In a study published in Nature Communications, scientists discovered a key to how parasites protect themselves from inflammation. Using intestinal worms to treat autoimmune disorders and inflammatory diseases (“helminthic therapy”) has already received a lot of research but the results have been inconsistent. Kateřina Jirků from the Institute of Parasitology at the Czech Academy of…
Read MoreResearchers at Mass General Brigham and Dana-Farber Cancer Institute at Boston Massachusetts have developed a virus that boosts the immune system to fight against brain cancer. The virus was modified from a Herpes simplex virus by E. Antonio Chiocca, MD, PhD so as to only replicate inside cells of glioblastoma (the most common type of…
Read MoreResearchers at Washington University in St Louis are using hookworms to deliver medicine. Their study was published in Nature Communications and was funded by the U.S. Department of Defense to develop a treatment for tetrodotoxin. The senior author of this study is Makedonka Mitreva. Using CRISPR the researchers inserted a s16-HuScFv antibody into the gene…
Read MoreThe REPhRAME project has been awarded €15 million through the European research and innovation program Horizon Europe to combat recurrent urinary tract infections using viruses. The project is in partnership with multiple universities and medical centers across Europe. Professor Dr. Maria J.G.T. Vehreschild, Head of Infectious Diseases at Universitätsmedizin Frankfurt is the overall coordinator of…
Read MoreAs part of a research study, therapy dogs will be visiting an Edmonton long term care home. Brittany DeGraves, a nursing researcher from the University of Alberta, is studying how animal-assisted programs can help both residents and staff at long-term care facilities. In a feasibility study published in BMC Geriatrics, DeGraves interviewed 14 long-term care…
Read MoreIn a study published in the journal Cell, researchers describe how gut bacteria can predict melanoma recurrence risk. Uysuk, Hayes and others at NYU’s Department of Population Health studied 674 patients around the world in a trial called CheckMate 915. Patients from North America, Eastern Europe, Western Europe, Australia, and elsewhere submitted stool samples following…
Read MoreA research team from the Japan Advanced Institute of Science and Technology has discovered bacteria from frogs, newts, and lizards possessing anticancer effects. Through isolating, culturing, and directly administering individual bacterial strains the team was able to identify a microbe that can attack tumors. The research team, led by Prof. Eijiro Miyako, isolated 45 bacterial…
Read MoreA Japanese research team has developed a bacterial therapy that destroys cancer. The research team led by Professor Eijiro Miyako at the Japan Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, in collaboration with Daiichi Sankyo Co., Ltd. and the University of Tsukuba, used a bacteria duo named “AUN” to fight cancer. The two bacterial species, Proteus…
Read MoreIn a study recently published in Academia Biology, researchers Gumpeny Sridhar, Srinivas Botta, and Gumpeny Lakshmi explored how helminths affect the development of insulin resistance and type two diabetes. The research team highlighted how individuals with prior schistosomiasis (a disease caused by parasitic worms called schistosomes) have lower rates of diabetes, insulin resistance, and metabolic…
Read MoreA team of researchers from Shandong University in Qingdao, China have turned bacteria into tumor hunters that kill cancer, at least in the laboratory. The study was published in the scientific journal PLOS Biology. Chenghao Ma and colleagues modified the probiotic strain Escherichia coli Nissle 1917 (EcN) to produce Romidepsin (FK228). Romidepsin is an FDA-approved…
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