STAT+: Nectar bats are ‘wonderful, majestic’ and sugar-obsessed. This researcher wants to know how they stay healthy
Nectar bats may have nature’s biggest sweet tooth. Each night, the creatures scour the jungle…
Category: research
In armadillos, leprosy expands healthy liver tissue. Could that tell us something about regenerating our own?
The mystery started with some skin samples. Anura Rambukkana was a Ph.D. student in Amsterdam,…
Opinion: The conundrum of biopharma investing: low rewards and high risks — but a big social benefit
Over the last decade, investors in biotech and pharmaceutical companies have been taking risks that…
Watch: A conversation with the 2022 STAT Wunderkinds
Each year, STAT sets out to celebrate the unheralded heroes of science and medicine, poring…
STAT+: PACT Pharma’s personalized cancer treatments, powered by CRISPR, clear early safety hurdles
Two years ago, researchers at the University of Pennsylvania showed for the first time that…
In a first, a fatal enzyme deficiency is treated in the womb
To protect this child from the same genetic disease that killed two older siblings, treating…
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Brain implants that translate paralyzed patients’ thoughts into speech creep closer to reality
In 2003, Pancho’s life changed forever. That’s when a car crash sent the 20-year-old farm…
‘Intriguing and sobering’: Enthusiasm over psilocybin’s effect on depression tempered by questions about durability
The hype around psychedelic therapy has been put to the test, with the publication Wednesday…
Opinion: STAT+: The need for regulatory grade evidence: Are you in the stadium or the sandbox?
As real-world data (RWD) and real-world evidence (RWE) continue to share the limelight in pharmacoepidemiologic…
Opinion: Kids with cancer deserve more than a cure
As an oncologist and a leader at a national cancer organization, I’ve watched countless families…
Opinion: After 30 years of 340B, it’s time for data and an honest conversation
The 340B Drug Discount Program turns 30 on Nov. 4. This once-obscure drug access program…
Opinion: Research funding is broken. Using a lottery approach could fix it
Thirty years ago, Katalin Karikó had what was then an outlandish idea: use messenger RNA…
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Opinion: Support family caregivers to improve and diversify clinical trials
During the Covid-19 pandemic, America’s 53 million family caregivers gained some long overdue recognition for…
BU’s Covid tinkering, FDA on trial, & why it’s hard to take drugs off the market
What happens when approved drugs turn out not to work? Is it OK to make…
Black Death may have influenced evolution of genes involved in immune responses, study finds
The phrase “Black Death mass burial site” tends to evoke images of haphazard piles of…
Racial disparities in neonatal mortality even wider with tools like IVF, study finds
When Sarka Lisonkova and her colleagues set out to study disparities in the birth outcomes…
BU lab wasn’t required to clear potentially controversial study with NIH, director says
The director of a Boston University laboratory that conducted potentially controversial research on the viruses…
Boston University researchers’ testing of lab-made version of Covid virus draws government scrutiny
Research at Boston University that involved testing a lab-made hybrid version of the SARS-CoV-2 virus…
STAT+: Lawmakers push NIH to disclose steps being taken to ensure clinical trial results are reported
A group of Republican senators is demanding to know what steps the U.S. National Institutes…
BIO’s messy transition, mRNA’s future, & Biogen’s next CEO
What’s going on at biotech’s lobbying organization? Where does mRNA go from here? And what…
Faster brain imaging technique seems to overcome limitations of current MRI scans
Research often proceeds in a logical progression, new studies building upon a detailed understanding of…
Human neurons implanted in a rodent’s brain lead a rat to water — and make it drink
The scientist flicked on a laser, filling the rat’s brain with blue light. The rodent,…
In gold-standard trial, colonoscopy fails to reduce rate of cancer deaths
For decades, gastroenterologists put colonoscopies on a pedestal. If everyone would get the screening just…
STAT+: Merck’s Covid-19 pill was no better than placebo in lowering the risk of hospitalization
A Merck pill used to combat Covid-19 failed to demonstrate it can lower the risk…
Listen: Nobels for science, biotech dealmaking, & a friendly FTC
What can we learn from mummy DNA? Is Pfizer single-handedly propping up biotech? And how…
Three scientists win chemistry Nobel Prize for developing ‘click’ and ‘bioorthogonal’ chemistry
