Therapeutics Research highlights
KAIMRC Innovations highlights the most exciting research taking place at the different research centers in KAIMRC. The research highlights are informative articles that cover breakthrough research and are accessible to the wider science community and a general audience interested in science. With regular weekly updates, this is the place to keep up with the best clinical and medical research happening at KAIMRC and around the world.
KAIMRC Research Highlight
Anticoagulant satisfaction survey translated into Arabic
January 3, 2022
The quality of life of Arabic patients on long-term anticoagulant drugs can be comprehensively assessed by a translated version of an international satisfaction scale
KAIMRC Research Highlight
Trial begins on antiviral drug for COVID-19
November 15, 2021
A clinical trial in Saudi Arabia will examine the efficacy of an existing antiviral in treating mild COVID-19
KAIMRC Research Highlight
Optimizing treatment regimens for childhood acute lymphoblastic leukaemia
November 1, 2021
A multinational study shows that radiotherapy with chemotherapy before hematopoietic stem cell transplantation improves the survival of children with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia compared with multi-agent chemotherapy.
International Research Highlight
Existing drugs may help with COVID-19 treatment
October 18, 2021
Computational screening of SARS-CoV-2 genomes identified several proteins which could be targeted by existing drugs to treat COVID-19
KAIMRC Research Highlight
New model predicts the risk of blood thinners for Arabs
October 11, 2021
A novel model that predicts bleeding risk in Arab patients taking direct oral anticoagulants shows good sensitivity and specificity.
International Research Highlight
Combined therapy boosts kidney cancer survival rates
October 7, 2021
A global phase 3 clinical trial demonstrates the efficacy of a novel combined therapy for advanced kidney cancer
International Research Highlight
A dynamic duo to fight MERS
September 30, 2021
Experiments in mice suggest that a two-antibody cocktail could prevent infection with the Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus.
KAIMRC Research Highlight
Immune checkpoint inhibitors cause mild to severe side effects
September 23, 2021
A small Saudi study shows that the cancer therapy commonly causes mild side effects but sometimes more severe side effects
KAIMRC Research Highlight
Animating the inanimate
August 19, 2021
Swimming crystalline microwires could be the progenitors of futuristic microrobotics systems.
KAIMRC Research Highlight
A properly packaged mix overcomes antibiotic-resistant bacteria
August 12, 2021
Liposomes carrying the right drug combination could help in the fight against drug-resistant microbes
International Research Highlight
Nanotechnology prevents preterm birth in mice
August 5, 2021
Formulation helps overcome mucus barriers for targeted drug delivery
Feature
Reducing chronic maladaptive inflammation rejuvenates brain cells in mice
August 2, 2021
Scientists pinpoint a single molecular signalling pathway that could be used to reverse age-associated metabolic and immune dysfunction in mice.
KAIMRC Research Highlight
Seatbelt use in Saudi Arabia remains low
July 15, 2021
A survey reveals that young adults, women and people suffering from depression and anxiety are less likely to buckle up
International Research Highlight
A fatty diet disturbs circadian brain metabolism
June 24, 2021
A high-fat diet changes metabolic oscillations in brain regions that control circadian rhythms.
KAIMRC Research Highlight
Investigating the factors affecting burn patient survival
June 17, 2021
Data from patients on mechanical ventilation offers insight into factors affecting survival
KAIMRC Research Highlight
Family support hastens recovery
April 14, 2021
Family ties are key for successful recovery from injuries that can lead to temporary or permanent disability.
KAIMRC Research Highlight
Prevalence of blood clotting after hip procedures
March 10, 2021
Venous thromboembolism after hip procedures is not abnormally common in Saudi Arabia
KAIMRC Research Highlight
Measures needed to reduce road casualties
March 3, 2021
Study highlights global disparities in improving traffic safety
Feature
Reducing MERS mortality
February 22, 2021
Clinicians have tested a combination drug regimen that reduces the number of deaths from Middle East Respiratory Syndrome by a third.
KAIMRC Research Highlight
IVF conception does not affect educational outcomes of premature children
February 10, 2021
International Research Highlight
Measuring
the risk of contracting latent tuberculosis in clinical training
December 23, 2020
Medical students face a greater risk of being infected with TB bacteria than trainees in other specializations
International Research Highlight
Gut microbe transplant treats
graft versus host disease
December 2, 2020
Faecal bacteria from healthy donors can save the lives of blood stem cell transplant recipients
International Research Highlight
Hair-growing skin produced
from human stem cells
November 18, 2020
Complete skin-in-a-dish tissue offers new options for wound healing, genetic skin conditions and baldness.
