Scorpion Venom May Provide the Next Breast Cancer Breakthrough

– credit Marino Linic

Scientists in Brazil are currently testing to see if the venom of an Amazonian scorpion could be used to poison breast cancer tumors.

Researchers at the University of São Paulo’s Preto School of Pharmaceutical Sciences (FCFRP-USP) have long worked to clone and express proteins from rattlesnake and scorpion venom with hopes of transforming these powerful compounds into medicines.

Recently, their work identified that venom of the scorpion Brotheas amazonicus appears to attack breast cancer cells in a way similar to a widely used chemotherapy medication.

These early findings were generated through a collaboration with scientists from the National Institute for Amazonian Research (INPA) and the Amazonas State University (UEA).

“Through bioprospecting, we were able to identify a molecule in the species of this Amazonian scorpion that is similar to that found in the venoms of other scorpions and that acts against breast cancer cells,” said Eliane Candiani Arantes, a professor at FCFRP-USP and the coordinator of the project.

Arantes and her team identified two neurotoxins in scorpion venom with immunosuppressive effects. Working with collaborators at INPA and UEA, they found a peptide named BamazScplp1 in the venom of Brotheas amazonicus that appears to have anti-tumor potential.

Laboratory tests showed that the peptide’s impact on breast cancer cells was comparable to paclitaxel, a commonly prescribed chemotherapy treatment. It primarily triggers necrosis, a form of cell death previously associated with molecules from other scorpion species.

Arantes and her team have isolated other components of venoms from scorpions and from snakes that have been used to help develop other clinical applications, including an internal wound sealant that mimics the body’s natural clotting and scaffolding processes. It’s undergoing trials for use in nerve repair, bone healing, and restoring movement following spinal cord injury.Next time you see a scorpion, and think it a nasty creepy crawly that will send you to the hospital, show a bit of grace; they might help save a woman’s life some day. Scorpion Venom May Provide the Next Breast Cancer Breakthrough
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Indian scientists find genetic clues to tackle oral cancer among women

Photo: https://www.nibmg.ac.in)

New Delhi, (IANS) A team of Indian scientists has discovered oral cancer-causing driver gene mutations in women patients in southern parts of the country.

The team from the Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research (JNCASR), Bengaluru and the BRIC-National Institute of Biomedical Genomics (NIBMG), Kalyani, in collaboration with clinicians from Sri Devraj Urs Academy of Higher Education and Research (SDUAHER), Kolar, conducted a female-centric study on oral cancer in India with a unique tobacco chewing habit.

This study led by Professor Tapas K Kundu, JNCASR, Bengaluru aimed to understand what makes cancers in women unique, how the disease manifests and progresses in female patients and how we can treat them better.

The team also used artificial intelligence (deep learning) to digitally analyse tumour tissues. This revealed two distinct groups of female patients, each with a different immune response in their tumours.

India carries one of the world’s heaviest burdens of oral cancer with alarmingly high rates witnessed among women in certain regions, especially in southern and northeast India, due to the widespread habit of chewing tobacco-infused betel quid, gutka, and related products.

While the disease is widely studied in men, oral cancer in women has often remained under the radar.

The study was performed on paired tumour and blood samples from female OSCC-GB patients with a unique regional tobacco-chewing habit (Kaddipudi), commonly observed among women in the Kolar district of Karnataka.

Analysis of this women-centric cohort has revealed a unique driver mutation implicated in oral tumorigenesis.

This investigation, published in the Clinical and Translational Medicine Journal, was specifically designed to uncover the biological underpinnings of the disproportionately aggressive, highly recurrent, and life-threatening forms of oral cancer that affect Indian women.

Using cutting-edge whole-exome sequencing, the researchers identified ten key genes with significant mutations in the female oral cancer cohort from Kolar, Karnataka.

Although two of the major genes, CASP8 and TP53, were found to be highly mutated in these patients, uniquely, CASP8 seems to be the driver mutation (cancer-causing), which is quite different compared to previously studied mutations in oral cancer patients (largely men).

The findings suggest that co-occurring TP53 and CASP8 mutations confer a markedly aggressive and lethal phenotype in oral cancer.The team is now focused on delineating the molecular mechanisms of oncogenesis driven by this novel driver mutation within the background of TP53 alterations for the next phase of the research. Indian scientists find genetic clues to tackle oral cancer among women | MorungExpress | morungexpress.com
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Cement Supercapacitors Could Turn the Concrete Around Us into Massive Energy Storage Systems

credit – MIT Sustainable Concrete Lab

Scientists from MIT have created a conductive “nanonetwork” inside a unique concrete mixture that could enable everyday structures like walls, sidewalks, and bridges to store and release electrical energy.

It’s perhaps the most ubiquitous man-made material on Earth by weight, but every square foot of it could, with the addition of some extra materials, power the world that it has grown to cover.

Known as e c-cubed (ec3) the electron-conductive carbon concrete is made by adding an ultra-fine paracrystalline form of carbon known as carbon black, with electrolytes and carbon nanoscales.

Not a new technology, MIT reported in 2023 that 45 cubic meters of ec3, roughly the amount of concrete used in a typical basement, could power the whole home, but advancements in materials sciences and manufacturing processes has improved the efficiency by orders of magnitude.

Now, just 5 cubic meters can do the job thanks to an improved electrolyte.

“A key to the sustainability of concrete is the development of ‘multifunctional concrete,’ which integrates functionalities like this energy storage, self-healing, and carbon sequestration,” said Admir Masic, lead author of the new study and associate professor of civil and environmental engineering at MIT.

“Concrete is already the world’s most-used construction material, so why not take advantage of that scale to create other benefits?”

The improved energy density was made possible by a deeper understanding of how the nanocarbon black network inside ec3 functions and interacts with electrolytes. Using focused ion beams for the sequential removal of thin layers of the ec3 material, followed by high-resolution imaging of each slice with a scanning electron microscope.

The team across the EC³ Hub and MIT Concrete Sustainability Hub was able to reconstruct the conductive nanonetwork at the highest resolution yet. This approach allowed the team to discover that the network is essentially a fractal-like “web” that surrounds ec3 pores, which is what allows the electrolyte to infiltrate and for current to flow through the system.

“Understanding how these materials ‘assemble’ themselves at the nanoscale is key to achieving these new functionalities,” adds Masic.

Equipped with their new understanding of the nanonetwork, the team experimented with different electrolytes and their concentrations to see how they impacted energy storage density. As Damian Stefaniuk, first author and EC³ Hub research scientist, highlights, “we found that there is a wide range of electrolytes that could be viable candidates for ec3. This even includes seawater, which could make this a good material for use in coastal and marine applications, perhaps as support structures for offshore wind farms.”

