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Targeting the ‘undruggable’: New molecular degraders offer hope for aggressive breast cancer

In the battle against aggressive breast cancer, a once-elusive target is now within reach—thanks to a breakthrough from a team from the Faculty of Medicine at Hebrew University. Dr. Raphael Benhamou and M.Sc. student Liann Kassabri have developed innovative druglike molecules capable of degrading HuR, a key RNA-binding protein that stabilizes oncogenes and fuels cancer progression.

HuR (also known as ELAVL1) has long been labeled “undruggable” due to its structural flexibility and lack of a conventional active site. Overexpressed in many cancer types—particularly breast cancer—HuR fortifies by protecting mRNAs that drive and survival.

“We knew that simply blocking HuR wasn’t enough,” says Dr. Benhamou. “We needed to eliminate it altogether.” Strikingly, this elimination led to a three to four orders of magnitude improvement in anticancer properties compared to traditional HuR-binding molecules that do not induce degradation.

Skin swabs may help detect Parkinson’s years before symptoms appear

Remote, scalable cognitive behavioral therapy–based chronic pain programs are effective for treating individuals with high-impact chronic pain.

Importance Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) skills training interventions are recommended first-line nonpharmacologic treatment for chronic pain, yet they are not widely accessible.

Objective To examine effectiveness of remote, scalable CBT-based chronic pain (CBT-CP) treatments (telehealth and self-completed online) for individuals with high-impact chronic pain, compared with usual care.

Design, Setting, and Participants This comparative effectiveness, 3-group, phase 3 randomized clinical trial enrolled 2,331 eligible patients with high-impact chronic musculoskeletal pain from 4 geographically diverse health care systems in the US from January 2021 through February 2023. Follow-up concluded in April 2024.

Feature: Cough medicine shows promise in treating Parkinson’s disease

An over-the-counter cough medicine may be the key to slowing the progression of Parkinson’s disease.

Called Ambroxol, the drug is commonly used to break up phlegm, but early studies have shown it can also prevent the build-up of misfolded clumps of protein in the brain, known as Lewy bodies – a hallmark of Parkinson’s and other types of dementia.

Robarts scientist Dr. Stephen Pasternak is leading a phase 2 clinical trial to further study Ambroxol’s potential as a disease-modifying drug.

“Current treatments for Parkinson’s target the symptoms of the disease, such as movement, but don’t change the long-term progression of pathology in the brain,” he explained. “We hope Ambroxol will be a disease-changing drug.”

Dr. Stephen Pasternak is leading a phase 2 clinical trial to study Ambroxol, an over-the-counter cough medicine, with the goal of slowing or stopping the progression of Parkinson’s Disease Dementia.

Integrated geophysical prospecting for deep ore detection in the Yongxin gold mining area, Heilongjiang, China

Geophysical exploration techniques play a pivotal role in enhancing the accuracy of mineral prospecting predictions. However, relying solely on individual methods often introduces uncertainties. This study presents a case study from the Yongxin gold deposit, where we integrated audio-frequency magnetotelluric (AMT) methods with gravimetric surveying and high-resolution magnetic profiling to overcome this challenge. Advanced three-dimensional modeling techniques were utilized to precisely delineate lithological variations and deep-seated mineralization features inherent to the area. The inversion and interpretation of cross-sectional AMT data provided insights into the subsurface structure down to a depth of 1.5 km. This enhanced data reliability was achieved through an integrated interpretation constrained by multiple datasets, enabling a more accurate inference of the deeper geological framework. Furthermore, by amalgamating various datasets, we uncovered characteristics of deep mineralization, the three-dimensional configuration of mineralization-related rock masses, and the spatial orientation of known ore deposits. This holistic approach facilitated a comprehensive understanding of the deeper geological formations. A detailed analysis of ore-controlling structures and exploration markers led to the development of a tailored geological-geophysical model for mineral exploration within the study area, serving as a valuable reference for future deep exploration efforts.

(Note China found over $80 billion worth of gold with the help of new mineral prospecting technological advances)

Scientific Reports -Sci Rep 15, 7258 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-92108-3

Mum says new diabetes drug would be ‘kind of magic’ if it works

A world-first human trial of a drug designed to treat the underlying cause of type 1 diabetes has begun in Australia.

Five patients with the condition have already been dosed as part of the trial, including mum-of-two Caecilie Wickstroem Giralde, who was diagnosed last year.

University of Queensland researcher Ranjeny Thomas has spent more than a quarter of a century developing the drug, designed to rebalance the body’s immune response in people with type 1 diabetes, which affects more than 130,000 Australians.

