Publisher Health

A research team led by Professor Eijiro Miyako at the Japan Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (JAIST), in collaboration with Daiichi Sankyo Co., Ltd. and the University of Tsukuba, has created an innovative cancer treatment that works without relying on the immune system. The new approach uses a unique microbial partnership known as AUN, forming the foundation of an immune-independent bacterial therapy.
The concept of bacterial cancer therapy dates back to 1868, when German physician Busch reported that a cancer patient deliberately infected with bacteria later experienced remission. In 1893, Dr. William Coley further advanced this idea by developing bacterial-based treatments, paving the way for modern immunotherapies such as checkpoint inhibitors and CAR-T cell therapies.
While these treatments have transformed cancer care, they share a major drawback: they depend heavily on the immune system. For patients whose immunity is weakened by chemotherapy or radiotherapy, such therapies often fail to work effectively.
AUN: Two Bacteria in Perfect Balance
The newly developed AUN therapy directly overcomes this limitation. It is made up of two naturally occurring bacterial species: Proteus mirabilis (A-gyo), a bacterium that naturally resides in tumors Rhodopseudomonas palustris (UN-gyo), a photosynthetic bacteriumTogether, these bacteria act in harmony to destroy cancer cells in both animal and human models. Remarkably, they succeed even when immune function is impaired. AUN has shown strong compatibility with the human body and few side effects, including suppression of cytokine release syndrome (CRS), a potentially dangerous immune reaction.
How AUN Works to Eliminate Tumors
The AUN consortium achieves its tumor-fighting power through a series of coordinated mechanisms: Precisely targeting and destroying tumor blood vessels and cancer cells Undergoing a structural transformation in A-gyo (filamentation) triggered by tumor-specific metabolites, which enhances its ability to kill cancer cells Adjusting the bacterial ratio inside the tumor environment, shifting from an initial mix of roughly 3:97 (A-gyo to UN-gyo) to about 99:1, maximizing its therapeutic strength Reducing toxicity and minimizing side effects, including avoidance of CRS

Harmony Between Opposites
UN-gyo only becomes active and beneficial when paired with A-gyo, serving as a regulator that curbs harmful bacterial activity while increasing their cancer-killing precision. This mutual cooperation embodies the Japanese concept of “AUN,” symbolizing balance and harmony between opposites. It is this finely tuned relationship that gives the therapy its exceptional results, achieving what traditional immune-dependent treatments could not.
Toward Clinical Trials and a New Era in Cancer Therapy
“We are preparing to launch a startup to advance this technology and hope to begin clinical trials within six years,” explained Professor Miyako. “A new chapter in bacteria-based cancer therapy — pursued for over 150 years — is finally beginning.”
This groundbreaking method marks a turning point for cancer patients with weakened immune systems. It offers a long-sought option where conventional immunotherapies fall short, signaling the arrival of truly immune-independent cancer treatment.
The findings have been published in Nature Biomedical Engineering.