At the same time, the team streamlined the way they added electrolytes to the mix. Rather than curing ec3 electrodes and then soaking them in electrolyte, they added the electrolyte directly into the mixing water. Since electrolyte penetration was no longer a limitation, the team could cast thicker electrodes that stored more energy.

The team achieved the greatest performance when they switched to organic electrolytes, especially those that combined quaternary ammonium salts — found in everyday products like disinfectants — with acetonitrile, a clear, conductive liquid often used in industry. A cubic meter of this version of ec3—about the size of a refrigerator—can store over 2 kilowatt-hours of energy. That’s about enough to power an actual refrigerator for a day.

While batteries maintain a higher energy density, ec3 can in principle be incorporated directly into a wide range of architectural elements—from slabs and walls to domes and vaults—and last as long as the structure itself.

“The Ancient Romans made great advances in concrete construction. Massive structures like the Pantheon stand to this day without reinforcement. If we keep up their spirit of combining material science with architectural vision, we could be at the brink of a new architectural revolution with multifunctional concretes like ec3,” proposes Masic.

Taking inspiration from Roman architecture, the team built a miniature ec3 arch to show how structural form and energy storage can work together. Operating at 9 volts, the arch supported its own weight and additional load while powering an LED light.

The latest developments in ec³ technology bring it a step closer to real-world scalability. It’s already been used to heat sidewalk slabs in Sapporo, Japan, due to its thermally conductive properties, representing a potential alternative to salting.

“What excites us most is that we’ve taken a material as ancient as concrete and shown that it can do something entirely new,” says James Weaver, a co-author on the paper who is an associate professor of design technology and materials science and engineering at Cornell University, as well as a former EC³ Hub researcher. “By combining modern nanoscience with an ancient building block of civilization, we’re opening a door to infrastructure that doesn’t just support our lives, it powers them.” Cement Supercapacitors Could Turn the Concrete Around Us into Massive Energy Storage Systems
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Unique Antibody from Camels and Alpacas Could Be Used to Treat Alzheimer’s

– credit, Sung Jin Cho on Unsplash

An antibody-like compound known on land to be exclusively to be found in camelids like alpacas, lamas, and dromedaries, could be used to treat human brain disorders such as Alzheimer’s disease, according to a new study.

The study’s focus were antibody-like proteins, aptly called nanobodies, whose small size allowed the scientists to treat neurological conditions in mice more effectively and with fewer side effects.

The study, published in the journal Trends in Pharmacological Sciences, outlines the next steps towards developing nanobody treatments that are safe for humans.

“Camelid nanobodies open a new era of biologic therapies for brain disorders and revolutionize our thinking about therapeutics,” said Dr. Philippe Rondard, of Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) in France.

“We believe they can form a new class of drugs between conventional antibodies and small molecules.”

Nanobodies were first discovered in the early 1990s by Belgian scientists studying the immune systems of camelids. They found that as well as making conventional antibodies, which are composed of two heavy chains and two light chains, camelids also produce antibodies with just heavy chains.

The antigen-binding fragments of those antibodies are now known as nanobodies. They’re just one-tenth the size of conventional antibodies, and have not been found in any other mammals, say scientists, although they have been observed recently in some cartilaginous fish.

Therapeutic approaches for diseases such as cancer and autoimmune disorders often centre around antibodies. The treatments that have shown some therapeutic benefits, including a few drugs for Alzheimer’s treatment, are often associated with secondary side effects, however.

With their much smaller size, scientists say nanobodies have the potential to offer better efficacy for brain diseases with fewer side effects. In previous studies, the team has shown that nanobodies can restore behavioral deficits in mouse models of schizophrenia and other neurologic conditions.

“These are highly soluble small proteins that can enter the brain passively,” said co-author Dr. Pierre-André Lafon, also of CNRS. “By contrast, small-molecule drugs that are designed to cross the blood-brain barrier are hydrophobic in nature, which limits their bioavailability, increases the risk of off-target binding, and is linked to side effects.”

He says nanobodies are also easier than conventional antibodies to produce, purify, and engineer and can be fine-tuned to their targets.

But the researchers acknowledge that several steps need to be taken before nanobodies can be tested in human clinical trials for brain disorders. They say toxicology and long-term safety testing are essential, and the effect of chronic administration needs to be understood.

“It will be necessary to obtain clinical-grade nanobodies and stable formulations that maintain activity during long-term storage and transport,” said Dr. Rondard.Dr Lafon added that his lab has already started to study these different parameters for a few brain-penetrant nanobodies and has recently shown that conditions of treatment are compatible with chronic treatment.” Unique Antibody from Camels and Alpacas Could Be Used to Treat Alzheimer’s
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Rarest Monkeys Now Number Close to 2,000 Thanks to One Man's Jane Goodall-like Passion

A golden snub-nosed monkey in Tanjiahe National Nature Reserve, Sichuan Province – credit, David Blank CC BY-NC-SA 3.0.

From the BBC comes the story of an intrepid and dedicated scientist who has spent decades working in China’s mountain forests in an effort to protect and understand one of the nation’s most amazing animals.

The golden sub-nosed monkey is revered alongside the giant panda as “national treasures” of Chinese wildlife, yet this couldn’t protect them from logging and hunting that followed in the wake of Mao’s Cultural Revolution.

Members of this sub-species located in the UNESCO-listed Shennongjia mountains of Hubei Province, were the subject of intense study by Professor Yang Jingyuan, a research ecologist who arrived in these mountains in 1991.

For Yang, the golden sub-nosed monkey was Jane Goodall’s chimpanzees. By the time Yang arrived in Shennongjia, the population had collapsed to just 500 or so individuals across 6 family groups. Years of illegal logging as a form of subsistence living had reduced forest coverage in the mountains to 63%.

But before Yang could protect the animals, he had to first learn to understand them. With his research colleagues, he began striking out into the newly-created Shennongjia Forest Reserve to study these incredible animals.

The monkeys were at first so wary of humans that Yang and his team had to stay half a mile away to be able just to observe the monkeys in their habitat. Eventually though, with repeated encounters, half a mile became and quarter mile, and a quarter mile became 200 yards, 100 yards, 20 yards—until Yang and whoever he brought with him were accepted by the troupes.

The BBC’s China Correspondent, Stephen McDonell, experienced this treatment as baby monkeys and curious juveniles climbed all over him on a visit to special, 100 square kilometer monkey zones hat are off-limits to the hundreds of thousands of visitors who come to enjoy a mountain ecosystem that is without exaggeration unique in the world.

“Even after logging was banned there were still people illegally felling timber. If they didn’t cut down trees, how would they have money?” Professor Yang, director of the Shennongjia National Park Scientific Research Institute, told McDonell.

