50 years after it was first proposed, gene therapy - the modification of DNA to treat disease - has gone from science fiction to clinical reality. However, as prices for gene therapies are released, widespread sticker-shock is raising questions about affordability and fair pricing.

Astronauts survive in space by utilizing protective and augmentative suits. Space suits can act as self-contained and self-cleaning environments, that protect and help the astronaut from the harshness of space. Scaling analogous suits down to the nanoscale allows for simple organisms to survive and even thrive in normally toxic environments. These augmented organisms are termed “bionic lifeforms” as they combine the promise of nanomaterials with life.

Around 700,000 lives are lost worldwide due to antimicrobial-resistant infections every year. Without viable antibiotic treatment options we are likely to return to a relative dark age of medicine – a time when common infections or injuries could kill, and common surgeries and immunosuppressive therapies may become unfeasible.

For years scientists have been studying E. coli as historians would an ancient tome. Biologists, biochemists, and geneticists have dissected, poked, and prodded E. coli until it gave up its secrets: the basic principles of cellular life. Synthetic biologists, on the other hand, look at E. coli and think to themselves: “let’s make a computer”.

While forming a key component of the recent Ebola response, much debate surrounds how clinical trials testing new experimental treatments for the disease should be designed.

One in six of the world’s population live in rural areas, and suffer from poor health - especially chronic diseases caused by infection with parasitic diseases now known as ‘Neglected Tropical Diseases’ or NTDs.

For maternal infections such as group B streptococcus and early infant infections such as respiratory syncytial virus infection, there is now hope for the development of successful vaccines, some based on adjuvants which are designed to boost weak immune response.

Research based at Imperial College in the area of Popeye domain containing aims to provide a novel insight into the ageing process and potentially provide new therapeutic opportunities to help the ageing heart.

Effectively launching a new biopharma product, however, has never been more challenging. In addition to a litany of regulatory issues, companies face high stakeholder expectations, numerous market-access hurdles, and stiff competition, all of which are made more formidable by the business realities of the industry.

The majority of antibiotic use is in the community, however the impact of antibiotic resistance is felt most acutely when treating patients in healthcare settings.