Animal studies often fail to predict human tissue responses to new drugs or newly developed therapies. Besides generating tremendous costs for clinical studies, it also raises significant ethical concerns. Therefore, novel approaches in mimicking natural human environments like vascular system growth control, are broadly developed to deliver a reproducible model to test novel drugs. Recently, researchers from the Institute of Physical Chemistry demonstrated a unique system that is based on endothelial cells coated onto the surface of microparticles that can be spatially organized into pre-designed patterns to initiate the growth of vascular systems of well-defined micro-architecture. The patterning is achieved via directed-assembly using external magnetic fields. The discovery opens up new opportunities for personalized drug testing and precision medicine. Let’s take a cool closer on this breakthrough.

Researchers at Graz University of Technology (TU Graz) have developed a novel virtual reality (VR) system that could make the treatment of arachnophobia, also known as spider phobia, more targeted and personalised in the future. The “VRSpi” system is a prototype which analyses the EEG data and heart rate of the participants during a confrontation with spiders in a VR environment. Based on this objective measurement data, it adjusts the intensity of the stimuli in real time to the person’s current level of anxiety. This avoids over- or under-stimulation and optimises the effectiveness of the exposure in order to get the users used to the creatures.

There is a promising new drug for the rare disease mastocytosis, which is associated with skin lesions, among other things. Researchers at the University of Basel have now been able to use artificial intelligence to quantitatively measure for the first time the extent to which it reduces skin lesions.

A research team led by researchers at Chalmers University of Technology in Sweden, has, for the first time, successfully decoded leg movements directly from the remaining nerves in people with above-knee amputations. Using novel implantable neurotechnology and an AI method based on the nervous system’s own “language”, the researchers could do what was previously impossible and interpret detailed movements – even the will to wiggle toes. This technology opens the way to future leg prostheses that feel and act more like a natural part of the body.