Small interfering RNAs hold promise to treat tumors, through their ability to specifically knock down oncogenes that promote tumor growth. However, the siRNAs need a delivery vehicle to protect them from degradation in the blood. Researchers have demonstrated a 100-nanometer polymersome that safely and efficiently carries PARP1 siRNA to triple-negative breast cancer tumors in mice. There, the siRNA knocked down expression of the DNA repair enzyme PARP1 and, remarkably, gave breast cancer-bearing mice a fourfold increase in survival.

Researchers from the group of Eva van Rooij used advanced sequencing technology to better understand the heart disease arrhythmogenic cardiomyopathy, in which heart muscle tissue is replaced by fat cells. Using explanted human hearts, they found regions in which heart muscle was actively degenerated and identified a new gene, ZBTB11, that drives heart muscle cell degradation. The results were published in Cardiovascular Research on 17 May 2022.

New research from the University of Pittsburgh shows that generating detailed maps of neural activity is indeed possible with a new imaging method that offers high contrast and high spatial resolution. The study conducted in monkeys shows that intrinsic signal optical imaging (ISOI) can reveal cortical architecture in greater detail than previously seen in living brains.

During fetal development, before the biological clock starts ticking on its own, genes within the fetus’s developing clock respond to rhythmic behavior in the mother, according to a new study publishing May 24th in the open-access journal PLOS Biology by Alena Sumová and colleagues of the Czech Academy of Sciences in Prague. The findings contribute to our understanding of the development of the internal clock, and may have implications for the treatment of premature babies.

New experiments conducted in mice add to mounting evidence in opposition to a popular claim that COVID-19 vaccination during early pregnancy may cause birth defects or fetal growth problems. The study also counters claims that COVID-19 vaccines reduce fertility through their effects on the protein syncytin-1. Alice Lu-Culligan of the Yale School of Medicine, US, and colleagues present these findings in the open-access journal PLOS Biology.