Feature
Clinical Trials: A hopeful
start in Saudi Arabia
August 19, 2020
Early signs suggest that Saudi Arabians are willing to embrace and participate in the kingdom’s new human clinical trials programme.
KAIMRC Research Highlight
Nix the mix
August 4, 2020
Vitamin D testing does not require the mixing of samples, a finding that could save lab technicians time and effort.
KAIMRC Research Highlight
Speedy test for
antibiotic resistance
July 14, 2020
A test for antibiotic-resistant bacteria shows scope for further development
International Research Highlight
Supercharged immune cells to fight lymphoma
July 7, 2020
An immunotherapy approach, based on adapting a patient’s immune cells to tackle specific cancer cells, shows promise against rare lymphoma.
Feature
Scope for greater use of digital tools in Saudi healthcare
June 1, 2020
A study on the use of smartphones in the Saudi healthcare system shows that while penetration rates are high, medical workers in the kingdom are reluctant to use mobiles for work purposes.
KAIMRC Research Highlight
The molecular mechanism linking melatonin and memory
May 31, 2020
Revealing how melatonin alleviates memory defects opens new therapeutic avenues
KAIMRC Research Highlight
The battle of the diagnostics
May 24, 2020
New study compares CT scans with MRIs for cervical spine injury detection in unconscious paediatric patients
KAIMRC Research Highlight
Diagnostics: Nix the mix
May 4, 2020
Vitamin D testing does not require the mixing of samples, a finding that could save lab technicians time and effort.
International Research Highlight
Stem cell therapy: Insights into heart repair mechanisms
April 21, 2020
The injection of stem cells into the heart following cardiac arrest induces an innate immune response that helps repair damaged tissues.
International Research Highlight
Artificial intelligence enhances in-surgery tumour analysis
April 5, 2020
An automated system can provide diagnostic information during surgery for a brain tumour with a similar accuracy to pathologists.
International Research Highlight
A mother’s protective gift to pre-term babies
March 10, 2020
Preterm babies have a similar arsenal of maternal antibodies to those of full-term babies, suggesting that their higher infection risk is due to other factors.
KAIMRC Research Highlight
Laying bare the skeleton foundations
February 16, 2020
New research concludes that the proper organization of the cell skeleton during bone cell formation is regulated by TGFβ1, a key growth factor
Feature
Seeking cures for Alzheimer’s disease
February 9, 2020
Advances in Alzheimer’s research over the past few years are increasing hopes of finding more effective treatments, while implicating bacteria as a possible cause
International Research Highlight
Birth weight estimates updated
January 23, 2020
New research provides more accurate charts for assessing birth weight based on updated information to identify need for infant care
International Research Highlight
A rocking good sleep
January 12, 2020
Study reveals that the gentle rocking motion that soothes children to sleep works just as well for adults, and also keeps their memory strong.
International Research Highlight
Wearing diabetes care lightly
December 30, 2019
A new wearable, flexible nanosensor could help monitor glucose levels without the need for blood tests
Feature
A smart way to beat the heat
December 22, 2019
KAIMRC researchers develop a system that can regulate body temperature in real time to help treat heatstroke patients.
KAIMRC Research Highlight
Curbing
excessive antimicrobial use
November 20, 2019
High levels of antibiotic use in intensive care units across Saudi Arabia are exacerbating the antibiotic resistance problem.
International Research Highlight
Heartening findings
on an aortic surgery alternative
November 10, 2019
A minimally invasive alternative to heart surgery may offer better outcomes for treating a broader range of patients with aortic stenosis
International Research Highlight
Brains
of blind people adapt to sharpen sense of hearing
November 6, 2019
People with impaired vision have sharpened and nuanced sense of hearing.
KAIMRC Research Highlight
Bacteria in sperm
hinders fertility treatment
September 29, 2019
The presence of bacteria in semen reduces sperm quality with a knock-on effect on the success of IVF treatments
KAIMRC Research Highlight
Hungry for
heart health
September 15, 2019
Study in rats shows that hunger hormone helps preserve cardiac muscle cells and reduce heart attack damage
Feature
Train efficiently, not more
September 2, 2019
New research by the University of Glasgow suggests that 15 minutes of resistance training to the point of exhaustion three times a week can have the same health benefit as longer sets.
Feature
Putting Saudi
Arabia on the clinical trial map
August 26, 2019
KAIMRC’s new initiative stands to kickstart Saudi Arabia’s clinical trials economy, and find treatments for its people.
Feature
A year of biomedicine breakthroughs
July 28, 2019
The latest global innovations in the study of disease
International Research Highlight
Trimming the
stomach lining to fight fat
June 26, 2019
Research suggests that targeting the stomach lining may alleviate obesity.
