy,” said Dr Shepard Doleman, EHT founding director and astrophysicist at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics.
This is the first time that VLBI technology has been used successfully at a wavelength of 0.87 mm.
“The detection of a VLBI signal at 0.87 mm is groundbreaking as it opens a new observational window into the study of supermassive black holes,” said Dr Thomas Krichbaum, astrophysicist at the Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy.
“In the future, the Spanish and French IRAM telescopes in combination with ALMA and APEX will allow us to image smaller and fainter radiation simultaneously at two wavelengths, 1.3 mm and 0.87 mm, which was previously possible.”
New Research has introduced an innovative and cost-effective method for diagnosing autism, potentially simplifying and speeding up the diagnostic process. Surprisingly, the new diagnostic test might involve analyzing stool samples rather than brain scans or psychiatric evaluations. Researchers have discovered consistent differences in the gut microbiome – the population of microorganisms in the intestine – between individuals with autism and those without.
Regularly collecting and analyzing stool samples could potentially enable doctors to identify autism at an earlier stage than current methods allow. This new approach is especially important given the diverse range of symptoms associated with autism, making diagnosis challenging.
“There is a pressing need to delay the diagnosis of autism in children, as the symptoms can vary widely,” according to the co-authors of the study. Professor Shu Qian Ng told BBC Science Focus.
Autism is a common condition, affecting approximately 1 in 100 individuals worldwide. While genetics is thought to play a significant role in autism, other factors such as birth complications, exposure to air pollution, and gender differences may also contribute.
Diagnosing autism currently relies on subjective behavioral assessments and developmental screenings, which can be time-consuming and depend on the availability of trained professionals. The average age of diagnosis in the United States is around 5 years old, resulting in delays in essential care and support for children with autism during crucial developmental stages.
The study, published in Nature Microbiology, analyzed stool samples from 1,627 children between 1 and 13 years of age, some of whom had autism. The researchers identified significant differences in gut bacteria between children with autism and those without, resulting in the identification of specific biomarkers for autism.
Utilizing machine learning algorithms, scientists could determine autism in children with up to 82% accuracy based on the biological function of several microorganisms in the digestive system. This innovative approach offers hope for a non-invasive and efficient diagnostic test for autism, expected to be available by the end of the year.
Read more:
How is the gut microbiome linked to autism?
Dr. Ng explains two primary differences in the gut microbiome of individuals with autism compared to neurotypical individuals. Firstly, individuals with autism tend to have reduced diversity in their gut microbiome, with fewer types of bacteria and viruses. Secondly, children with autism often have an abundance of pathogens in their gut, potentially contributing to their condition.
The ongoing research aims to determine whether interventions such as dietary modifications or probiotics can help improve gut diversity and health, potentially influencing autism symptoms. Early indications suggest that adjusting the microbiome can lead to symptom improvements in children with autism.
While promising, the research does not establish causation between gut biomarkers and autism. Clinical trials are underway to explore the potential of using stool samples as a diagnostic tool for autism in young children.
The study participants were predominantly Chinese, highlighting the need for further global studies to enhance diagnostic accuracy across diverse populations. Despite potential dietary influences, preliminary findings suggest consistent diagnostic performance regardless of dietary habits.
About our experts
Dr. Shu N, a Professor and Associate Dean at The Chinese University of Hong Kong, specializes in investigating the potential of gut microbiota for diagnosing and treating various diseases, including autism. Her research focuses on using microbial markers to predict disease risks and develop personalized interventions for improving health outcomes.
All three discoveries were made in the past five years, and the more scientists experiment with animals, the more they discover that many species have an inner life and may be sentient. It shows that. A surprising range of organisms show evidence of conscious thought and experience, including insects, fish, and some crustaceans.
That’s why a group of top animal cognition researchers has released a new statement they hope will change the way scientists and society view and care for animals.
