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Credit: Devrimb / iStock / Getty Images Plus The science of aging and lifespan—often called geroscience—is surrounded by hype and skepticism. Mainstream coverage tends to focus on non-rigorous claims about supplements that extend lifespan in mice or on ideas so extreme they feel ethically and technically out of reach. Just in the past year, the idea of organ swapping and head transplants went from a fiction plotline to a topic being discussed by world leaders caught on a hot mic. Phrasing around “making science fiction real” is spreading through the precision medicine world, and for good reason—we’ve seen some incredible…

Patients with schizophrenia experience osteoporosis at rates far exceeding the general population, yet clinicians have lacked genetic explanations for this apparent relationship. Researchers headed by a team at Tianjin Medical University General Hospital have now uncovered striking molecular connections between schizophrenia and bone health, identifying 195 shared genetic loci that may explain why psychiatric patients have an elevated risk of osteoporosis. Feng Liu, PhD, and colleagues analyzed data from the largest genome-wide association studies (GWAS) of schizophrenia, and six different osteoporosis-related phenotypes (including osteoporosis and five bone mineral density (BMD)-related phenotypes), including more than half a million individuals. The results…

This postdoc studies how T cells and antigen presentation shape immune responses.Image credit:Zahra Nawaz, ©iStock.com, Artur PlawgoQ | Write a brief introduction to yourself including the lab you work in and your research background. I am Zahra Nawaz, a postdoctoral research fellow in Fikri Avci’s lab at Emory University School of Medicine. My research focuses on understanding immune mechanisms at the cellular and molecular levels, particularly T cell biology, antigen presentation, and glycoprotein-mediated immune signaling. Using both in vitro and in vivo models, I aim to translate basic immunology discoveries into potential therapeutic strategies.Q | How did you first get…

Cardiovascular diseases remain the leading cause of death worldwide. According to data from the World Health Organization, almost 20 million people died in 2022 from these conditions, accounting for about 32% of all deaths globally. Most of these diseases begin with the accumulation of fat in the arterial wall, gradually forming plaques that narrow and harden blood vessels—a process known as atherosclerosis. Until now, cholesterol has been considered the main risk factor. However, Spanish researchers have discovered a new mechanism linked to gut bacteria. There is growing evidence of the crucial role played by the gut microbiota in cardiovascular health.…

Maternal gut microbiome and immune health in mice influence the brain development of their offspring.Image credit:© iStock.com, elenabsDuring pregnancy, as a mother’s body nurtures new life, her health shapes the baby’s development. Shifts in maternal health can trickle to the fetus, leaving lasting effects on the baby’s long-term well-being.Indeed, maternal microbiome changes and immune activation are linked to the risk of neurodevelopmental disorders in children.1,2 However, scientists do not fully understand how such maternal stressors tweak immune signaling in developing brains to increase disease risk. Now, Harvard University neonatologist and neurobiologist Brian Kalish and his team employed spatial transcriptomics to…

Scientists at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital report that they have developed an unbiased, sensitive, and resource-efficient method to identify small, off-target sites that pose a safety risk when using CRISPR gene editing technology. The approach is entitled “High-throughput Analysis of Nuclease Genome-wide Effects by Sequencing Base Editors (CHANGE-seq-BE).” The team published its study “Sensitive and unbiased genome-wide profiling of base-editor-induced off-target activity” in Nature Biotechnology. CRISPR-Cas9 genome editing enzyme, computer illustration. [Artur Plawgo/Science Photo Library/Getty Images]While traditional genome editing technology uses CRISPR-Cas9 to cut a small segment of DNA from the genome, scientists have continued to develop more precise…

Researchers at work in an Eli Lilly laboratory. Lilly will partner with Nimbus Therapeutics to develop an oral treatment for obesity and other metabolic diseases, through a multi-year research collaboration and exclusive, worldwide license agreement that could generate more than $1.3 billion for the Boston artificial intelligence (AI)-based drug developer. [Eli Lilly] Eli Lilly will partner with Nimbus Therapeutics to develop an oral treatment for obesity and other metabolic diseases, through a multi-year research collaboration and exclusive, worldwide license agreement that could generate more than $1.3 billion for the Boston artificial intelligence (AI)-based drug developer. The collaboration, the second between…

High angle view of a woman taking a nap in her bed at night. Researchers at Stanford Medicine have developed an artificial intelligence (AI) model that can predict a person’s risk of developing dozens of diseases using data from a single night of sleep. The model, called SleepFM, analyzes polysomnography recordings and forecasts the likelihood of future conditions ranging from cardiovascular disease and cancer to neurodegenerative and mental disorders. The research, published in Nature Medicine, shows that sleep data could do more than simply diagnose sleep disorder and may one day be used to assess long-term health risks. “We record…

PEGASUS leverages multi-modal data streams to learn the rules of macrocyclic peptide permeability [1910] 1910 is on a mission to “make undruggable targets a thing of the past” by “turning every pharma company into an AI company,” says founder and CEO, Jen Asher, PhD. The Sam Altman–backed AI drug discovery biotech closed out 2025 by rebranding from “1910 Genetics” to simply “1910,” signaling the company’s broad commitment to multi-modality drug discovery. “2025 has been about us reintroducing ourselves to the world. ‘1910’ speaks to how we are bringing frontier AI research to bear in a modality agnostic manner,” Asher told GEN Edge. Recently in the Journal of Medicinal Chemistry, 1910 published PEGASUS, an AI model that learns the…

Founded in 2001 by Fei Mao and Vivien Chen, Biotium has become a mainstay of high-performance fluorescent reagents for the life sciences. By uniting chemists and biologists, the company continues to engineer reagents optimized for clarity, reproducibility, and emerging techniques.Lori Roberts, PhDDirector of BioscienceBiotiumIn this Innovation Spotlight, Lori Roberts, the director of bioscience at Biotium, discusses the past, present, and future of the company, highlighting their mission rooted in direct communication with researchers and scientific curiosity. Could you share the story behind Biotium’s founding and what inspired its mission to innovate fluorescence technology?Biotium was founded in the early 2000s, but…