9 hours agoShareSaveAlison Holt,social affairs editor and James Melley,senior producerShareSaveFamily handoutWarning: This article contains upsetting details and references to serious self-harm and deathJust four months after a young woman died in a London mental health unit, another patient tried to harm herself in startlingly similar circumstances, leaked documents seen by the BBC show.Alice Figueiredo, a patient at Goodmayes Hospital, which is run by North East London Mental Health Trust (NELFT), attempted to harm herself using plastic or bin bags on 18 occasions, mostly taking them from the same shared toilet. On the 19th occasion, in July 2015, she managed to take her own life.Just four months later, in November 2015, another young woman also on Hepworth ward attempted to harm herself using a bin bag. She survived.Mental health campaigners say it suggests a worrying failure to learn from tragedies.”It’s shocking and distressing that this was still going on four months after Alice died,” says Jane Figueiredo, Alice’s mother. “The bin bags could and should definitely have been removed, but instead patients continued to be put at unnecessary risk.”NELFT says all bin bags have been removed and “it is committed to learning from every incident and continuously improving” the care it provides.NELFT and former ward manager Benjamin Aninakwa are due to be sentenced this week after an Old Bailey jury concluded they had not done enough to keep 22-year-old Alice Figueiredo safe.The BBC has spoken to former NELFT patients, families and ex-staff who have experience of the trust’s community and hospital services over the 10 years since Alice’s death.They raise concerns about poor management, record-keeping, risk assessments and staff shortages stretching over that decade.An email, which gives details of the November 2015 incident, was submitted to an internal inquiry commissioned by the trust after Alice’s parents complained about the care she had received. The inquiry’s report, which has been seen by the BBC, has never been made public.”The similarities between this young woman and [Alice Figueiredo] are startling in terms of presentation, age range, background,” the email said.It goes on to say while it appears there has been “some learning” since Alice’s death, there was “significant evidence” that not all incidents were being properly reported.The hospital used an NHS risk management system called Datix where incidents should be logged on the system to help identify risks and patterns of behaviour.The report says during the time Alice was on the ward there were 81 incidents or near misses that met the criteria for being reported via Datix, but just 14 (17.2%) were logged on the system.In the November case, there was also significant under-reporting. The report suggests that of 45 self-harm events involving the unidentified young woman, 27 do not appear on the risk management system, including the attempt to harm herself using a bin bag.The general lack of recording on the ward meant “opportunities to safely manage patients were missed”, the inquiry found.NELFT says it has removed plastic bags from wards in line with national guidance, and improved record-keeping and case management.Overall, the internal report paints a picture of a ward where there were very sick patients, staff shortages – particularly of nurses – and a poor relationship between ward manager Benjamin Aninakwa and the consultant psychiatrist.The report also says 100% of the support workers assigned to observe Alice one to one were temporary staff.Brian Dow, from the mental health charity Rethink, says the document shows the unit did not act quickly enough after Alice’s death to protect other patients.”Lessons should be learned, and you should not expect to see a repetition of the same risks and the same dangers just weeks afterwards,” he said.”You need to have a culture of openness and transparency so that you can learn from the mistakes.”Family handout”Jenny”, not her real name, was a patient on Hepworth ward at the same time as Alice. They became close friends. She says rather than an open and transparent culture on the ward, the atmosphere felt difficult and intimidating to her.She shared the statement she had made to police investigating Alice’s death with the BBC. In it she remembers how Alice helped her cope.”She used to wake me up every morning on Hepworth ward with a big hug,” she says.She describes how staff meant to be looking after them were often not doing the necessary checks or observations.”On countless occasions I witnessed Alice asking to speak to members of staff who were supposed to be doing observations on her but were instead busy on their phones,” she wrote.She also told police that observation records detailing what patients had been doing, which are important in giving clinicians a sense of how that person is coping, were often falsified.Jenny left Goodmayes Hospital before Alice died. She is now living in her own home with support in the community, although she still misses her friend.The BBC has previously highlighted repeated criticisms of the trust by coroners, with the most recent concerns being raised in May 2025 following the death of a 37-year-old man under the care of NELFT’s community-based team.The most common criticisms are about the poor quality of record-keeping, risk assessments, risk management and care planning. Staff shortages and poor communication are also highlighted in a number of reports over the last decade.Former staff who have spoken to the BBC have raised similar concerns.Mark New was a senior support worker in the trust’s community mental health team. He says it was a good place to work for most of the 15 years he was there, but things deteriorated to such an extent that he resigned earlier this year.He says mandatory medical and care management reviews were not always happening, leaving some patients’ conditions untreated, and some “were languishing in crisis for weeks… for months”.”All of this was being fed back to staff in charge, but it wasn’t really being acknowledged,” he says.The trust operated a traffic light system on patient files to indicate their level of need and the risk they posed to themselves or others. Mr New says these files were often not filled out accurately or updated properly, including risk assessments.Mr New remembers one client who was flagged green or low risk. He later discovered they had recently been picked up by police following allegations of “assault and hostage-taking with a bladed weapon”.The trust says it is sorry if any staff member felt unsupported or unsafe, and acknowledges that “workforce pressures have historically impacted the quality of care across the NHS.” It says it has made substantial investment in recruiting and retaining staff.”We need a health system that prevents people ending up in crisis,” says Brian Dow from Rethink. “Too often we hear stories of people escalating unnecessarily.”Alice Figueiredo’s mother, Jane, and stepfather, Max, have spent the last decade seeking justice and transparency over what happened to her.”We should be able to expect safe, compassionate and diligent care for some of the most vulnerable people in society,” says Jane. “Urgent action is needed, not just at NELFT, but in all mental health hospitals, wards and services around the country.”NELFT says it is sorry for Alice’s death and it remains “dedicated to ensuring that Alice’s memory continues to inspire positive change” and will “continue to work tirelessly to deliver safer, more compassionate care for the communities we serve”.The BBC understands that Benjamin Aninakwa, who still works at NELFT, is appealing against his conviction for failure to take reasonable care for the health and safety of others affected by acts or omissions at work. He was acquitted of gross negligence manslaughter.If you are suffering distress or despair, details of help and support in the UK are available at BBC Action Line.