Nearly 40 researchers signed the petition. New York Declaration on Animal Consciousness” was first presented Friday morning at a conference at New York University. This comes at a pivotal moment, as a plethora of research on animal cognition collides with debates about how different species should be treated.
The declaration says there is “strong scientific support” that birds and mammals have conscious experience, and that there is a “realistic possibility” that consciousness exists in all vertebrates, including reptiles, amphibians, and fish. It has said. The possibility extends to many organisms without backbones, including insects, decapod crustaceans (including crabs and lobsters), and cephalopod molluscs such as squid, octopuses, and cuttlefish, he added.
“If an animal has a real possibility of conscious experience, it would be irresponsible to ignore that possibility in decisions affecting that animal,” the declaration reads. “We should consider welfare risks and use evidence to inform our responses to these risks.”
Jonathan Birch, professor of philosophy at the London School of Economics and principal investigator of the Fundamentals of Animal Senses project, is also one of the signatories of the declaration. He said many scientists had previously thought questions about animal consciousness were unanswerable, but the declaration shows his field is moving in a new direction.
“This has been a very exciting decade for the study of animal minds,” Professor Birch said. “People are boldly going out there in ways that have never been done before, and are excited about the possibility that animals like bees, octopuses, and squids are somehow having conscious experiences.”
From “automaton” to perceiver
There is no standard definition for animal perception or consciousness, but these terms generally refer to the ability to have subjective experiences, i.e. the ability to feel and map the outside world, and to feel emotions such as pleasure and pain. Refers to ability. In some cases, it may mean that the animal has some degree of self-awareness.
In this sense, the new declaration goes against long-standing orthodoxy in historical science. In the 17th century, French philosopher René Descartes argued that animals are nothing more than “material automatons” without souls or consciousness.
Rajesh Reddy, assistant professor and director of the animal law program at Lewis & Clark College, said Descartes believed that animals “cannot feel or suffer.” “There was something stupid and anthropomorphic about feeling sorry for them or empathizing with them.”
In the early 20th century, prominent behavioral psychologists promoted the idea that science should study only observable behavior in animals. rather than emotions or subjective experience.. But in the 1960s, scientists began to reconsider. Research began to focus on animal cognition, primarily other primates.
Birch said the new declaration attempts to “embody an emerging consensus that rejects the 100-year-old view that there is no way to study these issues scientifically.”
Indeed, there has been a recent surge in new discoveries that support the new declaration. As scientists develop new cognitive tests and test existing tests on a wider range of species, there are some surprises.
For example, consider the mirror mark test that scientists sometimes use to see if animals recognize themselves.
The fish were placed in an aquarium covered with mirrors, but no abnormal reactions were observed. However, when the cover was removed, seven out of 10 fish launched an attack toward the mirror, indicating that they may have interpreted the image as a rival fish.
After a few days, the fish calmed down and attempted strange behaviors never seen before in this species, such as swimming upside down in front of a mirror. Afterwards, some spent an unusual amount of time in front of the mirror observing their bodies. The researchers then placed brown spots under the fish’s skin to resemble parasites. Some fish tried to scrape off the mark.
“They’re able to see wrasse perform a series of steps that you can only imagine seeing in incredibly intelligent animals like chimpanzees and dolphins,” Birch said. “No one in a million years would have expected a small fish to pass this test.”
Birch said these experiments are part of a growing body of animal consciousness research over the past 10 to 15 years. “You have a much broader canvas to study a much wider range of animals, not just mammals and birds, but also invertebrates like octopuses and squid,” he said. “And people are talking about this idea more and more in relation to insects.”
Reddy said researchers may soon need to completely reorient their research, as more and more species are showing these signs.
A new legal perspective
Reddy said the change in scientists’ understanding of animal sentience could have implications for U.S. law, which does not classify animals as sentient at the federal level. Instead, animal-related laws primarily focus on conservation, agriculture, or the treatment of animals by zoos, laboratories, and pet retailers.
