Decoding Bio

This past week in bio! > Stem cells reverse woman’s diabetes – a world first Smriti Felicitas Mallapaty > First NIH-wide exposure research coordinating center launched > Can we bring drug discovery back to the future?Mihir Trivedi > Global effort to map the human brain releases first data > Multivariate genomic analysis of 5 million people elucidates the genetic architecture of shared components of the metabolic syndrome Sanghyeon Park et al. > Pervasive mislocalization of pathogenic coding variants underlying human disorders > DNA methylation: durability and what’s unique about the brain Eric Vallabh Minikel Read BioByte 092 here: https://lnkd.in/gWSQFvm4

This past week in bio! > Bessemer’s Healthcare AI Thesis Morgan Cheatham > About quantum biology > The revolution in high-throughput proteomics and AI Eric Topol, MD > The prion principle and Alzheimer’s disease > Oligodendroglial fatty acid metabolism as a central nervous system energy reserve > Benchmarking algorithms for single-cell multiomics prediction and integration > Deciphering the impact of genomic variation on function > A foundation model for clinician-centered drug repurposing Kexin Huang et al. Read BioByte 091 here: https://lnkd.in/gsVXvi8g

This week in bio! > FDA Authorizes First Over-the-Counter Hearing Aid Software > Can LLMs Generate Novel Research Ideas? Chenglei S. Yang Diyi Tatsunori Hashimoto > Generative ML in chemistry is bottlenecked by synthesis Abhishaike Mahajan > Where did viruses come from? AlphaFold and other AIs are finding answers Ewen Callaway > Language agents achieve superhuman synthesis of scientific knowledge Michael Skarlinski, PhD et al. > Defensins identified through molecular de-extinction Adryan Franklin Luiz Ferreira et al. > Targeted protein localization via protein transport coupling Christine Ng Aofei Liu Bianxiao Cui Steven Banik > Independent Directors of 23andMe Resign from Board > Genentech, a biotech with a storied past, confronts new turbulence in the present Jonathan Wosen, PhD Read BioByte 090 here: https://lnkd.in/gTMt5-dD

This past week in bio! > AlphaProteo generates novel proteins for biology and health research?Vinicius Zambaldi et al. > Using AI and brain implants, researchers reconnect ALS patient with their lost voice Conor Hale > The Startling History Behind Merck’s New Cancer Blockbuster David Shaywitz, MD, PhD > How Machines Learned to Discover Drugs Dhruv Khullar > Restoring hippocampus glucose metabolism rescues cognitions across Alzheimer’s disease pathologies Paras Minhas et al. > Cranioencephalic functional lymphoid units in glioblastoma Celia Dobersalske et al. Read BioByte 088 here: https://lnkd.in/gQCKTXDu

This past week in bio! > Nature-rich nations push for biodata payout Lee Harris > Recursion nears ‘moment of truth’ with first key data, kicking off 18-month flurry of readouts Andrew Dunn Max Gelman > Predicting New Small Molecule Binders Derek Lowe > Latent Diffusion for Conditional Generation of Molecules Benjamin Kaufman et al. > Multiplexed single-cell characterization of alternative polyadenylation regulators Madeline Kowalski et al. > Spatially clustered type I interferon responses at injury borderzones Van Ninh et al. > Graph Artificial Intelligence in Medicine Ruth Dolly Johnson et al. Read BioByte 087 here: https://lnkd.in/gXF_jKuS

PART IV of our series summarizing some interesting points from our 2024 Snapshot. This week we cover developments (and challenges) in cell-based medicine. Having taken impressive strides in such a relatively short period of time, cell therapy has garnered significant interest and investment over the last two decades, yet also its fair share of criticism as approved drugs make it to market. Despite continued advances, there is speculation that early expectations may have been set too high, though we suggest these challenges are likely just natural growing pains of a dynamic space. See some highlights below of the recent developments covered in our Snapshot: · Researchers at Stanford and the Parker Institute demonstrate meaningful advances in encoding Boolean logic into CAR-T cell receptors, bolstering optimism for improved performance and precision-targeting, as well as expansion into solid state tumors treatment · A study from Stanford University engineered microbes on the skin to trigger a cancer-killing response from T-cells, suggesting a promising alternative to the existing formidable ex-vivo engineering process? · Earlier this year, the FDA issued a requirement for a classwide box warning for CAR-T products to include the potential for T-cell malignancies, though critics of the new policy claim benefits outweigh risks, and empirical data show comparatively low rates of this side effect against some other treatments Read the full Decoding Bio 2024 Snapshot here: https://lnkd.in/ga7G-i4f

