Trailblazing geneticist Pengfei Liu, Ph.D., Associate Professor in the Department of Molecular and Human Genetics at Baylor College of Medicine, is the recipient of the 2026 Edith and Peter O’Donnell Award in Medicine from TAMEST. He was chosen for his transformative use of genome and RNA sequencing to improve the diagnosis and treatment of rare genetic diseases.   A global leader in his field, Dr. Liu has consistently expanded the boundaries in the diagnosis and treatment of rare genetic disorders. His contributions span nearly every major advancement in modern clinical genetics – from early discoveries of genome rearrangement mechanisms ...

Renowned molecular biologist Yunsun Nam, Ph.D., Professor in the Departments of Biochemistry and Biophysics and the Doris and Bryan Wildenthal Distinguished Chair in Medical Science at UT Southwestern Medical Center, is the recipient of the 2026 Edith and Peter O’Donnell Award in Biological Sciences from TAMEST. She was chosen for her groundbreaking research into how RNAs and proteins interact at the molecular level – providing key insights for gene regulation, cancer biology and RNA-based therapeutics.   Crucial ...

Groundbreaking electrical engineer Bilal Akin, Ph.D., Professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at The University of Texas at Dallas, is the recipient of the 2026 Edith and Peter O’Donnell Award in Engineering from TAMEST. He was chosen for his cutting-edge advancement of sustainable and high-efficiency energy conversion systems for electric vehicles (EVs) and industrial automation.   Dr. Akin’s research focuses on making power electronics systems more efficient, reliable and sustainable, with major ...

Pioneering theoretical physicist Fan Zhang, Ph.D., Professor in the Department of Physics at The University of Texas at Dallas, is the recipient of the 2026 Edith and Peter O’Donnell Award in Physical Sciences from TAMEST. He was chosen for his transformational research exploring new topological quantum matter, which has changed how we think about physics.   Dr. Zhang studies how millions of electrons in atomically thin materials interact to produce collective quantum effects such as magnetic, superconducting and topological phases. His ...

Artificial Intelligence (AI) innovator Yue Hu, Ph.D., AI Specialist – Production Technology at bp, is the recipient of the 2026 Edith and Peter O’Donnell Award in Technology Innovation from TAMEST. She was chosen for her cutting-edge work applying AI to optimize real-time industrial processes in the energy sector.   Dr. Hu specializes in reinforcement learning (RL), an AI approach that learns by trial and error. While RL has proven powerful in fields like robotics and gaming, it had rarely been applied successfully to high-stakes oilfield operations. By combining AI with bp’s powerful computing systems, Dr. Hu has successfully applied RL ...

People who lean politically to the right are more likely to fall for conspiracy theories than those on the left – but not for other types of false or misleading information. And regardless of ideology, we tend to accept political claims that align with our own beliefs. This is shown in a doctoral thesis from Linköping University, Sweden. “Conspiracy theories can have a very strong mobilising force, as seen during the storming of the Capitol. Several of those who took part believe in conspiracy ...

Insilico Medicine has developed a new class of small molecule inhibitors targeting diacylglycerol kinase alpha (DGKα) designed to restore T cell function and overcome resistance to immune checkpoint blockades in solid cancers. The latest results from this program have just been published in the Journal of Medicinal Chemistry, describing the discovery and comprehensive preclinical evaluation of Compound 10, a novel, potent, selective and orally administered DGKα inhibitor.  The compound exhibits a differentiated pharmacokinetic and safety profile and ...

Pancreatic cancer is one of the deadliest malignancies, with survival rates remaining dismally low despite major advances in oncology. One of the key reasons lies in the disease’s unique fibrotic microenvironment—a dense, collagen-rich tissue that acts as a physical and biochemical barrier, preventing drugs from reaching tumor cells effectively.   Now, a research team from Okayama University and Tohoku University has uncovered a promising new way to breach this barrier. Led by Assistant Professor Hiroyoshi Y. Tanaka from the Graduate School of Medicine, Dentistry and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Okayama University, the group demonstrated that blocking ...