Metformin-associated lactic acidosis (MALA) is an uncommon but potentially life-threatening complication linked to the diabetes medication metformin. The condition occurs when excessive lactic acid builds up in the body, leading to dangerous changes in blood chemistry. Researchers developed and evaluated a clinical protocol aimed at improving how MALA is recognized and treated. Their findings were presented at ASN Kidney Week 2025.
The protocol emphasized the immediate start of dialysis as soon as MALA was identified, using one of three methods: intermittent hemodialysis, continuous kidney replacement therapy, or peritoneal dialysis. The program was introduced at Maharat Nakhonratchasima Hospital (MNRH) in Thailand, while Burirum Hospital (BH) served as a comparison site and continued standard care without the new approach.
Over a five-year study period, the researchers analyzed 347 total cases (70 at MNRH before the protocol, 129 after the protocol, and 148 at BH).
Major Reductions in Deaths and Faster Treatment
Results showed striking improvements at Maharat Nakhonratchasima Hospital. The 30-day death rate fell from 25.7% before the new system to 13.9% afterward. At Burirum Hospital, which did not adopt the protocol, mortality rates remained unchanged (27.2% and 30%).
The ongoing data at MNRH showed a steady decline in deaths, dropping by 2.08% per quarter throughout the intervention period. Average “door-to-dialysis” time — the time between a patient’s hospital admission and the start of dialysis — was shortened from 870 minutes to 690 minutes. Awareness of MALA among medical staff also rose dramatically, from 38.5% to 89.9% after implementation.
Faster Response, Greater Awareness, and Better Outcomes
“A standardized MALA protocol covering diagnosis, access, and treatment shortened door-to-dialysis time, increased awareness, and reduced care variation,” said corresponding author Watanyu Parapiboon, MD, of Maharat Nakhon Ratchasima Hospital in Thailand. “Fast-track dialysis pathways should be adopted for time-sensitive conditions like MALA. Availability of all dialysis modalities ensures flexibility and enables timely treatment initiation.”

Study: “Reducing Mortality in Metformin-Associated Lactic Acidosis (MALA) Through a Fast-Track Clinical Pathway: A Controlled Interrupted Time Series Quality Improvement Study.”
Metformin Overview
Metformin is one of the most commonly prescribed medications for managing type 2 diabetes. It works by improving the body’s sensitivity to insulin, reducing the amount of glucose produced by the liver, and enhancing glucose uptake by muscle cells. The drug is well established for its effectiveness, affordability, and relatively low risk of causing low blood sugar. Beyond diabetes control, research has explored metformin’s potential benefits in weight management, heart health, and even aging, although its primary role remains in helping people with type 2 diabetes maintain stable blood sugar levels.
Metformin-Associated Lactic Acidosis Overview
Metformin-associated lactic acidosis (MALA) is a rare but serious medical emergency in which lactic acid accumulates in the bloodstream due to the body’s impaired ability to clear it while taking metformin. This condition can lead to dangerously low blood pH, muscle weakness, rapid breathing, confusion, and in severe cases, organ failure or death. MALA typically occurs in patients with underlying kidney problems, liver disease, or conditions that limit oxygen delivery to tissues. While extremely uncommon, it requires urgent diagnosis and immediate treatment — often including dialysis — to remove excess acid and prevent life-threatening complications.

The nursing watchdog “should’ve acted faster” when responding to concerns about baby killer Lucy Letby, its new boss has said.Paul Rees, appointed head of the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) in July, told The Independent that neonatal nurse Letby should have been suspended after she was first arrested in July 2018.Letby remained free to work at the Countess of Chester Hospital without any restrictions imposed by the NMC until she was charged in November 2020.The now 35-year-old, originally from Hereford, is serving 15 whole-life prison sentences after being convicted of murdering seven babies and attempting to murder seven others between 2015 and 2016, one of whom on two occasions.Revised NMC rules now mean investigators no longer have to wait until a nurse is charged before they can issue a temporary suspension order.Mr Rees said: “We’ve changed the guidance, so it is clear now where there is an exceptional case of serious criminal wrongdoing, we take action and implement an interim order.”It’s incumbent upon us to move fast and bring about these interim orders.”Asked if he expected the NMC to be criticised by the public inquiry examining the authorities’ responses to Letby’s crimes, Mr Rees replied: “We don’t know yet, but it’s a possibility because we should’ve acted faster.”Lady Justice Thirlwall’s final report is due to be published next year.The NMC was contacted in July 2016 by Alison Kelly, who was then director of nursing at the Countess of Chester Hospital, after consultant paediatricians raised fears that Letby may have been deliberately harming babies on the neonatal unit.Letby was redeployed to non-clinical duties but had been due to return to the unit when the move was put on hold as hospital chiefs contacted police in May 2017 to ask them to investigate a higher than expected number of deaths.She continued to work in the hospital’s risk and patient safety department until her arrest in July 2018.A senior lawyer at the NMC concluded that unless Letby was charged, there were insufficient grounds to obtain an interim order which could have led to her being suspended or restricted in her practice.Letby was given 14 whole-life terms in August 2023 after being found guilty of the seven murders and six attempted murders. She made two attempts to kill one of the babies.She was stripped of her nursing credentials and struck off the register at an NMC hearing in December 2023.Letby was given a 15th whole-life term in July 2024 after she was convicted of trying to murder another premature baby girl.

