Malignant primary brain tumors are the leading cause of cancer deaths among children and young adults with few therapeutic options. A preclinical study in Pharmaceutics shows that combining focused ultrasound with microbubbles opened the blood brain barrier to deliver immunotherapy into the brain of a large animal model.

A multidisciplinary group of NIH-funded scientists have successfully captured real-time, high-resolution images of the developing mouse placenta during the course of pregnancy. Their technique, which combines a surgically implanted window with a next-generation imaging system, provides key insight into placental development under both healthy and pathological conditions.

Researchers have developed sugar-coated gold nanoparticles to both image and destroy biofilms. In a study, they used the nanoparticles on the teeth and wounded skin of rats and mice, eliminating biofilms in as little as one minute and outperforming common antimicrobials.

NIH announced finalists in its competition to accelerate development of diagnostic and monitoring technologies to improve fetal health outcomes in low-resource settings.

A collaborative team of NIH-funded researchers is developing a way to obtain DNA shed from brain tumors using focused ultrasound. Their first-in-human study could be an important step towards improving the way brain tumors are diagnosed.