Vienna, Austria – 11 December 2025: Valvular heart disease, identified through cardiovascular imaging, is common in cancer patients. Interventions to treat valvular heart disease significantly improved survival.1 These findings were presented today at EACVI 2025, the flagship congress of the European Association of Cardiovascular Imaging (EACVI), a branch of the European Society of Cardiology (ESC). Treatment advances have led to improved survival for patients with cancer. As patients live longer, they are at an increased risk of developing valvular heart disease after successful cancer therapy. Furthermore, it is now well recognised that certain cancer treatments can cause ...

Socially responsible investors (SRIs) often see themselves as agents of social or environmental progress. They buy into polluting or “dirty” companies believing that their capital can nudge a business toward a cleaner path. Their intention is straightforward: to invest in the bad to make it good. But a new study by finance professors at the University of Rochester, Johns Hopkins University, and the Stockholm School of Economics argues that this logic can backfire. Instead of accelerating environmental reforms, SRIs may unintentionally create incentives for firms to ...

Statement Highlights: Over the past decade, the number and type of cuffless devices to measure blood pressure, such as smartwatches, rings, patches and fingertip monitors, have increased significantly. However, many personal wearable devices have not been proven to be accurate or reliable for real world use, such as during exercise, sleep or daily activity or after taking medication that affects blood pressure. In addition, variables like arm position, skin color and how recently the device was calibrated, can also affect results and contribute to inaccurate blood pressure measurements. More research and standardized validation protocols are needed before cuffless blood pressure technologies ...

Vienna, Austria – 11 December 2025: Reduced coronary blood flow, measured with an artificial intelligence-based imaging tool, predicted future cardiovascular events in patients with suspected stable coronary artery disease.1 These findings were presented today at EACVI 2025, the flagship congress of the European Association of Cardiovascular Imaging (EACVI), a branch of the European Society of Cardiology (ESC). Stable coronary artery disease (CAD) refers to the common syndrome of recurrent, transient episodes of chest symptoms, often manifesting as angina. Coronary computed tomography angiography (CCTA) is a non-invasive heart scan that is used as the ...

A team of researchers at the Institute for Neurosciences (IN), a joint center of the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC) and Miguel Hernández University of Elche (UMH), has reconstructed for the first time how the cerebellum establishes its connections with the rest of the brain during the earliest stages of life. The work, published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), describes in detail the phases in which these neural connections emerge, expand, and are refined, offering the first comprehensive map of the development of cerebellar projections across the mouse brain. Although the cerebellum ...

Daily scans taken during prostate cancer radiotherapy could be repurposed to guide changes to treatment, reducing the risk of side effects, a study suggests. Using AI, scientists found that images originally taken to help position patients for radiotherapy could also identify changes linked to future rectal bleeding as early as one week into treatment. Monitoring these early changes could help doctors decide when to adapt radiotherapy to limit side effects while maintaining cancer control, experts ...

AI-supported recommender systems should provide users with the best possible suggestions for their enquiries. These systems often have to serve different target groups and take other stakeholders into account who also influence the machine’s response: e.g. service providers, municipalities or tourism associations. So how can a fair and transparent recommendation be achieved here? Researchers from Graz University of Technology (TU Graz), the University of Graz and Know Center investigated this using a cycling tour app from the Graz-based start-up Cyclebee. They conducted research into how the diversity of human needs can be taken into account by AI. ...

Sea urchins are ecosystem engineers, the marine equivalent of mega-herbivores on land. By grazing and shredding seaweed and seagrass, they control algal growth and promote the survival of slow-growing organisms like corals and some calcifying algae. They are likewise prey for a plethora of marine mammals, fish, crustaceans, and sea stars. However, when they become overabundant, for example when these predators are overhunted or overfished, sea urchins can also inflict substantial damage to marine habits and form so-called ‘urchin barrens’. Now, a study in Frontiers in Marine Science has revealed that over the last four years, an unrecognized pandemic that ...