Depression and anxiety are the most widespread mental health disorders in the world. Around 300 million people live with depression, and roughly 301 million have an anxiety disorder, affecting nearly 8 percent of the global population.
Yet for many, finding the right treatment can be a slow and frustrating process. When patients first seek help, the medications they’re prescribed often fail to work. In fact, nearly half of all people treated for depression or anxiety experience little or no benefit from their initial prescription, forcing them to try multiple drugs over weeks or even months before finding relief.
A New Genetic Approach to Treatment
A research team from Germany, Sweden, and Denmark believes they may have found a solution. They’ve developed a genetic approach that could help doctors predict which antidepressant or anti-anxiety medication will actually work for a specific person.
The method uses what are known as polygenic risk scores (PRS), which analyze a person’s DNA to assess how their genetic variations might influence their response to certain medications. With just one genetic test, scientists can now estimate which drugs are most likely to help an individual patient.
Although this technique has so far only been tested using genetic research databases rather than real patients, the results are promising.
Lead author Professor Fredrik Åhs from the Department of Psychology and Social Work at Mid Sweden University hopes to move the research into clinical trials soon.

“We believe this technology could be used to develop more targeted tests. The long-term goal is a test that doctors can use to choose the right medicine, and looking at our genes is one way of doing it,” Åhs says. “We’re interested in looking into biomarkers as well. Hopefully, in the future, we’ll have a cheap and effective test that enables us to alleviate people’s suffering much faster.”
Building on Genetic Research from Aarhus University
The project began two years ago when Åhs reached out to Professor Doug Speed from the Center for Quantitative Genetics and Genomics at Aarhus University in Denmark. Åhs wanted to apply Speed’s advanced polygenic risk score models to his research on mental health treatment.
Speed has spent years refining ways to analyze complex human genetic data, focusing especially on how genes influence psychological conditions.
“The last 10 years, we’ve been working towards using polygenic risk scores to predict disease. It’s very challenging because many diseases are caused by thousands of variations across the genome,” Speed explains. “It turns out that these polygenic risk scores can predict our response to drugs, which is a bit surprising, but a significant step forward.”
He has already developed PRS models for several psychiatric disorders, including schizophrenia, anxiety, bipolar disorder, and depression — all of which were used in this new study.

What Are Polygenic Risk Scores?
Since the mapping of the human genome in the early 2000s, scientists have discovered thousands of small variations in DNA that can influence health. Humans have roughly 20,000 genes, and each comes in multiple versions (known as alleles). Some alleles are linked to a higher likelihood of developing specific diseases.
Researchers like Speed compile this information to create polygenic risk scores — tools that combine the effects of many genetic variations to estimate a person’s risk for certain conditions.
When developing a PRS for depression, for example, researchers analyze a person’s genome to see how many depression-linked variants they carry. The more risk-associated variations present, the higher the individual’s genetic risk score. Some variants, however, have a stronger influence than others.
Twin Data Reveals How Genes Affect Drug Response
Polygenic risk scores don’t diagnose mental illnesses. Instead, they estimate the likelihood of developing one. But they may also help explain why some treatments work better for certain people.
To explore this, Åhs and his team applied polygenic risk scores to data from the Swedish Twin Registry, the largest of its kind in the world. This database allows researchers to compare the relative effects of genetics and environment on health and behavior.
Because twins share nearly identical DNA, patterns that appear consistently across twin pairs often point to genetic causes. Åhs identified 2,515 individuals from the registry who had been prescribed medications for depression or anxiety. By examining which drugs they used, whether they switched prescriptions, and how their treatment progressed, the researchers could infer which medications were most effective.
“We then looked at the polygenic risk scores of these individuals, and it became clear that if you had a higher risk score for depression or anxiety, drugs like benzodiazepine and histamines had a smaller effect,” Åhs says. “More research is needed, but hopefully, we’ll be able to develop accurate tests in the future that can predict which kind of drugs will most likely have an effect on you.”
Important Limitations and Next Steps
Like most scientific research, the study has some limitations. Åhs explains that while the dataset was extensive, it wasn’t perfect.
“The data on the patient’s response and nonresponse to different drugs was based on which drugs were prescribed to them, not clinical notes. We can infer a lot from the prescription data, but we can’t be sure if there was a slight bias,” he says.
“In other words, we don’t know exactly why they changed drugs. Was it because of side effects, lack of remission, or something else? We did compare our results with other studies that used clinical assessment, and they were consistent with ours.”
The researchers also had to restrict their analysis to a specific time window, meaning some earlier prescriptions may not have been included.
“This might have influenced the number of individuals who received only one drug in our study. Some of them could have received other drugs before that weren’t registered in our data. That’s one of the reasons why we want to do a clinical follow-up study,” Åhs adds.
Toward Personalized Psychiatry
Although more research is needed, the findings suggest a future where choosing an antidepressant might no longer depend on trial and error. A simple genetic test could one day help doctors match patients with the most effective treatment from the start — potentially saving time, reducing side effects, and improving lives for millions around the world.

