Research & University News

Scientists at the Technische Universität Mϋnchen have found that targeting the Malt1 protease as a way of treating lymphoma could do as much harm as good.

Scientists at the University of Edinburgh have discovered a mechanism that permits the body to distinguish between its own RNA and RNA from foreign organisms. Errors in the mechanism are thought to be a cause of autoimmune diseases.

ImevaX GmbH, a 2014 spin-out of the Technische Universität Mϋnchen (TUM) in Germany, has completed a €7.5 million Series A financing round to advance a candidate vaccine against Helicobacter pylori,  a major cause of stomach ulcers.

Data showing that robust human pancreatic beta cells can be produced in vitro is being described as a breakthrough for modern science and specifically for the future treatment of Type 1 diabetes.

A project aimed at sequencing the genomes of patients in the UK with cancer and rare, genetic disorders has moved a step closer towards implementation with the selection of a group of potential commercial suppliers of gene analysis services.

A scientist at University College London and two from Norway have been awarded the 2014 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for their work in describing how the brain operates a positioning system enabling spatial navigation.

A Phase 3 study of a new drug regime for tuberculosis, which involved replacing the antibiotic moxifloxacin for one of two other drugs, failed to shorten the treatment time for the disease from six to four months. But the new regime was safe, according to the Global Alliance for TB Drug Development.

A protein that plays a key role in the blood stage of the malaria parasite has been described by scientists from the University of Oxford, the Jenner Institute and the Denmark-based contract research organisation Expres2ion Biotechnologies. The findings were published online in the journal Nature.

Scancell Holdings Plc said that a study in animals which combined its cancer vaccine SCIB1 with a checkpoint inhibitor showed enhanced tumour destruction and longer survival times, supporting the hypothesis that the best outcomes in humans may be from combination therapy.

Scientists from the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute have for the first time located single-letter changes in the DNA code of Streptococcus pneumoniae which enable the bacterium to evade treatment with antibiotics. The discovery was made using a genome-wide association study.