Golden snub-nosed monkeys in Tanjiahe National Nature Reserve, Sichuan Province – credit, David Blank CC BY-NC-SA 3.0.

Shennongjia virgin forest – credit, Evilbish CC BY-SA 3.0

“There were also people secretly hunting here to survive. It was only after a long period of building awareness that the consciousness of local farmers changed.”

In the 1990s, with a shifting focus from forestry to forest conservation, local residents eking out this subsistence living were offered government money to relocate so that the forests could regrow. Many accepted the offer, and now benefit from the tourism boom the mountains are experiencing.

There is no place on Earth that has greater biodiversity of deciduous woody plants than Shennongjia, and a dizzying 3,400 higher-order plant species, and over 600 invertebrates have been recorded there. The golden snub-nosed monkey is very much a fuzzy golden cherry on top of a biodiverse cake ten layers-high.

“I’m very optimistic,” said Prof Yang. “Their home is now very well protected. They have food and drink, no worries about life’s necessities and, most of all, their numbers are growing.”

Golden snub-nosed monkeys captured via camera trap – credit, eMammal CC 2.0. via Flickr

Indeed, an archived report from Xinhua claimed that those 500 remnant individuals became 1,200 by 2013. This represents major progress since females give birth to only one baby at a time.

At the time McDonell visited, their numbers had jumped again to 1,600, and forest cover along the hills and valleys had increased to around 96% of the reserve’s total area.

Professor Yang can live freely among them like some character of fable. He speaks to them in their calls, having learned the meanings of each vocalization during his many years of observing them.

Like Goodall, his research has yielded incredible insights into their lives. For example, each monkey has an egg timer-like understanding of its lifespan, and when it’s time to pass away, they silently leave their families behind and visit special, secluded areas to die alone in the forest.

According to Yang, there hasn’t been a single successful attempt to find these sites, either by researchers or rangers.Yang’s institute estimates that the monkeys will come to number 2,000 individuals in Shennongjia sometime over the next 10 years, a testament to the magnificent outcomes conservation can provide, providing there’s someone in the right place at the right time to make the effort to make a difference. Rarest Monkeys Now Number Close to 2,000 Thanks to One Man's Jane Goodall-like Passion
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Scientists Regrow Retina Cells to Tackle Leading Cause of Blindness Using Nanotechnology


Macular degeneration is the leading cause of blindness in developed countries, but regrowing the human cells lost to this condition was the feature of a new successful treatment that took advantage of advances in nanotechnology.

Regrowing the cells of the human retina on a scaffold of synthetic, tissue-like material showed substantial improvements over previously used materials such as cellulose, and the scientists hope they can move on to testing their method in the already blind.

Macular degeneration is increasing in prevalence in the developed world. It’s the leading cause of blindness and is caused by the loss of cells in a key part of the eye called the retina.

Humans have no ability to regrow retinal pigment cells, but scientists have determined how to do it in vitro using pluripotent stem cells. However as the study authors describe, previous examples of this procedure saw scientists growing the cells on flat surfaces rather than one resembling the retinal membrane.

This, they state, limits the effectiveness of transplanted cells.

In a study at the UK’s Nottingham Trent University, biomedical scientist Biola Egbowon and colleagues fabricated 3D scaffolds with polymer nanofibers and coated them with a steroid to reduce inflammation.

The method by which the nanofibers were made was pretty darn cool. The team would squirt polyacrylonitrile and Jeffamine polymers in molten form through an electrical current in a technique known as “electrospinning.” The high voltage caused molecular changes in the polymers that saw them become solid again, resembling a scaffold of tiny fibers that attracted water yet maintained mechanical strength.

After the scaffolding was made, it was treated with an anti-inflammatory steroid.

This unique pairing of materials mixed with the electrospinning created a unique scaffold that kept the retinal pigment cells viable for 150 days outside of any potential human patient, all while showing the phenotype of biomarkers critical for maintaining retinal physiological characteristics.“While this may indicate the potential of such cellularized scaffolds in regenerative medicine, it does not address the question of biocompatibility with human tissue,” Egbowon and colleagues caution in their paper, urging more research to be conducted, specifically regarding the orientation of the cells and whether they can maintain good blood supply. Scientists Regrow Retina Cells to Tackle Leading Cause of Blindness Using Nanotechnology
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Scientists Develop Biodegradable Smart Textile–A Big Leap Forward for Eco-Friendly Wearable Technology

Flexible inkjet printed E-textile – Credit: Marzia Dulal

Wearable electronic textiles can be both sustainable and biodegradable, shows a new study.

A research team led by the University of Southampton and UWE Bristol in the UK tested a new sustainable approach for fully inkjet-printed, eco-friendly e-textiles.

Named SWEET—for Smart, Wearable, and Eco-friendly Electronic Textiles—the new ‘fabric’ was described in findings published in the journal Energy and Environmental Materials.


E-textiles are those with embedded electrical components, such as sensors, batteries or lights. They might be used in fashion, for performance sportswear, or for medical purposes as garments that monitor people’s vital signs.

Such textiles need to be durable, safe to wear and comfortable, but also, in an industry which is increasingly concerned with clothing waste, they need to be kind to the environment when no longer required.

“Integrating electrical components into conventional textiles complicates the recycling of the material because it often contains metals, such as silver, that don’t easily biodegrade,” explained Professor Nazmul Karim at the University of Southampton.


“Our eco-friendly approach for selecting sustainable materials and manufacturing overcomes this, enabling the fabric to decompose when it is disposed of.”

The team’s design has three layers, a sensing layer, a layer to interface with the sensors and a base fabric. It uses a textile called Tencel for the base, which is made from renewable wood and is biodegradable.

The active electronics in the design are made from graphene, along with a polymer called PEDOT: PSS. These conductive materials are precision inkjet-printed onto the fabric.

The research team, which included members from the universities of Exeter, Cambridge, Leeds, and Bath, tested samples of the material for continuous monitoring of heart rates. Five volunteers were connected to monitoring equipment, attached to gloves worn by the participants. Results confirmed the material can effectively and reliably measure both heart rate and temperature at the industry standard level.
Gloves with e-textile sensors monitoring heart rate – Credit: Marzia Dulal

“Achieving reliable, industry-standard monitoring with eco-friendly materials is a significant milestone,” said Dr. Shaila Afroj, an Associate Professor of Sustainable Materials from the University of Exeter and a co-author of the study. “It demonstrates that sustainability doesn’t have to come at the cost of functionality, especially in critical applications like healthcare.”


The project team then buried the e-textiles in soil to measure its biodegradable properties.

After four months, the fabric had lost 48 percent of its weight and 98 percent of its strength, suggesting relatively rapid and also effective decomposition.