“The law moves very slowly and follows society’s views on many of these issues,” Reddy said. “This declaration, and other measures to remind the public that animals are more than just biological automatons, could greatly increase support for increased protections.”
Helge Karl/Getty Images/iStockphoto
State laws vary widely. Ten years ago, Oregon passed a law recognizing that animals are sentient and capable of feeling pain, stress and fear, forming the basis of progressive judicial opinion in the state, Reddy said. he said.
meanwhile, Washington and California These are among the states where lawmakers this year are considering bans on farming octopuses, a species in which scientists have found strong evidence of sentience.
British law has recently changed to consider octopuses as living organisms, just like crabs and lobsters.
“Once you realize that animals are intelligent, the concept of humane slaughter starts to become important. You have to make sure that the methods you’re using on the animals are humane,” Birch said. says. “For crabs and lobsters, very inhumane methods such as dropping them into a pot of boiling water are very common.”
Recent discoveries by scientists on the human gut microbiome, which consists of microorganisms like bacteria, archaea, fungi, and viruses residing in the gastrointestinal tract, may lead to new weight loss interventions in the future.
To be presented at the European Obesity Conference (ECO), researchers have identified specific microbial species that could either increase or decrease an individual’s risk of obesity.
Through a study involving 361 adult volunteers from Spain, scientists identified a total of six main species.
The lead researcher, Dr. Paula Aranaz, who obtained her PhD from the Nutrition Research Center of the University of Navarra, explained, “Our findings highlight the potential role of imbalances in various bacterial groups in the development and progression of obesity.”
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Participants were categorized based on their body mass index: 65 were of normal weight, 110 were overweight, and 186 were obese. Genetic microbiota profiling was conducted to analyze the type, composition, diversity, and abundance of bacteria present in their fecal samples.
The study found that individuals with higher body mass index had lower levels of Christensenella Minuta, a bacterium associated with weight loss in other studies.
<.p>Interestingly, there were gender-specific differences in the findings. For men, the species Parabacteroides hercogenes and Campylobacter canadensis were linked to higher BMI, fat mass, and waist size. On the other hand, for women, the species Prevotella copri, Prevotella brevis, and Prevotella saccharolytica predicted obesity risk.
According to Aranaz, “Fostering certain bacterial types in the gut microbiota, like Christensenella Minuta, may protect against obesity. Future interventions aimed at altering bacterial strains or bioactive molecules levels could create a microbiome resistant to obesity.”
While the study focused on a specific region of Spain, factors such as climate, geography, and diet could influence the results. These findings could lead to tailored nutritional strategies for weight loss that take into account gender differences.
About our expert:
Paula Aranaz is a researcher at the Nutrition Research Center of the University of Navarra in Spain, focusing on bioactive compounds to prevent and treat metabolic diseases. Her research has been published in journals like International Journal of Molecular Science, Nutrients, and European Journal of Nutrition.
Modern conveniences like smart refrigerators, virtual assistants, security systems, and robot vacuums have made household chores easier since the invention of the washing machine in the 19th century.
Innovative products like the EZVIZ RE4 Plus robot vacuum and mop combo can help eliminate mundane daily tasks. Users can conveniently schedule cleaning routines, saving time and effort with just a few taps on the app.
Discover more about the cutting-edge technology behind robot vacuums and how they can streamline your daily life.
Smart technology for the home
Navigation
LiDAR (light detection and ranging) technology, originally developed in the 1960s for mapping and surveillance purposes, has evolved into a crucial component of autonomous vehicles and even some smartphones. LiDAR’s ability to create detailed spatial data is shaping the future of robotics technology.
The state-of-the-art EZVIZ RE4 Plus incorporates LDS LiDAR technology, enabling 360-degree scanning and mapping of your home’s layout with the capability to store multiple floor plans.
Smart Thinking
Premium robot vacuums like the EZVIZ RE4 Plus utilize advanced features to navigate and clean effectively based on environment data and user instructions.
