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Crohn’s disease, a form of inflammatory bowel disease, often affects the intestines (artist’s illustration).Credit: Sebastian Kaulitzki/Science Photo Library
Hope for inflammatory bowel disease
Several recent studies offer insights into the murky and complex causes of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD).
• Changes in the activity of a gene called ETS2 that is important to immune activity could contribute to some cases of the disease by promoting inflammation.
• Some people with IBD make antibodies that disable a protein called IL-10, which has anti-inflammatory effects in the gut.
• An analysis of how populations of gut bacteria adapt to living in inflamed tissue could lead to ways to predict how bad a case of IBD might get, monitor its progression and identify which therapies might help.
“Not every inflammatory bowel disease patient who walks in the door is the same,” says immunologist David Artis. “If we can map that difference to some extent, I think we’re going to be able to better treat those people.”
References: Nature paper, The New England Journal of Medicine paper & Cell Host & Microbe paper
Antiviral disappoints against monkeypox
The drug tecovirimat did not accelerate healing for people in a clinical trial that looked at a concerning strain of the monkeypox virus. The strain, called clade I, has been spreading across Africa and prompted the World Health Organization to declare a public health emergency of international concern on 14 August — its highest level of alarm.
How we lost control of mpox
Science investigates the early history of mpox, the disease caused by the monkeypox virus. It has now infected nearly 100,000 people in 116 countries, particularly men who have sex with men. In 2017, infectious disease specialist Dimie Ogoina was the first to suspect that a series of mysterious cases in Nigeria indicated an emerging sexually transmitted infection (STI), but his work was discouraged by some in the scientific community. Stigma around STIs and homosexuality — Nigeria criminalizes same-sex sexual activity — and indifference from the Global North seem to be factors that helped the outbreak to grow.
Features & opinion
Cash for catching scientific errors
The Estimating the Reliability and Robustness of Research (ERROR) project offers researchers a bounty for spotting mistakes in published papers — a strategy borrowed from the software industry. Psychologist Malte Elson and his colleagues launched the project after deciding that the system we rely on now — in which scientists stumble upon errors in others’ research when trying to replicate it — was too haphazard. ERROR’s first review is out, and it offers a promising start: the authors went above and beyond to help spot mistakes in their own work. But few authors have responded to requests to review their papers.
Safeguard research against earthquakes
Earlier this month, a warning from Japan’s Meteorological Agency of the risk of a ‘megaquake’ was a timely reminder to scientists to protect their research. Organic chemist Masahiro Terada lost ten years’ worth of synthesized compounds to the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake — he now stores reagents in cushioned mesh containers. One of the main concerns for neurobiologist Kentaro Noma is the more than 600 unique strains of nematode worm (Caenorhabditis elegans) that he has produced over the course of his career. He maintains two backup collections — one in a freezer with a petrol-powered generator and another stored in liquid nitrogen in case fuel supplies run out.
Where I work
Natalia Cisternas served as an observer for the State of Chile on the 2024 Microbes in Oxygen Minimum Zones expedition. She is now a geophysicist at the University of Valparaíso and is based in Concepción.Credit: Alex Ingle/Schmidt Ocean Institute
A 37-day voyage to document microbes in a low-oxygen region of the Pacific Ocean changed the career trajectory of geophysicist Natalia Cisternas. “I fell in love with fieldwork, and now I want to pursue a career as a marine technician,” she says. “Seeing how team members from different parts of the world worked together and supported one another was a magical experience. It showed me a beautiful way to do science.” (Nature | 3 min read)