Furthermore, a life cycle assessment revealed the graphene-based electrodes had up to 40 times less impact on the environment than standard electrodes.

Four strips in a variety of decomposed states, during four months of decomposition – Credit: Marzia Dulal

Marzia Dulal from UWE Bristol, the first author of the study, highlighted the environmental impact: “Our life cycle analysis shows that graphene-based e-textiles have a fraction of the environmental footprint compared to traditional electronics. This makes them a more responsible choice for industries looking to reduce their ecological impact.”

The ink-jet printing process is also a more sustainable approach for e-textile fabrications, depositing exact numbers of functional materials on textiles as needed, with almost no material waste and less use of water and energy than conventional screen printing.“These materials will become increasingly more important in our lives,” concluded Prof. Karim, who hopes to move forward with the team to design wearable garments made from SWEET, particularly in the area of early detection and prevention of heart diseases.Scientists Develop Biodegradable Smart Textile–A Big Leap Forward for Eco-Friendly Wearable Technology
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Patent for coating that extends shelf life of fruits, vegetables

IANS File Photo

Agartala, (IANS): The Indian Patent Office recently granted a patent to Assam based scientist Sanjib Kumar Paul who developed a health and environment friendly edible coating for prolonged shelf life of fruits and vegetables which is expected to help millions of farmers and consumers.

The patent entitled "Copper (Nanosized)-Chitosan-Menthol Edible Conglomerate Enrobe for Prolonged Shelf-Life of Climacteric Fruit" was accorded for a term of 20 years in accordance with the provisions of the Patents Act, 1970.

Paul, currently working as a scientist at the Hyderabad based central government owned Indian Institute of Chemical Technology, made the invention after studying for six years at the Department of Agricultural Engineering under the Triguna Sen School of Technology at southern Assam's Silchar based Assam University.

He said that India is the third largest producer of fruits and vegetables after China and the USA, but unfortunately due to various reasons including lack of proper marketing and preservation, 50 per cent of the climacteric fruit (those fruits and vegetables which ripen in a short span of time) gets wasted.

The 34-year-old scientist said that it was found that there are not sufficient warehouses with proper storage mechanisms and there are not sufficient fruit processing techniques at the community level leading to the wastage of enormous quantities of fruits and vegetables in the rural and semi-urban areas across the country.

According to Paul, the climacteric fruits and vegetables' respiration rate is very high and quickly deteriorates.

Fruits and vegetables being perishable crops rot due to lack of proper storage and transportation leading to huge losses.

"Considering the huge quantities of fruits and vegetables getting wasted, affecting the economy of both the farmers and the country, we started studies in 2012 to provide a lengthy shelf life to the climacteric fruits and vegetables.

"We used tomatoes as our study sample. Our target was to give at least a 30-day window in between the production and consumption," he told IANS.

Paul said: "After a long study and considering all pertinent aspects, we found that a combination of Chitosan (Polysaccharide), copper (nano-sized) and menthol could be an appropriate healthy and user friendly edible coating for at least 28 days shelf life of the fruits and vegetables."

All the ingredients of the proposed coating - Chitosan, copper and menthol are easily available everywhere, he said.

A resident of Dhubri district of western Assam, Paul, who completed his post-graduation in Food Processing Technology from Tezpur University in 2010, said that the coating of the mixture of Chitosan, copper and menthol would slow down the ripening rate of the climacteric fruits and vegetables with antimicrobial effect leading to an increase in their shelf life.

The scientist said that now the industry sectors can apply the simple newly developed technology for preserving the climacteric fruits and vegetables after taking a license from Assam University, which owns the invention.

Paul had carried out the study under the supervision of Laxmi Narayan Sethi, Sudipto Sarkar and Sujit Kumar Ghosh of Assam University.

The varsity's Internal Quality Assurance Cell Director Piyush Pandey highly appreciated the study and getting the patent from the government of India.

"Northeast region of India is mostly an agriculture based economy and a biodiversity hotspot. A huge variety of fruits and vegetables are produced both in plains and hills across the region. Proper protection of these fruits and vegetables would be beneficial for both the farmers and traders besides the consumers," said Paul.

The scientist is now doing studies on a few other aspects including how to utilise the funds under Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) schemes of various public sector undertakings in research and development.

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Gene essential for vitamin D absorption may boost cancer treatment

IANS Photo

New Delhi, (IANS): Scientists have identified a key gene essential for vitamin D absorption, which may also boost treatments for cancer and autoimmune diseases.

The gene, called SDR42E1, is crucial for taking up vitamin D from the gut and further metabolising it -- a discovery with many possible applications in precision medicine, including cancer therapy.

"Here we show that blocking or inhibiting SDR42E1 may selectively stop the growth of cancer cells,” said Dr Georges Nemer, Professor at the University of College of Health and Life Sciences at Hamad Bin Khalifa University in Qatar.

Previous research showed that a specific mutation in the SDR42E1 gene on chromosome 16 is associated with vitamin D deficiency.

The mutation caused the protein to be cut short, rendering it inactive.

In the study, published in the journal Frontiers in Endocrinology, the researchers used CRISPR/Cas9 gene editing to transform the active form of SDR42E1 in a line of cells from a patient with colorectal cancer, called HCT116, into its inactive form.

In HCT116 cells, the expression of SDR42E1 is usually abundant, suggesting that the protein is essential for their survival.

Once the faulty SDR42E1 copy had been introduced, the viability of the cancer cells plummeted by 53 per cent, the researchers explained.

The results suggest that inhibiting the gene can selectively kill cancer cells, while leaving neighbouring cells unharmed.

“Our results open new potential avenues in precision oncology, though clinical translation still requires considerable validation and long-term development," said Dr Nagham Nafiz Hendi, Professor at Middle East University in Amman, Jordan.

“Because SDR42E1 is involved in vitamin D metabolism, we could also target it in any of the many diseases where vitamin D plays a regulatory role,” said Nemer.However, as long-term effects of SDR42E1 on vitamin D balance remain to be fully understood, the researchers stressed the need for further studies. Gene essential for vitamin D absorption may boost cancer treatment | MorungExpress | morungexpress.com
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Scientists Find Answer to Sea Star Population Devastated by Pathogen Along the California Coast

A sunflower sea star – credit, Ed Bierman CC 2.0.

For years, a wasting disease has been turning sea stars to goo off the California coast. Scientists now finally know the cause, and are beginning to fight back.

Whether it has over 20 arms like the sunflower sea star, or just 5, billions of Pacific sea stars were being wiped out by an unknown assailant.

After four years of experiments from a huge collaborative effort led by the Hakai Institute, biologists finally identified the culprit: a kind of bacteria called Vibrio.


