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News Articles: biomedical research

Activists protest the prices of prescription drug outside the Department of Health and Human Services in Washington, D.C., in October 2022.

White House proposes to 'march in' on patents for costly drugs

To lower drug prices, the Biden administration is looking to assert its authority to license drug patents that rely on government-funded research to drugmakers that would offer cheaper medicines.

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  • Sydney Lupkin
Chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee Sen. Bernie Sanders, a Vermont Independent, questions Dr. Monica Bertagnolli during her confirmation hearing to become director of the National Institutes of Health.

Sen. Sanders pushes NIH to rein in drug prices

The National Institutes of Health has been reluctant to use its leverage as a biomedical research funder to influence drug pricing. Sen. Bernie Sanders is pressing NIH's new director to take action.

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  • Sydney Lupkin
Horseshoe crabs are bled alive at a facility in Charleston, S.C., in June 2014.

Vaccines are still tested with horseshoe crab blood. The industry is finally changing

The horseshoe crab bleeding industry is in transition. One biomedical company agreed to more oversight, and a regulatory group is paving the way for drug companies to use animal-free alternatives.

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  • Chiara Eisner
Horseshoe crabs are bled at a facility in Charleston, S.C., in June 2014.

Coastal biomedical labs are bleeding more horseshoe crabs with little accountability

Horseshoe crab blood is used to test vaccines around the world. But while Europe has approved a synthetic alternative, biomedical labs are bleeding more crabs from the Atlantic coast.

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  • Chiara Eisner
This synthetic fish is powered by human heart cells. Scientists say that they could help lead the way toward building replacement hearts from human tissue.

Watch these robotic fish swim to the beat of human heart cells

Tiny, robotic fish powered by human heart cells suggest that scientists are getting closer to their goal of building replacement hearts from living tissue.

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  • Jon Hamilton
Gordon Isaacs, the first patient treated with the linear accelerator (radiation therapy) for retinoblastoma in 1957, sitting on a table. Gordon's right eye was removed January 11, 1957 because the cancer had spread. His left eye, however, had only a localized tumor that prompted Henry Kaplan to try to treat it with the electron beam. Gordon's vision in the left eye returned to normal.

50 years ago, Nixon gave the U.S. a 'Christmas gift.' It launched the war on cancer

The National Cancer Act became law 50 years ago. Cancer went from shameful taboo to one of the best-funded areas of medicine. Much of the credit for this transformation goes to one woman, Mary Lasker.

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  • Gabrielle Emanuel
Gordon Isaacs, the first patient treated with the linear accelerator (radiation therapy) for retinoblastoma in 1957, sitting on a table. Gordon's right eye was removed January 11, 1957 because the cancer had spread. His left eye, however, had only a localized tumor that prompted Henry Kaplan to try to treat it with the electron beam. Gordon's vision in the left eye returned to normal.

50 years ago, Nixon gave the U.S. a 'Christmas gift.' It launched the war on cancer

The National Cancer Act became law 50 years ago. Cancer went from shameful taboo to one of the best-funded areas of medicine. Much of the credit for this transformation goes to one woman, Mary Lasker.

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  • Gabrielle Emanuel
Jamily Aly Pons (right), a university student from Puerto Rico, does research in Georgia Tech's Economic Development Lab, for which Monica Novoa (left) is program manager.

In Wake Of Hurricane Maria, Georgia Tech Bolsters Puerto Rico's Entrepreneurs

It’s been seven months since Hurricane Maria devastated Puerto Rico. Blackouts continue. Utility crews on the island are still in emergency restoration...

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