Research & University News

Nobel prize awarded for Immune discovery

Country
Sweden

The 2025 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine has been awarded jointly to Mary E. Brunkow, Fred Ramsdell, and Shimon Sakaguchi for their discoveries concerning peripheral immune tolerance, a breakthrough that has transformed understanding of how the immune system avoids attacking the body’s own tissues.

Their pioneering research uncovered the identity and genetic control of regulatory T cells, the so-called “security guards” of the immune system that prevent autoimmune attack.

Italian cancer collaboration

Country
Italy

An Italian university, hospital, and biotech and diagnostic companies, have joined forces to develop new treatments for lung cancer patients targeting the human epidermal growth factor receptor 3 (HER3). The collaboration is expected to identify HER3-positive circulating tumour cells with the goal of developing targeted therapies for the disease. It includes the Sant’Andrea Hospital in Rome, the Department of Clinical and Molecular Medicine at Sapienza University, also in Rome, the biotech company Takis Srl, and the diagnostics company Tethis SpA.

EU announces science awards

Country
Belgium

Scientists across 25 countries representing 51 different nationalities have been awarded €761 million from the European Union to support original research in the physical and life sciences, social sciences and the humanities. The awards were announced on 4 September by the European Research Council, a public body established by the European Commission in 2007. The programme falls under Horizon Europe, the European Union’s seven-year programme for research and development.

AlphaGenome is launched

Country
United Kingdom

DeepMind Technologies Ltd, also known as Google DeepMind, has unveiled a new artificial intelligence tool that has demonstrated an ability to predict how mutations in human DNA sequences can impact the processes that regulate genes. The tool was described for the first time in the 25 June edition of Nature. Google DeepMind is also the developer of AlphaFold, the AI system for predicting the three dimensional structures of proteins.

Understanding human ageing

Country
United Kingdom

A destructive cellular process long dismissed as the end of the biological road may in fact be central to the onset of human ageing and chronic disease, according to a new paper published in Nature Oncogene. The paper - co-authored by a global consortium of clinicians and scientists, including teams from LinkGevity, Mayo Clinic, Mass General Brigham, the European Space Agency, and University College London - argues that necrosis, a chaotic form of cell death, plays an active and targetable role in age-related degeneration. 

Liraglutide said to have impact on migraine

Country
Finland

Liraglutide, a glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) receptor agonist approved to treat both obesity and  type 2 diabetes, has shown effectiveness as a potential medicine for chronic migraine, according to a study presented at the European Academy of Neurology Congress on 21 June. Researchers at the University of Naples Federico II reported that liraglutide, administered to 26 adults with obesity and migraine, was able to significantly reduce episodes of migraine headache over a period of 12 weeks. At the same time, participants only registered slight decreases in body mass index (BMI).

First successful in vivo base editing

Country
United States

CRISPR base editing has delivered a landmark n-of-1 gene therapy for an infant with carbamoyl phosphate synthetase 1 (CPS1) deficiency, in a clinical milestone that may redefine how rare genetic diseases are treated. CPS1 deficiency is a mitochondrial disorder caused by a loss-of-function mutation in the CPS1 gene that impairs the urea cycle and leads to life-threatening hyperammonaemia.

Inhaled biologic for IPF

Country
Germany

A digital twin lung simulation technology, Twinhale, has been used for the first time in idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) in a groundbreaking new study. The study by Munich, Germany-based company Ebenbuild, supports the development of a novel inhaled anti-CCN2 (formerly called CTGF) biologic, PRS-220, developed by Pieris Pharmaceuticals - now Pavella Therapeutics Inc.

New finding on antimicrobial resistance

Country
Israel

A study from the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel has revealed an unexpected immune function of proteasomes, the cellular machinery primarily known for protein degradation. The research, published in Nature on 5 March, demonstrates that proteasomes play a direct role in innate immunity by generating antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) that combat bacterial infections. This discovery not only deepens our understanding of cellular defence mechanisms but also opens new avenues for addressing antibiotic resistance.

A novel approach for coeliac disease

Country
Switzerland

AMYRA Biotech AG, a Basel, Switzerland-based company working in digestive health innovation, has published a peer-reviewed literature review in Alimentary Pharmacology & Therapeutics supporting a novel approach to enzyme therapy for coeliac disease. The study underscores the critical role of the intestinal brush border membrane (BBM) in protein digestion and explores the potential benefits of supplementing exopeptidase activity in affected patients.