The International Society for Stem Cell Research (ISSCR) announces today that Bayer is a Founding Member of the ISSCR Consortium on Advanced Stem Cell-Based Models in Drug Discovery and Development, a global cross-sector initiative focused on accelerating the responsible integration of human stem cell-derived models into preclinical drug development.

‍Co-chaired by Daniela Cornacchia, AstraZeneca, USA, and Shuibing Chen, Weill Cornell Medicine, USA, the consortium is leading a coordinated international effort to advance the regulatory qualification and adoption of human stem cell-derived models, including organoids, engineered tissues, and microphysiological systems, as New Approach Methodologies (NAMs) for drug discovery and development.

A type of white blood cell in the immune system, known as neutrophils, can make cancer immunotherapy less effective. This is shown in a new study from Karolinska Institutet published in the journal Immunity. The results show that a signalling molecule in the tumour affects neutrophils, reducing the effect of treatment.

Micro organisms from our planet could survive on celestial bodies where water is present, such as Mars. That is the conclusion of PhD candidate Tommaso Zaccaria after experiments with simulated space conditions. Our immune system reacts less effectively to pathogens that have undergone such a simulated space journey. According to his supervisors, his dissertation provides extraterrestrial insights that are also useful on Earth.

Blood clotting is one of the body’s oldest survival mechanisms—a biological defense that has protected humans from dangerous bleeding for millions of years. But when severe injuries strike, nature’s solution can sometimes fall short. Now, researchers in the Paul M. Rady Department of Mechanical Engineering at CU Boulder are helping test a new type of engineered blood clot that forms faster and is more durable than the ones found in nature. The new technique could one day transform how doctors treat traumatic injuries and manage life-threatening blood loss.

People who live together share more oral and gut microbes with each other than with other people in their communities, according to a study publishing June 15 in the Cell Press journal Cell Press Blue. This was true regardless of the cohabitants’ relationships—siblings, parents, and offspring all shared similar numbers of microbial strains, and romantic partners shared even more oral (but not gut) microbes with each other, likely due to kissing. The researchers also found a link between more transmissible microbes and health, particularly type 2 diabetes. The findings could help design more targeted therapies for improving people’s microbiomes. 

In this cohort study, receipt of the 2024-2025 COVID-19 vaccine was associated with reduced risk of COVID-19–associated major adverse cardiovascular event (MACE), with reductions most prominent in those 75 years or older and those with comorbidities. While the reduction in COVID-19–associated MACE was modest, the substantially larger reduction in all-cause MACE suggests that the vaccine’s protective association extends to the hidden burden of undetected SARS-CoV-2 and its sequelae.