Like bees breathing life into gardens, providing pollen and making flowers blossom, little cellular machines called mitochondria breathe life into our bodies, buzzing with energy as they produce the fuel that powers each of our cells. Maintaining mitochondrial metabolism requires input from many molecules and proteins - some of which have yet to be discovered.

A study conducted by researchers from the Pennington Biomedical Research Center (PBRC, United States), Proteimax Biotechnology (Israel), and the University of São Paulo’s Biomedical Sciences Institute (ICB-USP, Brazil) showed that ingesting Pep19 helps reduce visceral fat and improve sleep in obese adults. The molecule is a synthetic version of a peptide (a very small piece of protein) naturally found in human cells.

Researchers at the Nanoscience Initiative at the Advanced Science Research Center at the CUNY Graduate Center (CUNY ASRC) have made a breakthrough in the fight against viral diseases. Their study, published in the journal Science Advances, offers a promising path toward the development of the world’s first broad-spectrum antiviral (BSA), which could be deployed against a wide range of deadly viruses, including future pandemic threats.

The trouble with many drugs is that they go where they shouldn’t, producing unwanted side effects. Psychiatric drugs might cause dissociation, painkillers can induce nausea and chemotherapy often damages healthy cells. Now a team of Stanford Medicine researchers are closing in on a novel solution: a non-invasive system that can deliver drugs anywhere in the body with precision down to a few millimeters.

Engaging with nature could be an effective measure for those with low wellbeing to reduce symptoms of depression and anxiety.

A new pilot study from the University of Exeter, published in Behavioral Sciences, found that a self-guided, four-week nature-based programme called Roots and Shoots could help adults boost their mood, enhance mindfulness, and reconnect with the natural environment.

Vaccines trigger a notably rapid response in the stromal cells of draining lymph nodes within the first hours after administration. Researchers at the University of Turku and the InFLAMES Flagship in Finland also discovered that the stromal alterations prime the lymph node landscape for the subsequent steps of vaccine-induced immune responses.

Lymph nodes are a key part of the human immune system, whose primary function is to combat infections.

A new study from Moffitt Cancer Center may offer a breakthrough for patients with advanced melanoma who don’t respond to current immunotherapy treatments. The research, published in the Journal for ImmunoTherapy of Cancer, found that adding a third immune-targeting drug to existing therapies helped shrink tumors in lab models of treatment-resistant melanoma.

Immunotherapy works by activating the body’s own immune system to attack cancer.