Cancer patients who received mRNA COVID vaccines within 100 days of starting immunotherapy were twice as likely to be alive three years after treatment as those who never received a vaccine These findings have prompted a randomized Phase III trial to determine if mRNA COVID vaccines should be part of the standard of care for this type of therapy If validated, findings could significantly increase the number of patients who benefit from immunotherapy BERLIN, OCTOBER 19, 2025 ― Patients with cancer who received mRNA-based COVID vaccines within 100 days of starting immune checkpoint therapy were twice as likely to be alive three years after beginning ...

Men whose prostate cancer returns after surgery or radiation therapy may now benefit from a new drug combination shown in clinical trials to cut the risk of death by more than 40%. The combination therapy, which adds a drug called enzalutamide to commonly prescribed hormone therapy, reduced deaths in patients with recurrent prostate cancer after surgery or radiation for whom other treatments are no longer an option. The trial results were published in The New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) with simultaneous presentation during the European Society for Medical Oncology Congress (ESMO) Oct. 19 in Berlin. “After ...

BERLIN October 19, 2025 – Patients with an aggressive form of breast cancer who are not candidates for immune checkpoint inhibitor therapy showed significantly improved progression-free survival when treated with the antibody drug conjugate sacituzumab govitecan compared to standard chemotherapy. These findings, which stem from the ASCENT-03 trial in triple-negative breast cancer co-led by investigators at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, are presented today at the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) Congress 2025 in Berlin, Germany. They are also published simultaneously in the New England Journal ...

BERLIN October 18, 2025 – Patients with estrogen-receptor-positive HER-2-negative advanced breast cancer showed significantly improved progression-free survival when treated with an oral combination regimen that includes giredestrant, a novel, next-generation selective estrogen receptor degrader and full antagonist, compared to a standard combination approach. These findings, from the phase 3 evERA Breast Cancer study, are presented today by Dr. Erica Mayer of Dana-Farber Cancer Institute at the annual meeting of the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) in Berlin, Germany. Tumors that express the estrogen receptor (ER) account for roughly 70% ...

Pheochromocytoma and paraganglioma (PPGL) are rare, hard-to-treat neuroendocrine tumors that form in the adrenal glands or in the extra-adrenal paraganglia Study found belzutifan shrank tumors and improved symptoms without surgery Belzutifan is the first oral and only FDA-approved treatment for patients with advanced, inoperable, or metastatic PPGL FDA granted approval for treating PPGL in May 2025 based on these trial results BERLIN, OCTOBER 18, 2025 – A multicenter Phase II clinical ...

Study found patients treated with combination of lenvatinib and everolimus lived longer without disease progression First head-to-head study comparing second-line treatments lenvatinib plus everolimus vs. cabozantinib Combination offers option for patients with metastatic clear-cell renal carcinoma (ccRCC) who experience disease progression following first-line immunotherapy BERLIN, OCTOBER 18, 2025 ― Results from a trial led by researchers from The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center showed that a targeted therapy combination improved outcomes for patients with metastatic clear-cell renal carcinoma (ccRCC) – a type of kidney ...

Lugano/Berlin 18 October 2025 - In a landmark moment at the ESMO Congress 2025, pivotal studies have unveiled compelling evidence that a new class of anti-cancer agents—antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs)—can dramatically improve outcomes for patients with early-stage HER2-positive breast cancer.   The results from the phase III DESTINY-Breast05 and DESTINY-Breast11 trials, presented in a Presidential Symposium, mark a paradigm shift in breast cancer treatment, positioning ADCs not only as powerful therapeutic agents when the disease has already progressed but also as potential new standards of care in patients with early disease (1,2).    “There is ...

OCTOBER 2025 TIP SHEET (October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month) Breast Cancer Living Near Toxic Sites Linked to Aggressive Breast Cancer Women living near federally designated Superfund sites are more likely to develop aggressive breast cancer – including the hard-to-treat triple-negative subtype – according to new research from Sylvester. Three recent Sylvester studies have uncovered links between breast cancer, Superfund sites and social adversity. Superfund sites are locations contaminated by hazardous waste and identified by the Environmental Protection Agency as needing cleanup to minimize risks to human health and the environment. Sylvester ...

