TITANIUM PROFESSIONALS

In science, the suffix “phage” means to devour. Thus, the name bacteriophage might conjure images of tiny creatures that “eat” bacteria. While that conception isn’t 100 percent scientifically accurate, bacteriophages are lethal bacteria killers nonetheless, and scientists are excited about engineering phage DNA as a path to new antibiotics.

And so it is that chemical engineer Brian Hie and bioengineering graduate student Samuel King came to study bacteriophage ΦX174 (pronounced “FYE-ex-1-7-4”).

Adding the GLP-1 receptor agonist drug tirzepatide (marketed as Mounjaro) to standard care for patients with type 2 diabetes and heart disease is associated with a lower risk of a major cardiovascular event, such as a heart attack or stroke, finds a study published by The BMJ.

Randomised trials and observational studies have shown non-inferior effects of tirzepatide compared to another GLP-1 receptor agonist, dulaglutide, for major adverse cardiovascular events (MACE) - a combined measure of heart attack, stroke, and death from any cause.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved daraxonrasib, an oral multi-selective RAS(ON) inhibitor, for adults with metastatic pancreatic adenocarcinoma who have received at least one prior systemic therapy or are not candidates for multiagent systemic therapy. The approval is based primarily on the results from the pivotal randomized phase 3 RASolute 302 trial comparing daraxonrasib to chemotherapy as second-line therapy for patients with metastatic pancreatic cancer, led by Brian Wolpin, MD, MPH, director of the Hale Family Center for Pancreatic Cancer Research at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.

Chemotherapy remains a cornerstone of treatment for head and neck cancers, the seventh-most common cancer type worldwide. However, the disease is often diagnosed at a late stage once it has already spread to other organs, and the majority of patients on active treatment will develop resistance to chemotherapy within a matter of months, underscoring a prominent avenue for designing more effective care strategies.

Spinal cord injuries affect an estimated 15 to 20 million people worldwide, often causing lasting impairments in movement, sensation, and independence. Such injuries can be especially devastating when they occur at the level of the neck, where damaged spinal circuits disrupt signals that control the diaphragm, the main muscle used for breathing.

Despite advances in emergency care and rehabilitation, no approved therapies exist to rebuild the neurons and connections lost after a spinal cord injury.

To develop new targeted treatments for cancer, scientists need tissue models that accurately represent the genetic and molecular traits of the cancer they’re studying. An international team led by researchers at MIT’s Koch Institute, the Broad Institute, the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, the National Cancer Institute, and numerous other partnering institutions has developed nearly 700 new cancer models, derived from patient tumors, which they hope will aid in drug development.

Researchers at Baylor College of Medicine have developed a drug called CS18 that disrupts the ability of cancer cells to survive therapy. The findings, published in Science Advances, support exploring the possibility of using CS18 to treat human cancer in the future.

“Therapeutic resistance is a main obstacle to achieve effective and durable cancer treatments,” said corresponding author Dr. Weei-Chin Lin, professor of medicine - hematology and oncology and of molecular and cellular biology at Baylor.

Mayo Clinic researchers have developed an experimental drug with the help of artificial intelligence (AI) to target the "undruggable" PDZ-domain of GIPC1 protein that helps different types of cancer, including pancreatic cancer, to grow and resist treatment. In laboratory studies, the drug slowed tumor growth, improved survival and enhanced the effects of the chemotherapy drug gemcitabine.

The findings, published in Cell Reports, also demonstrate how AI could help develop a small molecule inhibitor of a target protein that can be less toxic and speed the discovery of new cancer treatments.

Pfizer Inc. (NYSE: PFE) and Valneva SE (Nasdaq: VALN; Euronext Paris: VLA) announced that the European Medicines Agency (EMA) has validated the Marketing Authorization Application (MAA) for PF-07307405, the companies’ 6-valent outer surface protein A (OspA)-based Lyme disease vaccine candidate and will begin its assessment of the application.

The application is based on encouraging efficacy of more than 70% observed in the Phase 3 VALOR “Vaccine Against Lyme for Outdoor Recreationists” clinical trial (NCT05477524), which investigated whether the vaccine candidate, PF-07307405, prevented Lyme disease cases in individuals aged five years and older.