App Remote Control and Map Customization
Through IoT connectivity, users can remotely schedule cleaning tasks and customize maps to suit their cleaning preferences. Smart robot vacuums like the EZVIZ RE4 Plus can adapt to different cleaning needs and scenarios.
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Premium robot vacuums are equipped with infrared obstacle avoidance sensors and fall detection technology to enhance safety and efficiency during cleaning.
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The EZVIZ RE4 Plus comes with an auto-empty base that disposes of dust and debris, reducing the need for frequent emptying. The dust bag typically requires emptying every 90 days for regular household use.
Why You Need a Robot Vacuum Cleaner
Modern smart devices like robot vacuums offer effortless, time-saving solutions for household cleaning tasks, making daily life more convenient and efficient for busy individuals and families.
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A new breakthrough in medical research could lead to personalized therapy for babies in the womb. Scientists have successfully grown small organs, known as organoids, from fetuses for the first time. This allows for monitoring the health of the fetus by cloning its organs.
Organoids are complex 3D models of organs made from human cells, retaining the DNA of the original cells, in this case, amniotic fluid cells. These organoids mimic human tissue and provide a more detailed view of any malformations compared to traditional imaging techniques like MRI or ultrasound.
Developed by researchers at UCL and Great Ormond Street Hospital (GOSH), this new technology enables a functional assessment of a baby’s congenital condition before birth. This groundbreaking method does not involve access to fetal tissue and is a significant advancement in prenatal diagnosis.
Lead author Dr. Mattia Gerli highlights the potential of organoids to revolutionize the pharmaceutical industry and clinics, particularly in fetal development. The study focuses on utilizing amniotic fluid cells to create organoids for prenatal medicine.
Growth process of mini organs
The process involves extracting cells from amniotic fluid, identifying tissue-specific stem cells, and culturing them to form organoids such as lungs, intestines, and kidneys. These organoids show similar functions and gene expressions to the corresponding organs.
In a study comparing organoids from infants with congenital diaphragmatic hernia to healthy infants, researchers found that treatments could be monitored at the cellular level. This breakthrough enables more information for parents during early pregnancy and expands research in fetal development beyond legal limitations.
Gerli emphasizes the potential of organoids in studying human development and advancing prenatal medicine. This innovation opens up a new field of research that was previously limited due to legal restrictions on fetal sampling.
The future of personalized therapy for babies in the womb looks promising with the use of organoids in medical research and fetal diagnosis.
Tardigrade observed using a fluorescence microscope.Some organs are highlighted with fluorescent markers
Smythers et al/PLoS ONE (CC-BY 4.0)
Tardigrades are known for their ability to withstand extreme environments, and we now know how they do this. Small molecular sensors inside cells can detect when harmful molecules called free radicals are produced in excess, causing a state of dormancy.
Tardigrades, also known as tardigrades, are eight-legged microscopic invertebrates found throughout the world. Under adverse conditions such as sub-zero temperatures and strong radiation, the creatures shrink into a dry ball called a tongue and enter a deep hibernation state.
“Tardigrades do not breed under extreme conditions, but they can overwinter.” Derrick Colling At Marshall University in West Virginia. “We wanted to understand how they could step in there.”
To study, Kolling and colleagues exposed tardigrades to high levels of hydrogen peroxide, sugar, salt, or temperatures of -80°C (-112°F) to induce Tun. As a result of these stresses, tardigrades produce harmful, highly reactive molecules called oxygen free radicals.
The free radicals then go on to react with other molecules, team members say. leslie hix At the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Importantly, the research team discovered that free radicals oxidize an amino acid called cysteine, which is one of the building blocks of proteins in the body. These reactions change protein structure and function and signal the onset of quiescence.
In experiments where cysteine oxidation was prevented, tardigrades were unable to enter the tun state. “Cysteine acts like a kind of regulatory sensor,” Hicks says. “This allows the tardigrade to sense its environment and respond to stress.”
