https://medicalxpress.com/biomedical-technology-news/ en-us Latest medical news and research in Laboratory medicine Australians have seen a flurry of headlines announcing the arrival of blood tests for Alzheimer's disease. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-08-blood-alzheimer.html Tue, 04 Aug 2026 16:00:10 EDT news705058621 Modern therapies have transformed care for people with multiple sclerosis (MS). Yet the disease continues to progress in a substantial proportion of patients, even in the absence of relapses. Detecting and treating this gradual worsening of disability remains one of the greatest challenges in MS care. Researchers from the University of Basel, Switzerland, now report on a blood marker that could help track disease progression and monitor treatment response. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-08-blood-marker-tracks-hidden-multiple.html Mon, 03 Aug 2026 17:20:03 EDT news704994661 The trillions of microorganisms living in our intestine influence our health, from digestion and metabolism to immunity. Yet scientists still struggle to understand how these microbes shape these important physiological functions because gut microbiomes are extraordinarily complex, redundant, and dynamic. New technologies are therefore essential for advancing microbiome research. Researchers at the University of Vienna have now reported effective strategies for simultaneously measuring thousands of microbial and host proteins. The findings have been published in Nature Communications. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-08-gut-protein-captures-microbial-host.html Mon, 03 Aug 2026 15:00:05 EDT news704985482 Researchers at the Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center and its Bloomberg~Kimmel Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy determined that liquid biopsy—a blood test that detects circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA)—can predict, within a few weeks, whether patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer are benefiting from immunotherapy. This finding has the potential to facilitate early treatment decisions, allowing physicians to change therapies unlikely to benefit patients months sooner than is currently possible with standard imaging. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-08-blood-immunotherapy-benefit-early-patients.html Mon, 03 Aug 2026 13:00:06 EDT news704974321 Lung infections are a constant risk for people living with cystic fibrosis (CF), a life-threatening genetic disorder that impairs lung function, predisposes people to persistent airway infections and puts them at risk of acquiring multidrug-resistant infections. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-08-dna-sequencing-precise-diagnosis-lung.html Mon, 03 Aug 2026 09:00:03 EDT news704964601 A pair of wearable stickers may transform diagnostic sweat testing for cystic fibrosis (CF), a genetic disorder that causes problems with digestion and breathing. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-07-wearable-stickers-cystic-fibrosis-diagnosis.html Sat, 01 Aug 2026 12:00:04 EDT news704707796 Researchers at the Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center validated an artificial intelligence (AI)-powered blood test that accurately detected liver cancer in people from two geographically and biologically distinct populations and uncovered the underlying biological signals that make the test effective. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-07-ai-blood-assay-liver-cancer.html Fri, 31 Jul 2026 11:00:07 EDT news704634122 A new study presented today at ADLM 2026 in Anaheim, California, found that a simple blood test could accurately identify tuberculosis (TB)—a leading cause of death worldwide—among patients with varying degrees of exposure to the disease. If confirmed, these results could help save millions of lives and curb a global health emergency. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-07-blood-tuberculosis-global-infectious-disease.html Tue, 28 Jul 2026 12:30:02 EDT news704356926 For families of children with rare diseases, the search for answers can be lonely, desperate and frustrating. Such is the case with pulmonary hypertension, or PH. Defined as high blood pressure in the lungs, PH forces the heart to work too hard. It has many causes, is incurable and can develop at any age. While it's difficult to calculate the number of cases of pediatric PH, particularly for those with genetic causes, its rarity does not diminish its devastating impact. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-07-rare-tbx4-mutations-reveal-excess.html Tue, 28 Jul 2026 08:00:05 EDT news704439541 Months to several years before amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) symptoms arise, levels of certain blood proteins may shift dramatically. Researchers analyzed data from the long-running Pre-symptomatic Familial ALS (Pre-fALS) study to identify key proteins that may predict the emergence of clinical ALS. By anticipating the onset of symptoms, investigators could intervene with preventive therapies before the irreversible motor neuron damage characteristic of ALS sets in. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-07-protein-blood-panel-als-symptoms.html Mon, 27 Jul 2026 16:00:03 EDT news704385001 Researchers from the University of Cologne, the German Center for Infection Research (DZIF), and the Broad Institute of Harvard and MIT present a clinical case in the New England Journal of Medicine that provides new insights into the evolution of bacterial pathogens and presents the concept of heterovirulence, or the simultaneous presence of subpopulations with different levels of virulence within a single infection. