Science

Pharma industry faces long haul to get return on investment from AI

Fri, 24 Apr 2026 09:00:00 -0400

Artificial intelligence tools are springing up at multiple points along drug discovery and development, but despite the hype, as yet there is minimal return on investment (ROI). “I would say a lot of companies sort of get this big excitement about AI, but then when you look at how much ROI they get, it’s actually very little. And that’s because the workflow and the process, end-to-end, isn’t mapped to really understand where AI can truly make an impact,” said Laura Matz, chief science and technology officer at Merck KGaA.

Pharma industry faces long haul to get return on investment from AI

Thu, 23 Apr 2026 12:00:00 -0400

AI opens the way to systematic risk assessment of zoonotic potential of viruses

Wed, 22 Apr 2026 11:00:00 -0400

Researchers in the U.K. have developed an AI-driven method of identifying viruses in wild animals with the potential to spillover into humans. The technique makes it possible to use the genome sequences of the spike proteins by which viruses enter host cells to assess the potential to infect humans without having to isolate an individual virus and tests its infectivity in the lab.

Kaleidoscope-like ‘engineered disorder’ expands imaging potential

Tue, 21 Apr 2026 09:00:00 -0400

A new metasurface design strategy that replaces rigid order with “engineered disorder” could significantly increase how many optical functions can be integrated into a single ultra-thin device without increasing size or complexity, according to a study published in Nature Communications. The study challenges a longstanding assumption in optical engineering that highly ordered, periodic structures are required to precisely control light.

At AACR: Epigenetic fingerprints in metastases track tumor origin

Tue, 21 Apr 2026 09:00:00 -0400

When a tumor migrates and colonizes another tissue or organ, it can be identified as a metastasis, but its origin is not always clear. Now, a study based on machine learning has identified DNA-methylation patterns that reveal the type of tissue a cancer comes from when the primary tumor cannot be found. This technique could help guide more specific treatments for patients with cancers of unknown primary, who today often receive broad, nontargeted chemotherapy.

Whole genome sequencing unveils blood cancer trajectory

Mon, 20 Apr 2026 12:00:00 -0400

A new study tracking the genomic evolution of chronic myeloproliferative neoplasms has shown that progression to myelofibrosis or acute myeloid leukemia is encoded in mutations that occur years before the transformation is clinically evident.

Sex differences shape gene activity across the human brain

Fri, 17 Apr 2026 09:00:00 -0400

Genes that are switched on or off in the human brain differ between men and women. Moreover, these differences are not uniform. They vary across cortical regions and cell types. Scientists at the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) and the National Institute on Aging (NIA) used single-cell sequencing and unveiled distinct gene expression patterns regulated by hormones and sex chromosomes. This detailed map of the brain’s molecular biology shows how women and men switch on and off more than 3,000 brain genes differently and expands the catalogue of X chromosome genes that escape inactivation.

Kaleidoscope-like ‘engineered disorder’ expands imaging potential

Thu, 16 Apr 2026 09:00:00 -0400

Super-enhancers drive super-selective tumor killing

Tue, 14 Apr 2026 09:00:00 -0400

Researchers at the University of Edinburgh are pioneering a cancer therapy that destroys tumors from within while reawakening the immune system, using synthetic super-enhancers (SSEs) to drive targeted killing and durable protection against recurrence. The work builds on a decade of research focused on how glioblastoma stem cells (GSCs) sustain their aggressive cancer identity.

GLP-1R drug response tied to variants in target genes

Mon, 13 Apr 2026 09:00:00 -0400

The development of glucagon-like peptide 1 receptor (GLP-1R) agonists, such as semaglutide and tirzepatide, has been a game changer in the clinical management of overweight and obesity, but there is interpersonal variability in efficacy of these medications for weight loss, as well as in the incidence of undesired side effects. Investigators from the 23andMe Research Institute have shed some light on how variations in the GLP-1R and GIP receptor (GIPR) genes impact their effectiveness and the occurrence of side effects.

