Tag: biology

Startups Are Using AI to Predict Responses to Cancer Drugs
World

Startups Are Using AI to Predict Responses to Cancer Drugs

Dec. 28, 2023 12:01 pm ET|WSJ ProBiomedical startups are using artificial intelligence to predict the response patients will have to cancer treatments, aiming to increase the success of drugs in clinical trials and tailor therapies to individuals.As data accumulate from clinical trials and fields such as gene and protein research, AI is helping scientists sift through large volumes of information to uncover signatures that correlate with response—or resistance—to treatment. Startups are using it to predict which drugs are likely to work in clinical studies and create tests to help doctors choose treatments.Copyright ©2023 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 87990cbe856818d5eddac44c7b1cdeb8
How to Ride the Biotech Roller Coaster
Money

How to Ride the Biotech Roller Coaster

With stocks starting to price in interest-rate cuts next year, the biotech sector has emerged as a winner for investors seeking riskier bets with more distant payoffs.But investing in this industry is tricky because biotech is a sector of haves and have-nots. While every industry has its winners and losers, the gap in biotech is bigger due to the binary nature of drug development. Many companies spend years testing one medical approach or platform. In the end, either the idea works or it doesn’t, and that could be the difference between tripling your investment or losing it all. Copyright ©2023 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 87990cbe856818d5eddac44c7b1cdeb8
It’s Biotech Stocks’ Time to Shine
Money

It’s Biotech Stocks’ Time to Shine

These are hard times for the biotech sector. Barely a day goes by without layoffs being announced somewhere in Boston or California, and there are still more than 100 biotech stocks worth less than the cash they have in the bank.Yet there are also very clear signs that the worst might be over for the sector. For investors with a long-term horizon, a recent rally leaves plenty of room for further gains.Copyright ©2023 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 87990cbe856818d5eddac44c7b1cdeb8
Biophysicists Uncover Powerful Symmetries in Living Tissue
Technology

Biophysicists Uncover Powerful Symmetries in Living Tissue

“It was pretty amazing how well the experimental data and numerical simulation matched,” Eckert said. In fact, it matched so closely that Carenza’s first response was that it must be wrong. The team jokingly worried that a peer reviewer might think they’d cheated. “It really was that beautiful,” Carenza said.The observations answer a “long-standing question about the type of order present in tissues,” said Joshua Shaevitz, a physicist at Princeton University who reviewed the paper (and did not think they’d cheated). Science often “gets murky,” he said, when data points to seemingly conflicting truths—in this case, the nested symmetries. “Then someone points out or shows that, well, those things aren’t so distinct. They’re both right.”Form, Force, and FunctionAccurately defining a liquid c...
Using Keratin Treatments or Hair-Straightening Creams? Research Suggests Potential Cancer Risk.
World

Using Keratin Treatments or Hair-Straightening Creams? Research Suggests Potential Cancer Risk.

Millions of women are using hair-straightening treatments and products that might be harmful to their health.More research is linking chemicals in these products to an increased risk of uterine, ovarian and breast cancer. Studies also suggest that frequent use of such products can negatively affect puberty and pregnancy. Copyright ©2023 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 87990cbe856818d5eddac44c7b1cdeb8
China Shaken by String of Cancer Cases Tied to Top Oncology Lab
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China Shaken by String of Cancer Cases Tied to Top Oncology Lab

HONG KONG—An unusual cluster of cancer cases among Chinese researchers affiliated with one of the country’s top oncology laboratories has attracted a wave of public attention, leading to new questions around lab safety. Two surgeons at Sun Yat-Sen Memorial Hospital in the southern city of Guangzhou were diagnosed with cancer in June and October this year, the hospital said Wednesday. Both had previously worked in the hospital’s highly regarded breast-cancer research laboratory. Copyright ©2023 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 87990cbe856818d5eddac44c7b1cdeb8
Everyone Was Wrong About Why Cats Purr
Technology

Everyone Was Wrong About Why Cats Purr

Feline researchers have long believed that purring is produced by voluntary muscle contractions, but a new report indicates that this vibration in the larynx of cats may be explained by the myoelastic aerodynamic theory of phonation.Studies on the complex action that produces a unique vibration in the larynx of cats—known as purring to most of us—have taken an important turn. It turns out that the biomechanics of the sounds emitted by domestic cats when they feel comfortable or stressed may be closer to a snore than a voluntary muscle spasm.New research published in Current Biology suggests that connective tissue masses are embedded in the vocal folds of the larynges of domestic cats. These may allow felines to produce self-sustained low-frequency oscillations without neural input or musc...
Health Care Roundup: Market Talk
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Health Care Roundup: Market Talk

The latest Market Talks covering the Health Care sector. Published exclusively on Dow Jones Newswires at 4:20 ET, 12:20 ET and 16:50 ET.1351 ET – Venture-capital investment in biotechnology startups continues to slide from its 2021 peak, but that isn’t a reason to think innovation will suffer, says Kevin Eisele, managing director, equity capital markets for investment bank William Blair. As biotech investment surged from 2018 to 2021, many similar companies emerged to pursue the same drug targets, he says. Now fewer quick-follower companies attract attention as investors target more-differentiated companies. Moreover, investment in healthcare venture-capital funds remains robust. U.S. healthcare VCs had raised $13.7 billion as of midyear, putting 2023 on pace to nearly match the record $2...
This $1,000 Test Finds Signs of Cancer in Your Blood
World

This $1,000 Test Finds Signs of Cancer in Your Blood

Updated Oct. 25, 2023 9:41 am ETListen to article(2 minutes)Doctors, researchers and patient advocates are excited about a new blood test that promises to detect cancer early. They disagree about whether you should actually use it yet.The $949 Galleri liquid biopsy can screen for more than 50 types of cancers. It works by looking for a shared cancer signal in DNA shed by tumors in the bloodstream. More than 130,000 of the prescription-only tests have been sold since Galleri became available in June 2021, according to the test maker Grail, a unit of the gene-sequencing company Illumina. Copyright ©2023 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 87990cbe856818d5eddac44c7b1cdeb8