The young woman’s voice trembled over the phone. Sitting in her car in Alabama, where abortion is almost totally banned, the 26-year-old mother of two was grappling with an unintended pregnancy.“I’m like ‘How in the world?’” she said, stifling a sob. “I already have two children, and I cannot. I can’t. I just can’t go through with it.”She wanted an abortion, she said, but was afraid of getting caught and didn’t know what to expect from the process. “Growing up, I never really thought about actually doing something like this,” she said.On the other end of the line, at home on a quiet residential street in Delaware, Debra Lynch, a nurse practitioner who runs a service prescribing abortion pills, spoke calmly.“It’s completely valid to be scared,” she said from her desk in a home office filled with plants and shelves of medication. “And that’s why we want you to call us, even if you’re calling just to say: ‘I’m scared. I need to hear somebody tell me that what’s going on right now is normal, and it’s OK.’”During the 25-minute conversation, Ms. Lynch asked the woman about her health history and pregnancy and assessed that she was medically eligible for abortion medications that can be taken in the first 12 weeks of pregnancy: mifepristone, which blocks a hormone necessary for pregnancy development, and misoprostol, taken 24 to 48 hours later, which causes contractions so pregnancy tissue can be expelled. We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe.

The NHS has warned that it continues to face a “challenging” blood shortage, as it calls for 200,000 new donors to come forward.Concern over blood stocks prompted the health service to issue an “amber alert” last year, meaning supplies were running low enough to have an impact on patient treatment.Supplies have remained low ever since, with officials warning there is a “critical” need for more donors who have O negative blood, which can be given to the majority of patients.NHS Blood and Transplant (NHSBT), the body that oversees England’s blood donation system, said the number of regular donors needs to rise from around 800,000 to more than one million to maintain a safe and reliable supply.NHSBT chief executive Dr Jo Farrar said: “Our stocks over the past 12 months have been challenging. If we had a million regular donors, this would help keep our stocks healthy – you’d truly be one in a million.”There is a pressing need to avoid a “red alert”, which would mean demand far exceeds capacity, threatening public safety, NHSBT added. The body’s chief medical officer said such an alert could see patients waiting longer for treatment.Dr Gail Miflin told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “It can mean, if you’re not urgently needing blood, that you may be delayed or have an operation delayed.”But if you really need blood you’ll still get it.”Four-year-old Isaac receives transfusions every 12 weeks, which he calls “Hulk blood” because it makes him feel strong.Born with Spherocytosis, a condition which affects the red blood cells, he regularly becomes severely anaemic.His mother, Jasmin, said the “superhero blood” works like “magic” for Isaac, and that the shortage was worrying.”Everybody lives such busy lives. It isn’t always a priority until it’s someone you know or it’s yourself that needs a transfusion,” she told BBC Breakfast.Health Minister Baroness Merron said the NHS was in “urgent need” of more blood donors from all backgrounds.”We are working alongside NHS Blood and Transplant to make donating blood easier than ever before, opening up new donor centres and making appointments available closer to home,” she added. NHSBT stressed the need for more black donors in particular, as they are more likely to have specific blood types which can help treat people with sickle cell disease.Just 2% of the population keep the nation’s blood stocks afloat by donating regularly, the body said. Donors are defined as regular if they have donated in the last 12 months. The number of people registering as donors rose in 2024, but only 24% of them went on to donate.The appeal comes almost a year after the NHS issued an amber alert for only the second time in its history, last July. It was caused by what the NHS called a “perfect storm” of unfilled appointments at donor centres and increased demand following a cyber-attack, which affected services in London.At that time, stocks of O negative stood at just 1.6 days, and 4.3 days for all types of blood.Two thirds of the blood collected by NHSBT is used to treat people who rely on regular blood transfusions, including people with cancer and blood conditions.Those who want to give blood can register and book an appointment online.

