University of Oregon (UO) researchers have uncovered a molecule produced by yeast living on human skin that showed potent antimicrobial properties against a pathogen responsible for a half-million hospitalizations annually in the United States.

It's a unique approach to tackling the growing problem of antibiotic-resistant bacteria.

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), the most common form of liver cancer, continues to pose a significant global health challenge due to its high mortality rate and limited treatment options. However, a new frontier in cancer therapy has emerged, focusing on neddylation modification, a crucial cellular process that influences cancer progression. The latest insights into this mechanism provide hope for targeted therapies that could revolutionize the treatment landscape for HCC.

Chemists have confirmed a 67-year-old theory about vitamin B1 by stabilizing a reactive molecule in water - a feat long thought impossible. The discovery not only solves a biochemical mystery, but also opens the door to greener, more efficient ways of making pharmaceuticals.

The molecule in question is a carbene, a type of carbon atom with only six valence electrons. Generally, carbon is stable with eight electrons around it. With only six electrons, it is chemically unstable and highly reactive.

Antibodies are best known for their ability to latch onto and neutralize bacteria, viruses and other pathogens. But these immune proteins can do more than that: They also activate other components of the immune system, which then go to work to clear an infection. A new study from Scripps Research explores the factors that influence how effectively antibodies engage specific immune cells.

Their results, described April 22, 2025 in Cell Reports, indicate that a higher ratio of antibodies to viral protein - in this case, a part of HIV - better engages two specific types of immune cells.

When the immune system does not function properly, individuals become more susceptible to infections caused by viruses, bacteria, or fungi. Researchers from Radboud university medical center have demonstrated that an existing drug can revive immune cells that are not functioning correctly. These findings provide leads for further research in patients admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU) with sepsis.

A common pinworm medication may stop and reverse cancer growth in Merkel cell carcinoma, an aggressive form of skin cancer, according to research led by University of Arizona Cancer Center researchers and published in the Journal of Clinical Investigation.

Merkel cell carcinoma is a rare but fast-growing neuroendocrine cancer that is three to five times more likely than melanoma to be deadly.

While organoids aim to mimic human organs, the liver's repertoire of complex functions - and thus the energy it needs to operate - have made it challenging for researchers to grow organoids that proliferate and fully function, says Sato. When prioritizing growth and survival in laboratory settings, hepatocytes, the liver's main cells, eventually transformed into cells resembling cholangiocytes, which line the bile duct. Hepatocyte functions only lasted 1-2 weeks at most.