The potential to harness an individual’s immune system to treat cancer has revolutionized the oncology field. Coined immunotherapy, this umbrella term describes several types of treatment, including immune checkpoint inhibitors, immune system modulators, and adoptive cell therapies. Each triggers the immune system in a different way to fight cancer. One approach currently being explored involves …

Neurodegenerative diseases are a heterogeneous group of disorders that are characterized by the progressive degeneration of the structure and function of the central or peripheral nervous system. Millions of people are affected by these conditions across the globe, and with improved life expectancy in many parts of the world, it is likely that incidence will …

In early 2019, no one could have predicted that a novel coronavirus would sweep around the globe and cause one of the most significant health crises of recent times. Fast-forward to today, and thousands of scientists have turned their attention to studying SARS-CoV-2, the virus responsible for the current COVID-19 pandemic. This research pivot led …

A Global Scourge  Around 50 million people worldwide currently suffer from one or more forms of dementia. Of these, around 850,000 live in the United Kingdom (UK) at an annual care cost of £26 billion (US$38 billion). Unless something is done, experts predict these numbers will likely double within the next 20 years.1 To address …

The pharmaceutical industry is under huge pressure to address the high attrition rates in drug development. With around 90% of candidates failing during clinical development,1 the process is not only long and risky, but also expensive for those involved. There are many reasons that promising drug candidates are discontinued, including poor pharmacokinetics, lack of clinical …

G-protein coupled receptors (GPCRs) are the largest and most diverse family of membrane receptors in the human genome and are targeted by around one third of drugs currently approved by the FDA. These proteins represent one of the most extensively studied targets for drug discovery, mainly due to their involvement in a plethora of signaling …

Since the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak a global pandemic on March 11, 2020, researchers around the world have been working tirelessly to discover effective preventive treatments and therapeutic agents. Currently, the FDA has only approved one drug, Veklury (remdesivir), for treatment of COVID-19. However, the antiviral is only recommended …

The speed at which researchers developed effective vaccines to prevent the spread of COVID-19 required unprecedented international cooperation on a scale never seen before. Rollout of approved vaccines is underway in many countries across the globe, giving people hope that the end to the pandemic is finally in sight. Meanwhile, researchers are continuing to investigate …

Targeted cancer therapy has been a game changer in cancer treatment, significantly improving the survival and quality of life of many patients. Unlike chemotherapy, which acts on both cancer and normal cells, targeted therapy affects only the specific oncogenes, tumor suppressor genes, or pathways involved in tumor progression. Despite the success of targeted cancer therapy, …

Laboratories rely on microplate readers to translate experimental observations into raw data in order to process and analyze results. Microplate readers detect signals within assays, turning the targeted biological, chemical or physical signal into an optical signal so researchers can quantify the target of interest. Using a microplate reader is efficient and minimizes operational time …