Almost 350,000 nursing staff in England, Wales and Northern Ireland will be asked to vote from Monday on a 3.6% pay increase.The Royal College of Nursing (RCN) has already dismissed the award as “grotesque” and says the vote will be crucial in determining the next steps which could include a ballot for strike action.The government says that as a result of the pay rise, nurses will earn more than £30,000 as a new starter for the first time ever.A bitter pay dispute saw nurses striking in England, Wales and Northern Ireland from late 2022 and through the winter, with some members of other health unions staging walkouts over pay.With the possibility of another round of industrial action looming, the vote is being billed as the biggest single vote by the profession ever launched in the UK. Patricia Marquis, executive director of RCN England, told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that the vote was a consultation on the pay award and not a strike ballot at this stage.The RCN has not set a date for the consultation to close.Ministers in England, Wales and Northern Ireland all announced pay awards following review body recommendations.There was a 5.4% average increase for resident doctors, formerly known as junior doctors, 4% for consultants and other senior doctors, and 3.6% for nurses and other health workers.RCN General Secretary Professor Nicola Ranger said that the government had “once again put nursing at the back of the queue when it comes to pay”.”Nursing is an incredible career, but despite being the most valued profession by the public we continue to be weighted to the bottom of the NHS pay scale and are set to receive one of the lowest pay awards.”According to Ms Ranger, nursing staff in England have endured “over a decade of pay erosion”, which has resulted in “skyrocketing” numbers of nurses quitting.”It is time to show that nurses are valued and, from today, hundreds of thousands of nursing staff working in the NHS will give their verdict on whether 3.6% is enough,” Ranger said.The Department of Health and Social Care, covering England, said the pay rise on the table was the second above inflation increase for NHS staff in the last 10 months. “We’ve accepted the pay recommendations in full because we value every NHS professional’s contribution to patient care,” a spokesperson said.”We can’t undo a decade and a half of neglect in less than a year, but together with NHS staff this government is rebuilding their pay and rebuilding our health service.”Resident doctors in England are already being balloted on strike action over pay. Other health unions are organising votes on the pay awards. All this may cast a shadow over a government 10-year plan for the NHS in England due in the next few weeks.The Scottish government has already agreed a two-year 8% pay offer with health unions.

Werner syndrome (WS), a rare genetic disorder that causes accelerated aging. From their twenties, patients develop gray hair, hair loss, cataracts, diabetes, and other age-related conditions normally seen in the elderly. Additionally, patients develop severe and untreatable skin ulcers, often requiring limb amputation, and face early death from cardiovascular diseases or cancer. This debilitating condition, which affects approximately nine per million people in Japan, lacks effective treatment options.
Interestingly, a recent study from the Bohr lab (Nat Commun, 2019 Nov 21;10(1):5284) showed that patients with WS model systems and patients had decreased levels of nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD+), a biomolecule crucial for cellular energy production, DNA repair, and various metabolic processes. This finding suggested that NAD+ depletion may contribute to the progression of the disease. While direct NAD+ supplementation isn’t feasible in mammals, using its precursor — nicotinamide riboside (NR) from Niagen Bioscience — has shown promising results in animal studies, extending lifespan and protecting against age-related decline. In human clinical trials, NR has also demonstrated benefits against chronic inflammation, metabolic disorders, and muscle weakness across various populations. However, the effects of NR in WS remained largely unexplored — until now.
In a recent study, a research team led by Associate Professor Masaya Koshizaka from the Center for Preventive Medical Sciences, Chiba University/Department of Diabetes, Metabolism and Endocrinology, Chiba University Hospital, Japan, conducted the world’s first rigorous clinical trial of NR in patients with WS. Their paper, published in Aging Cell on June 03, 2025, was co-authored by University President Koutaro Yokote, Assistant Professor Hisaya Kato, Associate Professor Yoshiro Maezawa, and Assistant Professor Mayumi Shoji, all from Chiba University, along with Affiliate Professor Vilhelm Bohr from the University of Copenhagen, Denmark.
This groundbreaking work involved a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial to evaluate the safety and effectiveness of NR supplementation. The research team enrolled patients with WS in a crossover design, where participants received either a daily dose of NR or a placebo for 26 weeks, switched treatments for another 26 weeks. Researchers tracked NAD+ blood levels, skin ulcer size, arterial stiffness, and kidney function.
NR supplementation significantly increased NAD+ levels in patient blood compared to placebo. Importantly, NR improved arterial stiffness (a marker of cardiovascular disease risk), reduced the skin ulcer area, and appeared to slow the progression of kidney dysfunction — all without any serious side effects. Moreover, a comprehensive examination of metabolites in blood revealed that NR treatment reduced levels of creatinine and other compounds associated with kidney dysfunction. This suggests that NR may help protect kidney function, addressing another serious complication of WS.
Dr. Yasmeen Nkrumah-Elie, Global Director of Niagen Bioscience’s External Research Program called CERP, commented, “this study represents a significant step forward in understanding how NAD+ restoration with NR may help address the underlying biology of WS. By supporting cardiovascular, skin, and kidney health, NR shows potential to improve the quality of life for patients with this devastating condition. We are proud to support Chiba University’s groundbreaking research as part of our ongoing commitment to advancing NAD+ science for rare and underserved diseases.”
The treatment’s multiple benefits across many different organ systems indicate that NAD+ depletion may be a fundamental mechanism in WS that can be targeted therapeutically. “Our findings suggest NR could serve as a valuable treatment option for two major symptoms, arteriosclerosis and skin ulcers, as well as for preventing kidney function decline,” explains Dr. Koshizaka. The results are particularly significant given that untreatable skin ulcers affect well over 70% of patients with WS, often leading to amputation, while cardiovascular disease remains a leading cause of early mortality in this population.
Though larger studies are needed to extend these findings, this pioneering research offers new hope for patients with WS who have long lacked effective treatment options. Beyond its immediate implications for this rare condition, the study also provides valuable insights into the biology of aging and potential interventions to address age-related decline more broadly.
“We hope our work will accelerate studies on not only WS but also other premature aging disorders and common age-related diseases — ultimately helping to extend health span and improve quality of life in both patients and the broader population,” concludes Dr. Koshizaka.

