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Human Pilot Study Results for Senolytics Published

The results from a human pilot study that focused on treating idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis with senescent cell-clearing drugs has been published. The drugs target aged and damaged cells, which are thought to be a reason we age and get sick, and remove them from the body.

Senescent cells and aging

As we age, increasing numbers of our cells become dysfunctional, entering into a state known as senescence. Senescent cells no longer divide or support the tissues and organs of which they are part; instead, they secrete a range of harmful inflammatory chemical signals, which are collectively known as the senescence-associated secretory phenotype (SASP).

Genetic testing is the future of healthcare, but many experts say companies like 23andMe are doing more harm than good

  • Genetic testing will be a cornerstone of healthcare in 2019, experts say.
  • There are two ways to do the testing: getting a costly but complete genetic workup through a doctor or opting for a cheaper at-home test like those sold by 23andMe.
  • Clinicians and advocates criticize the at-home approach, which they say prioritizes convenience over privacy and long-term health.
  • But entrepreneurs counter that the at-home approach lets more people access information.
  • Which method will win out, and at what cost?

As millions of Americans sat down to Thanksgiving dinner, the biomedical researcher James Hazel sent out a stark warning about the genetic-testing kits that he surmised would be a hot topic of conversation.

Most of them are neither safe nor private.


250 More Hospitals Just Joined in on a Plan to Make Their Own Drugs And The Effort Could Upend The Generic Pharma Business

  • A group of hospitals have built a nonprofit generic drugmaker called Civica Rx.
  • On Monday, another 12 health systems joined the organization.
  • The hope is to make generic drugs that are in shortage or have artificially high prices based on what hospitals need.

Hospitals have a creative plan to tackle the high price and frequent shortages of generic drugs.

The nonprofit company, dubbed Civica Rx, was first announced in early 2018, and has gained a lot of attention from other hospitals around the US who are interested in being a part of the venture.

Participate in Citizen Science Day 2019

Citizen Science DayWith support from the National Network of Libraries of Medicine, the School for the Future of Innovation in Society at Arizona State University and SciStarter invite libraries to be part of Citizen Science Day on April 13. Now in its third year, Citizen Science Day is expanding to include meetups and events with a special focus on supporting libraries to involve their communities in authentic science projects in need of their help. The signature event this year will be the “Stall Catchers Megathon” by the Human Computation Institute. Complete the registration form to sign up.

Amid antibiotic failures, scientists search for answers in ancient remedies

In recent years, antibiotic-resistant bacteria has become such a concern that the World Health Organization has cautioned of a “post-antibiotic era,” which may be here soon. According to the CDC, in America alone around 2 million people are infected with antibiotic-resistant infections annually and in less developed countries it is quickly becoming one of the greatest concerns in public health.

In an urgent search for new natural antibiotics, scientists are examining ancient remedies in order to determine what made them effective. One such remedy comes from the Boho Highlands of Northern Ireland, where ancient Irish Druids utilized natural antibiotics from the soil. Inverse reports the findings of these scientists, published in Frontiers in Microbiology:

[The] alkaline soil sampled from the Sacred Heart Church in the town of Toneel North contains a new strain of bacteria they named Streptomyches sp. myrophorea. Testing revealed that this strain inhibited the growth of four of the six multi-resistant pathogens identified by the WHO as “high priority pathogens.”

Inhalable RNA could breathe new life into lung cancer treatments

In the body, messenger RNA (mRNA) molecules are in charge of instructing cells to produce specific proteins, and hijacking this natural system is emerging as a promising new way to treat a wide variety of illnesses. Now, researchers at MIT have developed an inhalable mRNA aerosol that can take the molecules directly to the lungs, as a potential new treatment for cystic fibrosis or lung cancer.

Scientists Fight Back Against Deadliest Animal on Earth Using “Gene Drives”

What is the deadliest animal on earth? It’s a question that brings to mind fearsome lions, tigers, sharks, and crocodiles. But the answer is an animal that is no more than 1 centimeter long.

A few mosquito species, out of the thousands that populate different environments, are the deadliest animals on earth. Anopheles mosquitoes alone, transmit malaria through their bite and annually infect more than 200 million people, and are responsible for 400,000 deaths per year, of which 70 percent are children under the age of 5.

Other mosquito species also transmit diseases — dengue, West Nile, and Zika — through their bite.


Can Cancer Care Be Industrialized? Vanderbilt And GE Are Teaming Up To Find Out

By the time he was diagnosed with metastatic melanoma, Luke Simons, now 83, had already watched his wife and his longtime business partner struggle with cancer. His wife had chemo for her breast cancer 20 years ago. His business partner with multiple myeloma died 5 years ago. “I was obviously aware of what it could do,” he says of cancer. And of chemo, “my God, that can be just horrible what that can do to you.”

As soon as he got the diagnosis, Simons’ doctor at Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center (where his wife is on the board) told him about how president Jimmy Carter’s metastatic melanoma had just become undetectable after taking Merck’s new drug Keytruda, which enables a person’s immune system to recognize and attack cancer cells. The doctor gave Simons the option of Keytruda, and he took it.

After his first dose, Simons developed pneumonitis, which he aptly describes as a “fever in my lungs,” that made his doctor question whether to continue the treatment. He did, and the cancer that had spread to Simons’ brain and pancreas is not showing up on scans, three years later.

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