Carolyn Bertozzi of Stanford University, Morten Meldal of the University of Copenhagen, and K. Barry…
Opinion: Needed: stricter screening of gene synthesis orders, customers
Scientists rely on gene synthesis technologies as a research tool for everything from basic research…
Opinion: How can the latest Alzheimer’s therapy reach patients? Follow this trustworthy process
The press release issued by pharmaceutical companies Eisai and Biogen on Sept. 27 might someday…
Nobel Prize in medicine awarded for research into the evolutionary history of humankind
A Swedish scientist won the 2022 Nobel Prize in medicine or physiology on Monday for…
White House’s open-access research directive scrambles long-entrenched models, raising key questions
In August, the White House’s Office of Science and Technology Policy released a memo directing…
Who will get the call from Stockholm? It’s time for STAT’s 2022 Nobel Prize predictions
We live in a time where the rate of medical and superlative scientific advances is…
Virtual drug screening identifies possible new antidepressants in LSD-like molecules
What’s a hallucinogen without the hallucinations? Perhaps a potent and fast-acting antidepressant, according to a…
Opinion: Subject, not suspect: The new hazards of conducting clinical research in the Dobbs era
Here’s a scenario anyone who has done clinical research will recognize: A 32-year-old woman participating…
Shakeup with Optum’s health data licensing sparks an outcry among scientists
A move by Optum to change longstanding practices for licensing data to academic institutions has…
STAT+: Researchers show they can quickly turn CAR-T cells on and off, raising hopes for safer cancer treatments
Researchers reported Wednesday that they could quickly and reliably turn CAR-T cells on and off…
A new study asks: Are we harming blood donors by taking blood from them?
One question has plagued the field of blood donation for as long as there have…
House Democrat presses bill to encourage more diversity in clinical trials run by NIH
Rep. Robin Kelly admits that the word “diversity” has scared some of her Republican colleagues…
Opinion: The White House has a major chance to improve coordination of federal nutrition efforts
At the end of September, the White House will host a Conference on Hunger, Nutrition…
These 3 startups are trying to improve diversity in clinical trials, a challenge experts say will take more than just tech
A host of health tech startups and companies are advertising their apps and platforms as…
Daily multivitamins improved the brain function of seniors in a trial — but plenty of questions remain
While pharma companies struggle to show that cutting-edge therapies can treat, prevent, or slow Alzheimer’s…
Opinion: A challenge trial can streamline testing of hepatitis C vaccines
Trade-offs in medicine can be harsh, even when clearly necessary. Chemotherapy can save people from…
Biden appoints former government scientist as first leader of ARPA-H
President Joe Biden plans to appoint longtime biologist and former government scientist Renee Wegrzyn as…
STAT+: Cancer treatment devised in the 1980s has proven effective (again). Will it finally get approval?
Eight years ago, a Dutch oncologist, John Haanen, set out to change melanoma treatment by…
STAT+: USDA starts cracking down on companies that ship animals without timely inspections
Earlier this year, a leading animal rights group asked U.S. authorities to investigate medical research…
STAT+: Alphabet spinout Verily raises $1 billion as it looks to harness health data
Alphabet’s life sciences offshoot Verily said Friday that it has raised $1 billion to fuel…
STAT+: What disclosure? Clinical trials run in Canada fail to take basic steps toward transparency
Amid ongoing controversy over clinical trial transparency, a new analysis found that just 3% of…
STAT+: Even before Covid-19, remote trials saved money. Will pharma now rely on them more than ever?
Running clinical trials remotely or virtually can provide substantial financial savings for pharmaceutical companies, according…
Stress and depression are better long Covid indicators than physical comorbidities, new study says
Studies have repeatedly suggested that physical conditions like immunosuppression and hypertension can increase a person’s…
Prehistoric skeleton reveals oldest surgical amputation — in a hunter-gatherer society 31,000 years ago
The amputation happened when the individual was perhaps 12 years old, the skeleton indicates. Gone…
Opinion: The FDA needs to be more flexible in assessing treatments for rare diseases, like the one that seemed to help my son
Every time I read about clinical trials testing possible treatments for rare diseases, I think…