Researchers at University of Limerick in Ireland have developed a new method of growing organic crystals that can be used for energy-harvesting applications.

The energy that is being harvested as part of this research is being generated by squeezing amino acid molecules, the building blocks of proteins that exist in the human body.

Piezoelectricity, which translates from Greek to mean pressing electricity, usually found in ceramics or polymers, is also present in human biomolecules.

The risk for thrombosis on equipment within coronary arteries during PCI – and the potential dangerous complications – has led to nearly 50 years of targeted research on the mechanisms of normal and pathologic thrombosis. This research has in turn led to the development of blood-thinning drug treatments to prevent thrombosis during and after PCI. However, the blood thinning (‘anti-thrombotic’) therapies can also lead to life-threatening excessive bleeding. Research to identify the optimal balance of anti-thrombotic drugs that minimises both pathologic thrombosis and excessive bleeding continues through today.

Dr Scott Denardo at Duke University Medical Center in the USA has modelled the behaviour of platelets inside blood vessels and near medical device surfaces. Some of his observations are just now entering the contemporary understanding of thrombosis. Denardo believes that applying these observations can refine existing anti-thrombotic therapies to improve their safety (less bleeding) while not compromising their effectiveness (preventing thrombosis on PCI equipment, including stents).

Eradivir, a preclinical biotech company, has developed a patent-pending antiviral therapeutic that reduces lung viral loads of advanced-stage influenza in preclinical studies quicker and more effectively than currently available therapies.

A single intranasal dose of EV25, a bispecific small molecule developed by Eradivir, acts faster than the current standard of care, eliminating the detectable virus within 24 hours. EV25 also has a window of efficacy of 96 hours postinfection, which is broader than the current standard of care.

A research paper titled “Targeted recruitment of immune effector cells for rapid eradication of influenza virus infections” has been published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.