A team led by La Trobe University has drawn inspiration from nature to develop a breakthrough sensor that can rapidly track tiny molecular changes in blood, paving the way to real-time, personalised medicine.

Groundbreaking research, led by teams at Trinity College Dublin and the FutureNeuro Research Ireland Centre, has pinpointed the mechanism linking some sports injuries to poor brain health in retired athletes. 

The research, published today in leading international journal Science Translational Medicine, has identified a breakdown in the blood-brain barrier (BBB) as the key link between repetitive head injuries (RHIs) and long-term brain health issues in this cohort. 

The BBB acts as a “security gate”, letting in essential nutrients while keeping harmful toxins and inflammatory cells out. But when “leaky” it cannot perform this security job properly and becomes associated with the cognitive decline and neurological damage seen in some former professional collision and combat sports athletes including rugby players and boxers.

For the first time the researchers have shown that in some retired athletes with a history of RHIs this gate remains leaky years after they have left the field.  

A new editorial published in JAMA Oncology warns that cancer care progress is under threat from a "trifecta" of challenges: proposed federal budget cuts, a surge in medical misinformation, and a critical gap in public health literacy.