WEHI scientists have uncovered a promising new way to enhance the effectiveness of vaccines by tapping into the potential of a specific type of immune cell, opening the door to long-lasting vaccines for viruses and enhanced cancer therapies. 

The WEHI-led study used a novel approach combined with cutting-edge mRNA vaccine technology to increase the formation of a type of T cell which has remarkable self-renewing capacity and can remember threats for years and even decades. 

Scientists at the University of Southern California (USC) have developed a lactation pad equipped with sensing technology that allows parents of newborns to monitor breast milk in real time. Publishing in the Cell Press journal Device on May 7, their work shows that the device is capable of ensuring that breast milk contains safe levels of the painkiller acetaminophen, which is often prescribed after childbirth and can be transferred to breastfeeding infants. 

A new class of molecules capable of killing the cancer cells that are refractory to standard treatments and responsible for recurrence has just been developed by scientists at Institut Curie, the CNRS, and Inserm. This crucial advance in the fight against metastatic cancer is based on identifying the cellular site for ferroptosis initiation, a natural process, catalysed by iron, that sparks the oxidative degradation of cell membranes. These promising preclinical results will be published in the journal Nature on 7 May 2025.

Oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) progresses from seemingly benign preneoplastic lesions, but understanding the epigenetic triggers for this transition remains limited. 

The most effective way to harness the power of artificial intelligence when screening for breast cancer may be through collaboration with human radiologists — not by wholesale replacing them, says new research co-written by Mehmet Eren Ahsen, a professor of business administration at Illinois.