EurekAlert! News by Subject: Biology - News by Subject: Biology

Biology

Updates every hour. Last Updated: 2-Jan-2026 11:11 ET (2-Jan-2026 16:11 GMT/UTC)

8-Oct-2025

Abel awarded $1.7m for cell-free biomanufacturing research

University of Tennessee at Knoxville
Grant and Award Announcement

Steve Abel, associate professor at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, uses computational tools to study molecular interactions in cell biology. Through NSF’s CFIRE initiative, he collaborates on two major projects: engineering liquid phase separation for enzyme reactions and creating modular cell-free biomanufacturing networks. His work integrates mathematical modeling to optimize complex biomanufacturing processes.

8-Oct-2025

How blood vessels influence brain development

Goethe University Frankfurt
Grant and Award Announcement

Blood vessels are more than just pathways for oxygen and nutrients; they also host communicative processes that guide brain development and sustain its function. These vascular-neuronal interfaces are at the core of new research led by Prof. Amparo Acker-Palmer, which will receive €1.25 million as a German Research Foundation (DFG) Koselleck Project.

Funder: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft

8-Oct-2025

The talking dog dream: what science says about it

Eötvös Loránd University
Peer-Reviewed Publication

A new scientific review tackles an age-old question: could dogs ever learn to talk? While barking out full sentences might sound like science fiction, researchers are taking a closer look at the biological and technological possibilities behind enhancing canine communication.

Journal: Biologia Futura

8-Oct-2025

Engineered bacterial therapy activates immune response in cancer preclinical studies

Impact Journals LLC
Peer-Reviewed Publication

BUFFALO, NY – October 8, 2025 – A new research paper was published in Volume 16 of Oncotarget on October 6, 2025, titled “ACTM-838, a novel systemically delivered bacterial immunotherapy that enriches in solid tumors and delivers IL-15/IL-15Rα and STING payloads to engage innate and adaptive immunity in the TME and enable a durable anti-tumor immune response.”

Journal: Oncotarget

8-Oct-2025

Using alcohol dehydrogenases for the clean synthesis of amides and thioesters

Universiteit van Amsterdam
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Researchers at the Biocatalysis group led by Dr Francesco Mutti at the Van ‘t Hoff Institute for Molecular Sciences (University of Amsterdam) have developed a novel use of alcohol dehydrogenase (ADH) enzymes. In an article designated as VIP (very important paper) in Angewandte Chemie, they describe how ADHs can forge direct links between alcohols and amines or thiols. The result is a clean synthesis of a variety of amides and thioesters. These are highly valuable functional compounds in many industrial synthesis routes, from medicines to advanced materials.

Journal: Angewandte Chemie International Edition

8-Oct-2025

Engineered “natural killer” cells could help fight cancer

Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Researchers at MIT and Harvard Medical School found a way to engineer CAR-NK immune cells that makes them much less likely to be rejected by the patient’s immune system, a common drawback of this type of cancer immunotherapy.

Journal: Nature Communications
Funder: Skyline Therapeutics, Koch Institute Frontier Research Program through the Kathy and Curt Marble Cancer Research Fund and the Elisa Rah Memorial Fund, Claudia Adams Barr Foundation, Koch Institute Support (core) Grant from the National Cancer Institute

8-Oct-2025

“Security check” inside the cell: Self-cleavage as built-in quality control

Universität Leipzig
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Researchers at Leipzig University and Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg have investigated a previously unknown process that occurs during protein synthesis in the cell. They examined how so-called adhesion G protein-coupled receptors (aGPCRs) split themselves into two parts. This self-cleavage takes place in a region of the protein known as the GAIN domain, which is considered crucial for the receptor’s ability to detect and transmit signals. The self-cleavage acts as a kind of built-in quality control: only correctly cleaved receptors are allowed to leave the “cell factory” and reach the surface. The study has just been published in the journal Nature Communications.

Journal: Nature Communications