From uncovering new drug targets to predicting human toxicity, organ chips are showing what they could bring to drug discovery. Professor Donald Ingber of Harvard University discusses where the technology is heading next.
AI is becoming more capable, but its value still depends on the data, questions and decisions behind it. Where is it genuinely improving drug discovery and where do the limitations remain?
From early research to quality control, maintaining analytical continuity is no easy task. Could a single sequencing workflow help simplify analytical assessment?
One receptor can protect antibodies from degradation, extend their half-life and become a drug target itself. Explore the science behind FcRn and how researchers measure its function.
What if the vast amounts of data generated by molecular dynamics simulations could be routinely shared and reused? A new €10 million European initiative aims to do just that, helping researchers gain a deeper understanding of protein behaviour and drug-target interactions.
Preclinical findings from Genespire and SR-TIGET suggest a single administration of a liver-directed lentiviral gene therapy could provide lifelong correction of methylmalonic acidemia, a rare inherited metabolic disorder with no approved disease-targeted treatments.
Stanford University researchers have demonstrated that stem cell-derived vascular organoids can regenerate damaged microvessels in the heart, improving cardiac function in a porcine model of ischaemic heart disease and addressing a significant unmet need in coronary artery disease treatment.
Scientists at the University of Southern California have engineered synthetic organiser cells that produce localised Wnt signals to guide kidney organoid development, yielding more reproducible, physiologically accurate structures and revealing a previously unrecognised developmental axis in the human kidney.
Non-animal methods are already used throughout early drug discovery, yet animal testing continues to dominate regulatory safety assessment. Recent initiatives suggest change is coming, but significant scientific and practical challenges remain.