KAIMRC Research Highlight
Cardiovascular
health: The power of machine learning
May 5, 2019
Machine learning accurately predicts the association between cardio-respiratory fitness and mortality.
KAIMRC Research Highlight
A vital
test for spinal muscular atrophy
April 7, 2019
A new chip-based sensor could detect and monitor spinal muscular atrophy faster and more cheaply than current methods.
International Research Highlight
Breakthrough
in bone marrow mapping
March 10, 2019
New 3D imaging shows how cells, tissues and proteins are distributed within bone marrow.
KAIMRC Research Highlight
Managing salivary gland damage
February 10, 2019
Drugs that stimulate saliva production are the most effective treatment option for managing damage caused by radiotherapy.
KAIMRC Research Highlight
A step closer to stem cell therapies for bone disease
February 10, 2019
Controlling a protein’s levels could guide stem cell differentiation for treatment of bone disease.
Feature
Healthy cells for healthy pregnancies
February 10, 2019
Activating a defence gene may reduce damage to cells involved in preeclampsia.
International Research Highlight
Injury prevention could stem opioid abus
February 10, 2019
People are 1.4 times more likely to become persistent users of opioid painkillers after suffering a traumatic injury.
International Research Highlight
A viral vector to fall back on
February 10, 2019
A highly efficient method for delivering genetic materials to the spinal cord may help in the treatment of an inherited muscle-wasting disease.
International Research Highlight
Improving stem cell donation
February 10, 2019
Stem cells could be collected from donors more safely by using a less invasive catheter.
International Research Highlight
Mining big data highlights importance of ‘junk DNA’
February 10, 2019
An exploratory bioinformatics investigation suggests ‘junk DNA’ plays a critical role in early embryonic development and species evolution.
KAIMRC Research Highlight
Combating MERS in camels with a single-dose vaccine
January 9, 2019
Anti-MERS vaccines for camels could be optimized by varying their viral and DNA content, and adjusting their administration.
International Research Highlight
Running sensors on patient
power
October 8, 2017
Sensors that generate electricity from the digestive tract may enable long-term monitoring of patient health.
KAIMRC Research Highlight
How
to tell bone marrow cells apart
September 28, 2017
Stem cells in the bone marrow express different molecular markers depending on whether they form bone or other tissue types.Abbr
KAIMRC Research Highlight
Nanocarriers
to light up and treat disease
September 6, 2017
Cancer and other diseases could be diagnosed, treated and monitored by multi-tasking biodegradable nanoparticles.
International Research Highlight
Going
with the flow in brain mapping
July 9, 2017
Recording changes in cerebral blood flow makes mapping active brain areas possible during visual stimulation.
KAIMRC Research Highlight
DNA
circles help predict stem cell therapy outcomes
June 24, 2017
DNA ringlets carried by immune cells could provide routine insight into the progress of stem-cell-based immunotherapy.
International Research Highlight
Beta
cell boost could replace insulin injections
February 28, 2017
A strategy for deriving beta cells from patients with type I diabetes could transform disease treatment.
KAIMRC Research Highlight
Smart
nanoparticles for cancer drug delivery
January 10, 2017
Magneto-fluorescent nanoparticles successfully deliver anti-cancer drug to breast cancer cells.
KAIMRC Research Highlight
Balancing CT dose
and image quality
December 25, 2016
New techniques to improve image quality in CT scans while reducing radiation dose may compromise quality at certain thresholds, potentially resulting in misdiagnosis.
KAIMRC Research Highlight
Light-responsive
shape-changing molecules
December 13, 2016
Nanowires that undergo reversible shape-changes in response to light could act as artificial tails to steer drugs around the body.
International Research Highlight
Making room for regeneration
November 1, 2016
Drugs that prevent the accumulation of scar-forming molecules could facilitate nerve repair in multiple sclerosis and other disorders.
International Research Highlight
A protective coat for
nanoparticles
August 14, 2016
Nanoparticles coated in a ‘don’t-eat-me’ protein can evade the body’s immune system, improving chances of successful drug delivery.
International Research Highlight
Silkworms’ sweet
success
August 14, 2016
Silkworms could point toward a new preventative therapy for type II diabetes.
KAIMRC Research Highlight
Recipes
for better drug delivery
August 14, 2016
Fine-tuned nanocarriers loaded with natural products may improve targeted drug delivery and enhance anti-cancer activity
KAIMRC Research Highlight
Manipulating metals
for medicine
August 11, 2016
A simple and robust synthetic method could help magnetic metal oxide nanoparticles reach their potential as a powerful clinical tool.
International Research Highlight
Drug-carrying nanoparticles
not reaching targets
August 11, 2016
The targeted delivery of drug-carrying nanoparticles to solid tumours needs improvement before it can be effective in humans.