Articles
A new concept for the treatment of brain cancer
Glioblastoma Multiforme (GBM) is a serious form of brain cancer with highly limited treatment options. Through extensive clinical trials, dendritic cell vaccines have been shown to prolong life in patients. However, a successful randomised controlled clinical trial (RCT) has not been carried out. Professor Stefaan Van Gool, Medical Director of the Immuno-Oncological Center (IOZK) in Cologne, aims to understand why. […]
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Play like a team in Teams: How students engage with online social learning
As the global pandemic increasingly keeps students away from classrooms, school and university-level teaching has had to adapt to online environments. It is now more important than ever that we understand how students can engage with each other in the online learning process. Associate Professor Sarah Prestridge from Griffith University, Australia, studied how students interact with their peers and online […]
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Polarized fuel: A new option for sustained nuclear fusion
The journey towards sustained nuclear fusion may seem never-ending, but some physicists believe a promising step forward could come in the form of ‘polarized fuel’. In his research, Dr Ralf Engels at the Research Centre Jülich / GSI Darmstadt, Germany, together with colleagues at the Polarization Research for Fusion Experiments and Reactors (PREFER) collaboration, has identified three key challenges faced […]
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Combating corrosion in geothermal wells
Geothermal energy holds the potential to harvest vast amounts of energy from within the Earth’s crust. So far, however, exploitation of geothermal energy can be limited by corrosion – which damages the metal pipes required to carry high-temperature steam generated deep underground. In a new experiment, Andri Thorhallsson and Sigrun Karlsdottir at the University of Iceland show how the problem […]
Increasing the efficacy of monoclonal antibodies
The advent of monoclonal antibody (mAb) technology has allowed the production of antibodies that can target specific antigens on malignant tumour cells or other inflammatory molecules that are known to exacerbate diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis or Crohn’s disease. Dr Martina Zimmermann, Dr Aline Zimmer, and their team from Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany, added 5-Thio-L-Fucose (ThioFuc) to the cell culture […]
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Poor appetite in dogs: A potentially common symptom of gall bladder disease
Poor appetite is common in dogs, but it’s often dismissed if there are no other symptoms. Dr A D Viljoen, from Vets4Pets Torquay, believes this may be a sign that can help to identify dogs with early stages of gall bladder disease and should be investigated further. Some of these dogs appear to benefit clinically from having their gall bladder […]
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Could a serpin antibody help to treat type 1 diabetes?
Research from Dr Jan Czyzyk and his team at the University of Minnesota, USA, explores the balance between proteases and serpins, and how their activity can in turn affect the inflammation and tissue regeneration of pancreatic islet cells. Their findings show that antibodies can be used to change this serpin–protease balance, with interesting impacts. Excitingly, their research opens the possibility […]
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Theory and Experience: Assessing the methodology of physics
The relationship between theories and experiments is a central concept in physics, providing a robust basis for the sum of our knowledge of how the universe works. Yet despite its immense importance, there are still several key aspects of the relationship which physicists can’t agree upon – leading to deep-rooted disputes within the wider research community. In his essay, Theory […]
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Creating value in the age of digital transformation
The digital revolution has led to more businesses undertaking their own digital entrepreneurship by utilising digital operations, offering new digital products, and generating more profound digital insights. Professors Jahangir Karimi and Zhiping Walter at the University of Colorado Denver, USA, have studied the role of entrepreneurial agility in digital entrepreneurship in the newspaper industry, with a focus on creating business […]
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The silent pandemic: Addressing antimicrobial resistance
Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is a silent pandemic that poses a huge threat to global health and development. The World Health Organization and its partner organisations are seeking to raise awareness of the issue. One approach is through annual monitoring of progress through the Tripartite AMR Country Self-Assessment Survey (TrACSS), for which the 2021 results are now available, www.amrcountryprogress.org. While significant […]
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