20 hours agoShareSaveJames GallagherHealth and science correspondentShareSaveGetty ImagesListen to James read this articleFlu strikes every winter, but this year something seems to be different.A seasonal flu virus suddenly mutated in the summer. It appears to evade some of our immunity, has kick-started a flu season more than a month early, and is a type of flu that history suggests is more severe.The NHS has now issued a “flu jab SOS” as fears grow that this will add up to a brutal winter.There is a lot of nuance and uncertainty, but leading flu experts have told me they would not be shocked if this was the worst flu season for a decade.”We haven’t seen a virus like this for a while, these dynamics are unusual,” says Prof Nicola Lewis, the director of the World Influenza Centre at the Francis Crick Institute.”It does concern me, absolutely,” she adds. “I’m not panicking, but I am worried.” So what’s going on? And what can we do?Scientists track the evolution of influenza viruses because they mutate constantly and the seasonal flu vaccine has to be updated each year to keep up.This evolution happens in a rhythm known as “shift and drift”. Most of the time the virus drifts along making minor changes and then every so often there is a sudden abrupt shift as the virus mutates substantially.That happened in June this year. Seven mutations appeared in a strain of H3N2 seasonal flu and led to a “fast increase” in reports of the mutated virus, says Prof Derek Smith, director of the centre for pathogen evolution at the University of Cambridge.Getty ImagesUnusually, this happened outside flu season, in the middle of the northern hemisphere’s summer.”It almost certainly will sweep the world, so from that standpoint, it’s something that will come up quickly,” says Prof Smith.By September, as children went back to school, the nights drew in and the temperatures started to drop, there was an uptick in cases.Exactly what the mutations are doing is still being explored, but they are probably helping the virus to evade some of the immunity we have built up over years of flu infections and vaccines.The result is the virus is finding it easier to infect people and spread – that is why the flu season is so early in the UK and other countries, including Japan.If the virus can spread more easily then it does not have to wait for more favourable wintery conditions – when we spend more time indoors with the heating on and the windows shut – to start the flu season.”We’re miles ahead,” says Prof Lewis. “I think it’s going to be a strong flu season.”If you remember your R numbers from the pandemic (that is the number of people each infected person passes the virus onto), they suggest the new mutant has an edge.Seasonal flu usually has an R number of around 1.2, while the early estimate for this year is 1.4, says Prof Lewis.So very roughly, if 100 people had flu, they would pass it to 120 in a typical year, and 140 this year.Worst flu season for a decade?”It’s highly likely it’s going to be a bad flu season and it’s going to happen quite soon – we’re already well into it,” says Prof Christophe Fraser, from the Pandemic Sciences Institute at the University of Oxford.”There are indicators that this could be worse than some of the flu seasons we’ve seen in the last 10 years.”In a typical flu season, around one-in-five of us get infected, but that could be higher this year, he warns.But all these predictions are still clouded in uncertainty.Some look to Australia for clues as it had the worst flu season on record this year, although it did not face the same mutated H3N2 we have. We know the virus is spreading very well in children in the germ-fest that is the school playground.But the immunity a 10-year-old has developed will be very different from that of their grandparents, whose immune defences may have been shaped by six times as many flu seasons. So experts will be watching closely as the virus starts infecting older age groups in the coming weeks.’It’s a nastier virus’History suggests that the form of influenza we are facing this year is more severe, particularly for older people.There are multiple types of flu and you may have heard some of the names like H1N1 swine flu, which caused a pandemic in 2009, or H5N1, the current flu killing birds around the world.The fresh mutations have happened in a group of H3N2 influenzas.”H3 is always a hotter virus, it’s a nastier virus, it’s more impactful on the population,” says Prof Lewis.It is worth remembering that some of us will get flu and develop no symptoms at all, while others get a sudden fever, body aches and exhaustion – but the virus can be deadly in older and more vulnerable groups.Last year, nearly 8,000 people died from flu, and in the 2022-23 flu season there were nearly 16,000 deaths. The NHS is already anticipating a tough flu season.So what can we do about it?The clear advice is to get the seasonal flu vaccine – the NHS in England issued a “flu jab SOS”, saying there were 2.4 million vaccine slots available in the next week.Getty ImagesProf Lewis argues this is “absolutely the most important year” to get vaccinated and that “if you have been called by your GP, please get your flu vaccine as soon as possible”.However, this year’s vaccine is not a perfect match to the mutated virus. The decision on the design of the vaccine was made in February to give enough time to produce the millions of doses necessary – and then the new mutant emerged in June.”Some protection is better than no protection, but this year is likely to be one of the years where the amount of protection is less than it is in years when the match is better,” says Prof Fraser. “It’s not an ideal situation.”The vaccine will still trigger the body to produce antibodies that can recognise and stick to flu.But the biggest benefits are anticipated to be in lessening the severity of the disease rather than stopping you getting ill or slowing the spread of the virus. And the flu vaccine protects against multiple strains of flu, each of which has the potential to cause their own waves of infections.”Whatever strains do circulate here this winter, we can be confident that the vaccine will still help give some protection to those most vulnerable from developing serious illness and being hospitalised,” says Dr Mary Ramsay, director of public health programmes the UK Health Security Agency.Meanwhile, doctors have been sent advice reminding them that early antiviral treatment reduces the risk of complications from flu.Japan is also going through an early flu season and has closed schools to help contain outbreaks. These are not Covid-style lockdowns, but short-term measures the country uses to disrupt the spread of the virus.Nobody knows for certain what will happen in the coming months.”It might all go away by next week,” says Prof Lewis, “but I don’t think it will.”More weekend picks

