On the Horizon: Scientific Research of 2018

As of this writing, 2018 is still in its infancy, but already there is some extremely compelling research underway that experts are predicting will make scientific headlines.

A blood test for cancer

As one of the most common and feared of major diseases, incipient cancer treatment has been limited by the lack of reliable tests to detect the disease in its earliest stages when it is most responsive to treatment. To date, diagnosis has been largely limited to patients who are far enough along in the progression of the disease to present with symptoms.

This is changing. In early 2018 scientists came closer to creating a blood test that can detect common kinds of cancers in patients who do not yet evidence symptoms. If the test can be further perfected, a blood-based cancer test could be implemented into routine screening measures, heading off the disease at the pass, so to speak.

Findings featured in the journal Science reported how researchers at Johns Hopkins Sidney Kimmel Cancer Center created a blood test capable of detecting eight common cancers: breast, colon, liver, pancreas, lung, esophagus, stomach, and ovary. Though the test showed success in detecting cancer at a 40% rate in Stage 1 cancer patients, this represents a breakthrough in further developments toward reliable tests that could definitively diagnose cancer early enough to save millions of lives. As one researcher described the breakthrough finding, “this is the first step in a thousand-mile journey.”

Ambitious brain mapping

It is widely accepted in the scientific community at large that the human brain is the most complex object in the known universe, leaving many researchers to feel that there is no challenge so daunting as that of fully understanding the workings of our most mysterious organ.

While it may not even be possible to fully understand the basis of human consciousness with today’s science, deeper understandings continue to emerge and by the end of 2018 science will have achieved a significant milestone in its study of the brain. Over the summer of 2017, the European Human Brain Project was redirected in a more generative direction. Rather than the premature and over-reaching plan to simulate a human brain (with its trillions of connections) on a computer, the project will instead map the brain’s structure between the billions of individual neurons (a much more realistic task).

Advances in HIV treatment

HIV has for the large part become a manageable disease with more than 30 antiretroviral (ARV) drugs on the market and multiple combinations of treatments available to allow infected people to hope for relatively normal life spans. The efficacy of the pills used to treat HIV is dependent on them being taken vigilantly according to doctors’ instructions, and many patients struggle to adhere to their prescribed regimens.

Researchers have been fast at work devising a form of drug delivery intended to overcome the problem of patient non-compliance. Several large studies are expected to be released in later 2018 detailing the findings of research that will determine whether injectable, long-lasting antiretroviral drugs administered once every four weeks perform as well as a daily regimen of pills. Thus far, primate studies have been highly promising, causing the scientific community to hold their breath about similar findings in human subjects.

At Lifecycle Biotechnologies, in our role of providing leading-edge tools and services to the life science industry, we’re committed to keeping abreast of the latest scientific discoveries and breakthroughs. In doing so, we aim to better understand and respond to the needs of the rapidly evolving industry and support our diverse customer population across multiple disciplinary specialties and market divisions.

If you’d like to see how our innovative tools and services can help your company scale for the research methodologies of the future, contact us today and see what we can do for you.