Australia’s recent move to lower the starting age for bowel (colorectal) cancer screening from 50 down to 45 years old will mean better outcomes – but it will also increase the burden on an already struggling healthcare system, warn Flinders University researchers.

 

They predict that the expanded screening program will likely lead to an influx of younger adults who will require ongoing surveillance with regular colonoscopies, prompting the team to review current clinical guidelines for at risk individuals.

A research team from the School of Biomedical Sciences, LKS Faculty of Medicine at the University of Hong Kong (HKUMed), in collaboration with Queen Mary University of London and the Max Planck Institute for Terrestrial Microbiology, has unearthed the ancient evolutionary origins of genes critical to stem cell biology, dating back over 700 million years. Drawing on insights from evolutionary processes, this discovery reveals that tools borrowed from ancient single-celled organisms—and even recreated proteins from life’s earliest days—can transform mouse somatic cells into pluripotent stem cells capable of developing into any cell type in multicellular animals. This breakthrough challenges the longstanding belief that only animal genes possess this transformative ability, paving the way for new protein designs in novel therapies for regenerative medicine and disease studies to combat ageing and related health issues. The findings were recently published in Nature Communications.

The Heinz College of Information Systems and Public Policy will work with the National University of Singapore (NUS) Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine (NUS Medicine) and School of Computing (NUS Computing), and with the firm FriendsLearn, to promote joint research and development activities of mutual interest. The research will use artificial intelligence (AI) in precision prevention of disease via innovative digital therapeutic solutions such as digital vaccines.

Nagoya University researchers in Japan have found that drug effectiveness, alcohol tolerance, and carbohydrate metabolism change with the seasons. Their findings are based on a comprehensive seasonal gene expression map, which investigated over 54,000 genes in 80 tissues in monkeys across one year. The study has implications for drug prescription and precision medicine.