The Hertz Foundation, a nonprofit dedicated to advancing American scientific and technological leadership, today announced the election of three new members to its board of directors: Hertz Fellow Kevin Bowers, chief science officer and head of research and development, Jump Trading; Sri Kosaraju, former chief executive officer, Inscripta; and Hertz Fellow Jordan Chetty, software engineer, Citadel, as an early-career member.  The new board members bring a remarkable breadth of experience and accomplishment across critical sectors, including national security, ...

The Hertz Foundation, a nonprofit dedicated to advancing American scientific and technological leadership, today announced the election of Hertz Fellow Kevin Bowers to its board of directors. Bowers is chief science officer and head of research and development at Jump Trading, a proprietary global trading firm specializing in algorithmic and high-frequency trading strategies. Bowers earned a Bachelor of Science in electrical engineering from Purdue University. He credits his Hertz Fellowship with helping him earn his Master of Science ...

The Hertz Foundation, a nonprofit dedicated to advancing American scientific and technological leadership, today announced the election of Sri Kosaraju to its board of directors. Kosaraju is the former chief executive officer at Inscripta, and currently serves as audit chair and board member at 10x Genomics, supporting advancements in life science technology. He also sits on the board at Manus Bio, contributing to the acceleration of biologically produced alternatives. Previously he was a board member at Nevro until its acquisition by Globus. He also served as president and chief financial officer at Penumbra, Inc., and ...

The Hertz Foundation, a nonprofit dedicated to advancing American scientific and technological leadership, today announced the election of Hertz Fellow Jordan Chetty to its board of directors as an early-career board member. Chetty earned his Ph.D. in electrical engineering from the University of California, Berkeley, where he specialized in the fabrication of neural interfaces, devices that enable the study and modulation of brain activity. Driven by boundless curiosity, he has built a career that has so far ranged ...

Montreal’s methane emissions are unevenly distributed across the island, with the highest concentrations in the city’s east end, McGill researchers have found. The worst polluters include the city’s largest snow dump, which emits methane at levels comparable to the city's current and former landfills, and natural gas leaks.   The researchers identified more than 3,000 methane hotspots throughout the four-year mobile monitoring survey. They said this is fewer than comparably dense cities, but these potent emissions must be addressed.     “Though ...

Researchers at the University of Kent, UK, introduced LiteRBS (Lightweight and Rapid Bidirectional Search), a novel grid-based pathfinding algorithm designed for efficient and scalable navigation in mobile robots. Published in ELSP Journal, the work demonstrates that LiteRBS achieves high computational performance with low memory usage, outperforming classical algorithms such as A*, Bidirectional A*, Jump Point Search (JPS), and the Shortest Path Faster Algorithm (SPFA). Path planning is a central component of robotic navigation, ...

Whether strolling through the woods or taking a rest from outdoor labors, autumn is a time when people contemplate the value of our trees and forests. The curious can now also explore the historical documents of the nation’s biggest trees dating back to the 1940s online, in one place, for the first time. The National Champion Tree Program at the University of Tennessee Institute of Agriculture has compiled historical records dating back to the program’s inception. “We are thrilled to release this compilation of more than 80 years of big tree history,” ...

A new 3D human brain tissue platform developed by MIT researchers is the first to integrate all major brain cell types, including neurons, glial cells and the vasculature into a single culture. Grown from individual donors’ induced pluripotent stem cells, these models—dubbed Multicellular Integrated Brains (miBrains)—replicate key features and functions of human brain tissue, are readily customizable through gene editing, and can be produced in quantities that support large-scale research.  Although each unit is smaller than a dime, miBrains may be worth a great deal to researchers and drug developers who need more complex living ...

