Biology & Medicine News and Discussions

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RFK Jr. Removes All Members of CDC Panel Advising on Vaccines

Source: Bloomberg

June 9, 2025 at 4:11 PM EDT

The Department of Health and Human Services is retiring the 17 members of a committee of government vaccine advisers, Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said Monday.

“A clean sweep is needed to reestablish public confidence in vaccine science,” Kennedy said in an opinion piece published in the Wall Street Journal.

The group, known as the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, or ACIP, reviews the latest data and makes recommendations that determine whether insurers cover shots, among other things.

Read more: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles ... e-americas

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Monitoring bone healing without X-ray radiation: A new approach lights the way

by Claudia Ehrlich, Universität des Saarlandes
https://medicalxpress.com/news/2025-06- ... roach.html

A medical research team at Saarland University, led by Professor Bergita Ganse, has discovered a new approach to monitoring bone fracture healing by measuring blood supply to the tissue at the fracture site and the level of oxygen in the blood. Bone regeneration can be monitored quickly and easily using near-infrared light rather than harmful shorter wavelength radiation.

Up to now, doctors have had to rely on X-ray images and CT scans to provide occasional snapshots of the fracture site. Ganse and her team have now published their findings in Biosensors and Bioelectronics and the Journal of Functional Biomaterials.

Imagine pulling a small device out of your pocket, placing it onto the skin above the fracture site and after just a few seconds, you know how well the fracture is healing. If a plaster cast has been fitted, there would be a small opening in the cast to enable skin contact. This intriguing idea could soon be part of standard post-operative follow-up around the world.

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Scientists genetically engineer a lethal mosquito STD to combat malaria
By Jay Kakade
June 16, 2025

Mosquitoes have long been among humanity’s most formidable adversaries, plaguing us for thousands of years and causing more deaths than any other animal. With traditional control methods facing mounting resistance, researchers are seeking innovative ways to combat mosquito-borne disease.

Now, entomologists at the University of Maryland have bioengineered a deadly fungus that spreads sexually in Anopheles (malaria-spreading) mosquitoes. The naturally occurring fungus called Metarhizium produces insect-specific neurotoxins, potent enough to kill female mosquitoes – the ones that spread disease. By dusting male mosquitoes with modified fungal spores, the team essentially created a sexually transmitted infection for mosquitoes.

https://newatlas.com/biology/geneticall ... t-malaria/

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Clever contact lenses watch for glaucoma even when wearers' eyes are shut
By Ben Coxworth
June 15, 2025

Although there already are "smart" contact lenses that monitor the eyes for signs of glaucoma, the devices are typically only worn when the patient is awake. A new type of contact lens, however, watches over the eyes throughout the night, too.

If someone is at risk of developing glaucoma, it's important to detect the disease as early as possible. And likewise, if a patient is already in the early stages of glaucoma, it's very important to monitor the diseases's progression. In either case, watching for symptoms like elevated intraocular pressure (IOP) and irregular eye movement (EM) is key.

https://newatlas.com/medical-devices/gl ... shut-eyes/

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New discovery: Tylenol stops pain at the nerves, before it hits the brain

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2 ... 074247.htm

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Science Shattered
by Annie Waldman, Asia Fields, and Ashley Clarke
June 12, 2025

Introduction:

(ProPublica) The National Institutes of Health is responsible for more than 80% of the world’s grant investment in biomedical research. Its funding has sparked countless medical breakthroughs — on cancer, diabetes, strokes — and plays a fundamental role in the development of pharmaceutical drugs.

Scientists compete vigorously for a slice of the more than $30 billion that the agency doles out annually; they can spend years assembling grant applications that stretch thousands of pages in hopes of convincing peer reviewers of the promise of their projects. Only 1 in 5 gets chosen.

The NIH has rarely revoked funding once it has been awarded. Out of the tens of thousands of grants overseen by the institution since 2012, it terminated fewer than five for violations of the agency’s terms and conditions.

Then Donald Trump was reelected.

Since his January inauguration, his administration has terminated more than 1,450 grants, withholding more than $750 million in funds; officials have said they are curbing wasteful spending and “unscientific” research. The Department of Government Efficiency gave the agency direction on what to cut and why, ProPublica has previously found, bypassing the NIH’s established review process.

Read more here: https://projects.propublica.org/nih-cu ... t-trump/

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It's Not Just AI — China's Quickly Gaining an Edge Over the U.S. in Biotech
by Evelyn Cheng
June 10, 2025

Introduction:

(CNBC) BEIJING — For all the attention on U.S.-China competition in artificial intelligence, new studies point to China's rapid rise in biotechnology, especially for drug and agricultural development.

Out of five critical tech sectors, "China has the most immediate opportunity to overtake the United States in biotechnology," the Harvard Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs said Thursday in its release of a "Critical and Emerging Technologies Index," covering AI, biotech, semiconductors, space and quantum.

While the U.S. is still the leader in all five, "the narrow U.S.-China gap [in biotech] suggests that future developments could quickly shift the global balance of power," the report said.

The assessment echoes growing concerns in Washington. In fact, the U.S. National Security Commission on Emerging Biotechnology struck a more urgent tone in an April report, citing two years of research.

"There will be a ChatGPT moment for biotechnology, and if China gets there first, no matter how fast we run, we will never catch up," the bipartisan Congressional commission said in the report, referring to the transformative chatbot released by U.S.-based OpenAI.