This past week in bio! > AI drug developers Recursion, Exscientia to merge Allison DeAngelis > Two Brothers, a Big Biotech Bet and an $8 Billion Payout Peter Rudegeair > Microglia rescue neurons from aggregate-induced neuronal dysfunction and death through tunneling nanotubes Hannah Scheiblich et al. > Direct observation of translational activation by a ribonucleoprotein granule Ruoyu Chen et al. > Brain responsive music enables non-invasive, targeted, and unobtrusive neurostimulation?Boubker Zaaimi et al. > Data science in pharmaceutical R&D: the DISRUPT-DS industry roundtable Najat Khan, PhD et al. Read BioByte 086 here: https://lnkd.in/gvUU7eie

PART III of our series summarizing some interesting points from our 2024 Snapshot. This week we cover developments in immunology. In recent years, scientists have begun unearthing the underlying complexities and interplay of immune cells across a myriad of disease contexts. Spanning from oncology to neuropsychiatry, progress in this area has vast implications for the genesis of more effective immunotherapies as well as novel interventions in previously intractable conditions. Enabling this endeavor are groundbreaking developments in both bio and tech, including spatial omics, AI/ML, single-cell RNA sequencing, and CRISPR Cas-9. Below are a few of the major highlights we cover in the Snapshot: ·?A collaboration between the Broad Institute, TIGL, and Harvard-MIT HST unveils the Immune Dictionary which chronicles the single-cell transcriptomic profiles of various immune cell types in response to a set of cytokines in mice, a significant advancement for interpreting transcriptomic data within the context of immune responses ·?Researchers at McGill review the combined technological advances in AI and spatial omics, evaluating their effectiveness in decoding the tumor microenvironment and implications for the development of personalized medicine in cancer treatment ·?A study out of the UCLA David Geffen School of Medicine deciphers the contributing role of an astrocyte subpopulation in perseverance behavior observed in neurocognitive disorders, further demystifying glial cells and their propensity for impact outside of their known immune functions Read the full Decoding Bio 2024 Snapshot here: https://lnkd.in/g2y9jRuy

And we're back for this week in bio! > We don’t know how antidepressants work Andy Extance > 1H 2024 Venture Healthcare Report?Jonathan Norris Steve Agular Chris Moniz Matthew Griffiths Brandon Clark Evan Chen Danielle Klinger > Lessons from Monte Carlo Models: Why Drug Development is Hard David Grainger > Single-cell multi region dissection of Alzheimer’s disease Hansruedi Mathys et al. > The interplay between diet and the gut microbiome: implications for health and disease Fiona Ross et al. > Inhibition of IL-11 signaling extends mammalian health’s-an and lifespan Anissa Widjaja et al. Read BioByte 085 here: https://lnkd.in/gkzJRxWk

PART II of our series summarizing some interesting points from our 2024 Snapshot. This week we cover biosecurity. There is an ever growing need to be prepared for bio-related threats, particularly with continued advances in synthetic biology and improvements in the accessibility and quality of LLMs. Many groups across the country are working to detect, delay, and defend against these threats. See some of the highlights of their work below. ·??????Gryphon Scientific shed light on the largely unregulated, dual-use pathogen research occurring in the private sector, suggesting the need for additional oversight to prevent misuse ·??????Groups from UIC and WashU St. Louis have produced devices that can detect low concentrations of viral particles in real time, significantly improving detection capabilities for future pandemics ·??????A large academic/industrial collaboration developed the Weapons of Mass Destruction Proxy (WMDP) benchmark to determine the risk posed by LLMs, as well as Contrastive Unlearn Tuning (CUT) to restrict access to certain information, mitigating those risks Read the full Decoding Bio 2024 Snapshot here: https://lnkd.in/giWkHi-2