A group of researchers including a Concordia Ph.D. student have developed a new method of bioprinting adult neuron cells. They’re using a new laser-assisted technology that maintains high levels of cell viability and functionality. Ph.D. candidate and 2020-21 Public Scholar Hamid Orimi and his co-authors present the feasibility of a…
Novel antibody drug wakes up the body’s defense system in advanced-stage cancer
Researchers at the University of Turku, Finland, showed that the antibody treatment reactivates the immune defense in patients with advanced-stage cancer. The treatment alters the function of the body’s phagocytes and facilitates extensive activation of the immune system. The immune defense is the body’s own defense system equipped to combat…
A novel defense mechanism for SARS-CoV-2 discovered
Scientists from Hokkaido University have discovered a novel defensive response to SARS-CoV-2 that involves the viral pattern recognition receptor RIG-I. Upregulating expression of this protein could strengthen the immune response in COPD patients. In the 18 months since the first report of COVID-19 and the spread of the pandemic, there…
Promising results from first-in-humans study of a novel PET radiopharmaceutical
The preliminary trial results of a novel radiopharmaceutical for PET imaging of inflammation developed at the University of Turku, Finland, have been published. The compound, which targets the vascular adhesion protein 1 (VAP-1) that regulates inflammatory cell traffic, is the first radiopharmaceutical that has been developed completely in Finland and…
Novel diabetes subgroups show differences in biomarkers of inflammation
Chronic inflammation is increasingly a focus of research. A recent study has now identified differences in indicators of inflammation between novel diabetes subgroups. But what does this mean for the future? Symptoms that increase with age, such as cardiovascular disease, kidney damage or dementia, are common consequences of type 2…
Study provides novel platform to study how SARS-CoV-2 affects the gut
How could studying gastrointestinal cells help the fight against COVD-19, which is a respiratory disease? According to a team led by Gustavo Mostoslavsky, MD, Ph.D., at the BU/BMC Center for Regenerative Medicine (CReM) and Elke Mühlberger, Ph.D., from the National Emerging Infectious Diseases Laboratories (NEIDL) at Boston University, testing how…
Novel ‘hydrogel’ carriers for anti-cancer drugs offer new hope for cancer treatment
Cancer therapy in recent times relies on the use of several drugs derived from biological sources including different bacteria and viruses, among others. However, these bio-based drugs get easily degraded and therefore inactivated on administration into the body. Thus, effective delivery to and release of these drugs at target tumor…
Novel biomarker for glucocorticoids could help tailor treatments
Researchers have uncovered pathways involved in the body’s response to glucocorticoid treatments and identified a novel biomarker that could be used to monitor how these drugs work in patients, according to a clinical study published today in eLife. A more reliable indicator of an individual’s response to glucocorticoid drugs could…
Hope for children with rare heart condition: Novel stem cell therapy to save the day
Dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM) is a condition caused by the weakening of the heart muscle, affecting the ventricles (chambers in the heart that push blood around the body as it contracts). If allowed to progress unchecked, DCM can lead to heart failure and death, especially in children. The only cure, at…
Novel MRI contrast agent sidesteps toxic effects of current products
Adding a contrast-enhancing agent to magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) significantly improves image quality and allows radiologists who interpret MRI scans to pick up subtle anatomic details and abnormalities that might otherwise be missed. But this important diagnostic tool is often denied to patients with chronic kidney disease because all commercially…
Cancer specialist demonstrates safety of novel agent
A novel therapy designed to help stimulate the body’s immune system response against cancer appears to be safe to use as alone or in combination with immune checkpoint inhibitors, according to an early phase clinical trial led by Martin Gutierrez, M.D., chief medical oncologist of the thoracic division at Hackensack…