Pharmaceutical researchers have developed a new technique that uses a patch with microneedles to perform catalyzed reactions for generating anticancer therapeutics directly inside tumors. Early laboratory tests on mice show it potentiates the effectiveness of drugs and reduces toxicity. The technique was developed by researchers at Zhejiang University, Fuzhou University and the University of California, Los Angeles.“This is a proof of concept, but we’ve demonstrated there is now a new tool for...

Depression is commonly associated with cognitive deficits in memory and emotions like sadness. This association alone, however, neglects the intense difference in how subjects perceive others and the world in this mental state. Depressed subjects often perceive their environment in an unsharp and blurry way. That, in turn, affects our emotion, cognition and behavior since we act and think according to the way we perceive. The research teams of SONG Xuemei at the Zhejiang University School of Med...

Tumor is one of the major hazards for human health and life. With the cross-disciplinary fusion of immunology and cell biology, tumor immunotherapy technology has become an important means of anti-tumor treatment.Programmed death ligand-1 (PD-L1) is constitutively expressed on the surface of cancer cells. The interaction between PD-L1 and its receptor, programmed death protein-1 (PD-1), which is mainly expressed on the surface of T cells, results in cancer cell evasion from immune surveillance. ...

Photosensitization reactions for the generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) play crucial roles in many applications, including energy conversion, organic waste decomposition, and photodynamic therapy (PDT). Using near-infrared (NIR) light for photosensitization is attractive because NIR excitation offers deeper penetration through various media such as wastewater and biological tissues. However, conventional approaches for NIR photosensitization are hampered by low conversion efficiency and...

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is the most common type of dementia. It is a progressive disease beginning with mild memory loss and possibly leading to loss of the ability to carry on a conversation and respond to the environment. It involves parts of the brain that control thought, memory, and language and can seriously affect a person’s ability to carry out daily activities. AD has become an increasingly severe public health and social problem. According to the Alzheimer’s Association, one patien...

When we are provoked or threatened, anger often arises and it is even accompanied by certain aggressive behaviors. In the biological chain, stalking and hunting are quite common in the natural world. Aggression is a core strategy in the law of survival of the fittest. Most animals have evolved specific neural circuits to regulate aggressive behavior. Then how do brain circuits manage anger and govern aggression?The armed forces in the brainThe research team led by academician DUAN Shumin an...

The research team led by Prof. PING Yuan from the Zhejiang University College of Pharmaceutical Sciences published their study in the journal Science Advances. They developed a dissolvable microneedle (MN) patch that can mediate transdermal co-delivery of CRISPR-Cas9–based genome-editing agents and glucocorticoids for the effective treatment of inflammatory skin disorders (ISDs).ISDs represent one of the most persistent diseases that are generally characterized by the activation o...

Serotonin, dopamine and endorphins are the three most important substances for human happiness. Among them, Serotonin, or 5-hydroxytryptamine (5-HT), is a messenger molecule that produces a sense of well-being and happiness and is therefore also known as the “happy hormone”. Fluctuations in its level are often associated with emotional changes. For example, 5-HT deficiency can lead to depression. However, the biological mechanism as to how 5-HT generates a sense of well-being has yet to be dec...

Surgical resection is currently the primary treatment option for most malignant tumors. However, it remains to be a formidable challenge to remove tumor lesions in a precise and thorough manner. Recurrent abdominal malignancies, such as colon and ovarian cancers, are highly invasive and metastatic, and can migrate to surrounding tissues and critical organs in an immersive way. For this reason, imaging techniques, such as positron emission tomography (PET) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), ar...

We live in a highly socialized world with immense mental pressure. Prosocial behavior accounts for a large amount of our daily life and is fundamental to our physical and mental health. However, social disorder is a commonly symptom observed in various neurodegenerative, neuropsychiatric and neurodevelopmental disorders, while placing a heavy burden on the families and society of patients. Therefore, it is urgent to decipher the neural mechanisms underlying prosocial behavior in terms of both .T...