Smart contact lens delivers adaptative glaucoma therapy

Thu, 09 Apr 2026 09:00:00 -0400

A smart polymer contact lens measures intraocular pressure (IOP) in real time and automatically releases medication into the eye when IOP goes beyond a critical limit. This technological advance, developed by scientists at the Terasaki Institute for Biomedical Innovation (TIBI), could enable personalized glaucoma therapy, avoiding poor patient adherence to their prescribed regimen and eliminating the need for bulky electronic devices. Animal models tolerate it well and, although the load is concentrated at the edges of the lens, it is still unknown how it could affect visual acuity.

Smart contact lens delivers adaptative glaucoma therapy

Wed, 08 Apr 2026 12:00:00 -0400

Hematopoietic stem cell research points to leukemia’s early roots

Tue, 07 Apr 2026 11:00:00 -0400

Hematopoietic stem cell research over the past century has shown that leukemia may be driven by an invisible hand of inflammation. The bone marrow and inflammation, then, may hold the keys to preventing blood cancers, according to John E. Dick’s plenary session at the 2026 Korean Society of Hematology International Conference, held March 26, 2026.

Hematopoietic stem cell research points to leukemia’s early roots

Thu, 02 Apr 2026 09:00:00 -0400

Small-molecule TREM2 agonist advances to treat Alzheimer’s

Fri, 27 Mar 2026 12:00:00 -0400

Microglia play a central role in the neuroinflammation associated with Alzheimer’s disease (AD). At the 20th International Conference on Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s Diseases (AD/PD), scientists focused on TREM2, a microglial receptor that regulates immune responses, exploring new ways to address neuroinflammation.

Somatic genomics pioneer Quotient signs $2.2B IBD deal with Merck

Tue, 24 Mar 2026 12:00:00 -0400

For a company founded only four years ago, Quotient Therapeutics Inc. entered its third major deal, this time with Merck & Co. Inc. to find novel drug targets for inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) using its somatic genomics platform technology.

Emerging therapeutic strategies for Parkinson’s at ADPD 2026

Mon, 23 Mar 2026 09:00:00 -0400

Parkinson’s disease (PD) involves the progressive loss of dopaminergic neurons, particularly in the substantia nigra. This neurodegeneration is linked to the abnormal accumulation of α-synuclein, a protein that forms toxic aggregates and spreads between cells, damaging them. At the 20th International Conference on Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s Diseases (AD/PD), held from March 17 to 21, 2026, in Copenhagen, several strategies were presented that aim to modify the course of the disease and offer real alternatives to purely symptomatic treatments.

Lab-grown pig implant paves way to treat esophageal atresia

Fri, 20 Mar 2026 12:00:00 -0400

Scientists at Great Ormond Street Children’s Hospital in London have reported a new advance for tissue engineered grafts in a lab-grown esophagus that has sufficient muscle regeneration to coordinate peristalsis, enabling the recipient to swallow. The aim is to generate grafts that can be used to treat babies born with the rare congenital condition esophageal atresia, in which the esophagus fails to connect to the stomach, usually forming a close pouch instead.

ADPD 2026: Three inflection points to target Alzheimer’s disease

Fri, 20 Mar 2026 09:00:00 -0400

A new way of understanding Alzheimer’s disease, based on biological inflection points that mark decisive moments in the progression of the disorder, could change how new drugs are developed to achieve more effective therapies. This new perspective could rethink strategies that depend not so much on the target itself, but on the precise moment at which it is addressed.

ADPD 2026: Can we prevent dementia? Scientists quantify it

Wed, 18 Mar 2026 09:00:00 -0400

Neurodegenerative disease and cognitive decline cannot be explained by a single process. Beta-amyloid plaques, hyperphosphorylated tau, alpha-synuclein, activated microglia and astrocytes, altered receptors such as TREM2, mitochondrial dysfunction, epigenetic changes and cerebrovascular alterations all seem to contribute to the development of dementia in Alzheimer’s disease (AD). While scientists attempt to address each of these elements, prevention is growing as a primary goal.