Key Messages Avoiding temperature overshoot through stringent climate policies such as net-zero could prevent 207,000 premature deaths by 2030. Such policies could also avoid $2,269 billion USD in economic damages, roughly 2% of 2020 global GDP. Benefits are particularly large in China and India, where air pollution and population density are high, and substantial emission reductions are predicted. Air pollution is one of the world’s leading health risks, contributing to nearly 1 in 8 deaths globally. A new study published in Science Advances ...

How immune cells deliver their deadly cargo When immune cells strike, precision is everything. New research reveals how natural killer and T cells orchestrate the release of toxic granules – microscopic packages that destroy virus-infected or cancerous cells. The study led by researchers from CeMM, St. Anna CCRI, MedUni Vienna, Med Uni Graz, the University Hospital Bonn (UKB) and the University of Bonn, published in Science Immunology (DOI: 10.1126/sciimmunol.ado3825), uncovers an unexpected link between lipid metabolism and the immune system’s ability to deliver its ...

When we are engaged in a task, our brain’s auditory system changes how it works. One of the main auditory centers of the brain, auditory cortex, is filled with neural activity that is not sound driven – rather, this activity times the task, each neuron ticking at a different moment during task performance. Researchers at Hebrew University have discovered how this happens. The study, led by Prof. Israel Nelken from the Edmond and Lily Safra Center for Brain Sciences (ELSC) and the Institute of Life Sciences, is based on the PhD research of Ana Polterovich, with contributions from Alex Kazakov, Maciej M. Jankowski, and Johannes Niediek. They ...

Two types of industrially processed hard fats, widely used in everyday foods such as bakery products, margarines and spreads, are unlikely to affect heart health when consumed in levels achievable in most people’s diets. The study, led by researchers at King’s College London and Maastricht University and published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, investigated the health effects of interesterified (IE) fats which are rich in either palmitic acid (from palm oil) or stearic acid (from other plant fats). These fats are often used by the food industry as alternatives to other hard fats, including trans fats and animal fats, which have known risks to ...

Researchers from Rutgers Health and other institutions have discovered why a powerful leukemia drug eventually fails in most patients – and found a potential way to overcome that resistance. Team members identified a protein that lets cancer cells reshape their energy-producing mitochondria in ways that protect them from venetoclax (brand name, Venclexta), a standard treatment for acute myeloid leukemia that often loses effectiveness after prolonged use. Blocking that protein with experimental compounds in mice with human acute myeloid leukemia restored the drug's effectiveness and ...

Sandra Shi MD, MPH, has been named a 2025 STAT Wunderkind. Dr. Shi is a geriatrician, instructor in medicine at Harvard Medical School, and assistant scientist at the Hinda and Arthur Marcus Institute for Aging Research at Hebrew SeniorLife.  STAT Wunderkinds is a chance to celebrate early-career researchers who are not yet independent scientists or program leaders. It honors postdoctoral researchers, interns, and fellows — those who have terminal degrees in hand, but aren’t ...

Across the world, more than 1.5 billion people suffer from chronic liver disease. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that it kills more than 52,000 people a year in the United States alone — the ninth most common cause of death in the nation. Despite this significant impact on society, alcohol-related liver disease (ARLD) remains largely unaddressed by medical research. Texas A&M University researcher Dr. Jyothi Menon aims to change that with a promising new therapy that she’s developing. ...

Plastic is ubiquitous in the modern world, and it’s notorious for taking a long time to completely break down in the environment — if it ever does. But even without breaking down completely, plastic can shed tiny particles — called nanoplastics because of their extremely small size — that scientists are just now starting to consider in long-term health studies. One of those scientists is Dr. Wei Xu, an associate professor in the Texas A&M College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences’ Department of Veterinary Physiology & Pharmacology. Xu’s ...

Preexisting hyperlipidemia in pregnancy is associated with heightened risks of obstetric complications and early cardiovascular events in the first five-years postpartum, according to a new study being presented at ACC’s Cardio-Obstetrics Essentials: Team-Based Management of Cardiovascular Disease and Pregnancy conference. The researchers call for clinicians to incorporate lipid screening into preconception care and closely monitor women with hyperlipidemia during and after pregnancy. “Pre-pregnancy hyperlipidemia is not just a metabolic concern; it ...