Researchers at the National University of Singapore (NUS) have uncovered a new way to use deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA). Beyond carrying genetic information, DNA can also serve as a tool for creating medicines more efficiently. Specific regions of DNA known as phosphates act like tiny “hands” that guide chemical reactions to form the correct mirror-image version of a compound.
Many medicines are chiral, meaning they exist in two mirror-image forms — similar to a pair of hands — that can behave differently inside the body. One version may effectively treat disease, while the other could have little benefit or even cause harm. Producing only the desired form is a major challenge in drug development, but the new DNA-guided method could make this process cleaner, simpler, and more environmentally sustainable.
DNA and proteins naturally attract one another in living cells because DNA’s phosphate groups carry a negative charge, while many amino acids are positively charged. The NUS team, led by Assistant Professor Zhu Ru-Yi from the Department of Chemistry, wondered whether this same type of attraction could help control chemical reactions in the lab. Their goal was to see if DNA could guide molecules to react in specific, predictable ways.
How DNA’s Phosphates Guide Chemistry
The researchers found that certain phosphate groups in DNA can pull in positively charged molecules during a chemical reaction, helping them align correctly — much like a magnet drawing a metal bead into place. This process, known as “ion pairing,” keeps the reacting molecules close together and oriented just right to produce a single, desired mirror-image product. The team showed that this guiding effect works across several different chemical reactions.
To pinpoint which phosphates were responsible for this guiding ability, the team created a new experimental approach called “PS scanning.” They systematically replaced individual phosphate sites in the DNA with nearly identical substitutes and repeated their tests. When swapping out a phosphate reduced the selectivity of the reaction, it revealed that the original site played a crucial role. To confirm their findings, they collaborated with Professor Zhang Xinglong from The Chinese University of Hong Kong, who used computer simulations to validate the experimental results.
The work was published in Nature Catalysis on October 31, 2025.

DNA as a Green Chemistry Tool
Asst Prof Zhu explained, “Nature never uses DNA phosphates as catalysts, but we have shown that if designed properly, they can act like artificial enzymes.”
He added that the discovery could make chemical manufacturing both more sustainable and more efficient, especially when producing complex, high-value pharmaceuticals.
The team plans to continue exploring how DNA phosphates can be used to design and produce chiral (mirror-image) compounds for next-generation drug development.

A widely used antidepressant, sertraline (sold under the brand names Zoloft and Lustral), appears to bring modest improvements in key depression and anxiety symptoms within the first two weeks of treatment, according to a new analysis led by researchers at University College London (UCL).
The study, published in Nature Mental Health, re-examined results from the landmark PANDA trial, originally released in 2019. That earlier research found that sertraline eased anxiety before it had a measurable impact on depression. In this new work, scientists applied a more detailed method known as network analysis, which allowed them to track how specific symptoms — rather than overall depression scores — responded to the medication.
Breaking Down Symptom Changes
By examining symptom-level data, the team found that patients taking sertraline experienced measurable improvements in low mood and suicidal thoughts within two weeks. At the same time, some physical side effects such as tiredness, reduced appetite, and lower libido were noted. Because these effects overlap with common symptoms of depression, interpreting their cause requires caution.
The researchers suggest that earlier analyses, which combined all depressive symptoms into a single measure, may have masked improvements in the most central emotional symptoms of depression.
In this refined analysis, early benefits were seen in feelings of sadness, self-criticism, restlessness, and suicidal ideation.
Revisiting the PANDA Trial
The PANDA trial, a randomized controlled study, investigated how sertraline affected people in England experiencing mild to moderate depressive symptoms. In 2019, results published in The Lancet Psychiatry showed that anxiety and overall mental health improved within six weeks of treatment, while major depressive symptoms did not meaningfully improve until 12 weeks.