The immune system starts to recognise insulin-producing cells in the pancreas as something it needs to attack and destroy in people with type 1 diabetes — one of dozens of auto-immune diseases in which the body starts to attack itself.

Professor Thomas, who is based at UQ’s Frazer Institute, said the experimental drug — dubbed ASITI-201 — was designed to retrain the immune system so it no longer attacks the insulin-producing pancreatic cells, known as beta cells.

The drug, given as an injection under the skin, combines fragments of a protein found in the beta cells of people with type 1 diabetes and vitamin D to calm the immune response.

Continue reading “Mum says new diabetes drug would be ‘kind of magic’ if it works” | >

Controlled-Source Audio-frequency MagnetoTelluric methods from the near- to the far-field: theory and applications

Controlled-Source Audio-frequency MagnetoTelluric (CS-AMT) is an active electromagnetic (CSEM) sounding technique, sensitive to the resistivity variations of the subsoil from a few meters to a few kilometers depth. It derives from the magnetotelluric (MT) method, which is based on measurements of natural electrical and magnetic fields related by induction; the interaction between natural EM signals at the Earth surface is controlled by the underground resistivity. With MT methods, the sources of these signals are distant enough from the measurement station, so that the EM waves are considered to behave as “far-field” waves. In this configuration, the Cagniard formula expresses the apparent electrical resistivity of the sensitive area as a function of the squared ratio of the electrical field amplitude to the magnetic induction amplitude. Because natural sources are irregular, AMT data acquisition and processing can be improved by the use of controlled source (CSEM). In most of the active geophysical techniques, and amongst others for CSEM, the input signal is voluntarily transmitted close to the measurement location, in order to maximize the signal to noise ratio. This implies that the measurements are sensitive not only to the area underneath the measurement location, but also to the area in between the transmitter and the receiver. This area needs therefore to be modelled. In the special case of CS-AMT, the source (transmitter that is either a horizontal electric dipole or a vertical magnetic dipole) is located as far as possible from the measurement location, so that the measured signals comply to the requirement of far-field waves. This assumption allows using the standard processing used for the MT methods, ignoring the effect of diffusion pattern and change of direction and intensity of the EM waves from the transmitter to the receiver. In practice, the distance between the transmitter and the receiver is often limited by the decrease in signal strength when moving away from the transmitter, and because the choice of the source location is also affected by accessibility or environmental constraints. For these reasons, the measured signals are more often in a “transitional domain” where the behavior of the signal corresponds either to the far-field or to the near-field, depending on its frequency. We propose a reformulation of the Cagniard formula to the interpretation of the ratio of the electrical to magnetic fields in the case of near-field magnetotelluric signals. We illustrate the use of these atypical formulations with applications to the granitic catchment of the Strengbach (Vosges mountains, North-East of France), and to the Séchilienne landslide, a micaschist instability in the Alps (South-East of France), where CSAMT data have been acquired in the near field, the transitional-field and the far-field.

Will implantable brain-computer interfaces soon benefit people with motor impairments?

A review published in Advanced Science highlights the evolution of research related to implantable brain-computer interfaces (iBCIs), which decode brain signals that are then translated into commands for external devices to potentially benefit individuals with impairments such as loss of limb function or speech.

A comprehensive systematic review identified 112 studies, nearly half of which have been published since 2020. Eighty iBCI participants were identified, mostly participating in studies concentrated in the United States, but with growing numbers of studies from Europe, China, and Australia.

The analysis revealed that iBCI technologies are being used to control devices such as robotic prosthetic limbs and consumer .

Map-making neurons change even when familiar settings remain exactly the same

In a new study, Northwestern University neurobiologists have found that the brain’s internal GPS changes each time we navigate a familiar, static environment.

This means that if someone walks the same path every day—and the path and surrounding conditions remain identical—each walk still activates different “map-making” brain cells (neurons). Not only does this discovery shed light on the fundamental mystery of how the brain processes and stores , but it could also have profound implications for scientists’ understanding of memory, learning and even aging.

The study appears in Nature.

The Cryonics Community Renaissance | Max Marty at Vitalist Bay

For years the Cryonics Community was beset by a small but very-dedicated band of misfits, grifters, and trolls.

Today, Max Marty tells the true story of how he and his brave comrades cleaned things things up and cleared the way for today’s more vibrant, healthy, and welcoming Cryonics community.

This 10 minute talk was given at the Biostasis conference at Vitalist Bay.

Links:
• Cryonics Discord server: https://discord.gg/cryosphere.
• Cryonics subreddit: https://reddit.com/r/cryonics.

#cryosphere