Science and Health News

Metformin is the first-line drug that can lower blood sugar levels in type 2 diabetes patients. One third of patients do not respond to metformin treatment and 5 per cent experience serious side effects, which is the reason many choose to stop medicating. Researchers at Lund University in Sweden have now identified biomarkers that can show in advance how the patient will respond to metformin treatment via a simple blood test.

New technology cuts down on cell culture time by half and uses more targeted cell sorting and purification methods

Research from the Texas A&M College of Engineering could lead to new approaches to treating viruses and cancers.

Bioengineers at EPFL have created miniature intestines in a dish that match up anatomically and functionally to the real thing better than any other lab-grown tissue models. The biological complexity and longevity of the new organoid technology is an important step towards enabling drug testing, personalized medicine, and perhaps, one day, transplantations.

A defective protein quality control system leads to motor neuron death, as seen in disorders such as ALS.

University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine scientists have isolated the smallest biological molecule to date that completely and specifically neutralizes the SARS-CoV-2 virus, which is the cause of COVID-19. This antibody component, which is 10 times smaller than a full-sized antibody, has been used to construct a drug—known as Ab8—for potential use as a therapeutic and prophylactic against SARS-CoV-2.

For the first time, scientists have created pigs, goats and cattle that can serve as viable “surrogate sires,” male animals that produce sperm carrying only the genetic traits of donor animals.

Researchers at the University of Turku, Finland, have developed a test for ovarian cancer detection with a sensitivity 4.5 times higher than that of the conventional laboratory test. The simple lateral flow test is based on rapid detection of abnormal sugar structures directly from the blood sample.