Type 2 diabetes is associated with an increased risk of heart disease. So many people with type 2 diabetes are prescribed blood sugar-lowering medication to reduce this risk.

However, not everyone takes their medication consistently, and that inconsistency could leave them more exposed. Yet scientists have struggled to pin down how much long-term adherence, meaning how reliably someone sticks to a prescription over the years, actually changes a person's risk of a heart attack or stroke.

Cancer cells have a voracious appetite for sugar - using it to fuel their rapid growth. This is why many scientists have tried to develop drugs that block cancer cells’ metabolism by cutting off their sugar supply.

Now a team led by researchers at The University of Texas at Austin report in the journal Nature Chemical Biology that they have found a completely different approach. Instead of starving cancer cells, they trick them into consuming even more sugar than usual.

A protein that can dial down oxidative stress in cells helps some cancers resist treatment with a widely used class of drugs called BTK inhibitors, according to a study led by investigators at Weill Cornell Medicine. The discovery points to a possible solution to the problem of BTK inhibitor treatment resistance.

BTK inhibitors reduce the activity of the enzyme BTK (Bruton’s Tyrosine Kinase), which has a central role in immune cells called B cells.

Viagra was originally developed to treat high blood pressure and chest pain caused by reduced blood flow to the heart, but over the past three decades it has become the world’s best-known therapy for erectile dysfunction. In the future, this blockbuster drug may find yet another use. In a study published recently in Cancer Research, scientists in the lab of Prof. Ayelet Erez at the Weizmann Institute of Science found that sildenafil, Viagra’s active ingredient, may restrict cancer metastasis through a newly discovered biological mechanism.

Abbott (NYSE: ABT) today announced a first-of-its-kind partnership with Google Health to redefine how people understand and manage their health. By combining glucose insights from Abbott's Lingo biowearable with Google's expertise in artificial intelligence (AI) and consumer technology, the multi-year collaboration makes personalized metabolic insights more actionable, helping people take a more proactive approach to their health.

An international research team led by the Medical University of Vienna has investigated a new peptide derived from cone snail venom which significantly reduced inflammation-induced pain in an animal model. Crucially, its effect takes hold immediately after subcutaneous injection, whereas previously known cone snail peptides must be administered directly into the cerebrospinal fluid.

More than half of U.S. adults ages 30 to 79 - about 87.5 million people - are now recommended for statins to prevent cardiovascular disease under newly updated clinical guidelines, according to a study by University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine researchers published in JAMA.

The new recommendations significantly change how doctors assess cardiovascular risk by looking beyond the next 10 years to a person’s risk over several decades.

Many countries are using too many powerful and inappropriate antibiotics, fuelling antibiotic resistance concerns, while millions lack access to the specific drugs they need. That is according to a major international study of antibiotic use published in The Lancet Public Health.

Research led by City St George's, University of London and University of Oxford developed the first global framework that estimates how many and which type of antibiotics each country needs to treat their infections.

Use of glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) receptor agonists used to treat type 2 diabetes and obesity are associated with an increased risk of hair loss (alopecia) in adults with type 2 diabetes, finds a study published by The BMJ.

Although the absolute risk is low, awareness of this potential effect may help to inform shared treatment decisions, say the researchers.

Scientists at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai have uncovered the first high-resolution structure of NBCn2, a brain protein linked to epilepsy, autism spectrum disorder, and other neurological conditions, and developed the first compounds capable of inhibiting its activity. The findings provide a new framework for studying how altered brain signaling contributes to disease and may help advance future therapeutic research.

Antibiotic resistance has quietly become one of the greatest threats to global healthcare. Each year, drug-resistant bacteria claim lives by rendering once-reliable antibiotics ineffective, turning routine surgeries, cancer treatments, and even common infections into potentially life-threatening events.

Scientists around the world are racing to find new ways to stay ahead of these evolving pathogens. The answer may not lie in discovering an entirely new antibiotic, but in reinventing the chemistry behind the ones we already have.