In the electronic age, "mechanical" is something of a synonym for outdated. But at a recent talk at the National Institutes of Health, the National Science Foundation director, Subra Suresh, gave examples of how studying the mechanical properties of blood cells can lead to new insights into diseases, as well as their treatments.

These days, the emergence of resistance to targeted therapies, with the result that such targeted therapies often produce remissions that are spectacular but ultimately short lived, are in the headlines.

The typical headache for drug developers is a drug that won't cross the blood-brain barrier. But researchers from the National Institutes of Health and Jenrin Discovery Inc. hope to find success by preventing that crossing.

Myotonic dystrophy leads to muscle weakness – but also to cardiac arrhythmias, diabetes and cognitive disorders. In fact, Charles Thornton told BioWorld Today, "dystrophy is a bit of misnomer" for the disorder, which he considers closest to a neurodegenerative disease.

Just in recent weeks, beta-amyloid has gotten another round of bad press, with several studies providing fresh support for the idea that amyloids are a cause of Alzheimer's disease.

Scientists have reported that through exome sequencing, they have been able to identify changes that characterize each of the four recognized subtypes of the brain cancer medulloblastoma.

Until quite recently, if you talked about a cure, AIDS researchers assumed you were either a fool or an ACT UP activist. Now, three patients appear to have been cured.

WASHINGTON – HIV medications are somewhat unusual in that there is enough of a demand for them in the developed world to make developing such medications worth the biopharma industry's while. But the majority of the people who need them are not able to pay their asking price in the West – or rather, the national health systems of the low and middle-income countries (LIMCs) they call home are not able to afford the price tag.

WASHINGTON – As researchers continue to look for treatments and cures, one place where they are looking is in those rare patients who are naturally able to deal with HIV. Those patients fall into several groups.

WASHINGTON – At the International AIDS conference, reminders that HIV is not just a life-threatening infection, but also a social challenge, are constant.