The progressive neurological condition affects more than six million people worldwide Researchers from the University of Cambridge have designed and used an artificial-intelligence (AI)-based approach to advance drug design and accelerate the search for Parkinson’s disease (PD) treatments. Published in the journal Nature Chemical, researchers used AI to identify compounds that block the clumping or aggregation of alpha-synuclein, the key protein that characterises PD. Affecting more than six million people worldwide, PD is a progressive neurological condition that slowly deteriorates parts of the brain. As well as motor symptoms, PD can also affect the gastrointestinal system, nervous system, sleeping patterns, mood and cognition and can contribute to a reduced quality of life and significant disability. Researchers developed and used a machine learning technique to screen a chemical library that contained millions of entries to identify small molecules that bind to the amyloid aggregates and block their proliferation. The process of ...
Bladder cancer, including papillary tumours, is the ninth most common cancer type worldwide Researchers from ETH Zurich and University Hospital Basel have revealed new insights for cancer research when focusing on mechanical changes in tumour tissue after investigating the early stages of bladder cancer. Researchers aimed to understand what governs the direction in which bladder tumours grow and whether it plays a role in malignant and benign formations. Currently the ninth most common cancer type worldwide, bladder cancer occurs when cells in the bladder start to grow without control. Papillary tumours, long, slender benign or malignant tumours that grow from tissue that lines the inside of the organ, are usually easy to treat, while muscle-invasive bladder cancer, which spreads into the thick muscle of the bladder wall, requires surgical removal of the bladder. Similar to bronchioles in the lungs, researchers wondered whether molecular mechanisms could be responsible for creating the ...
As the burden of documentation and various other administrative duties has increased, physician burnout has reached historical levels. In response, EHR vendors are embedding generative AI tools to aid physicians by drafting their responses to patient messages. However, there is a lot that we don’t yet know about these tools’ accuracy and effectiveness. Researchers at Mass General Brigham recently conducted research to learn more about how these generative AI solutions are performing. They published a study last week in The Lancet Digital Health showing that these AI tools can be effective at reducing physicians’ workloads and improving patient education — but also that these tools have limitations that require human oversight. For the study, the researchers used OpenAI’s GPT-4 large language model to produce 100 different hypothetical questions from patients with cancer. The researchers had GPT-4 answer these questions, as well as six radiation oncologists who responded manually. Then, the ...
Researchers from ETH Zurich have developed a new generative artificial intelligence (AI)-based computer process to develop drug molecules based on a protein’s three-dimensional surface. The new process could revolutionise drug research, making it possible to generate active pharmaceutical ingredients quickly and easily. The new computer process’ algorithm was developed in collaboration with ETH’s professor Gisbert Schneider and former doctoral student Kenneth Atz, using AI to design new active pharmaceutical ingredients. Researchers trained the AI model with information from hundreds of thousands of known interactions between chemical molecules and the corresponding three-dimensional protein structures. The algorithm generates the blueprints for potential drug molecules that can increase or inhibit the activity of proteins with a known three-dimensional shape. The generative AI then designs molecules that bind specifically to the protein according to the lock-and-key principle to be interacted with. “This means that when designing a drug molecule, we can be sure that ...
Merck KGaA (Merck) has announced an investment of more than €300m ($320.8m) in a new Life Science Research Center at its global headquarters in Darmstadt, Germany. Set to open in 2027, the centre will be a hub for developing biopharmaceuticals, including antibodies and messenger ribonucleic acid applications. The investment is part of Merck’s broader €1.5bn commitment to the Darmstadt site by 2025. Covering an area of 18,000m², the Advanced Research Center will consolidate efforts on key life science technologies such as the production of antibodies, recombinant proteins, and viral vectors. It allows collaboration across departments of the company in an open, modern work environment. The facility will also focus on the advancement of cell culture media, pharmaceutical formulation, purification aids, and analytical chromatography. Merck said the new centre will support both European and global customers in addressing significant medical challenges. Merck CEO and executive board chair Belén Garijo said: “With ...
