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Professor Helen Lavretsky | Building a Resilient Brain: What New Research Reveals About Aging Well
Aging well isn’t just about the body; it’s about the brain, too. A major new review led by Professor Helen Lavretsky of UCLA argues that ‘brain health’ deserves the same attention we give heart health, and that building resilience may be one of our best tools for preventing depression, anxiety and dementia in later life. Lavretsky and her co-authors describe brain health as a dynamic balance between the brain’s biology and a person’s cognitive and emotional life.
Dr. Steve Nordeen | A Plant-Inspired Breakthrough for Menopause Relief
Menopause can bring a range of symptoms, including vaginal pain, decreased sexual arousal and recurrent vaginal and urinary tract infections. While estrogen therapies can be very effective at relieving these problems, many people worry about the risks of steroid hormones circulating throughout the body. This has led scientists to search for treatments that work locally where they are needed, without broader side effects. Recent research is pointing to an unexpected source of inspiration: naturally occurring plant compounds.
Jon Palmer | Tracheostomy Ventilation in MND: Insights from Patients, Families and Clinicians
Motor neurone disease (MND), also known as ALS, causes progressive muscle weakness that eventually affects breathing. When wanting help to support their breathing the majority of people with MND in the UK use non-invasive ventilation. A small number consider a tracheostomy for longer-term ventilation support. Tracheostomy ventilation – or TV – involves placing a tube through the neck into the windpipe to support breathing by a ventilator.
Professor Kateryna Pierzynowska – Professor Stefan Pierzynowski | Uncovering the Feedback Loop that Could Rewrite Diabetes Science
The pancreas is best known for producing insulin, the hormone that keeps blood sugar in check. But a growing body of research suggests this organ has been hiding a secret – one that could reshape how we understand and treat type 2 diabetes. At the heart of this story is a digestive enzyme called amylase. Normally associated with breaking down starch, amylase is produced by the exocrine part of the pancreas – the side responsible for digestion, as distinct from the insulin-producing side. For decades, these two sides were studied almost in isolation. Kateryna Pierzynowska and Stefan Pierzynowski of Lund University have spent years arguing that this is a mistake.
Professor Jonathan Finlay | Tackling One of the Rarest Childhood Cancers
Imagine a cancer so rare that most doctors will never see a single case in their entire career. Now imagine being the parent of a child diagnosed with it. This is the reality of choroid plexus carcinoma, or CPC – a malignant brain tumour that strikes predominantly in children under the age of four, and one that researchers are only now beginning to truly understand.
Dr Brent Iverson | Why a Key COVID-19 Antiviral Is Still Working After Years of Use
When antiviral drugs are widely used, resistance usually follows. Viruses mutate, treatments lose strength, and scientists scramble to adapt. That pattern has been seen with influenza, HIV, and many other infections. When the anti-viral drug Paxlovid was rolled out globally to treat COVID-19, many experts expected that the virus would eventually evolve ways to evade it. But several years on, meaningful resistance has not taken hold. In two closely connected studies, Dr Brent Iverson and colleagues set out to understand why. Their findings suggest that the virus may be more constrained than many had assumed – and that those constraints are helping Paxlovid remain effective.
Dr. Jamie Rausch | Exploring How Fat Tissue Shapes Health Across a Lifetime
For decades, fat tissue was treated as little more than the body’s storage cupboard – a place where excess calories were tucked away for later use. But research from Dr. Jamie Rausch, Assistant Professor of Nursing at Indiana University, is helping to overturn that simplistic view. Fat, or adipose tissue, is now understood to be one of the body’s most active and influential biological systems, constantly sending chemical signals that shape metabolism, inflammation, and long-term health.
Dr Lidia-Maria Mondoc | Revealing the Hidden Link Between Anemia and Blood Cancer Survival Rates
A simple, inexpensive blood test taken at the moment of diagnosis could help predict how long a patient with blood cancer will survive – and potentially open the door to treatments that improve their chances. That is one of the key findings from a study led by Dr Lidia-Maria Mondoc and her colleagues at Lucian Blaga University and the Sibiu County Emergency Clinical Hospital in Romania.
Prof. Christian Bär – Dr. Shambhabi Chatterjee | Rewinding the Clock on Lung Disease: A Potential New RNA Therapy for Pulmonary Fibrosis
Pulmonary fibrosis is a devastating disease in which lung tissue becomes scarred and stiff, making it harder to breathe. The outlook for patients remains poor, with many surviving only a few years after diagnosis. Current treatments can slow the damage, but they cannot reverse it. New research by the team of Prof. Christian Bär and Dr. Shambhabi Chatterjee of Hannover Medical School and their colleagues explore a promising alternative – one that works at the level of our cells’ biological ‘aging clock’.
Rob Onyenwoke | How Vaping Can Make Your Lungs More Vulnerable to Infection
Electronic cigarettes have been marketed as a safer alternative to traditional tobacco, but a growing body of research is painting a more troubling picture. Two studies from North Carolina Central University, conducted by Rob Onyenwoke and colleagues, suggest that vaping doesn’t just harm the lungs on its own – it may also make them far more vulnerable when infection strikes.
Dr James Kaduk | Mapping a Cancer Drug’s Structure Towards Better Drug Development
Repotrectinib, sold under the brand name Augtyro, is a targeted therapy approved for the treatment of advanced non-small cell lung cancer. Specifically, it blocks a mutated protein called ROS1, which in some patients drives uncontrolled cell growth. It is the kind of precision medicine that has transformed outcomes for certain cancer patients in recent years. Yet until now, the structure of the drug in its pure form had never been reported. That gap has been filled by Dr James Kaduk and colleagues at the International Centre for Diffraction Data.
Lena Queen | Why Supporting Healthcare Staff Is the Key to LGBTQIA+ Health Equity
When we talk about improving healthcare for LGBTQIA+ communities, the conversation usually focuses on policy, training, and access to services. But Mx. Lena Queen, a therapist and wellness educator with over 23 years of experience, argues that we are missing a critical piece of the puzzle: the emotional and mental wellbeing of the providers themselves. In their recent paper, Queen makes the case that healthcare providers cannot genuinely support LGBTQIA+ patients if they are burnt out, exhausted, or working within systems that ignore their own needs.
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