Digital model simulates the first fully functioning living cell

Mon, 16 Mar 2026 09:00:00 -0400

Entering a cell and watching its entire inner machinery at work, how DNA is copied, how proteins are assembled, or how it splits in two, has been, for decades, an impossible dream. Now, scientists at the University of Illinois have recreated everything that happens inside a cell at molecular scale in an unprecedented computational model. Syn3A is the first 4D digital cell, capable of combining time and space to simultaneously represent all the internal processes that drive the life cycle of a minimal prokaryotic organism.

Precision psychiatry beyond, or before, biomarkers

Fri, 13 Mar 2026 09:00:00 -0400

There is broad agreement that psychiatric diagnoses in their current form are not reflective of any underlying biology, and that this is one of the things hampering psychiatric drug development. “We are still fully reliant on descriptive diagnoses that yield heterogeneous patient cohorts,” Steve Hyman told the audience at the European Congress of Neuropsychopharmacology (ECNP) Roadmap Meeting on Precision Psychiatry in Amsterdam in January.

Resident macrophages reveal the immune side of glaucoma

Thu, 12 Mar 2026 12:00:00 -0400

Scientists at Duke University have uncovered how macrophages help maintain intraocular pressure and have found that a specific type, resident macrophages, is essential for proper drainage of intraocular fluid. When these cells are removed, drainage becomes impaired and intraocular pressure rises, contributing to the development of glaucoma.

Three pediatric brain cancer types share a pineal gland origin

Wed, 11 Mar 2026 12:00:00 -0400

Similarities among three pediatric brain tumors that arise in different structures of the CNS – pineoblastoma, retinoblastoma and Group 3 medulloblastoma – have been linked to their shared origin during pineal gland development. Scientists at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital have identified the molecular signatures that drive these tumors from pinealocyte progenitor cells that conserve a common differentiation program, providing a shared therapeutic target for these three cancer types.

Uterus transplants show how immune cells shape pregnancy outcomes

Wed, 11 Mar 2026 12:00:00 -0400

A study involving a small cohort of women who have received womb transplants has cast fresh light on how the immune system shapes pregnancy outcomes, opening up new avenues of research into implantation failure, preeclampsia and preterm birth.

Synthetic peptide and CAR-A each clear amyloid-β in Alzheimer’s

Tue, 10 Mar 2026 09:00:00 -0400

If one could sweep the brain clean and send the toxic substances that drive neurodegeneration to the recycling bin, perhaps one could treat Alzheimer’s disease. Researchers at the Chinese Academy of Sciences propose a new therapeutic strategy that uses synthetic peptides that bind to amyloid-β (Aβ) and direct it toward lysosomes. In addition, researchers at the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have genetically modified astrocytes in vivo to express chimeric antigen receptors (CARs) that recognize and phagocytose Aβ plaques.

Study ties gut and saliva microbes to peanut allergy defense

Mon, 09 Mar 2026 09:00:00 -0400

In an article published in Cell Host & Microbe on March 3, 2026, researchers at McMaster University in Canada and at the Hospital Universitario de La Princesa in Spain have shed some light on the impact of microbiota on peanut-driven allergy and anaphylaxis.

Brain’s hidden tau-clearing pathway uncovered

Fri, 06 Mar 2026 11:00:00 -0500

Researchers at INSERM and collaborators have identified hypothalamic tanycytes as mediators of tau clearance and shown that their structural and genetic disruption may drive Alzheimer’s disease pathology.

Study: Weight regain after GLP-1s plateaus below starting weight

Thu, 05 Mar 2026 12:00:00 -0500

A new study has reinforced that GLP-1 receptor agonists are unlikely to produce durable weight loss, but indicates that rather than returning to the starting weight, individual weight gain will plateau at 75.5% of the weight lost.

Alternative splicing strategy shows promise for Rett syndrome

Wed, 04 Mar 2026 07:00:00 -0500

A therapeutic strategy based on alternative splicing of the MECP2 gene could restore protein levels in Rett syndrome, a neurological disorder caused by mutations in that gene. Scientists at Baylor College of Medicine have successfully tested this approach both in vitro in neurons from Rett patients that produce some functional protein, correcting the altered gene expression and improving neuronal functions, and in vivo in mice.