Devastating to coral, shellfish, and human beings, this strain of Vibrio has been labeled FHCF-3. The scientists determined it was the cause of the epidemic by examining what might be called the sea star’s blood. It doesn’t have blood as we would recognize it, but a circulatory fluid called coelomic fluid.

As to what is causing the spread of FHCF-3, ranging from Washington state down to the Baja Peninsula, the scientists point to warming waters.

“We have evidence that there is a link between increasing ocean temperatures and this sea star wasting disease epidemic,” said Melanie Prentice, one of the co-authors of the paper published on the discovery in Nature, to CBS News.

Sunflower sea stars, one of the species that’s been most affected, are voracious eaters of sea urchins. This slow motion game of lion and gazelle plays out on the seafloor and on reefs, and is a major cog in the overall machine of marine ecosystem stability.

Themselves voracious eaters of kelp, the urchins were unleashed following the sea star’s decline, and like the bacteria that decimated the sea stars, the urchins devastated the kelp.

With the cause identified, a large collaboration involving Prentice’s Hakai Institute, as well as the universities of British Columbia and Washington, the Nature Conservancy, Tula Foundation, US Geological Survey, and the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, are beginning to plan strategies for the sea stars’ recovery.

A breeding program for sunflower stars was set up between the Aquarium of the Pacific, the Birch Aquarium, the San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance, and the Sunflower Star Laboratory. Hundreds have already been raised, and biologists can now screen for the pathogen routinely.

Some of the juveniles are living in these aquariums, where members of the public can learn about the sea stars’ struggle to survive, and the critical role they play in the ecosystem.


WATCH the story below from CBS News’ ‘Project Earth’ segment…

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US scientists developing single-dose vaccines for HIV, Covid


New Delhi, August 28 (IANS) A team of scientists in the US is working to develop vaccines that can protect against HIV, Covid, and potentially other diseases, with a single dose.

The team from MIT and the Scripps Research Institute treated mice with a vaccine that combines two different adjuvants, materials that help stimulate the immune system. They found that the combination helped generate more robust immune responses.

The dual-adjuvant vaccine was found to accumulate in the lymph nodes, where white blood cells known as B cells encounter antigens and undergo rapid mutations that generate new antibodies.

The vaccine’s antigens remained there for up to a month -- allowing the immune system to build up a much greater number and diversity of antibodies against the HIV protein than the vaccine given alone or with one adjuvant.

According to MIT professor J. Christopher Love, the approach may mimic what occurs during a natural infection and could lead to an immune response so strong and broad that vaccines only need to be given once.

“It offers the opportunity to engineer new formulations for these types of vaccines across a wide range of different diseases, such as influenza, SARS-CoV-2, or other pandemic outbreaks,” Love said.

Separately, Russia’s Covid-19 vaccine maker is also set to develop an mRNA-based HIV vaccine, RIA Novosti, the Russian Information Agency, said.

The vaccine to be developed by Gamaleya Center in Moscow, which will trigger an immune response against the AIDS causing virus, could be ready in around two years.

The much-anticipated HIV vaccine is based on mRNA technology, the head of the institute’s epidemiology department, Vladimir Gushchin, told RIA Novosti on Wednesday.

“We are currently at the stage of creating the first antigens that will generate a broadly neutralising immune response. The success of the vaccine will depend on whether the immunogen we use can trigger a response capable of protecting against all variants,” said Vladimir Gushchin, epidemiologist at the Centre.The Gamaleya Center also developed Sputnik V, one of the world’s first Covid-19 vaccines, which was rolled out in August 2020. The shot, showing up to 97.8 per cent efficacy with no serious side effects, has been approved in nearly 70 countries. US scientists developing single-dose vaccines for HIV, Covid | MorungExpress | morungexpress.com
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AI can help detect early larynx cancer from sound of voice: Study



New Delhi, (IANS): A team of US scientists showed that Artificial Intelligence (AI) can help detect early larynx or voice box cancer from the sound of the patient’s voice.

Cancer of the voice box is an important public health burden. In 2021, there were an estimated 1.1 million cases of laryngeal cancer worldwide, and approximately 100,000 people died from it.

Risk factors include smoking, alcohol abuse, and infection with human papillomavirus.

The prognosis for laryngeal cancer ranges from 35 per cent to 78 per cent survival over five years when treated, depending on the tumour’s stage and its location within the voice box.

Now, researchers from the Oregon Health & Science University showed that abnormalities of the vocal folds can be detected from the sound of the voice using AI.

Such ‘vocal fold lesions’ can be benign, like nodules or polyps, but may also represent the early stages of laryngeal cancer.

These proof-of-principle results open the door for a new application of AI: namely, to recognise the early warning stages of laryngeal cancer from voice recordings, said the team in the paper published in the journal Frontiers in Digital Health.

“Here we show that with this dataset we could use vocal biomarkers to distinguish voices from patients with vocal fold lesions from those without such lesions,” said Dr Phillip Jenkins, postdoctoral fellow in clinical informatics at Oregon.

In the study, Jenkins and team analysed variations in tone, pitch, volume, and clarity with 12,523 voice recordings of 306 participants from across North America.

A minority were from patients with known laryngeal cancer, benign vocal fold lesions, or two other conditions of the voice box: spasmodic dysphonia and unilateral vocal fold paralysis.

The researchers focused on differences in a number of acoustic features of the voice: for example, the mean fundamental frequency (pitch); jitter, variation in pitch within speech; shimmer, variation of the amplitude; and the harmonic-to-noise ratio, a measure of the relation between harmonic and noise components of speech.

They found marked differences in the harmonic-to-noise ratio and fundamental frequency between men without any voice disorder, men with benign vocal fold lesions, and men with laryngeal cancer.

They didn’t find any informative acoustic features among women, but it is possible that a larger dataset would reveal such differences.Variation in the harmonic-to-noise ratio can be helpful to monitor the clinical evolution of vocal fold lesions, and to detect laryngeal cancer at an early stage, at least in men, the researchers said. AI can help detect early larynx cancer from sound of voice: Study | MorungExpress | morungexpress.com
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Scientists Define a Color Never Before Seen by Human Eyes, Called 'Olo'–a Blue-Green of Intense Saturation

Photo by Hamish on Unsplash

An experiment in human photoreceptors allowed scientists to recently define a new color, imperceptible by the human eye, that lies along the blue-green spectrum but is different from the two.

The team, who experimented on themselves and others, hope their findings could one day help improve tools for studying color blindness or lead to new technologies for creating colors in digital imagery.

“Theoretically, novel colors are possible through bypassing the constraints set by the cone spectral sensitivities…” the authors write in their abstract. “In practice, we confirm a partial expansion of colorspace toward that theoretical ideal.”

