Thirty years on, miRNA-based diagnostic and therapeutic agents for HCC remain a work-in-progress (WIP) and no current miRNA HCC clinical trial has progressed to phase 4. The question remains why this is the case after 30 years and what is the way forward. The major findings and contribution of this paper are that it illustrates the complexity of the miRNA interactome in HBV-HCC in all cellular processes.

The way a drug works and what it targets in the body are key factors in how effectively it can kill harmful cells. This work looks at a group of important proteins called receptor tyrosine kinases, which are often involved in diseases like cancer. Scientists have found that certain chemical structures—called heterocycles, such as pyrimidine, thiazole, imidazole, indole, acridone, and triazine—can be used to make drugs that target these proteins. With some changes, these compounds could also be designed to affect other disease pathways in the future.

In a study of human immune cells infected with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, scientists at Johns Hopkins Medicine say a molecule within HIV itself can be manipulated and amplified to force the virus into long-term dormancy, a state in which HIV does not replicate.

Dr. Liam Duffy (Chemistry and Biochemistry) and Dr. Kaira Wagoner (Biology) were each awarded new R&D grants from NCInnovation, a public-private partnership designed to accelerate and commercialize innovative research emerging from North Carolina's universities. Duffy will continue development of new instrument for analyzing chemical isomers, a process with application in a host of fields including pharmaceuticals and agrochemicals. Wagoner will refine and optimize the UBeeO Assay, a technology she co-developed to measure and improve disease and pest-resistant behavior in honey bee colonies.

Scientists have long known that biodiversity has increased over geological time, but corresponding trends for the sheer abundance of living things have never been calculated, until now. The findings add to data suggesting that conserving biodiversity is essential for the health of humans and our planet.