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Young Eastern European scientists are returning to their home countries to set up labs — with mixed success. Claire Ainsworth tracks their progress.

Many of today's most celebrated drugs are designed to hit only one biological target with great precision. But a novel clinical trial aims to turn this idea on its head by using 'network pharmacology' to more effectively tackle a common neurological disorder affecting limb movement. Claire Ainsworth looks into how medicine's proverbial 'magic bullet' might soon give way to a more sophisticated arsenal.

Experimental cystic-fibrosis treatment could be used in many diseases.

Decision allows for screening of genes that do not always cause disease.

Poll reveals nuanced views among biomedical researchers.

Dietary supplement can make generations of mice obese.

Far from being mere DNA delivery boys, it's now becoming clear that sperm also ship a complex cargo of RNA and proteins that may be crucial for an embryo's early development. Claire Ainsworth reports.

A trial drug encourages cells to ignore the signs that stop them making faulty proteins. Sound dangerous? Claire Ainsworth discovers that it could be a cure for genetic disease.

Avec le réchauffement de la planète, les organismes qui propagent les maladies tropicales négligées s'implantent en Europe. Les pays riches doivent se préparer à une augmentation du nombre de cas.

Multicellular creatures can be battlegrounds for competing populations of cells. Claire Ainsworth learns how this way of looking at an individual is feeding into immunology and cancer biology.

The idea of two sexes is simplistic. Biologists now think there is a wider spectrum than that.

No longer just cellular janitors, cilia are making a clean sweep for biological greatness. Claire Ainsworth explores how they may hold the secret of multicellular development.

A mysterious disease that causes children's brains to melt away is caused by errors in RNA translation. But biologists are realizing that this horrifying condition could shed light on more common problems. Claire Ainsworth reports.

Squash them, pinch them, twist them, pull them — cells react to physical forces, finds Claire Ainsworth.

Openshaw and colleagues find myeloid inflammation and complement activation signatures in patients with long COVID who were previously hospitalized.

Determining who needs chemotherapy can be an expensive and complex task. A new technology could make the process more accessible.

Poor conditions may explain multiple infant deaths.

Time to silence the spoilsports: experts say it doesn't hamper footballers' performance.

Genetics innovations may help Holocaust survivors.

Unsound analyses are common in gender genetics papers.

As Earth warms, the creatures that spread neglected tropical diseases are gaining a foothold in Europe. Wealthy countries must prepare themselves for more cases.

Tens of millions of people have female genital schistosomiasis, a neglected tropical disease that few physicians have even heard of. Efforts are under way to move it out of obscurity and empower women and girls to access sexual and reproductive health care.

How Eric Karsenti's quest to understand the cell launched a trip around the world.

Fusion protein could be targeted to stop parasites from reproducing.

Around the world, people with the disease are marginalized. Now, patients are finding a voice to push back and demand an end to discrimination and isolation.

Cox and colleagues develop PXS-5505, a first-in-class selective pan-lysyl oxidase inhibitor and show that it reduces chemotherapy-induced desmoplasia and stiffness, thereby improving chemotherapy response and survival in pancreatic cancer models.

A focus on skin barrier disorders has opened up new thinking about how allergies kick in.

Genome editing allows much smaller changes to be made to DNA compared with conventional genetic engineering. In terms of agriculture, this might win over public and regulator opinion.

Mark Caulfield is chief scientist at Genomics England, which was set up in 2013 to deliver the UK 100,000 Genomes Project, initially focusing on cancers, rare diseases and infection. Caulfield, a cardiovascular clinician and researcher, spoke about the UK approach to big data in biomedicine and the role of Genomics England — including how it plans to embed genomic medicine in Britain's National Health Service (NHS).

Hackles rise over claims on ovulation.

Modified bacteria and carefully formulated microbial communities could form the basis of new living treatments.

Researchers are closing in on vaccines to prevent or treat lymphomas and other cancers triggered by the Epstein–Barr virus.

No mere passive barrier, the skin is being revealed to be an active part of the immune system. Researchers are now starting to understand its role in driving psoriasis.

The intricate development of the fetus is yielding its long-held secrets to state-of-the-art molecular technologies that can make use of the mother's blood.

Sperm communication, surprises in abortion statistics and other highlights from clinical trials and laboratory studies.

This paper analyses the longest sediment flows measured in action on Earth. These seabed flows were caused by floods and spring tides, and flushed prodigious sediment and carbon volumes into the deep sea, as they accelerated for a thousand kilometres.

Des dizaines de millions de personnes sont atteintes de schistosomiase génitale féminine, une maladie tropicale négligée dont peu de médecins ont entendu parler. Des efforts sont en cours pour sortir cette maladie de l'ombre et permettre aux femmes et aux jeunes filles d'accéder aux soins de santé sexuelle et génésique.

Dietary extracellular vesicles (EVs) could potentially be absorbed by the intestinal tract of the host and exert multiple phenotypic changes. Here, the authors isolate and characterize EVs from raw and commercial bovine milk and show orally administered EVs to have a context specific role in promoting or suppressing primary tumor growth and metastasis in multiple mouse tumor models.

Geneticists fear Drosophila results skewed by unnoticed bacterium.

Patients with rare diseases, and the scientists who study those diseases, were long inhibited by geographic sparsity. But the social-media age has made it much easier for them to band together to leverage their experience and push forward change.

Sex chromosomes in every cell of the body exert widespread and sometimes unexpected effects.

Once thought to be sterile, the bladder contains microbes that could influence the development and treatment of cancer.

Three-year Tara Oceans project publishes first analyses of rich diversity of planktonic life.

Subtypes of cancer associated fibroblasts can both promote and suppress tumorigenesis. Here, the authors investigate how p53 status in pancreatic cancer cells affects their interaction with cancer associated fibroblasts, and report perlecan as a mediator of the pro-metastatic environment.

Primary biliary cirrhosis is an autoimmune liver disease with poor therapeutic options. Here Cordell et al. a perform meta-analysis of European genome-wide association studies identifying six novel risk loci and a number of potential therapeutic pathways.