Los Angeles, CA – September 3, 2025 - Dr. Vadim Jucaud's lab at the Terasaki Institute has developed a human vascularized liver cancer-on-a-chip model to evaluate vessel remodeling and cell death in response to embolic agents. This novel platform reflects the microenvironment of liver tumors, particularly a functional and perfusable microvasculature that can be embolized. This powerful in vitro tool aligns with the National Institutes of Health (NIH) efforts to reduce animal testing and promote alternative methods, including microfluidic devices that mimic human organs.

Chichibabin diradicaloids, characterized by narrow band gaps and near-infrared (NIR) absorption, are limited in their practical applications in the biomedical field due to their instability and non-emissive properties. Herein, a symmetry-breaking and donor-modulating strategy yielded the highly stable Chichibabin diradicaloid TT-CzPh, with NIR luminescence (λ_em = 821 nm), 6.4% PLQY, and 87.5% PCE. Assembled into TT-CzPh NPs (82% PCE), it achieved NIR-guided tumor ablation in 4T1 mice, advancing their bioimaging and cancer phototherapy applications.

Polyamines are natural molecules that promote healthy aging but are also linked to cancer progression, presenting a long-standing puzzle in biomedical research. In a recent study, researchers from Japan explored how polyamines affect cancer cells, uncovering a key interaction with protein eIF5A2. Their findings reveal that polyamines drive cancer growth by altering ribosomal gene expression, offering a potential target for selective cancer therapies and shedding light on the risks of polyamines.

Patients are increasingly turning to AI for medical information and even advice, but how should they approach using AI-powered services? A new study published in the peer-reviewed journal, Future Science OA, provides insight into this question for the fast-moving field of blood cancer.

 

A team of scientists at Kyoto University’s Institute for Integrated Cell-Material Sciences (iCeMS) has created a protein-based therapeutic tool  that could change the way we treat diseases caused by harmful or unnecessary cells. The new tool, published in Nature Biomedical Engineering, involves a synthetic protein called Crunch, short for Connector for Removal of Unwanted Cell Habitat. Crunch uses the body’s natural waste removal system to clear out specific target cells, offering hope for improved treatments for cancer, autoimmune diseases, and other diseases where harmful cells cause damage.

Researchers at the Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) interdisciplinary research group of the Singapore-MIT Alliance for Research and Technology (SMART), Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s (MIT) research enterprise in Singapore, have developed a powerful tool capable of scanning thousands of biological samples to detect transfer ribonucleic acid (tRNA) modifications — tiny chemical changes to RNA molecules that help control how cells grow, adapt to stress and respond to diseases such as cancer and antibiotic‑resistant infections.

Patients with prostate cancer often face the additional burden of developing secondary primary malignancies (SPMs), which significantly reduce survival outcomes.

Researchers at the Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center, Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital and four other institutions have devised a novel method to test for prostate cancer using biomarkers present in urine, funded in part by the National Institutes of Health. This approach could significantly reduce the need for invasive, often painful biopsies, they say.

A new policy review published in The Lancet Oncology and led by Ian Tannock and Madeline Pe, together with an international team of oncologists, statisticians, patients and patient-reported outcomes (PRO) experts from Common Sense Oncology (CSO) and the European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC), emphasises the critical role of health-related quality of life (HRQoL) data in the evaluation of treatments for people with advanced cancer. This publication highlights the importance of having standardised responder criteria when evaluating HRQoL in clinical trials to improve patient care and clinical decision-making.