This new analysis focused on data from 571 participants who provided complete symptom records. The findings suggest that emotional recovery may begin earlier than previously believed, with certain core depressive features responding more quickly to sertraline than the overall depression scores indicated.
Side Effects and Emotional Balance
Some physical or “somatic” symptoms, including poor sleep and low libido, tended to worsen initially. While these may be side effects of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) like sertraline, they are also frequent signs of depression itself, making the results more complex to interpret.
Lead author Dr. Giulia Piazza (UCL Psychiatry and UCL Psychology & Language Sciences) explained, “We have now painted a more complex picture of sertraline’s effects on the different symptoms of depression. Instead of thinking of depression and anxiety as each being a single, uniform condition, network analysis considers that they’re each a constellation of symptoms, that can appear in different combinations for different people.”
She added that understanding these relationships could reveal how certain symptoms, such as poor sleep, may trigger others like reduced concentration and self-esteem.
Timeline of Effects
The analysis showed that improvements in emotional and anxiety symptoms began within two weeks and continued to increase over time. Meanwhile, physical symptoms worsened slightly in the early stages but stabilized after about six weeks.

Dr. Piazza noted, “It appears that the adverse effects on somatic symptoms like poor sleep and libido may stabilize after six weeks, which is then counteracted by continued improvements in emotional symptoms, the core symptoms of depression.”
Broader Impact and Clinical Implications
Sertraline, a member of the SSRI class, remains one of the most frequently prescribed treatments for both depression and generalized anxiety disorder.
Professor Glyn Lewis (UCL Psychiatry), who led the original PANDA trial, said, “Our findings provide robust evidence that continues to support the prescription of sertraline for people experiencing depressive and anxiety symptoms. These findings will help patients and clinicians to make more informed decisions about treatment.”
Co-senior author Professor Jean-Baptiste Pingault (UCL Psychology & Language Sciences) added, “We found that the beneficial effects of sertraline can be detected very early on, as soon as two weeks after people start taking the antidepressant. Beyond this study, our results highlight the importance of considering symptom-level effects when developing novel drugs and evaluating existing drugs in psychiatry, and how this can help us to understand how these drugs work and how they can help patients.”
The research was supported by Wellcome, while the original PANDA trial received funding from the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) and the NIHR University College London Hospitals Biomedical Research Centre.
* Original results of the PANDA trial published on UCL News in 2019: Antidepressants may reduce anxiety more than depressive symptoms.

