News
Longevity, biotech, and science-funding news.
2,040 dispatches in the archive18 September 2026
7 dispatchesA molecular map of the locus coeruleus, the brain region where tau protein begins accumulating decades before memory loss in Alzheimer's disease, reveals that the APOE4 risk gene alters how astrocytes function near its neurons
Spatial transcriptomics of the locus coeruleus shows that the APOE4 risk gene suppresses astrocyte activity in this region decades before Alzheimer's symptoms appear.
MoleculeMind announced on September 14 a paper in which QuantaMind simulated a PETase enzyme reaction in a 17,792-atom system
QuantaMind, a neural-network force field, simulated a full PETase enzyme reaction in a 17,792-atom system with quantum-level accuracy.
Cardiomyocyte spheres grown from stem cells raised mouse survival in the first two days after infarction from 36 to 92%, despite proving less mature than single cells
Cardiomyocyte spheres from iPSCs raised 2-day post-infarction survival in mice from 36% to 92%, with their immaturity—not maturity—driving the protective effect.
A 14-electrode-pair cuff resolved heart and larynx sectors of the human vagus nerve in a pilot procedure
A battery-free NFC cuff with 14 electrode pairs mapped cardiac and laryngeal sectors of the human vagus nerve in a first-in-human pilot, enabling selective stimulation.
bci-simultaneous-speech-gesture-decoding
A cortical implant decoded speech and gestures simultaneously in paralyzed patients by training models on joint rather than isolated data.
People with tuberous sclerosis complex, a genetic disease that chronically overactivates the mTOR pathway from birth, show blood levels of a tau-pathology marker approaching those of Alzheimer's disease
People with tuberous sclerosis complex show blood tau-pathology marker (p-tau217) levels statistically indistinguishable from Alzheimer's disease, implicating chronic mTOR overactivation.
A review of seven rare-disease diagnostic systems extracted a shared six-phase workflow: on 50 benchmark cases, it yielded 11 correct top-ranked diagnoses compared to five from the same GPT‑5 with a single prompt
A six-phase agentic workflow extracted from seven rare-disease AI systems outperformed single-prompt GPT-5, ranking the correct diagnosis first in 11 vs. 5 of 50 benchmark cases.
17 September 2026
16 dispatches
OpenAI Foundation Commits Over $125 Million to Medical AI Data, Including a Grant to Buy Failed Biotech Companies' Archives from Bankruptcy Auctions
OpenAI Foundation distributes $125M+ to open medical data projects, including rescuing failed biotech archives via bankruptcy auctions.
AI model built from routine clinical data helped physicians predict lung cancer control on immunotherapy more accurately
An AI model using nine pre-treatment clinical variables outperformed standard biomarkers in predicting lung cancer control on immunotherapy, and improved physician accuracy from 0.57 to 0.65.
In mice with a sharply reduced native cortex, human tissue occupied 91.9% of total cortical volume and integrated into neural pathways
Human cortical organoids transplanted into mice with reduced native cortex occupied 91.9% of cortical volume and integrated into motor and sensory pathways.
ProtScape preprint places all 18 withheld Parkinson's drug targets within the top 511
ProtScape, a context-specific protein interaction model, ranked all 18 withheld Parkinson's drug targets within the top 511—a 16-fold improvement over PINNACLE.
Preprint: a human neuron cell model traces tau from seeding to synaptic failure
A human iPSC-derived neuron model traces tau pathology from seeding through synaptic failure, enabling stage-specific compound screening.
Preprint: Guide RNA length changes which neighboring DNA bases a base editor modifies
A preprint finds that shorter guide RNAs can reduce neighboring-base edits while preserving intended base editing, with results varying by target and delivery method.
Mitchell McLennan described prenatal PCSK9 editing as a choice that future generations could inherit
Mitchell McLennan argues that prenatal PCSK9 editing could lower inherited LDL risk, making genome changes for future lineages an institutional and ethical choice.
Preprint links the P5 region in DNA used to produce rAAV to Rep and Cap gene fragments in a liver biopsy after Zolgensma treatment
A preprint found P5-linked Rep/Cap DNA fragments in a liver biopsy after Zolgensma, indicating a possible rAAV manufacturing impurity pathway.
Lund University Registers a Human Trial of Microelectrode Brain Stimulation
Lund University registered a 12-patient trial using temporary microelectrode clusters to map optimal deep brain stimulation targets in Parkinson's and essential tremor patients.
Preprint Identifies Two MRI Subtypes of Alzheimer's Disease with Different Patterns of Decline
A preprint using MRI and the SuStaIn algorithm on 1,396 participants identified two Alzheimer's subtypes—atrophy-first and lesion-first—with distinct rates of cognitive decline.
UK commission proposes staged approval for medical AI with post-deployment oversight
UK's National Commission recommends staged, lifecycle-based regulatory approval for medical AI, requiring post-deployment surveillance and site-level accountability.
A medical AI simulation used diagnostic consistency to select cases for autonomous handling
A diagnostic AI simulation used repeated-run agreement to route cases autonomously, achieving 98.9% accuracy among cases above its consistency threshold.
In a mouse model of Alzheimer’s disease, blocking one pathway for producing ceramides, a class of cellular lipids, improved learning, while blocking another increased amyloid burden
In an Alzheimer’s mouse model, nSMase inhibition improved learning and reduced amyloid burden, whereas SPT inhibition worsened plaque measures.
Paper2Agent turns a scientific paper, its code and its data into a validated AI agent that applies the paper’s method to new data. In a test using the AlphaGenome paper, it outperformed competing AI agents on accuracy and independently proposed a different candidate gene for a cholesterol-associated variant
Paper2Agent converts papers, code and data into validated AI agents that reproduce methods and help generate testable biological hypotheses.
Nearly a third of zebrafish, the benchmark species for spinal cord regeneration, remain paralyzed after injury. Scientists identified hoxb5a as the gene that determines whether a fish recovers
Scientists found that hoxb5a, a Hox family gene active in fibroblasts, determines whether zebrafish recover from complete spinal cord transection — knocking it out raised paralysis rates nearly fivefold.
HexemBio Has Raised $15.5 Million in Total for a Therapy That Temporarily Returns Aging Blood-Forming Stem Cells to a Lab-Made Replica of Their Embryonic Birthplace, Targeting a First-in-Human Trial in 2027
HexemBio has raised $15.5M to rejuvenate aging blood-forming stem cells using a synthetic yolk sac niche, targeting a first-in-human trial in 2027.