When conditions improved, the researchers discovered that the cysteine was no longer oxidized and instructed the tardigrades to wake up from the tongue.
“Whether this is a universally conserved protection mechanism and whether this is conserved across tardigrade species is a really important question,” Hicks says. Her answers, she says, could help us better understand the aging process and how to make long-term space travel a reality.
Tinnitus, a ringing in the ears, can be a debilitating problem for those who suffer from it. However, a team of researchers has discovered a potential solution to this issue.
The survey results have been published in the magazine Frontiers of audiology and otology, and an international research team can effectively reduce symptoms in just a few weeks with an app that includes sound therapy and various training courses. The study involved 30 people with tinnitus, and almost two-thirds of them experienced “clinically significant improvement” from using the app. The team will now conduct a large-scale trial in the UK in collaboration with University College London Hospital. According to Suzanne Purdy, Waipapa Taumata Rau Professor of Psychology at the University of Auckland, New Zealand, cognitive behavioral therapy is known to help people suffering from tinnitus, but it is expensive and often difficult to access.
“[The app] Cognitive behavioral therapy, mindfulness, relaxation exercises, and sound therapy can be combined to train your brain’s responses and reduce tinnitus. The sounds you perceive fade into the background and become less noticeable.”
The new app aims to tune out the sound of tinnitus, giving the mind and body tools to suppress stress hormones and responses, and reduce the brain’s tendency to focus on the sound. The Mindear app is currently available for download for Apple and Android users. Some features are free in the app, but many are locked behind a paywall after a 7-day free trial (requires a £13 monthly subscription). Another app, the sound tinnitus app, is currently undergoing clinical trials in the UK.
About 1.5 million people in Australia, 4 million in the UK and 20 million in the US suffer from severe tinnitus, according to Dr. Fabrice Bardy, an audiologist at Waipapa Taumata Rau, University of Auckland, and lead author of the study published in the journal Frontiers of audiology and otology. He adds, “One of the most common misconceptions about tinnitus is that there’s nothing you can do about it; you just have to live with it. This is simply not true. Tinnitus Support Expertise The support of professionals with knowledge and expertise can reduce the fear and anxiety associated with a healthy patient experience.”
Tinnitus itself is not a disease, but is usually a symptom of another underlying health condition, such as damage to the auditory system or tension in the head and neck. While there is no known cure for tinnitus, management strategies and techniques can help patients. For more information, please visit the provided links.
A breakthrough assay to detect acute myeloid leukemia (AML) through a KMT2A gene fusion promises to enhance diagnosis and treatment and represents a major advance in leukemia research.
The researchers Accuracy
Detecting specific molecular markers within leukemia cells has the potential to significantly improve the assessment of measurable residual disease. This advancement will enable better-informed treatment decisions and ultimately improve patient outcomes.
A new assay that detects unique molecular markers in patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) could revolutionize how the disease is detected and treated, according to a recently published new report. Molecular Diagnostic Journal Published by Elsevier. This assay may improve the detection of AML due to factors such as: Kuomintang 2A Gene fusions can impact treatment decision-making, assessment of response to treatment, and long-term monitoring.
AML is a rare, aggressive blood cancer that is diagnosed in approximately 120,000 people worldwide each year. Detecting residual disease during treatment is essential to determine prognosis and guide treatment decisions.Currently, methods to detect measurable residual disease (MRD) during treatment of AML include bone marrow morphology, multiparameter flow cytometry (MPFC), and DNA Sequencing.
Morphological evaluation detects leukemic cells only with a detection limit of 5%. Although MPFC has a more sensitive detection limit of 0.01% to 0.001%, it is difficult to implement and interpret and is not standardized across laboratories. DNA sequencing approaches can identify leukemic cells by somatic mutation profiles, but are expensive and can be confounded by clonal hematopoiesis in nonleukemic blood cells.
