Figuring out the composition of the bacteria in the gut, mouth, and on the skin is very fashionable at the moment, with papers regularly linking the microbiome to an unexpected disease. However, I can’t help but wonder if microbiotics isn’t the magic wand we were hoping for. Will it stand the test of time? Studying…
Multi-drug resistance is the main challenge for chemotherapy – it is the leading cause of tumour recurrence and cancer metastasis. The root of the problem: efflux pumps on the cell surface which serve to protect a cell by pumping out unwanted toxic substances. Unfortunately, these come as a disadvantage when targeting cancer cells with drugs….
Quantum technologies to treat it; quantum physics to create it? An ambitious agreement: Tokyo, December 13th, 2016 The agreement is signed, five organisations join forces. Equipped with accelerating lasers and deflecting, superconducting magnets, they will develop a Quantum Scalpel. Their ambition is zero cancer deaths, says Toshio Hirano, chief of the National Institutes for Quantum…
People live messy lives: they make complex choices about what to eat, who to start a family with, and generally how to live their lives. Mice on the other hand are much simpler. They can live in a lab where their diet, mating and behaviour can be carefully monitored and controlled. This makes it far…
Recent developments in gene editing technologies have caused the dialogue surrounding the prospect of ‘designer babies’ to reach a new pitch. Research recently published in Protein and Cell might be bringing us one exhilarating – or terrifying – step closer to making that prospect a reality. The group behind the paper, based at Sun Yat-sen…
It brings a whole new meaning to the term ‘lifehack’: scientists can now reprogram an animal’s skin to transform it into other body parts such as blood vessels or nerve tissue. The new technology, Tissue Nanotransfection, allows scientists to turn any living skin into a farm for specialised cells. Tissue Nanotransfection is a huge advance…
