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Medicine & Health

Updates every hour. Last Updated: 26-Oct-2026 10:16 ET (26-Oct-2026 14:16 GMT/UTC)

“Acts as a ‘protective barrier’ in blood vessels, but disappears in tumor tissue”... Mussel protein opens a new path for pancreatic cancer treatment

Pohang University of Science & Technology (POSTECH)
Peer-Reviewed Publication

POSTECH develops ‘stealth’ anticancer nanoparticles made from mussel adhesive proteins that 'lie in wait and attack only cancer cells'.

Journal: Biomaterials

Scientists discover how macrophages – a key type of immune cells – age differently throughout the body

University of Southern California
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Why does the immune system become less effective as we age? A new USC study published in BMC Biology offers fresh insights by examining a key immune cell type across tissues: macrophages.

Macrophages act as the body’s cleanup and maintenance crew. Found in nearly every tissue, they help fight infections, remove damaged cells, repair tissues, and keep inflammation under control – acting as a first line of defense for the immune system. But like many cells in the body, macrophages change as we get older.

In this new study, researchers analyzed data from macrophages collected from different mouse tissues, including the brain, lungs, liver, and other organs. By comparing younger and older animals, they uncovered common patterns of aging shared across many macrophage populations, as well as important differences depending on where the cells come from.

Journal: BMC Biology
Funder: Hevolution Foundation

Can a personalized disease-in-a-dish improve a pancreatitis patient’s therapeutic path?

Salk Institute
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Chronic pancreatitis, which affects around three million people worldwide, is especially difficult to treat because the molecular drivers of the disease vary from patient to patient. Salk researchers have created a new platform for studying chronic pancreatitis that retains patient-specific disease biology, which can be used to develop personalized chronic pancreatitis treatments and has already pinpointed a protein that could be a promising target for many patients.

Journal: Cell Stem Cell

Going to the cinema, theatre or a museum may slow down physiological ageing

BMJ Group
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Higher levels of cultural engagement are significantly associated with lower physiological ageing, suggests an analysis published online in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health.

Journal: Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health
Funder: Japan Society for Promotion of Science

India’s immunization program reduced child mortality but highlights need for coordinating health, education policies

University of Notre Dame
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Research from the University of Notre Dame shows how India’s immunization program saved children’s lives and highlights the need for stronger connections between health and education policies.

Journal: Journal of Population Economics
Funder: University of Notre Dame’s Hesburgh Libraries

Gene therapy restores key fragile X traits in preclinical study

Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center
Peer-Reviewed Publication

A gene therapy designed to replace the missing protein that causes fragile X syndrome restored several disease-relevant traits in a mouse model, according to a new study led by experts at Cincinnati Children's and published in Gene Therapy.

Journal: Gene Therapy

Karen Bernstein, one of biotech’s most influential voices, elected C-Path board chair

Critical Path Institute (C-Path)
Business Announcement

Critical Path Institute today announced that its Board of Directors has elected Karen Bernstein, Ph.D., as chair, effective July 1, 2026. Bernstein, co-founder and chair of BioCentury Inc., has served on the C-Path board since her appointment in March 2023. She succeeds M. Wainwright Fishburn, Jr., J.D., who concludes his tenure as chair after five years of service.

Review calls for Mexico to add liver health to chronic disease programs

CUNY Graduate School of Public Health and Health Policy
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Liver disease may affect close to half of adults in Mexico, yet the country tracks it far less closely than the diabetes and obesity to which it is linked, according to a new paper by Jeffrey Lazarus, professor at the CUNY Graduate School of Public Health and Health Policy Professor (CUNY SPH), and colleagues, and released to coincide with the International Congress on Obesity taking place in Mexico City this week. The authors argue Mexico should fold liver health into its existing programs for diabetes, obesity, and other noncommunicable diseases rather than treating it as a separate problem.

Journal: Archives of Medical Research

Nebraska researchers link gut microbe to cancer-fighting immune response

University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Researchers from the University of Nebraska–Lincoln and partner institutions have discovered that compounds made by certain gut bacteria can help the immune system fight cancer. The study, published in Cell Reports Medicine, identified a gut bacterium called Bacteroides uniformis that appears to slow melanoma tumor growth.

Journal: Cell Reports Medicine