Breakthrough progress in leukemia research
“We’ve seen a lot of research in this field,” explained lead researcher Dr. Grant A. Challen, of the Department of Oncology at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. Normally absent in healthy cells. Other diseases such as chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) can already be tracked by standard BCR-ABL fusions, and sensitive detection of these fusions has revolutionized the way CML is treated. . For AML patients whose disease is caused by oncogenic fusions, the KMT2A fusion is a molecular marker that can be exploited for sensitive MRD detection. Therefore, we wanted to develop a platform for sensitive KMT2A fusion detection to improve detection and treatment methods for this disease. ”
Researchers have developed a new droplet digital PCR assay that allows for high sensitivity. Kuomintang 2A Fusion detection with the five most common fusion partners.At least 80 are known Kuomintang 2A There are fusion partners, but approximately 80% of fusions involve only 5 partners – AF9, AF6, AF4, Elleand English. They benchmarked the assay in human cell lines and patient samples and demonstrated sensitivity and specificity. Kuomintang 2A Fusion detection.
This assay detects these fusions by splitting cDNA molecules into microfluidic droplets and assaying them using primers and probes that generate a positive signal only when the fused transcript is present. Researchers were able to combine multiple primer/probe sets targeting different fusions into a pooled fusion detection reagent. they again, Kuomintang 2A Fusions in patient samples are known to be present Kuomintang 2A fusion.
Implications for AML treatment and future research
Dr. Challen said: This assay can be easily extended to include additional oncogenic fusions. This has potential implications for treatment decision-making and assessment of response to treatment. Knowing whether treatment is effective is critical to deciding when to escalate treatment or perform a hematopoietic stem cell transplant. ”
“This is a powerful new tool for highly sensitive KMT2A fusion detection and can be directly applied to disease detection in leukemia patients caused by these fusions. This fills a void in oncogenic fusion detection. , we offer several technical improvements. This assay is also highly scalable, and additional fusions can be easily added to the assay to expand coverage of other oncogenic fusions. We is improving blood cancer detection one drop at a time.”
Reference: “Droplet Digital PCR for Oncogenic KMT2A Fusion Detection” by Andrew L. Young, Hannah C. Davis, and Grant A. Challen, October 7, 2023. Molecular Diagnostic Journal. DOI: 10.1016/j.jmoldx.2023.09.006
This research was funded by: National Institutes of Health and the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.
Recent observations of the young star DG Taurus reveal a smooth protoplanetary disk in which no planets have yet formed, suggesting that it is on the brink of this process. The findings show unexpected dust grain growth patterns and provide new insights into the early stages of planet formation. Credit: SciTechDaily.com
Astronomers have become very good at finding signs of planet formation around stars. However, to fully understand planet formation, it is important to examine cases where this process has not yet begun.
Looking for something and not finding it can sometimes be even more difficult than finding it, but new detailed observations of the young star DG Taurus reveal that the planet is a smooth protoplanet with no signs of planet formation. It was shown that it has a system disk. This lack of detected planet formation may indicate that DG Taurus is on the eve of planet formation.
Image of radio radiation intensity from a disk near DG Taurus observed with ALMA. Rings have not yet formed within the disk, suggesting that planets are about to form.Credit: ALMA (ESO/National Astronomical Observatory/NRAO), S. Obashi et al.
Protoplanetary disk and planet growth
Planets form around protostars, which are young stars that are still forming, in disks of gas and dust known as protoplanetary disks. Planets grow so slowly that it is impossible to observe their evolution in situ. Therefore, astronomers observe many protostars at slightly different stages of planet formation to build theoretical understanding.
This time, an international research team led by Satoshi Ohashi of the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan (NAOJ) has developed the Atacama Large Millimeter/Submillimeter Array (alma telescope) will conduct high-resolution observations of the protoplanetary disk surrounding the relatively young protostar DG Taurus, located 410 light-years away in the direction of Taurus. The researchers found that DG Taurus has a smooth protoplanetary disk and no rings that would indicate planet formation. This led the research team to believe that the DG Taurus system could begin forming planets in the future.
