Boundless opportunities for halal pharmaceuticals
Reading Time: 4 minutesGLOBAL communities are increasingly more discerning and demanding that only the purest and best ingredients are used in the making of pharmaceuticals. Patients are more curious and seek to understand more about the origins of their proposed medication as part of fulfilling their religious beliefs, besides ensuring the safety, effectiveness, quality and hygiene of the […]
Deadly box jellyfish antidote discovered using CRISPR
Reading Time: 3 minutesRESEARCHERS at the University of Sydney have discovered an antidote to the deadly sting delivered by the most venomous creature on earth — the Australian box jellyfish. The Australian box jellyfish (Chironex fleckeri) has about 60 tentacles that can grow up to three metres long. Each tentacle has millions of microscopic hooks filled with venom. […]
Biosimilars – A case of more for less
Reading Time: 6 minutesCONTRARY to popular opinion, biologics, a large molecule typically derived from living cells and used in the treatment, diagnosis, or prevention of disease, have been around for a long time and regulations overseeing biologics can be traced back to the Biologics Control Act, 1902 in the United States of America (also known as the Virus-Toxin […]
Wearable sensors mimic skin to help wound healing
Reading Time: 2 minutesRESEARCHERS at Binghamton University, State University of New York, have developed skin-inspired electronics to conform to the skin, allowing for long-term, high-performance, real-time wound monitoring in users. “We eventually hope that these sensors and engineering accomplishments can help advance healthcare applications and provide a better quantitative understanding in disease progression, wound care, general health, fitness […]
Alzheimer’s-like symptoms reversed in mice
Reading Time: < 1 minuteA DIET containing compounds found in green tea and carrots reversed Alzheimer’s-like symptoms in mice genetically programmed to develop the disease, USC researchers say. Researchers emphasise that the study, recently published in the Journal of Biological Chemistry, was in mice, and many mouse discoveries never translate into human treatments. Nevertheless, the findings lend credence to […]
Duopharma Biotech– On a mission to provide cancer therapeutics
Reading Time: 4 minutesACCORDING to the data and findings from the Health Ministry’s Malaysian Study on Cancer Survival (MySCan), cancer is the fourth most common cause of death in Malaysia. It has approximately 37,000 cases being reported every year and this is estimated to rise to more than 55,000 newly-diagnosed cases by 2030. The big ‘C’ is reported […]
Virologist gets coveted science accolade
Reading Time: 2 minutesKUALA LUMPUR: Professor Datin Paduka Dr Khatijah Mohamad Yusoff (pix) was conferred with the Lifetime Scientific Research Achievements Women’s award for her incredible and inspiring contribution to science and the nation. Khatijah, a highly respected academician and a much acclaimed virologist who has distinguished herself through her extensive work on the Newcastle Disease Virus (NDV), […]
Scientists seeking to regrow kidneys make promising discovery
Reading Time: 2 minutesSCIENTISTS seeking to regrow damaged kidneys have discovered that blocked kidneys in newborns have a remarkable ability to repair themselves after the obstruction is removed. The finding offers insights into how that happens and could eventually help doctors regenerate kidneys in adults. The new research, from the University of Virginia School of Medicine, looked at […]
Genetically modified hens ‘lay drugs’
Reading Time: 2 minutesSCIENTISTS at the University of Edinburgh’s Roslin Institute have produced GM chickens that make human proteins in their eggs, offering a more cost-effective method of producing certain types of drugs. The study published in BMC Biotechnology initially focused on producing high quality proteins for use in scientific research and later found the drugs work at […]
HIV vaccine protects non-human primates from infection
Reading Time: 2 minutesFOR more than 20 years, scientists at Scripps Research have chipped away at the challenges of designing an HIV vaccine. Now new research, published in Immunity, shows that their experimental vaccine strategy works in non-human primates. The new study shows that rhesus macaque monkeys can be prompted to produce neutralising antibodies against one strain of […]