1 day agoShareSaveRuth CleggHealth and wellbeing reporterShareSaveAlamyIt’s the body’s superhighway that carries information from your brain to your major organs. You might not have a clue it exists – let alone that you might need to train it.But a quick scroll through my social media and there’s a whole array of tips on the vagus nerve – how to heal it, stimulate it, even reset it – all to apparently reduce stress and anxiety levels.Poking your ear with what looks like a rubber toothbrush, moving your eyes from side to side, tapping your body or gargling water while wearing a weighted vest – these are just some of the techniques being recommended to train that nerve and improve your wellbeing.With our stress levels sky-high, and burnout on the rise among under-35s, it’s no wonder many of the posts on socials have gone viral with millions of hits.Some of these methods might seem a bit absurd. But is it really possible to train your mighty internal messenger, and could that actually bring quick relief to life’s stresses?@cariad.connectionI decided to find out by coming to small candle-lit studio in Stockport town centre – where I find myself in a small group, humming loudly.Humming, I am told, can help stimulate our vagus nerve and slow down our heart rate. And I do start to feel a bit more relaxed. I can feel the low hum vibrating in my body and my brain seems a bit less busy.At this somatics class, yoga therapist Eirian Collinge guides us through a session of gentle moves combining deep breathing, rocking and swaying.While she doesn’t buy into all the techniques on socials, Eirian says there are parts of her practice that use breathwork, eye movements and tapping.But, she says, “it’s a process” and there’s no quick fix. It is rooted in a theory that suggests we can calm down our nervous system by connecting with our bodies.Some scientists say this is an over-simplification of our complex internal systems. But others say it can be effective in helping us find a snippet of calm in a busy, intense world.Sarah, who is lying down just a few mats away from me, started coming to this class about a year ago. She says the practice has been life-changing.”I actually cried after the first session,” she says. “It felt like the first time my brain has ever switched off.”The 35-year-old, who struggles with her mental health, says it feels like she is “flossing her brain”.XanderSarah’s partner, Xander, agrees. It’s made him more aware of his feelings.”As a man,” he explains, “We are not really programmed to do that.”I’ve struggled with depression for most of my adult life, but now, instead of trying to fix my thoughts I can sit with my emotions and accept them.”If things get a bit much for me I can peel back a little from work. Go for a run, get out in the hills, for example.”Understanding my nervous system is a huge part of that.”The vagus – Latin for “wandering” – starts in the brain as two main branches – left and right – that connect to every major organ, constantly relaying vital information back and forth.It’s part of the autonomic nervous system, which controls things we don’t think about, like breathing, heart rate and digestion. The system, in part, is made up of:the sympathetic nervous system – which triggers “fight or flight”, preparing us for anything from being chased by a wild animal to that all important job interview, andthe parasympathetic nervous system – which relies on the vagus nerve to help put the brakes on and brings the body back into a state of calmIf one of these is out of sync we start to see problems. But can we really reset the balance ourselves, by attempting to activate the vagus nerve?Consultant psychiatrist Prof Hamish McAllister-Williams is sceptical. “We have good evidence vagus nerve stimulation can help with neurological disorders like epilepsy and mental illnesses like treatment-resistant depression,” he says, “but that comes from a device that is fitted in the body – a bit like a pacemaker which sends pulses of electrical energy to the vagus nerve.”That device sends mild electrical stimulations through the vagus nerve to the brain, sparking a release of chemicals like serotonin and dopamine which help us regulate our mood.While vagus nerve stimulation inside the body requires invasive surgery and is available for a small cohort of patients on the NHS, there is now a growing market for wearable – non-invasive – technology. These devices, which cost anything from £200 to more than £1,000, tend to be clipped on the ear, worn round the neck or placed on the chest.@lucylambertco”The are some credible studies that suggest these external stimulators can potentially impact on brain activity,” Prof McAllister-Williams explains. “But there is a lot less evidence than for the internal devices.”With external devices, the electrical impulses need to travel through skin, tissue, muscle and fat so it’s not as simple and direct as a stimulator in the body.After she experienced burnout, Lucy Lambert says such non-invasive vagus nerve stimulators helped her.The mother-of-three left her job as a primary school teacher because she was so completely “stressed, tired and anxious”.”I had been running on empty for so long – I didn’t realise,” Lucy says. “Then it hit. The to-do list of life became too much.”The mental load was so huge I couldn’t get out of bed.”After exhausting various medical routes and feeling like she was getting nowhere, Lisa’s brother recommended one of these devices which vibrates, claiming to send low-level electrical pulses to the vagus nerve, often through the skin in the neck or ear area.”I noticed that when I started to feel overwhelmed, I would get a headache first.”I would then wear a device for 10 minutes twice a day; the pain from the headache would go, and my whole body would calm down.”The vibrations, they really do something.”She says the devices didn’t fix burnout but they helped her create “conditions where real healing can happen”.@lucylambertcoDr Chris Barker, who works in pain management, says this area of medicine is still developing.He says there is a growing understanding of the importance of the vagus nerve, but while there is “clear evidence” around the impact an unbalanced nervous system can have on everything from our mental health to our heart rate and our ability to digest food, it does not mean we have the all the answers – yet – on how to correct the problems.”It’s really rational to focus on something that’s problematic – and try to fix it.”Our bodies are, of course, really complex, and sometimes the problem we see may be part of an imbalance in a wider system.”It’s not about going to extremes, he says. It’s “about figuring out what works for you” – and that can often take time.It’s worth noting if you have underlying heart or respiratory conditions you should seek medical advice before trying to rebalance or stimulate your nervous system.Now, several years after experiencing burnout, Lucy, 47, is launching her own business helping others to build emotional resilience and confidence.She still uses her devices daily, meditates, and regularly checks in with how she is feeling. “The devices make me rest and switch off.”But she agrees it is difficult to know whether it’s the devices making the difference or the fact she is taking some much-needed time out.There is a lack of robust scientific evidence behind these devices but for Lucy, they’ve played an important part in her recovery. Understanding her nervous system and the importance of the vagus nerve has empowered her, she says.”It’s helped me take ownership of my own mental health and wellbeing, and that’s massive.”More weekend picks

In Paola Arlotta’s lab at Harvard is a long, windowless hallway that is visited every day by one of her scientists. They go there to inspect racks of scientific muffin pans. In every cavity of every pan is a pool of pink liquid, at the bottom of which are dozens of translucent nuggets no bigger than peppercorns.The nuggets are clusters of neurons and other cells, as many as two million, normally found in the human brain. On their daily rounds, the scientists check that the nuggets are healthy and well-fed.“No first-year students walk in that corridor,” Dr. Arlotta said. “You have to be experienced enough to go there, because the risk is very high that you’re going to mess up the work that took years to build.”The oldest nuggets are now seven years old. Back in 2018, Dr. Arlotta and her colleagues created them from skin cells originally donated by volunteers. A chemical cocktail transformed them into the progenitor cells normally found in the fetal human brain.The cells multiplied into neurons and other types of brain cells. They wrapped their branches around each other and pulsed with electrical activity, much like the pulses that race around inside our heads. One such nugget can contain more neurons than the entire brain of a honeybee. But Dr. Arlotta is quick to stress that they are not brains. She and her colleagues call them brain organoids.“It’s so important to call them organoids and not brains, because they’re no such thing,” she said. “They are reductionist replicas that can show us some things that are the same, and many others that are not.”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.