Unexpected discoveries and future research
The researchers found that during this pre-planetary stage, dust particles are within 40 astronomical units (about twice the size of Earth’s orbit). Uranus The radius of the central protostar is still small, but beyond this radius the dust particles begin to grow, which is the first step in planet formation. This goes against the theoretical expectation that planet formation begins inside the disk.
These results provide surprising new information about dust distribution and other conditions at the beginning of planet formation. Studying more examples in the future will further deepen our understanding of planet formation.
Reference: “Dust concentration and particle growth in the smooth disk of a DG tau protostar revealed by ALMA triple-band frequency observations” Satoshi Ohashi, Munetake Momose, Akiraka Kataoka, Aya Higuchi E, Takashi Tsukagoshi, Takahiro Ueda, Claudio Codella, Linda Podio, Tomoyuki Hanawa, Nami Sakai, Hiroshi Kobayashi, Satoshi Okuzumi, Hidekazu Tanaka, August 28, 2023, of astrophysical journal. DOI: 10.3847/1538-4357/ace9b9
This research was funded by the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, the German Foundation, and the European Union.
The Coronavirus Moonshot Consortium report focuses on the discovery of a new class of inhibitors against the main protease of SARS-CoV-2. This global collaboration has generated promising lead compounds, openly shared thousands of compound designs, and represents significant progress in coronavirus drug development.
The COVID Moonshot breakthrough study introduced new non-peptide inhibitors. SARS-CoV-2showcases global collaboration and open science in advancing coronavirus treatments. Although the group’s results have been freely available since its founding in March 2020, the Coronavirus Moonshot Consortium has finally officially reported its results.
Coronavirus Moonshot – An open science, crowdsourced, patent-free drug discovery campaign targeting SARS-CoV-2 virus – A wealth of data has been obtained about the virus’s major proteases, including insights that may pave the way for the development of new and better treatments. “The main treatments described by [these researchers] “Given drug approval timelines and challenges, we may not be ready in time to make an impact on the current pandemic,” write Brian Shoichet and Charles Craik in a related perspective. “Yet, the compounds and the techniques used to identify them may have implications for human health in the future.”
Global cooperation and drug discovery efforts This novel collaboration involved more than 200 volunteer scientists from 47 academic and industrial organizations across 25 countries. “The coronavirus moonshot provides an example of open science drug discovery that could lead to advances in infectious disease drug discovery. This research area is of great public importance but chronically underfunded from the private sector. “There is a shortage,” Melissa et al. write. SARS-CoVB-2 main protease (Mpro) is an attractive target for antiviral drug development due to its important role in viral replication. Current SARS-CoV-2 Mpro inhibitors, such as those drawn from existing antiviral pipelines such as Paxlovid and Xocova, have shown clinical success. However, the use of these compounds remains relatively limited, and their peptidomimetics and covalent scaffolds pose problems for synthesis and administration.
Impact on innovative drug design and open science Hey, Bobby other. describe the discovery of a novel noncovalent and nonpeptidic inhibitor scaffold that is chemically distinct from current Mpro inhibitors. By leveraging a crowdsourcing approach combined with the expertise of hundreds of individuals around the world, Bobby other. We will explain the open science drug discovery campaign. machine learningutilize molecular simulations, and high-throughput structural biology and chemistry to assemble a detailed structural map of the major proteases of SARS-CoV-2 and their biochemical activities.
From over 18,000 compound designs generated by the COVID Moonshot Consortium, the authors identified several non-covalent, non-peptidomimetic compounds, including lead compounds with promising bioavailability, safety, and antiviral activity. identified sex inhibitors. All compound designs from the project are openly shared, building a rich, open, intellectual property-free knowledge base for future anti-coronavirus drug discovery.
Researchers at Maynooth University have used supramolecular chemistry to discover new molecules to fight drug-resistant bacteria. This new discovery suggests a potential new approach to antibiotic development and has important implications for public health.Credit: Ella Mar Studio
Researchers at Maynooth University have developed a new molecule designed to fight drug-resistant bacteria.
