By restoring some functions to intact brains from deceased donors, the startup Bexorg hopes to create a better drug development test bed for neurodegenerative diseases

C Decaf even improved learning and memory, while caffeine boosted focus and reduced anxiety. Together, they show coffee works through multiple pathways beyond just caffeine.

Researchers at APC Microbiome Ireland, a leading research center at University College Cork, have taken a major step toward understanding how coffee benefits the body. For the first time, scientists have closely examined how coffee interacts with the gut-brain axis, the communication network that links the digestive system and the brain.

The findings, published in Nature Communications and supported by the Institute for Scientific Information on Coffee (ISIC), show that regularly drinking both caffeinated and decaffeinated coffee can shape the gut microbiome and influence mood and stress.

New multiplexed imaging technology using standard clinical MRI systems can simultaneously map more than 20 biomarkers in high resolution, providing a comprehensive view of the brain with a single scan.

Researchers demonstrated the multiplexed MRI technology, or MRx, by characterizing brain tumors and multiple sclerosis lesions — revealing different structural, physiological and molecular changes within the diseases. The team reported its findings in the journal Nature.

“MRx can be a powerful tool for noninvasive tissue characterization, helping to advance personalized, precision and predictive medicine,” the author said. “By providing rich, multidimensional biomarkers to capture disease progression and treatment response, this capability could open new opportunities for more precise diagnosis, individualized treatment planning and improved patient outcomes.”

In recent years, the development of new immunotherapy strategies has been a significant breakthrough in cancer treatment. Among these, engineered T cell therapy with chimeric antigen receptors (CAR-T) has produced notable clinical results, especially in hematological malignancies. This success has sparked growing interest in extending the application of CAR-Ts to solid tumors, including gliomas. Gliomas—in particular, glioblastoma multiforme (GBM)—are among the most aggressive primary brain tumors, associated with a poor prognosis and a median survival of approximately one year after diagnosis. However, the translation of CAR-T therapy to gliomas presents significant challenges, related to factors such as tumor heterogeneity, presence of the blood–brain barrier (BBB), and a strongly immunosuppressive tumor environment.

Alzheimer’s disease (AD), the leading cause of global dementia, is a multifactorial process that goes beyond the accumulation of β-amyloid (Aβ) plaques and tau protein tangles, including glia cell-mediated neuroinflammation, vascular dysfunction, metabolic alterations, and synaptic loss. Its complex etiology also involves oxidative stress and mitochondrial dysfunction. Multiple neurotransmitter systems involved in the pathogenesis and the various cognitive and non-cognitive symptoms of AD are thus altered. The cholinergic system, historically the first to be associated with AD, suffers early degeneration and loss of neurons/receptors, correlating with cognitive impairment. The glutamatergic system, the main excitatory system, exhibits excitotoxicity due to increased extracellular glutamate and alterations in NMDA/AMPA receptor distribution, exacerbating neuronal damage.

Researchers have shown for the first time that malfunctioning mitochondria — the cell’s energy generators — may directly cause cognitive decline in neurodegenerative diseases. By creating a new tool that temporarily boosts mitochondrial activity in the brain, scientists restored memory performance in mouse models of dementia. The discovery hints that energy failure inside neurons could happen before brain cells die, potentially offering a new target for future Alzheimer’s treatments.