A new study from Flinders University offers insight into how two of the world’s most popular beverages, coffee and tea, may influence bone health in older women. The research, published in the journal Nutrients, followed nearly 10,000 women aged 65 and older over a decade to explore whether their daily habits of sipping coffee or tea were linked to changes in bone mineral density (BMD), a key indicator of osteoporosis risk. Osteoporosis is a major global health concern, affecting one in three women over 50 and contributing to millions of fractures each year. With coffee and tea consumed daily by billions worldwide, understanding their impact on bone health ...

Free or subsidized school meals lead to modest gains in math and school enrolment, according to a new Cochrane review that examined the global impact of school feeding programs on disadvantaged children in both high-income countries and low- and middle-income countries. The research team, led by scientists from University of Ottawa, found that providing free or subsidized meals in schools slightly improves math achievement and enrolment rates in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), and likely contributes to small gains in physical growth indicators such as height-for-age ...

Researchers at UCLA have developed an artificial intelligence tool that can use electronic health records to identify patients with undiagnosed Alzheimer’s disease, addressing a critical gap in Alzheimer’s care: significant underdiagnosis, particularly among underrepresented communities. The study appears in the journal npj Digital Medicine. Disparities in Alzheimer’s and dementia diagnosis among certain populations have been a longstanding issue. African Americans are nearly ...

A new metal free carbon catalyst made from seaweed could offer a greener way to clean antibiotic polluted water, according to a new study in Biochar X. The team reports that its porous carbon material, derived from a common marine polysaccharide and doped with nitrogen and sulfur, rapidly breaks down the antibiotic norfloxacin in water while avoiding the use of toxic metals or sulfur chemicals. Turning seaweed into clean water materials In the study, researchers transformed kappa carrageenan, a sulfated polysaccharide extracted from red algae and widely used as a food thickener, into a highly porous carbon catalyst. By combining the biomass with melamine as a nitrogen ...

Turning a weak process into a strong one PFOA is a widely used perfluorinated compound valued for its durability, but its strong carbon fluorine bonds make it extremely hard to break down once it reaches the environment. Traditional advanced oxidation processes based on ultraviolet light and powerful oxidants often require high temperatures, large doses of chemicals, or long treatment times to partially degrade these molecules.​ In the new work, the research team tested several UV based redox systems and found that a standard UV persulfate setup could only achieve 27 percent ...

A landmark UK study has revealed that acute heavy menstrual bleeding (HMB) is placing a significant hidden burden on the NHS, with around £13 million spent annually on hospital admissions and post-discharge care.   The study, led by Dr Bassel Wattar of Anglia Ruskin University and published in The Lancet Obstetrics, Gynaecology, & Women’s Health journal, is the first UK-based multicentre study to evaluate the prevalence of acute HMB and number of women requiring red blood ...

Slow tapering of antidepressants combined with psychological support prevents depression relapse to a similar extent as remaining on antidepressants, and is much more effective than fast tapering or sudden stopping of the medication, finds the most rigorous review and meta-analysis on the topic to date, involving over 17,000 adults. The researchers estimated that slow tapering of antidepressants plus psychological support could prevent one relapse in every five individuals compared with abrupt stopping or fast tapering – offering a clinically meaningful benefit. However, ...

Teenagers who are unhappy with their bodies are more likely to develop symptoms of eating disorders and depression in early adulthood, according to a new study led by University College London (UCL) researchers. The research, believed to be the first of its kind, followed more than 2,000 twins born in England and Wales. It found that higher body dissatisfaction at age 16 predicted greater symptoms of eating disorders and depression well into the twenties, even after taking into account family background and genetics. Researchers say the findings strengthen evidence that negative body image is ...

Societal and behavioral shifts including growing recognition of children displaying harmful sexual behaviors and links to extremism, violence and financial scams are driving child sexual exploitation and abuse online according to a new report. A new Prevention Framework -- the WeProtect Global Alliance’s Global Threat Assessment 2025 --launched by WeProtect Global Alliance is a comprehensive synthesis of globally available data, expert analysis, youth and survivor perspectives and case studies from organizations tackling technology-facilitated sexual abuse.  The assessment provides a practical tool for technology companies, governments, civil society ...