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-07-urinary-tract-infection-brain-abscess.html Thu, 23 Jul 2026 16:20:01 EDT news704037241 New research has shown that RNA-based testing can improve the detection and interpretation of clinically actionable genomic alterations that lead to MET exon 14 skipping in patients with lung cancer—important biomarkers that may be missed by DNA-only approaches. The findings from the study published in The Journal of Molecular Diagnostics are poised to improve diagnostic accuracy and help determine patients' eligibility for MET-targeted therapies. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-07-rna-uncovers-mutations-met-exon.html Thu, 23 Jul 2026 14:00:05 EDT news704030236 Take a blood sample from someone in the dead of winter. Take another in midsummer. Same person, same laboratory. And yet, at the level of gene activity, the molecular picture can look surprisingly different. This is not an anomaly. This, a new Nature Communications study argues, is simply how human biology works, and it has significant implications for the way biomarkers have traditionally been studied. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-07-gene-blood-fluctuates-consequences-medicine.html Thu, 23 Jul 2026 13:40:01 EDT news704030521 Researchers from the Clinical Neuroscience Consortium (CNC), a collaborative platform jointly established by the LKS Faculty of Medicine of the University of Hong Kong (HKUMed) and Queen Mary Hospital, in collaboration with the Hong Kong Genome Institute (HKGI), have developed the most comprehensive map to date of isoform diversity in glioblastoma, the most common and aggressive form of brain cancer in adults. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-07-brain-cancer-uncovers-thousands-hidden.html Thu, 23 Jul 2026 12:40:05 EDT news704026441 A single preoperative blood sample may help improve the prediction of recurrence or metastasis in patients with colorectal cancer. A joint research team from KAIST, Gangnam Severance Hospital and Asan Medical Center has shown that, as colorectal cancer advances, the network of relationships among circulating amino acids (a kind of metabolic map) undergoes systematic remodeling. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-07-blood-sample-colorectal-cancer-recurrence.html Wed, 22 Jul 2026 13:20:01 EDT news703941541 Biological sex factors into cancer in ways you might not expect. In lung cancer, a form called squamous cell carcinoma disproportionately affects male patients, while adenocarcinoma occurs more frequently in female patients. Researchers want to know what is happening in our cells to cause these divergent outcomes in lung and other cancers and how this knowledge can benefit physicians and patients. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-07-biological-sex-linked-protein-lung.html Tue, 21 Jul 2026 17:20:01 EDT news703866422 Who doesn't want cancer testing results at lower cost, with greater speed and accuracy? Interdisciplinary innovators like Cancer Center at Illinois (CCIL) program leader Brian Cunningham are among the pioneers of the emerging field of point-of-care (POC) diagnostic technology aiming to make this dream a reality. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-07-paradigm-shift-oncology-emergence-diagnostic.html Tue, 21 Jul 2026 14:20:01 EDT news703856101 A noninvasive DNA blood test can identify patients with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC) who are most likely to benefit from 223Ra radiopharmaceutical therapy and monitor their progress throughout treatment, according to new research published in the July issue of The Journal of Nuclear Medicine. Incorporating this approach to DNA profiling into clinical practice has the potential to refine patient selection, enable early detection of treatment resistance and optimize personalized management for patients with prostate cancer. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-07-dna-blood-patient-radiopharmaceutical-therapy.html Mon, 20 Jul 2026 12:20:01 EDT news703759490 Weill Cornell Medicine investigators have developed a new AI-based method to assess patients with a form of blood cancer called myelodysplastic neoplasms. The method, published June 30 in Leukemia, compares the physical locations and morphometric (size and shape) characteristics of every hematopoietic cell in a patient's bone marrow sample with those in healthy bone marrow to generate a score that reflects disease severity. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-07-human-bone-marrow-yields-tool.html Mon, 20 Jul 2026 12:00:05 EDT news703766221 For decades, pathologists have diagnosed and graded breast cancer by looking at tissue samples under a microscope, searching for telltale signs of disorder in the structure of cells and tissues. Now, researchers at Columbia and their collaborators have developed a new computational approach that transforms those visual patterns into quantitative measurements, potentially improving how clinicians predict breast cancer outcomes and choose therapies. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-07-topology-based-biomarkers-breast-cancer.html Sun, 19 Jul 2026 17:00:03 EDT news703688103 Premature babies in the intensive care unit are particularly at risk of becoming infected with potentially pathogenic bacteria. A team of doctors in Hanover has now investigated which external factors play a role in this. They concluded that climatic conditions have an influence. The study was led and designed by Dr Leonard Knegendorf, a clinician-scientist at TWINCORE, the Centre for Experimental and Clinical Infection Research. The findings were published in the journal Antimicrobial Resistance & Infection Control. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-07-nights-linked-ill-premature-babies.html Sat, 18 Jul 2026 11:40:01 EDT news703166907 Researchers at Umeå University have identified changes in the body's major antioxidant systems in patients with hereditary transthyretin (TTR) amyloidosis. The findings support the hypothesis that oxidative stress contributes to disease development and also identify new biomarkers that may help detect individuals at increased risk of developing the disease. The results have been published in the journal Biomarker Research. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-07-disrupted-antioxidant-linked-skellefte-disease.html Thu, 16 Jul 2026 18:20:02 EDT news703420265 A study led by researchers at Open Targets, EMBL's European Bioinformatics Institute (EMBL-EBI), the University of Cambridge and others has identified a set of plasma proteins that could be used to diagnose and monitor patients with metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD). It was published today in Nature Metabolism. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-07-molecular-liver-disease.html Wed, 15 Jul 2026 15:40:03 EDT news703341045 The Martin-Hopkins equation to assess low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol levels in blood samples has been used by laboratories in the U.S. and other countries to guide efforts to lower cardiovascular disease risk. Now, a simplified machine-learning version of this equation has been shown in a study of millions of U.S. adult and child blood samples to match the accuracy of the original—making it broadly accessible. The findings and code were published in JAMA Cardiology. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-07-machine-equation-accurately-ldl-cholesterol.html Wed, 15 Jul 2026 11:00:21 EDT news703229528 Allergies can be minor or life-threatening, and current diagnostic blood tests are not always adequate for determining which substances patients need to avoid to prevent a reaction. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-07-allergy-antibodies-trigger-reactions.html Wed, 15 Jul 2026 10:20:09 EDT news703325984 A blood test may predict if apparently healthy older adults are likely to develop Alzheimer's symptoms in the next five or 10 years, researchers reported Wednesday. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-07-blood-healthy-people-high-alzheimer.html Wed, 15 Jul 2026 04:21:48 EDT news703308046 A blood test for the biomarker phosphorylated tau 217 (p-tau217) recently received federal clearance, but questions have emerged about the extent to which such tests can accurately predict whether a cognitively healthy individual will develop cognitive impairment—a key symptom of Alzheimer's disease. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-07-blood-based-symptoms-alzheimer-decade.html Wed, 15 Jul 2026 00:00:01 EDT news703229479 With the aid of physical forces—in this case, sound—it is possible to actively steer the formation of engineered tissue. For example, sound waves can be used to create functional vascular networks with blood vessel-like structures in vitro. Scientists at the Center for Molecular Biology of Heidelberg University have demonstrated this through their methodology for acoustic manipulation. The team led by Junior Professor Dr. Daniela Duarte Campos also defines quality requirements for generating complex vascularized 3D tissue containing multiple cell types that is relevant, for example, to biomedical studies. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-07-cultured-cells-vessel-networks-week.html Tue, 14 Jul 2026 13:20:02 EDT news703250302 A research team led by Professor Jinsung Park of the Department of Biomechatronic Engineering at Sungkyunkwan University (SKKU), working jointly with Professor Pil-Soo Sung of the College of Medicine at the Catholic University of Korea and Professor Si-Hyun Bae, president of Eunpyeong St. Mary's Hospital, has developed an ultrasensitive electrochemical biosensor capable of accurately detecting early-stage liver fibrosis—a condition in which the liver progressively hardens—using only a small amount of blood. The research represents a notable achievement in the convergence of engineering and medicine, opening a path to identifying liver abnormalities through blood analysis alone, without the pain of a tissue biopsy. The findings were published in Chemical Engineering Journal. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-07-gold-nanoparticle-sensor-early-liver.html Tue, 14 Jul 2026 05:23:17 EDT news703225373 How are disease-relevant molecules distributed within tissue? What changes occur even before they become visible under the microscope? Questions such as these are crucial for early diagnosis and targeted treatment in many diseases. Researchers at the Leibniz-Institut für Analytische Wissenschaften—ISAS have, for the first time, succeeded in combining two complementary analytical methods to create a high-resolution molecular map of tissue. Their map makes different biomolecules simultaneously visible and reveals their spatial distribution. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-07-raman-imaging-cardiac-tissue-fabry.html Mon, 13 Jul 2026 22:40:01 EDT news703155992