Australian researchers are a step closer to understanding immune sensitivities to well-known, and commonly prescribed, medications. Many drugs are successfully used to treat diseases, but can also have harmful side effects. While it has been known that some drugs can unpredictably impact on the functioning of the immune system, our understanding of this process has been unclear.

IMB researchers have found a promising small molecule treatment that blocked cancer spread and improved survival rates in mice in a pre-clinical study of breast cancer.

IMB agricultural sciences PhD student Samantha Nixon (King Group) has been named as one of 22 exceptional young Australians to receive a Westpac Future Leaders Scholarship. Samantha is is researching the concept of spider venoms as next generation treatments to combat drug resistance in parasites in Australian livestock.

Dr Joseph Powell and his team are investigating how differences in your DNA sequence impact on how disease starts and develops in the body. This NHMRC-funded research is important because it could lead to new approaches to prevent or to treat disease. (via NHMRC website)

No summer barbecue would be complete without the great Aussie salute. It's a tradition that has been linked to one specific fly: the Australian bush fly. IMB researcher Dr Maggie Hardy explains why this little Australian has got a bad rap. (via ABC Science)

Chances are, you’re going to marry someone a lot like you. Similar intelligence, similar height, similar body weight. A new study of tens of thousands of married couples suggests that this isn’t an accident. We don’t marry educated people because we happen to hang around with educated people, for example—we actively seek them out. And these preferences are shaping our genomes. Story via Science Magazine (external link).

IMB researchers have discovered a molecular trigger for inflammation that could lead to new treatments for rheumatoid arthritis, inflammatory bowel disease and neurodegenerative diseases. Professor Jennifer Stow said targeting this trigger - a protein called SCIMP, could reduce or ‘switch off’ inflammation.

Researchers from The University of Queensland will investigate ways to halt or even reverse Parkinson’s disease thanks to a A$1.2 million grant from The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research and its major Australian funding partner, Shake It Up Australia Foundation.

Register now for SDRI 2017, a multi-disciplinary scientific conference for the Asia Pacific region focused on Solutions for Drug-Resistant Infections.