The CMT Research Foundation (CMTRF) has invested in a study being led by researchers at the University of Illinois at Chicago to investigate whether a commercially available drug could potentially treat X-linked Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease (CMT1X). The study will determine whether the drug can improve symptoms in mouse models of CMT1X. Recognised as a rare, peripheral neuropathy disease that is estimated to affect more than 2.6 million people globally, Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease (CMT) is a group of inherited conditions that damage the peripheral nerves, which are found outside the main central nervous system. Currently the second most common form of CMT, CMTX1 is caused by mutations in the gene that encodes for the connexin 32 gap junction protein. Associated with inflammation, the condition is said to contribute to the damage of the protective covering of nerve cells, which leads to disease symptoms including muscle weakness, atrophy and numbness. The study, led by ...
The Tyche model could help clinicians and researchers capture crucial information in images Researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, and Massachusetts General Hospital have introduced a new artificial intelligence (AI) tool to capture the uncertainty in a medical image. Funded by the National Institute of Health, the Eric and Wendy Schmidt Center and Quanta Computer, the Tyche machine-learning model could help clinicians and researchers capture crucial information. In biomedicine, AI models help clinicians by highlighting pixels that show signs of a certain disease or anomaly. However, these types of models usually only provide one answer. “Having options can help in decision-making” and “so it is important to take this uncertainty into account,” said MIT computer science PhD candidate, Marianne Rakic. Researchers developed Tyche after modifying a straightforward neural network architecture. After feeding the tool a few examples of segmentation tasks, such ...
Affecting over 500,000 people in the UK, IBD comprises Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis The study, published in Nature Immunology, could help identify new ways to treat inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). Collectively known as IBD, Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis are incurable conditions that involve excessive inflammation in the gut and affect over 500,000 people in the UK, according to Crohn’s & Colitis UK. In this study, researchers deleted two proteins, c-Maf and Blimp-1, from T cells in mice to understand their role in maintaining gut health via IL-10. Mutations in the cytokine IL-10 or its receptor can result in IBD in children and it has previously been shown that c-Maf and Blimp-1 can drive the activity of the IL-10 gene in T cells. They found that, when combined with an environmental trigger – an infection with the Helicobacter hepaticus bacterium – IL-10 activity in T cells was reduced and ...
Approximately 14% of the competition-submitted proposals were selected to receive funding Nine researchers from University College London (UCL) have secured nearly £560m in funding from the European Research Council’s (ERC) Advanced Grants to advance researchers in fields including biochemistry, nanotechnologies and regenerative medicine. Approximately 14% of the competition-submitted proposals were selected for funding, comprising 255 researchers, and could create over 2,000 new jobs. Set up in 2007 by the EU, the ERC has been funding research via the Advanced Grant to universities and research centres across 19 EU member states and associated countries, including the UK, Germany and France. The funding will be used for projects including the study of the roles of priority proteins in cellular quiescence and ageing, the thymus gland’s functions within the immune system and lung cancer. UCL professor Charles Swanton from the UCL Cancer Institute, along with UCL professor Paola Bonfanti and senior group leader ...
RTIs account for around 60% of global antibiotic prescribing and are a key driver of AMR Researchers from the Universities of Bristol, Bath, King’s College London and the University Medical Center Utrecht have called for a reduction in the use of repeat antibiotic prescriptions in primary care for the same respiratory tract infection (RTI) episode, based on findings from a study. Published in the Journal of Infection, the study found high rates of repeat within-episode prescriptions for RTI in primary care in England, despite evidence of little benefit. Accounting for around 60% of antibiotic prescribing in primary care globally, RTIs are caused by viruses and are one of the key drivers of antimicrobial resistance. The study analysed over 900,000 RTI episodes from clinical records across 530 English general practices. Researchers found that nearly 30% of adults and 10% of children had received a second course of antibiotics within the same ...
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