Birmingham spin-out Linear Diagnostics has been awarded £1m funding to finalise the development of a rapid test for sexually transmitted infections (STIs), in partnership with the NIHR HealthTech Research Centre (HRC) in Diagnostic and Technology Evaluation and the North East Innovation Lab, part of Newcastle Hospitals.
Linear is developing a low-cost, accurate, near-patient diagnostic platform, that aims to diagnose infection from a single sample faster than any commercially available alternative.
The funding from the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) Invention for Innovation program covers a three-year package of work, which will culminate in the first test of the technology on clinical samples in a real-world setting, and readiness for clinical trials.
Linear’s Exponential Amplification (EXPAR) technology detects bacterial DNA using an extremely fast method for amplifying the signal, which was developed and tested at the University during the COVID-19 pandemic, with results published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The company has now shown that it can detect bacterial STIs, urinary tract infections, and viral infections including SARS-CoV-2 in as little as 5 minutes.
In recent years the company has focused on STIs, specifically Neisseria gonorrhoeae and Chlamydia trachomatis as the emergence of multi-drug-resistant strain of the former has become a global concern.
It is here that rapid testing is essential to stop the chain of transmission, so patients can be diagnosed and start treatment within one clinic visit. While current tests may be easy to use with minimal training, existing technologies have been unable to meet the target of 20 minutes from sample to results.
The new funding will enable Linear to finalise the design of a cartridge and reader design platform and validate the platform.

Dr Jean-Louis Duprey, Head of Research and Development at Linear Diagnostics, said: “The most difficult criteria to achieve in diagnostic testing is combining rapidity with accuracy. While rapid lateral flow meets the ideal timeframe of 20 minutes to diagnosis, it struggles to meet market requirements for high sensitivity and specificity. And while Nucleic Acid Amplification Tests deliver high accuracy, samples are sent to laboratories for analysis, meaning the waiting time for results may be days. We are developing a near patient device that will overcome this conundrum.”
The HRC, hosted by Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust in partnership with Newcastle University, will help to evaluate the technology.
Dr Jana Suklan, Senior Methodologist at the HRC, said: “The NIHR HRC in Diagnostic and Technology Evaluation is delighted to be collaborating with the North East Innovation Lab to support Linear Diagnostics with their exciting technology. Through reviewing clinical guidelines and speaking with healthcare professionals as well as patients and the public we will pinpoint how the platform can be developed and used so it can improve patient care.”
“Our research involves analyzing unmet needs, examining current practice and identifying the most promising point in the patient pathway for implementing the technology. We will also assess the diagnostic accuracy of the test by statistically analysing data collected by the innovation lab and determine whether adopting the technology will provide value for money for the NHS through health economic modelling. Our public contributors will guide the research and ensure it meets the needs of patients, public and carers.”
John Tyson, Head of the North East Innovation Lab, part of Newcastle Hospitals, said: “We’re delighted to have the opportunity to continue our collaborative work with our partner innovators to support the development and evaluation of this new exciting test. By providing access to an extensive range of clinical samples and NHS lab performance testing, we can generate the necessary evidence to move new innovative technologies to the next stage of their development or launch to mainstream use.”

