Fresh Science

Whooping cough is fighting back. Researchers discover how whooping cough is evolving paving the way to a new vaccine. Whooping cough strains are adapting to better infect humans, a team of Sydney researchers has found. The scientists, led by microbiologist Dr Laurence Luu of the University of New South Wales, may have solved the mystery…

Nicole Carnt – UNSW Eye infections due to contact lenses are in part genetically determined, research reveals. The discovery explains why some contact lens wearers do everything wrong and never have a problem, while other more careful people end up in hospital with an eye infection. “We used to think it was only a matter…

Important parts of our DNA don’t get easily repaired after being exposed to sunlight, cancer scientists at the University of New South Wales (UNSW) have shown. The findings, published in Nature, help researchers to understand how and why mutations accumulate in certain parts of our DNA. Dr Rebecca Poulos and colleagues studied mutations in the…

Molecules that are important for a developing fetus have also been shown to drive the spread of ovarian cancer in adult women, according to Sydney researchers. In Australia, one woman will die from ovarian cancer every 10 hours. The survival rate for women with the disease has remained at 30 per cent for years, as…