The team from University of California, Berkeley and the University of Washington used pioneering laser technology which they called “Oz” to “directly control the human eye’s photoreceptor activity via cell-by-cell light delivery.”

Color is generated in our vision through the transmission of light in cells called photoreceptors. Eye tissue contain a series of cones for this task, and the cones are labeled as L, S, or M cones.

In normal color vision, the authors explain, any light that stimulates an M cone cell must also stimulate its neighboring L and/or S cones because the M cone spectral response function lies between that of the L and S cones.

“However, Oz stimulation can by definition target light to only M cones and not L or S, which in principle would send a color signal to the brain that never occurs in natural vision,” they add.

Described as a kind of blue-green with “unprecedented saturation” the new color, which the researchers named “olo” was confirmed as being beyond the normal blue-green spectrum by each participant who saw it, as they needed to add substantial amounts of white for olo to fit somewhere within that spectrum.

“The Oz system represents a new experimental platform in vision science, aiming to control photo receptor activation with great precision,” the study says.


Although the authors are confidant that olo has never been seen before by humans, the spectrum of blue-green has received international attention before as a field of vision discovery.

A groundbreaking study of the Himba people in Namibia conducted in 2005 and published in journal of the American Psychological Association demonstrated that these traditional landowners seemed to perceive various colors as the same because they used the same word for them. A grouping of colors we in the West would separate into pink, red, and orange, is all serandu to them.

That was only half of the cause for fascination with the study. The other half came from the Himba people’s unbelievable sensitivity to the blue-green spectrum, such that they could reliably pick out the fainest differences in green that Western viewers by comparison missed.

This also corresponded with more words for shades of green which Westerners would never bother specifying, and in fact, the Himba had a harder time pointing out that a blue square was different from green squares when shown a chart, but could reliably select the square of a slightly different shade of green to the rest.But then it got even stranger. Further studies in the following years included genetic testing on the Himba, and it showed they possess an increased number of cone cells in their eyes. This higher density of cones enables them to perceive more shades and nuances of color than the average person, according to the lead author of the genetic research. Scientists Define a Color Never Before Seen by Human Eyes, Called 'Olo'–a Blue-Green of Intense Saturation
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Scientists develop real-time genome sequencing to combat deadly superbug

IANS Photo

Sydney, Aug, 12, 2026 (IANS): Australian scientists have made a breakthrough in combating Staphylococcus aureus, commonly known as golden staph -- a superbug that causes more than a million deaths worldwide each year.

The world-first initiative has demonstrated that real-time genome sequencing during severe infections allows doctors to quickly identify resistance mutations, and personalise treatment, Xinhua news agency reported.

It will also help curb the spread of antibiotic resistance, said researchers from the Melbourne-based Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity (Doherty Institute).

Collaborating with seven local hospitals, scientists from the Doherty Institute said that traditionally, hospital laboratories identify bacteria using standard tests that reveal only the species type, offering limited insight into antibiotic resistance or genetic changes.

In contrast, genome sequencing provides a comprehensive genetic profile, uncovering mutations that can influence how bacteria respond to treatment.

Previously, research into bacterial evolution was typically carried out retrospectively, often years after patients had completed treatment.

In contrast, this new method enables clinicians to monitor bacterial changes in real-time, providing immediate and actionable insights for patient care, according to the study published in Nature Communications.

Comparing golden staph samples from patients at the start of infection and at treatment failure, researchers found that in a third of cases, the bacteria developed mutations making standard antibiotics ineffective, said lead author Stefano Giulieri at the Doherty Institute and the University of Melbourne.

"In one case, after initially controlling a golden staph infection, the patient returned to the hospital two months after stopping antibiotics," Giulieri said.

Giulieri added that resistance increased 80-fold within two months, but genomic insights enabled clinicians to successfully adapt treatment and cure the infection.These findings represent a major step toward targeted therapy for bacterial infections and open the door to future clinical trials that could make this approach standard practice in hospitals worldwide, said the researchers. Scientists develop real-time genome sequencing to combat deadly superbug | MorungExpress | morungexpress.com
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Scientists Regrow Retina Cells to Tackle Leading Cause of Blindness Using Nanotechnology


Macular degeneration is the leading cause of blindness in developed countries, but regrowing the human cells lost to this condition was the feature of a new successful treatment that took advantage of advances in nanotechnology.

Regrowing the cells of the human retina on a scaffold of synthetic, tissue-like material showed substantial improvements over previously used materials such as cellulose, and the scientists hope they can move on to testing their method in the already blind.

Macular degeneration is increasing in prevalence in the developed world. It’s the leading cause of blindness and is caused by the loss of cells in a key part of the eye called the retina.

Humans have no ability to regrow retinal pigment cells, but scientists have determined how to do it in vitro using pluripotent stem cells. However as the study authors describe, previous examples of this procedure saw scientists growing the cells on flat surfaces rather than one resembling the retinal membrane.

This, they state, limits the effectiveness of transplanted cells.

In a study at the UK’s Nottingham Trent University, biomedical scientist Biola Egbowon and colleagues fabricated 3D scaffolds with polymer nanofibers and coated them with a steroid to reduce inflammation.

The method by which the nanofibers were made was pretty darn cool. The team would squirt polyacrylonitrile and Jeffamine polymers in molten form through an electrical current in a technique known as “electrospinning.” The high voltage caused molecular changes in the polymers that saw them become solid again, resembling a scaffold of tiny fibers that attracted water yet maintained mechanical strength.

After the scaffolding was made, it was treated with an anti-inflammatory steroid.

This unique pairing of materials mixed with the electrospinning created a unique scaffold that kept the retinal pigment cells viable for 150 days outside of any potential human patient, all while showing the phenotype of biomarkers critical for maintaining retinal physiological characteristics.“While this may indicate the potential of such cellularized scaffolds in regenerative medicine, it does not address the question of biocompatibility with human tissue,” Egbowon and colleagues caution in their paper, urging more research to be conducted, specifically regarding the orientation of the cells and whether they can maintain good blood supply. Scientists Regrow Retina Cells to Tackle Leading Cause of Blindness Using Nanotechnology
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Targeting an Enzyme Could Rewire Cancer Cells to Suppress Growth by up to 77% for Melanoma and Colorectal Tumors


Eleven years of cancer research has proven fruitful for a scientist at Johns Hopkins who uncovered a new tumor-suppressive response that could lead to novel therapies targeting hard-to-treat cancers.

The new study, funded in part by the National Institutes of Health and the National Cancer Institute, showed that targeting a key process of how cells make proteins can inhibit cancer cells—and resolves what makes them so sensitive.