The outbreak has been tied to multiple brown organic and brown cage-free egg brands distributed to grocery stores in seven states, officials said.Dozens of people across seven states, most of them in the West, have become ill in a salmonella outbreak linked to a recall of 1.7 million eggs, federal safety regulators said.The August Egg Company, of Hilmar, Calif., issued the recall of brown organic and brown cage-free eggs tied to multiple brands that were distributed to grocery stores from Feb. 3 to May 15 this year because of their potential to be contaminated with salmonella, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration said on Friday.At least 79 people have gotten ill from the outbreak linked to the eggs, with 21 people hospitalized, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said in a separate statement on Friday.Most of the those sickened (63) live in California, which is followed by Nevada and Washington State, with four illnesses each. Illnesses have also been reported in Arizona, Kentucky, Nebraska and New Jersey. No deaths have been reported.The eggs, with sell-by dates between March 4 and June 4, 2025, were distributed at retail locations, including Save Mart, FoodMaxx, Raley’s, Ralphs and Safeway.The eggs were also distributed from Feb. 3 to May 6, 2025, with sell-by dates from March 4 to June 19, 2025, to Walmart stores in Arizona, California, Illinois, Indiana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, Washington and Wyoming, the F.D.A. said.A list of brands and plant number codes associated with the outbreak are on the F.D.A. and C.D.C. websites.“Do not eat any recalled eggs,” the C.D.C. said. The agency said that consumers who had the eggs should throw them away or return them to the store where they were purchased.The agency advised people to wash items and surfaces that may have touched the recalled eggs with hot soapy water or in a dishwasher.The C.D.C. said that samples taken by the F.D.A. during an inspection at a processing facility at the August Egg Company had tested positive for a strain of salmonella that was closely related to the strain found in the people who became ill.In a statement to the F.D.A., the August Egg Company said that it believed it was “appropriate out of an abundance of caution to conduct this voluntary recall, as consumers may still have these eggs in their homes.”The company noted that when its “processing plant identified this concern, we immediately began diverting all eggs from the plant to an egg-breaking facility, which pasteurizes the eggs and kills any pathogens.”The company added that it was conducting “its own stringent review” to prevent future recurrences.Salmonella sickens an estimated 1.35 million people in the United States each year.Salmonella symptoms include fever, diarrhea and abdominal pain. Most people recover without treatment after four to seven days.Some, such as children younger than 5 years, people 65 years and older, and people with weakened immune systems, may experience more severe illnesses that require medical treatment or hospitalization, the C.D.C. said.

Blood clots can form in both arteries and veins. However, the reasons behind them differ, as do the consequences and the chances of preventing blood clots. In Sweden, almost half of all cases of venous thrombosis have a genetic explanation. A team of researchers from Lund University in Sweden has now discovered three gene variants that increase the risk of blood clots in the leg by up to 180 percent.
There is a difference between arterial and venous blood clots. Blood clots in the arteries form when plaque in calcified vessels bursts and the body perceives it as an injury. This activates the platelets, which clump together and form a clot. In the worst case, it can lead to a stroke or heart attack. A venous thrombus, on the other hand, usually forms in the leg when the blood stagnates for too long. This can activate the body’s coagulation system, allowing the clotting system to be activated and the blood to clot, blocking blood flow. If the clot breaks loose and travels with the blood to the lungs, it can lead to pulmonary embolism, a life-threatening condition.
“Venous thrombosis is in fact one of the most common causes of death in the world. It is a common disease that has always been somewhat overshadowed by arterial blood clots,” says Bengt Zöller, a specialist in general medicine at Skåne University Hospital and professor of general medicine at Lund University.
In Sweden, more than 10,000 people suffer from venous thromboembolism each year and that number appears to be increasing. Several factors are contributing to this increase. One of the strongest risk factors is age, and as the number of older people in Sweden grows, the number of clots is also increasing. Ten per cent of 80-year-olds experience a blood clot at some point. The risk also increases if you are overweight or tall.
“The muscles control the blood flow in the veins and the legs become like columns of fluid where the force of gravity is strong. Too much sedentary and inactive behaviour, then, is harmful. Only the valves of the veins prevent backflow and if these are damaged, the risk of blood clots can increase. Therefore, tall people are more prone to blood clots, as their larger veins provide less blood flow, combined with the fact that blood must travel a greater distance back to the heart.”
Because the heart pumps blood out into the arteries, there is much higher blood pressure in the arteries than in the veins, which can contribute to atherosclerosis. High blood pressure, high levels of blood lipids and smoking are all risk factors for atherosclerosis of the arteries. But because the veins are a low-pressure system, the vessels do not become atherosclerotic. Therefore, neither high blood pressure nor blood lipids are associated with venous clots and smoking is considered only a weak to moderate risk factor. Being overweight, on the other hand, is a very significant culprit. Obesity has a negative impact on venous circulation, especially when combined with the fact that overweight people are often less active. Some clotting factors are also affected by obesity.
“In terms of diet, there are fewer studies, but ultra-processed foods have been associated with a slightly increased risk of blood clots, and plant-based, healthy foods with a reduced risk. In our studies, we have also seen that commercial fishermen have a lower risk, which may be due to a higher omega-3 content in their diet.”
There are also specific situations in which the risk of venous blood clots is particularly high. The risk of blood clots increases when blood flow is reduced, such as when travelling by air for long periods of time or when lying in bed for several days. Surgery or inflammation that damages the vessel wall can also lead to an increased tendency to clot. Particularly during pregnancy, blood clotting factors increase and levels of some protective proteins may decrease.

