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Amanda Smith, PhDCEO, Pencil Biosciences Amanda Smith, PhD, is the CEO of Pencil Biosciences, an early-stage biotechnology company reimagining gene editing by building novel editors from the ground up. Prior to leading Pencil, she held scientific, intellectual property, and innovation roles across academia, pharma, and biotech, including positions at a U.K.-based gene editing company, Horizon Discovery (now part of Revvity), and Sanofi. Today, she is focused on creating safer, more precise, and versatile gene editing tools that have the potential to expand the reach of genetic medicine. Smith recently spoke with Damian Doherty, Editor in Chief of Inside Precision Medicine…

UK Biobank study connects gray matter differences with sleep disturbance and mental health during post-menopause. For decades, the conversation around menopause has been stuck in a loop of hot flashes and night sweats – a narrative of physical discomfort that often misses the deeper biological transformation going on in women. But a new analysis from the University of Cambridge, leveraging the massive scale of the UK Biobank, suggests the story is significantly more “neurologically textured” than we’ve given it credit for. It turns out that post-menopausal women show distinct differences in gray matter volume within the very regions responsible for…

GLP-1 peptide agonists behind blockbuster weight-loss drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy have been traditionally produced by highly wasteful methods of chemical synthesis. This is now changing, according to Fernando Albericio, PhD, a professor at the University of KwaZulu-Natal. According to Albericio, companies are moving away from harmful solvents, such as dimethylformamide, which has been restricted in Europe, toward greener alternatives. “[Within manufacturing], it’s important to be more efficient, and use less and greener reagents and solvents,” he explains. Albericio will be speaking about sustainability in GLP-1 peptide agonist production at the Bioprocessing Summit Europe in Barcelona next month. Many peptide…

In the realm of women’s health, few supplements have garnered as much scientific validation and clinical interest as fish oil. Often hailed as a foundational pillar of nutrition, the question of what fish oil does for women extends far beyond simple heart health. From modulating the inflammatory pathways that affect menstrual comfort to providing the essential building blocks for fetal neurological development, Omega-3 fatty acids are indispensable to the female biological blueprint. As women navigate various life stages—from the hormonal fluctuations of puberty and the reproductive years to the physiological shifts of menopause—their nutritional requirements evolve. Fish oil, specifically rich…

Credit: iStock/agsandrew Researchers based in China have created an artificial intelligence (AI)-based tool that combines a mixture of patient information, including genetic data, clinical symptoms, and doctors’ notes, to help diagnose rare diseases more quickly and accurately. “Rare diseases—defined as conditions affecting fewer than 1 in 2,000 people—collectively impact more than 300 million people worldwide, with more than 7,000 distinct disorders identified to date, approximately 80% of which are genetic in origin,” the investigators wrote in the paper describing their work in Nature. “Despite their cumulative burden, rare diseases remain notoriously difficult to diagnose due to their clinical heterogeneity, low individual…

In the landscape of men’s health, few supplements have maintained as much staying power as fish oil. While many fitness trends and “superfoods” cycle in and out of fashion, the golden capsules of Omega-3 fatty acids remain a staple in the gym bags and medicine cabinets of millions. But beyond the vague promise of “heart health,” many men are left wondering: what does fish oil do for men specifically? Whether you are a high-performance athlete looking to shave seconds off your recovery time, a professional navigating the cognitive demands of a high-stress career, or simply a man looking to maintain…

In celebration of the 10th anniversary of the publication of How Not to Die, a documentary about my life and work.

Credit: Maxger / iStock / Getty Images Plus An artificial intelligence tool can identify potential complications after bone marrow or stem cell transplantation before symptoms arise, which could allow for more accurate monitoring of patients and pre-emptive treatment. The BIOPREVENT algorithm combines machine learning with immune biomarkers and clinical data to predict chronic graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) or death after hematopoietic cell transplantation (HCT). The tool, described in the Journal of Clinical Investigation, is currently designed for risk assessment and clinical research. But ultimately, it could allow doctors to receive real-time, personalized risk estimates of post-transplant outcomes based on clinical and…

The single-cell genomics industry does not stop advancing, with a steady stream of new companies, kits, acquisitions, and more. One new company, ArgenTag, was founded in Argentina during the COVID-19 pandemic for two reasons: the lack of access to single-cell instruments in South America and the conviction that long-read technologies would gain traction in transcriptomics. Today, the company announced that it has joined the PacBio Compatible Partner Program. The co-marketing agreement confirms the compatibility of ArgenTag’s Single-Cell RNA Library Kit with PacBio’s Kinnex RNA kits, enabling researchers to achieve long-read isoform sequencing at single-cell resolution. The partnership eliminates the requirement…

Wellbeing International Foundation backs cell-free regenerative therapy aimed at restoring the body’s repair language. For years, regenerative medicine was obsessed with the hardware-store approach – the idea that if a part is worn out, you simply swap it. New cells for old tissue, fresh grafts for failing organs. It seemed an easy win, but there was a persistent, slightly awkward truth that kept popping up in clinical trials: the transplanted cells often didn’t survive more than a few days, but the patients kept getting better. It’s a quiet subversion of everything we thought we knew, but perhaps it suggests the…