“The hepatitis C virus (HCV) chronically affects up to 150 million people worldwide. In the UK, an estimated0.5% of the populated are affected. If left untreated, the virus can lead to severe liver damage and sometimes liver cancer. In 2014, two drugs were approved that offer a more than 90% cure rate for HCV; However, the NHS this…
Tag: medicine
Ecstasy – It Could Treat Thousands but it’s Still Illegal
“MDMA, more commonly referred to as ecstasy, is often thought of as a dangerous Schedule 1 drug – a potentially addictive “club drug” of abuse with no known medical use. But scientists argue that instead of demonising MDMA, we should be studying it for its potential uses in issues related to social behaviour. ” Read more…
Assessing human health from a single drop of blood
Protein levels from vials of whole blood are generally clinically determined using single-protein immunoassays. However, according to research by Geyer et al., a single drop of blood and a mass spectrometer may be all that’s needed to assess human health and disease. Read my review on Geyer et al.’s paper over at Thermo Fisher Scientific’s Accelerating Science Blog….
New hope for triple negative breast cancer patients
Triple negative breast cancer is difficult to treat because it lacks the receptors that would allow it to respond to many of the drugs used for other forms of breast cancer. However, for the first time, a new drug candidate has been designed using genetic sequencing to specifically trigger tumour cells into killing themselves, leaving healthy cells…
This organ transplant breakthrough is amazing but controversial…
What would you try to save a family member’s life? Could other species be the answer to organ donor shortages? Read up on this controversial medical breakthrough over here at The Canary.
This is an amazing little medicine-making machine…
See my article in The Canary about a new fridge-sized machine that could revolutionize healthcare in remote areas, right here.
The Science Writer 