“In these risk situations, prophylaxis in the form of blood thinners may be particularly important if other risk factors are also present.”
Other risk factors are the genetic variants that affect different parts of the blood’s clotting ability. In Sweden, we have a high prevalence of APC (activated protein C) resistance due to an inherited mutation in the gene for coagulation factor V, called Factor V Leiden. About 10 per cent of Swedes have this mutation, which is considered the most common coagulation mutation among Indo-Europeans.
“Evolutionarily, bleeding less has been an advantage, but in our modern, sedentary society, APC resistance is becoming a risk factor.”
Bengt Zöller and his fellow researchers have now identified the strongest genetic risk factor since Factor V Leiden was discovered. They used data from the population-based Malmö Kost Cancer study, involving 30,000 Malmö residents. By selecting 27 genes previously associated with clotting disorders, they found three variants that, when taken together, were as significant a risk factor for venous blood clots as Factor V Leiden: ABO, F8, and VWF each increased the risk of venous blood clots by 10 to 30 percent.
“And the more of these variants a person has – the higher the risk. An individual with five of these gene variants has a 180 per cent higher risk of venous thrombosis. Unlike Factor V Leiden, which is only found in Indo-Europeans, these three different mutations are found in between five and fifty per cent of various populations around the globe.”
As these genetic variants are present in all populations, the next step is to investigate how the number of risk genes affects the duration of treatment with anticoagulants after a blood clot.

“I think tailoring treatment based on risk assessment will become increasingly important,” concludes Bengt Zöller.
What you can do to prevent blood clots: Movement: Avoid sitting still for long periods. Stand up and move around on long flights. Support stockings: Can help blood flow when you must stand or sit for long periods. Blood-thinning medicines: Can be given prophylactically in high-risk situations such as surgery, cancer and others. Contraceptive pills containing oestrogen: avoid contraceptive pills containing oestrogen or hormone replacement therapy if there is strong heredity for venous thromboembolism or if you have a history of blood clots. Lifestyle changes: Stop smoking, eat healthier, lose weight and exercise. Get vaccinated: Infections can activate the coagulation system.Blood clot
A blood clot consists of coagulated blood that has become lodged in a blood vessel. Clots can form either in the oxygen-rich blood in the body’s arteries as it is pumped out of the heart, or in the low-oxygen blood in the veins (usually in the legs) as it is returned to the lungs and heart.

Marijuana use among older adults in the US has reached a new high, with 7 percent of adults aged 65 and over who report using it in the past month, according to an analysis led by researchers with the Center for Drug Use and HIV/HCV Research (CDUHR) at the NYU School of Global Public Health.
Their findings, published in JAMA Internal Medicine, also show that the profile of those who use cannabis has changed in recent years, with pronounced increases in use by older adults who are college-educated, married, female, and have higher incomes.
“Our study shows that cannabis use among older adults continues to increase, although there have been major shifts in use according to demographic and socioeconomic factors,” said Joseph Palamar, PhD, MPH, an associate professor of population health at NYU Grossman School of Medicine, an affiliated researcher with CDUHR, and the study’s senior author.
Most Americans live in a state where marijuana has been legalized for medical use, recreational use, or both. To better understand the prevalence of marijuana use among older adults in the US, researchers examined data from the National Survey on Drug Use and Health from 2021 through 2023. The respondents, who were 65 and older, were asked about past-month cannabis use, which was defined as “current” use.
“This is the first time we were able to examine ‘current’ use of cannabis in this age group. Before, we were only able to look at past-year use because the numbers for current use were too small,” said Benjamin Han, MD, MPH, associate professor and associate chief of research in the Division of Geriatrics, Gerontology, and Palliative Care at the University of California San Diego and the study’s first author.
The researchers found that current cannabis use among older adults grew to 7 percent in 2023, up from 4.8 percent in 2021 and 5.2 percent in 2022 — a nearly 46 percent increase in only two years.
“If we look even further back to 2006 and 2007, less than 1 percent of older adults used cannabis in the past year. Now, we’re seeing that 7 percent have used it in the past month alone,” said Han, an affiliated researcher with CDUHR.