The findings, published in the June 18, 2025 Cell Chemical Biology, open the door to potential new treatments for cancers with common genetic mutations.

The researchers found that using a drug to inhibit the enzyme responsible for human RNA (rRNA) transcription—called RNA Polymerase 1, or Pol 1—triggered a unique stress response that rewires splicing, or the way cancer cells produce forms of proteins, to ultimately suppress tumor growth.

“Ribosome biogenesis has long been known as a hallmark of cancer,” says study leader Marikki Laiho, M.D., Ph.D., a Johns Hopkins professor of radiation oncology in the Department of Radiation Oncology and Molecular Radiation Sciences.

In 2014, she and her team identified that Pol 1 is a meaningful therapeutic target in cancers. She began laboratory studies using human cell lines to study a small molecule, BMH-21, developed together with Johns Hopkins pharmacology and molecular sciences expert James Barrow, Ph.D., to inhibit the Pol 1 enzyme.

In the latest study, the team analyzed more than 300 cancer cell lines and found that tumors with certain mutations were especially sensitive to Pol 1 inhibitors, such as BMH-21—and a new drug, called BOB-42.

These alterations are common in cancers with mismatch repair deficiency (MMRd)—including colorectal, stomach and uterine cancers—which results in copying errors going uncorrected when DNA replicates and cells divide, causing high rates of additional mutations and cancer risk.

The team tested the new drug in animal models, and patient-derived tumors containing the same key genetic markers and recorded a significantly reduced tumor growth—by up to 77%—in melanoma and colorectal cancers.

“These findings highlight a promising new path for targeting cancers, especially for patients with mismatch repair-deficient cancers that are resistant to existing therapies,” says the study’s first author, Wenjun Fan, Ph.D., research associate.

The study also suggests that changing how cancer cells splice RNA, or produce different forms of proteins, could affect how the immune system recognizes tumors. Combining immunotherapies with Pol 1 inhibitors may improve the effectiveness of immunotherapies.

“This is an entirely new conceptual framework for understanding how rRNA synthesis influences cancer cell behavior,” says Dr. Laiho, who holds patents on Pol 1 inhibitors that are managed by The Johns Hopkins University in accordance with its conflict-of-interest policies.

“Our study reveals that the ribosomal protein RPL22, typically a structural component of the ribosome, plays an unexpected dual role as a critical regulator of RNA splicing.”“Targeting this pathway could not only suppress tumor growth but also modulate tumor antigenicity and enhance responsiveness to immunotherapies.” Targeting an Enzyme Could Rewire Cancer Cells to Suppress Growth by up to 77% for Melanoma and Colorectal Tumors
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Scientists Develop Biodegradable Smart Textile–A Big Leap Forward for Eco-Friendly Wearable Technology

Flexible inkjet printed E-textile – Credit: Marzia Dulal

Wearable electronic textiles can be both sustainable and biodegradable, shows a new study.

A research team led by the University of Southampton and UWE Bristol in the UK tested a new sustainable approach for fully inkjet-printed, eco-friendly e-textiles.

Named SWEET—for Smart, Wearable, and Eco-friendly Electronic Textiles—the new ‘fabric’ was described in findings published in the journal Energy and Environmental Materials.

E-textiles are those with embedded electrical components, such as sensors, batteries or lights. They might be used in fashion, for performance sportswear, or for medical purposes as garments that monitor people’s vital signs.

Such textiles need to be durable, safe to wear and comfortable, but also, in an industry which is increasingly concerned with clothing waste, they need to be kind to the environment when no longer required.

“Integrating electrical components into conventional textiles complicates the recycling of the material because it often contains metals, such as silver, that don’t easily biodegrade,” explained Professor Nazmul Karim at the University of Southampton.

“Our eco-friendly approach for selecting sustainable materials and manufacturing overcomes this, enabling the fabric to decompose when it is disposed of.”

The team’s design has three layers, a sensing layer, a layer to interface with the sensors and a base fabric. It uses a textile called Tencel for the base, which is made from renewable wood and is biodegradable.

The active electronics in the design are made from graphene, along with a polymer called PEDOT: PSS. These conductive materials are precision inkjet-printed onto the fabric.

The research team, which included members from the universities of Exeter, Cambridge, Leeds, and Bath, tested samples of the material for continuous monitoring of heart rates. Five volunteers were connected to monitoring equipment, attached to gloves worn by the participants. Results confirmed the material can effectively and reliably measure both heart rate and temperature at the industry standard level.

Gloves with e-textile sensors monitoring heart rate – Credit: Marzia Dulal

“Achieving reliable, industry-standard monitoring with eco-friendly materials is a significant milestone,” said Dr. Shaila Afroj, an Associate Professor of Sustainable Materials from the University of Exeter and a co-author of the study. “It demonstrates that sustainability doesn’t have to come at the cost of functionality, especially in critical applications like healthcare.”

The project team then buried the e-textiles in soil to measure its biodegradable properties.

After four months, the fabric had lost 48 percent of its weight and 98 percent of its strength, suggesting relatively rapid and also effective decomposition.

Furthermore, a life cycle assessment revealed the graphene-based electrodes had up to 40 times less impact on the environment than standard electrodes.

Four strips in a variety of decomposed states, during four months of decomposition – Credit: Marzia Dulal

Marzia Dulal from UWE Bristol, the first author of the study, highlighted the environmental impact: “Our life cycle analysis shows that graphene-based e-textiles have a fraction of the environmental footprint compared to traditional electronics. This makes them a more responsible choice for industries looking to reduce their ecological impact.”

The ink-jet printing process is also a more sustainable approach for e-textile fabrications, depositing exact numbers of functional materials on textiles as needed, with almost no material waste and less use of water and energy than conventional screen printing.“These materials will become increasingly more important in our lives,” concluded Prof. Karim, who hopes to move forward with the team to design wearable garments made from SWEET, particularly in the area of early detection and prevention of heart diseases. Scientists Develop Biodegradable Smart Textile–A Big Leap Forward for Eco-Friendly Wearable Technology
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Chimps are upping their tool game, says study


WASHINGTON - "Planet of the Apes" may have been onto something.

Chimpanzees are steadily honing their tool-using skills -- a process unfolding over millennia, driven by the exchange of ideas through migrations between populations, according to a new study published Thursday in Science.

The finding in chimps -- humans' closest living relatives -- holds relevance for us too, as it supports the idea that, deep in the mists of time, our own ape ancestors leveraged social connections to improve their technologies, lead author Cassandra Gunasekaram told AFP.

Scientists have long marvelled at chimps' ability to pass down intricate behaviours, like tool use, from one generation to the next.

Yet while human civilisation has leapt from the Stone Age to the Space Age, chimpanzee "culture" -- defined as socially learned behaviours -- seemed to have remained static.