Read more here: https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/market ... 5&ei=119

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FDA approves the world's only twice-a-year shot to prevent HIV

Source: AP

By LAURAN NEERGAARD

Updated 1:52 PM CDT, June 18, 2025

WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. has approved the world’s only twice-a-year shot to prevent HIV, maker Gilead Sciences announced Wednesday. It’s the first step in an anticipated global rollout that could protect millions – although it’s unclear how many in the U.S. and abroad will get access to the powerful new option.

While a vaccine to prevent HIV still is needed, some experts say the shot — a drug called lenacapvir — could be the next best thing. It nearly eliminated new infections in two groundbreaking studies of people at high risk, better than daily preventive pills they can forget to take.

“This really has the possibility of ending HIV transmission,” said Greg Millett, public policy director at amfAR, The Foundation for AIDS Research.

Condoms help guard against HIV infection if used properly but what’s called PrEP — regularly using preventive medicines such as the daily pills or a different shot given every two months — is increasingly important. Lenacapavir’s six-month protection makes it the longest-lasting type, an option that could attract people wary of more frequent doctor visits or stigma from daily pills.

Read more: https://apnews.com/article/hiv-preventi ... b86a10d568

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NHS plans to DNA test all babies to assess disease risk

21 June 2025

Every newborn baby in England will have their DNA mapped to assess their risk of hundreds of diseases, under NHS plans for the next 10 years.

The scheme, first reported by the Daily Telegraph, is part of a government drive towards predicting and preventing illness, which will also see £650m invested in DNA research for all patients by 2030.

Health Secretary Wes Streeting said gene technology would enable the health service to "leapfrog disease, so we're in front of it rather than reacting to it".

It comes after a study analysing the genetic code of up to 100,000 babies was announced in October.

The government's 10-year plan for the NHS, which is set to be revealed over the coming few weeks, is aimed at easing pressure on services.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c1ljg7v0vmpo

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New eczema treatment provides relief in Phase 2 human trials
By Paul McClure
June 24, 2025

A new immune-modulating treatment has shown promising results for treating moderate to severe eczema, delivering fast itch relief and clear skin for many patients in a clinical trial, without the common side effects associated with other therapies.

For some people, the chronic skin condition atopic dermatitis, the most common and best-known type of eczema, can be challenging to treat, especially if it’s caused by something that can’t be controlled, such as genetics. Some resort to using a combination of topical ointments and creams to try to control the dry skin and itching that characterize the condition.

However, help may soon be at hand in the form of rezpegaldesleukin, an immunotherapy treatment developed by Nektar Therapeutics, which calms the symptoms of eczema from the inside out and has produced promising results in a recent clinical trial.

https://www.extremetech.com/science/sci ... ded-bridge

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Previously unknown 'loading dock' found inside human cells



A new organelle has been found by scientists at the University of Virginia (UVA). The super-small specialized structure has a role recycling material inside our cells, and its discovery could lead to improved treatments for a wide range of diseases.

Just as our bodies have organs that carry out specific functions to keep us healthy and alive, each of our cells have tiny structures known as organelles that do the same. Some of the more well-known organelles include the mitochondria, which produces chemical energy; the ribosomes, which put proteins together; and the nuclei, which store our genetic material.

“You can think of vesicles like little delivery trucks inside the cell,” said Ebrahim. “The hemifusome is like a loading dock where they connect and transfer cargo. It’s a step in the process we didn’t know existed.”

https://newatlas.com/biology/organelle-human-cells/

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MIT's one-shot vaccine could deliver robust protection from HIV

Researchers at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) have developed a way to 'supercharge' vaccines to the extent that just a single dose can provide strong protection from HIV.

Vaccines typically comprise two key components: immunogens that trigger an immune response in the body, and adjuvants which boost your immune system's response to the immunogens. The MIT team, which collaborated with the medicine-focused Scripps Research Institute, focused on the latter, and actually combined two adjuvants to elicit a significantly better immune response than a vaccine with just either of them.

In the team's study, whose results appeared in a paper in Science Translational Medicine this week, mice that received the dual-adjuvant vaccine exhibited a much wider range of antibodies against an HIV antigen, compared to those who received a vaccine with only one of the adjuvants.

According to the researchers, this approach could come in handy for formulating protein-based vaccines to protect against many more challenging viruses, including influenza and SARS-CoV-2 (which causes COVID-19).

https://newatlas.com/medical/mit-one-shot-vaccine-hiv/

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https://medicalxpress.com/news/2025-06- ... panel.html

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USC and UCLA Team Up for World’s First-in-Human Bladder Transplant

Surgeons from Keck Medicine of USC and UCLA Health have performed the world’s first-in-human bladder transplant. The surgery was successfully completed at Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center earlier this month in a joint effort by Inderbir Gill, MD, founding executive director of USC Urology, and Nima Nassiri, MD, urologic transplant surgeon and director of the UCLA Vascularized Composite Bladder Allograft Transplant Program.

Millions of people around the globe experience some degree of bladder disease and dysfunction. Some develop terminal bladders that are either non-functioning and/or cause constant pain, repeated infections and other complications. Current treatment for severe terminal cases of bladder dysfunction or a bladder that has been removed due to various conditions includes replacement or augmentation of the urinary reservoir. These surgeries use a portion of a patient’s intestine to create a new bladder or a pathway for the urine to exit the body.

Bladder transplants have not been done previously, in part because of the complicated vascular structure of the pelvic area and the technical complexity of the procedure. As part of the research and development stage, Gill and Nassiri successfully completed numerous practice transplantation surgeries at Keck Medical Center of USC, including the first-ever robotic bladder retrievals and successful robotic transplantations in five recently deceased donors with cardiac function maintained on ventilator support.


https://www.latimes.com/b2b/health-life ... transplant

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