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USA-based clinical-stage biopharma Traws Pharma (Nasdaq: TRAW) saw its shares leap more than 150% to $12.57 as it announced progress in the development of its investigational one-dose influenza (flu) investigational therapy, tivoxavir marboxil for treatment of H5N1 bird flu. A Phase I trial tested tivoxavir marboxil in healthy adults who didn’t have the flu.

Traws Pharma expects to begin a Phase II study in the first half of 2025 as it expands its influenza program in response to the bird flu threat. The virus has been detected in dairy cattle in the USA. since March 2024, resulting in infections in over 60 people across eight states.

“The spread of avian influenza in wild and domestic animal populations including mammals, brings increasing risk for adaptation to humans and subsequent spread in the population” said Traws Pharma’s chief medical officer Dr Robert Redfield, a former Director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). “Bird flu is an occupational hazard for poultry and dairy workers. With increasing numbers of human infections and recent reports of severe cases, we should be alert to the rising potential for epidemic or pandemic spread of bird flu,” he added.

Researchers at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai have been awarded a $21 million grant from the National Institute on Aging (NIA) of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), to further advance understanding of an aging-related hormone known as follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH), including its potential role in obesity, osteoporosis, and Alzheimer’s disease. The work could lead to the development of new treatments for these and other conditions involving aging.

This is a collaborative effort with the NIA, led by Mone Zaidi, MD, PhD, Director of the Center for Translational Medicine and Pharmacology at Icahn Mount Sinai, and Clifford J. Rosen, MD, at the MaineHealth Institute for Research in Scarborough, Maine. Dr. Zaidi and Dr. Rosen are Program Directors, and principal investigators of individual projects are Anne Schafer, MD, at the University of California in San Francisco, as well as scientists at Icahn Mount Sinai, including Tony Yuen, PhD, Associate Professor and Research Director of the Center for Translational Medicine and Pharmacology, and Daria Lizneva, MD, PhD, Associate Professor of Pharmacological Sciences. Together, the investigators will work toward translating their findings into viable treatments for patients.

Continue reading “Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai Awarded $21 Million NIH Grant to Advance Understanding of Aging-Related Hormone” »

Stretchable electronics have drawn intensive research attention over the past decade due to their potential impact in various applications, including displays, soft robots, wearable electronics, digital healthcare, and many other areas Considering that intrinsically stretchable technology is relatively new, the predominant approach to realizing current stretchable applications leverages the structure of stretchable interconnects. Therefore, one of the primary challenges in stretchable electronics is designing an optimal stretchable interconnect structure, such as mechanically compliant electrodes, capable of significant stretching without compromising electrical functionality. Numerous techniques for designing stretchable interconnects, including wavy, serpentine, and kirigami structures, have been developed to maximize the stretchability of stretchable electrodes.

Despite achieving high stretchability in structural designs, accurately measuring the strain distribution in real-time during dynamic stretching remains challenging.