Certain groups of older adults experienced sharper increases in use over this period than others, including those who are married, white, have a college degree, and have an income of at least $75,000. Older women also saw a steep increase in cannabis use, although older men are still more likely than women to use the drug.
In addition, cannabis use grew more among those living in states where medical marijuana is legal versus states where it is not.
“It shouldn’t be surprising that use is becoming increasingly more common among people who live in states that allow medical cannabis, which could be due to increased availability or social acceptability,” said Palamar. “Interestingly, with respect to income, those with the highest incomes had the lowest prevalence of cannabis use in 2021, but by 2023 this group had the highest prevalence, which may indicate who has access to medical cannabis given its costs.”
The researchers also found significant increases in cannabis use by older adults with chronic diseases — and notably, those with multiple chronic conditions — including heart issues, diabetes, hypertension, cancer, and chronic pulmonary obstructive disease.
The authors caution that the overall increases may be driven, in part, by those who use cannabis aging into the 65+ age bracket for the period studied. Regardless, they recommend that clinicians screen and educate their older patients about cannabis use, including how physiological changes that accompany aging can make people more sensitive to psychoactive substances.
“As a geriatrician, I see more and more people interested in using cannabis for treating chronic health symptoms. But cannabis can complicate the management of chronic diseases and be potentially harmful if patients are not educated on its use and potential risks,” said Han.
Kevin H. Yang of UC San Diego and Charles Cleland of NYU Grossman School of Medicine were also co-authors on the study. The research was supported by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (K23DA043651, R21DA058404, R21DA060362, R01DA057289, R01DA060207, and P30DA01104) and the UC San Diego Sam and Rose Stein Institute for Research on Aging.

When DNA breaks inside the cell, it can spell disaster, especially if the damage occurs in areas of the genome that are difficult to repair. Now, scientists Irene Chiolo and Chiara Merigliano at the USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences have discovered that a protein called Nup98, long known for helping traffic molecules in and out of the cell’s nucleus, plays another surprising role: guiding the cell’s most delicate repairs and reducing the risk of genetic mistakes that can lead to cancer. Their findings were published in Molecular Cell.
With support from the National Institutes of Health, the National Science Foundation, and the American Cancer Society, the researchers revealed that Nup98 forms droplet-like structures deep inside the nucleus. These “condensates” act as protective bubbles around broken strands of DNA in areas called heterochromatin — zones where the genetic material is so tightly packed that making accurate repairs is especially challenging.
Heterochromatin — a major focus of Chiolo’s research — is filled with repeated DNA sequences, making it easy for the cell to confuse one stretch for another. Nup98’s droplets help lift the damaged section out of that dense zone and create a safer space where it can be repaired accurately, reducing the chance of genetic mix-ups that could lead to cancer.
The researchers also found that Nup98 helps mobilize the damaged site in tightly packed heterochromatin, so it can reach a different part of the nucleus where repair is safer.
Coordinating the repair crew
Timing is everything when it comes to DNA repair, and one of Nup98’s most important roles is knowing when to say, “Not yet.”
The protein’s droplet-like condensates act as a temporary shield around damaged DNA, keeping out certain repair proteins that can cause trouble if they arrive too soon. One of those proteins, called Rad51, can accidentally stitch together the wrong pieces of DNA if it gets involved too early in the process.