An international team including researchers from Maynooth University has developed a new molecule that has the potential to fight drug-resistant bacteria.
Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is a phenomenon in which bacteria, viruses, fungi, and parasites evolve over time and become immune to drugs. This resistance makes infections more difficult to cure and increases the risk of prolonged illness and death. With predictions that traditional antibiotics will largely lose their effectiveness by 2050 due to rising AMR levels, finding new ways to eradicate bacteria has become a key scientific priority.
Supramolecular chemistry: the key to fighting AMR
The research leveraged the principles of supramolecular chemistry, a niche scientific field that studies interactions between molecules, to achieve the breakthrough. Most importantly, this study discovered a molecule that is efficient at killing bacteria, yet has very low toxicity to healthy human cells.
New research published in prestigious journal chemistry, in conjunction with World AMR Awareness Week, which will be held from November 18th to 24th. This global campaign, run by the World Health Organization, aims to raise awareness and understanding of AMR in the hope of reducing the emergence and spread of drug-resistant infections.
More than 1.2 million people, and likely millions more, died as a direct result of antibiotic-resistant infections in 2019, according to the most comprehensive estimate to date of the global impact of AMR. The research could pave the way for new approaches to tackling the problem, which kills more people each year than HIV/AIDS or malaria.
Luke Brennan, lead researcher in Maynooth University’s Department of Chemistry, said: “We are discovering new molecules and investigating how they bind to anions, negatively charged chemicals that are very important in the context of the biochemistry of life.” It’s laying a fundamental foundation that could help fight a variety of diseases, from cancer to cystic fibrosis.”
A “Trojan horse” approach to resistant bacteria
The study was based on the use of synthetic ion transporters, and the researchers found that the influx of salts (sodium and chloride ions) into bacteria can trigger a series of biochemical events that lead to bacterial cell death. was demonstrated for the first time. Strains of bacteria that are resistant to currently available antibiotics, such as methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA).
Study co-author Dr Robert Hermes from the Kathleen Lonsdale Institute for Human Health at Maynooth University said: “This study shows how our approach, a kind of ‘Trojan horse’ that causes salt influx into cells, can be used to effectively kill resistant bacteria. It eliminates bacteria in a way that counters known bacterial resistance methods.”
Bacteria work hard to maintain a stable concentration of ions within their cell membranes, and when this delicate balance is disrupted, normal cell function is wreaked havoc and the cell is no longer viable.
Elms continued, “These synthetic molecules bind to chloride ions, enveloping them in a ‘blanket of fat’ and making them easily soluble in bacterial membranes, taking the ions along with them and allowing them to function normally.” Disturbs the ion balance.” This study is a great example of fundamental knowledge of chemical fundamentals that has implications for an unmet need in human health research. ”
Professor Kevin Kavanagh, microbiologist in Maynooth University’s School of Biology, commented: This research is an example of chemists and biologists working together to pioneer the development of new antimicrobial agents with great promise.”
Such results pave the way for the potential development of anion transporters as viable alternatives to currently available antibiotics, which is urgently needed as the problem of AMR continues to grow. This is what has been done.
Reference: “Strong antimicrobial effects induced by disruption of chlorine homeostasis” Luke E. Brennan, Lokesh K. Kumawat, Magdalena E. Piatek, Airlie J. Kinross, Daniel A. McNaughton, Luke Marchetti, Conor Geraghty, Conor Wynne , by Hua Tong, Oisin N. Kavanagh, Finbarr O’Sullivan, Chris S. Hawes, Philip A. Gale, Kevin Kavanagh, Robert BP Hermes, August 23, 2023. chemistry. DOI: 10.1016/j.chempr.2023.07.014
This research was supported by Science Foundation Ireland’s Pharmaceutical Research Center (SSPC) and the Irish Research Council (IRC).
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