Article

Speeding Up the Drug Approval Process—and What That Means for Patients

Drug development is often a long and risky endeavor often taking 10-15 years of clinical trials. For patients anxiously awaiting the next generation of life-saving and sustaining therapies made possible by exciting advancements in molecular genetics, immunology and rare disease research, that wait is too long. Fortunately, regulatory agencies across the globe are leveraging the latest science to speed up that process for exciting new therapies for areas of unmet medical need. Through innovative...

Living & Wellbeing

Exposing RA Through Photography: The Inspiration

We’re dedicated to sharing the perspectives of people affected by chronic inflammatory conditions like rheumatoid arthritis (RA). That’s why we created Arthritis.com, a place where people living with RA can find inspiration, lifestyle advice, tools, and disease information. Following is an article from Arthritis.com contributor Angela Lundberg who is living with RA.Photography has been a passion of mine ever since my first photography class. Feeling the weight and heft of a “real” camera in my...

Living & Wellbeing

Explaining Your Rheumatoid Arthritis to Loved Ones

We’re dedicated to sharing the perspectives of people affected by chronic inflammatory conditions like rheumatoid arthritis (RA). That’s why we created Arthritis.com, a place where people living with RA can find inspiration, lifestyle advice, tools, and disease information. Following is an article from Arthritis.com contributor Mariah Leach who is living with RA.   Being a parent is always a demanding job, but being a parent who lives with arthritis presents some additional challenges. My...

Real People

The People Behind Your Vaccine

Vaccines have played an important role in significantly reducing the global burden of several serious infectious diseases. In fact, according to the World Health Organization (WHO), vaccination is one of the most successful and cost-effective public health interventions available.1  Vaccinations are a medical marvel, but have you stopped to think that behind every syringe is a steadfast, dedicated team—a collective, synchronized effort of people, processes, and resources—all working towards a...

The Winding Road to Discovery: How Unexpected Data Led to Novel Insights into Cancer Treatment

The path to discovery rarely follows a straight line.In 2015, as a post-doc researcher at Pfizer, Michael Arensman got an early lesson in this maxim. At the time, he set out to study the protein xCT, a transporter that carries nutrients into cells, and its role in T-cell proliferation. As a young scientist, he was eager to have his results published and contribute to the field of immunology.But about a year into the study, his hypothesis failed. He took his unexpected results, however, and...

Next-Gen Scientific Changemakers: An Infectious Disease Specialist on a Mission to Develop Vaccines

Soldiers, firefighters and police officers likely come to mind when you think of professions that require a good amount of courage. But Iona Munjal, a physician and pediatric infectious disease specialist who helps design and oversee vaccine clinical trials for Pfizer, argues scientists should be counted among this group, too. “You have to be brave in research,” she says. “When you’re out there pushing the envelope, you have to expect to fail more times than you succeed — that’s an essential...

Next-Gen Scientific Changemakers: Following 'Good Science' to Attack Cancer on All Fronts

After earning her Ph.D. in biomedical engineering from Washington University in St. Louis in 2010, Megan Kaneda was looking for a lab to do post-doc research. Her graduate studies focused primarily on nanoparticle drug delivery. But after reading a paper on the recruitment of immune cells into tumors by Judith Varner, a professor of pathology at the University of California San Diego, Kaneda switched paths in order to work with her in the emerging field of immunotherapy. “Honestly, I saw her...

Living & Wellbeing

How Excess Sugar Affects Your Health

It’s difficult to avoid added sugars in your food. Seventy-four percent of packaged foods — including staples such as bread and ketchup — contain added sugars, often listed in the ingredients as sucrose, high-fructose corn syrup, dextrose, barley meal and rice syrup. [1] Even healthy-sounding foods, such as yogurt and whole-grain breakfast bars, can contain surprising amounts of sugar. [2] According to the 2015-2020 Dietary Recommendations for Americans, fewer than 10 percent of daily calories...

Unlocking the Secrets of Biology With Novel 3D Imaging Technology

Shoh Asano’s grandfather first taught him how to use a microscope as a child. He’d pull the antique instrument from its wooden box to examine leaves and other specimens gathered outdoors. “I’ve always been interested in looking deeper into the natural world to visualize life directly as it’s happening,” says Asano, who grew up in Germany. Three decades later, Asano is among a group of researchers recognized for using cutting-edge microscopy techniques to show the mouse brain in unprecedented...

Living & Wellbeing

Four Things to Know About Vaccination During Pregnancy

Maternal vaccines enhance the natural level of antibodies in pregnant women, which are then passed to babies in the womb to protect them against infections. Here are four things you need to know about vaccination during pregnancy. 1. Babies are very vulnerable in the first few weeks of life The risk of dying from infectious diseases is higher during the first few weeks of a newborn's life than at any other point. This susceptibility is primarily due to infant’s immature immune systems. Their...

Using "Molecular Glues" to Hijack the Body’s Garbage Disposal System

p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Helvetica Neue'} Proteins are the stuff of life. They comprise the hormones, enzymes and many other molecules that are essential to our body’s functioning. But sometimes these loyal workhorses can go rogue, leading to cancer, autoimmune diseases and a variety of neurological conditions.  Scientists who develop drugs are always looking for new ways to target these disease-related proteins — either to shut down their activities or to turn...

Living & Wellbeing

Are Health Apps Beneficial to Your Health?

This article originally published on GetHealthyStayHealthy.com We live in a digital world and health apps are certainly a part of it. Approximately 3.4 billion people use smartphones and tablets worldwide. According to mobile industry estimates, half of them have downloaded a health app. The question is, are health apps beneficial to our health? Can health apps really help? There are over 300,000 mobile health apps available, but it’s important to know that the vast majority of them are not...