Gunasekaram, a doctoral student at the University of Zurich, set out to challenge this assumption.

She and colleagues combined genetic data tracing ancient chimpanzee migrations across Africa with observations of 15 distinct foraging behaviours across dozens of populations and the four subspecies.

These behaviours were categorised into three levels: those requiring no tools, those with simple tools, like using chewed leaves as a sponge to absorb water from tree holes, and the most complex, which involve toolsets.

One striking example of toolset use comes from Congo, where chimps use a stout stick to bore a tunnel into the ground to reach a termite nest, then modify a plant stem by chewing its tip into a brush to "fish" for termites in the tunnel they've made.

The study found that advanced tool use strongly correlated with populations connected by genetic exchanges over the last 5,000–15,000 years, suggesting such behaviours spread when groups interacted.

Areas where three subspecies overlap exhibited the most complex tool use, highlighting how cross-group connections foster cultural knowledge.

By contrast, simpler behaviours, such as foraging without tools, seemed less tied to migration and likely evolved independently in different regions.

- Foraging efficiently -

Gunasekaram said this mirrors how trading ideas and incremental innovation have been critical to human technological progress, taking us from early abacuses to modern smartphones.

"They've become so complex that one person alone could not reinvent them from scratch," she said.

But unlike humans, chimps have far fewer opportunities to encounter new individuals and ideas -- migrations occur gradually, driven by sexually mature females moving to new communities to avoid inbreeding.

Analysing ancient genetic flows helped the team overcome one of the biggest challenges in studying the evolution of chimpanzee culture: the limited window of observation, as the species has only been researched scientifically for about a century.

What's more, "Chimpanzee tools are made of sticks and stems, which are all perishable," Gunasekaram explained, making it nearly impossible to trace how their artefacts have evolved over time.

So, will chimps one day rival human ingenuity? Hardly. But given enough time, they could become more efficient foragers.

For example, some populations are already more advanced in cracking nuts with hammers and anvils made of stone , and one particularly innovative group has even invented a stabiliser for the anvil, said Gunasekaram.by Issam Ahmed Chimps are upping their tool game, says study
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Scientists Reverse Parkinson’s Symptoms in Mice: ‘We were astonished by the success’

By Anna Shvets

Groundbreaking research by the University of Sydney has identified a new brain protein involved in the development of Parkinson’s disease and a way to modify it, paving the way for future treatments for the disease.

With the aim of finding new treatments to slow or stop its progression, the research team has spent more than a decade studying the biological mechanisms underpinning the condition—which is the second most common neurological condition after dementia.

In 2017, they identified for the first time the presence of an abnormal form of a protein—called SOD1—in the brains of patients diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease.

Normally, the SOD1 protein provides protective benefits to the brain, but in Parkinson’s patients it becomes faulty, causing the protein to clump and damage brain cells.

The newest study by the same team, led by Professor Kay Double from the Brain and Mind Centre, was just published in Acta Neuropathologica Communications. It found that targeting the faulty SOD1 protein with a drug treatment using copper improved the motor function in mice.

“We hoped that by treating this malfunctioning protein, we might be able to improve the Parkinson-like symptoms in the mice we were treating – but even we were astonished by the success of the intervention,” said Professor Double in a media release.

“All the mice we treated saw a dramatic improvement in their motor skills, which is a really promising sign that it could be effective in treating people who have Parkinson disease too.

The study involved two groups of mice with Parkinson-like symptoms. One group was treated with a special copper supplement for three months, while the other received a placebo.

Throughout the study (which was partly funded by the Michael J. Fox Foundation), the mice receiving only the placebo saw a decline in their motor symptoms. The mice receiving the special copper supplement, however, did not develop movement problems.

“The results were beyond our expectations,” said Prof. Double. “They suggest, once further studies are carried out, this treatment approach could slow the progression of Parkinson’s disease in humans.”

At present there is no known cure and only limited treatments for Parkinson’s disease, which is a degenerative disorder in which dopamine-producing cells in the brain die, leading to a range of symptoms including tremors, muscle stiffness, slow movement and impaired balance.

But researchers hope understanding the causes of the disease will lead to improved treatments.

“As our understanding of Parkinson’s disease grows, we are finding that there are many factors contributing to its development and progression in humans – and faulty forms of the SOD1 protein is likely one of them.

“Just as researchers found with HIV, Parkinson’s disease is a complex condition that likely requires multiple interventions. A single treatment may have a small effect when used alone but, when combined with other interventions, contributes to a significant overall improvement in health.”The researchers’ next step is to identify the best approach to targeting the faulty SOD1 protein in a clinical trial, which could be the start of a new therapy to slow the development of Parkinson’s disease. Scientists Reverse Parkinson’s Symptoms in Mice: ‘We were astonished by the success’
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Australian scientists discover proteins that could help fight cancer, slow ageing


New Delhi, (IANS): A team of Australian scientists has identified a group of proteins that could transform approaches to treating cancer and age-related diseases.

Researchers at the Children's Medical Research Institute (CMRI) in Sydney discovered that these proteins play a crucial role in controlling telomerase -- an enzyme responsible for protecting DNA during cell division, Xinhua news agency reported.

The breakthrough clarifies how telomerase both supports healthy ageing and fuels cancer cell growth, highlighting new possibilities for treatments that slow ageing or stop cancer by targeting these newly identified proteins, the team said.

Telomerase helps maintain the ends of chromosomes, known as telomeres, which are vital for genetic stability.

Telomerase adds DNA to the ends of chromosomes (telomeres) to protect them from damage.

While telomerase is essential for the health of stem cells and certain immune cells, cancer cells often exploit this enzyme to grow uncontrollably.

CMRI Researchers have now identified a new set of proteins that play a vital role in controlling this enzyme.

In the paper published in the journal Nature Communications, the team highlighted that three proteins -- NONO, SFPQ, and PSPC1 -- guide telomerase to chromosome ends; disrupting them in cancer cells prevents telomere maintenance, potentially stopping cancer cell growth.

"Our findings show that these proteins act like molecular traffic controllers, making sure telomerase reaches the right destination inside the cell," said Alexander Sobinoff, the lead author of the study.

"Without these proteins, telomerase can't properly maintain telomeres, a finding which has significant implications for healthy aging and cancer progression," Sobinoff added.Hilda Pickett, head of CMRI's Telomere Length Regulation Unit and the study's senior author, noted that understanding how telomerase is controlled opens new possibilities for developing treatments targeting cancer, ageing, and genetic disorders linked to telomere dysfunction. Australian scientists discover proteins that could help fight cancer, slow ageing | MorungExpress | morungexpress.com
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