To address the current technical limitations in comprehensively understanding the full mechanism of strain behavior and the geometrical effects of serpentine structures without physically breaking the structure, we carefully investigated strain-induced color changes reflecting the complex strain distribution of serpentine-shaped CLCEs. To achieve optimal serpentine CLCEs, specially tailored high-modulus and shape-designed serpentine CLCEs were investigated, incorporating controlled non-uniform strain distribution for serpentine structures. By examining the aspect shape factor in the mechano-optical color changes of the CLCEs, it was visually and quantitatively confirmed that if the CLCE samples were aligned parallel to the direction of stretching, the strain increased, whereas if they were aligned perpendicular to the direction of stretching, the strain decreased. In addition to structural design factors, a sequential study of the modulus effect on the mechano-optical visualization of the serpentine structure revealed that a serpentine CLCE with a high modulus exhibited results that are consistent with conventional serpentine stretching behavior, with the associated structural color changes and photonic wavelength shifts. In a further study on the shape design parameters (angle, width, and length) of serpentine CLCE with a high modulus, the critical factors that determine the complex and varied stretchable serpentine properties were investigated. It was found that the angle (α) shape factor is the most crucial serpentine design parameter that ensures stretchability, whereas the width wordpress is the parameter that diminishes stretchability. Furthermore, to assess the structural color changes and photonic wavelength shifts according to practical stretching mechanisms, a 2 × 2 arrayed multi-interconnected serpentine CLCE structure under multiaxial (uniaxial and biaxial) stretching conditions was investigated. It was confirmed that elongation parallel to the direction of mechanical stretching could induce serpentine stretching characteristics in the arrayed CLCE devices. These experimental results of structural color changes and photonic wavelength shifts, which enhance the reliability of many studies through comparison with strain distributions, are also supported by the FEM. Considering that stretchable CLCEs also enable molecular arrangement changes, and based on the findings of this study, it was confirmed that serpentine CLCEs can optimize serpentine design through optical visualization methods.

The active ingredient in Ozempic and Wegovy, a drug called semaglutide, can have direct beneficial effects on the heart within weeks, in addition to the longer-term benefits of losing weight, an animal study has shown.

The finding suggests that people with heart disease who don’t have type 2 diabetes or obesity, which semaglutide is primarily used to treat, might also benefit from taking this kind of drug. “It may be that we’re missing a large population of people that could benefit,” says Christopher Stone at Brown University in Rhode Island.

The findings also suggest that people undergoing heart surgery could benefit if given GLP-1 agonists, the class of drugs that semaglutide belongs to, for at least a few weeks after their operation.

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A new study by Tel Aviv University reveals how bacterial defense mechanisms can be neutralized, enabling the efficient transfer of genetic material between bacteria. The researchers believe this discovery could pave the way for developing tools to address the antibiotic resistance crisis and promote more effective genetic manipulation methods for medical, industrial, and environmental purposes.

The study was led by Ph.D. student Bruria Samuel from the lab of Prof. David Burstein at the Shmunis School of Biomedicine and Cancer Research at Tel Aviv University’s Wise Faculty of Life Sciences. Other contributors to the research include Dr. Karin Mittelman, Shirly Croitoru, and Maya Ben-Haim from Prof. Burstein’s lab. The findings were published in the journal Nature.

The researchers explain that genetic diversity is essential for the survival and adaptation of different species in response to environmental changes. For humans and many other organisms, sexual reproduction is the primary driver of the genetic diversity required for survival. However, bacteria and other microorganisms lack such a reproduction mechanism.

RNA in cells performs an astounding number of functions. Messenger RNA carries the sequences of active genes to cellular machinery that turns it into proteins. And transfer RNA molecules are an essential part of the construction of those proteins. RNA molecules that have nothing to do with proteins can also help regulate genes and perform other cellular functions. Researchers have now shown that some RNA in cells also helps defend against viral infection, by aiding in the control of antiviral signaling. The findings have been reported in Science.

The researchers noted that RNA can be seen not only as a drug target, but also as a drug. RNA presents an opportunity for treating infections, or autoimmune diseases, they suggested.

Neuroscientists have identified the physical locations where memories are stored in the brain. But would that enable us to retrieve memories from someone who has died?

Researchers have developed an innovative therapeutic platform by mimicking the intricate structures of viruses using artificial intelligence (AI). Their pioneering research was published in Nature on December 18.

Viruses are uniquely designed to encapsulate genetic material within spherical protein shells, enabling them to replicate and invade host cells, often causing disease. Inspired by these complex structures, researchers have been exploring artificial proteins modeled after viruses.

These “nanocages” mimic viral behavior, effectively delivering therapeutic genes to target cells. However, existing nanocages face significant challenges: their small size restricts the amount of genetic material they can carry, and their simple designs fall short of replicating the multifunctionality of natural viral proteins.

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