News in a nutshell

This week's news includes the new use for naturally produced exosomes in drug delivery, a look at the current state of science in Japan, a novel early-stage marker for lung cancer, a new proposed ban for GE alfalfa, vibrations that lessen pain, and the discovery of a giant, hop-less rabbit.Exosome-driven drug delivery Vesicles secreted by the body's own cells could be used to effectively transport drugs to hard-to-reach places, such as the brain. In a study from __Nature Biotechnology__, researchers were able to harvest exosomes (vesicles secreted by a variety of cells to transport proteins in and out of cells) from mice, target them to brain cells by fusing proteins that bind to brain-cell receptors, and pack them with small interfering RNA molecules to silence BACE1, which plays a role in the formation of the myelin sheaths that are hallmarks of Alzheimer's diease. This proof-of-concept study suggests that exosomes...