“The Nup98 droplets keep Rad51 away until other mechanisms have done their work to line up the correct pieces,” Chiolo said. “Only once the damaged heterochromatin moves into a different nuclear space, Rad51 can safely finish the repair.”
By coordinating this carefully staged process, Nup98 helps cells avoid dangerous genetic rearrangements — a key part of maintaining genome stability and slowing processes responsible for cancer and aging.
Implications for cancer and therapy
Although the researchers studied cells of fruit flies, the insights gained can help explain how similar DNA repair mechanisms work in humans. Many DNA repair mechanisms in fruit flies are shared across species, making them a powerful model for understanding genome stability.
The Nup98 discovery could have real-world impact, especially for diseases like acute myeloid leukemia, where mutations in Nup98 are known to play a role. By elucidating how Nup98 guides DNA repair, scientists hope to uncover why its mutations are so dangerous — and how to harness the mutations to disrupt cancer cells in targeted treatments.
“Eventually, we may also be able to turn Nup98 mutations that lead to cancer, especially acute myeloid leukemia, into treatment targets — either by specifically disrupting the cells carrying the mutation or by inactivating the harmful functions of the mutated proteins,” Merigliano said.
The team also sees long-term potential for therapies that could enhance or mimic Nup98’s protective functions, reducing the risk of genome instability, which is a major factor not only in cancer, but also in aging and other genome instability disorders.

1 day agoShareSaveJames GallagherShareSaveGSTTUK doctors are attempting to clear dangerous superbug infections using “poo pills” containing freeze-dried faeces.The stool samples come from healthy donors and are packed with good bacteria.Early data suggests superbugs can be flushed out of the dark murky depths of the bowel and replaced with a mix of healthy gut bacteria.It is a new approach to tackling infections that resist antibiotics, which are thought to kill a million people each year.The focus is on the bowels which are “the biggest reservoir of antibiotic resistance in humans” says Dr Blair Merrick, who has been testing the pills at Guys and St Thomas’ hospitals.Drug-resistant superbugs can escape their intestinal home and cause trouble elsewhere in the body – such as urinary tract or bloodstream infections.”So there’s a lot of interest in ‘can you get rid of them from the gut?’,” says Dr Merrick.The idea of poo-pills isn’t as far-fetched as it might seem. Faecal transplants – also known as a trans-poo-tion – are already approved for treating severe diarrhoea caused by Clostridium difficile bacteria.But scientists noticed hints that faecal transplants for C. difficile also seemed to get rid of superbugs.New research has focused on patients who had an infection caused by drug-resistant bacteria in the past six months.They were given pills made from faeces which people had donated to a stool bank.Each stool sample is tested to ensure it does not contain any harmful bugs, undigested food is removed and then it is freeze dried into a powder.This is stored inside a pill that can pass through the stomach unscathed and reach the intestines where it dissolves to release its poopy powdery payload.Getty ImagesThe trial has taken place on 41 patients at Guy’s and St Thomas’ hospitals in London to lay the groundwork for a large-scale study. It showed patients were up for taking a poo pill and the donated bacteria were still being detected in the bowels at least a month later.Dr Merrick says there are “really promising signals” that poo pills could help tackle the rising scourge of superbugs and that donor bacteria could be going to microbial war with the superbugs as they compete over food and space on the lining of the gut and either rid the body of them completely or “reduce them down to a level that doesn’t cause problems”.The study also suggests the array of gut bacteria becomes more varied after the therapy. This is a sign of good health and “may well be promoting colonisation resistance” so it is harder for new infectious bugs to get in.”It’s very exciting. There’s a real shift from 20 years ago where all bacteria and viruses were assumed to do you harm; to now where we realise they are completely necessary to our overall health,” says Dr Merrick.Earlier this week scientists showed the good bacteria our bodies meet – in the hours after we are born – seem to halve the risk of young children being admitted to hospital with lung infections.Our body’s own human cells are outnumbered by the bacteria, fungi and others that live inside us – known as the microbiome.This has led to research implicating the microbiome in everything from Crohn’s disease to cancer to mental health. If poo pills are proven to work against superbugs in larger studies then the researchers think they could be used for both treatment and prevention in people at risk. Medical procedures that suppress the immune system – including cancer therapies and organ transplants – can make the body more vulnerable.”A lot of these individuals come to a lot of harm from drug resistant organisms,” Dr Merrick.The UK’s drugs regulator – the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) – said there were more than 450 microbiome medicines currently in development.”Some of them will succeed, so I do think we will see them coming through quite soon,” said Dr Chrysi Sergaki, the head of microbiome research at the MHRA.”We could potentially, in the future, replace antibiotics with microbiome [therapies] – that’s the big picture, so there’s a lot of potential.”