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Dear GEN Readers: As we close 2025, I along with the entire GEN team want to wish all of you a happy, healthy, and successful new year. Thank you for your continuing interest in GEN’s online and print efforts to bring you critical news and information on the wide range of technologies that drive biotech R&D, biomanufacturing, and commercialization. That’s been the ongoing goal since GEN first began publishing with the January/February issue in 1981. As biotech proceeds to evolve and grow on a global scale, you can be sure that GEN will increase its coverage of bioindustry events and…
They are the cornerstone of the Mediterranean diet, a savory garnish in martinis, and a divisive topping on pizza. But when you reach for that jar in the fridge, you might find yourself asking: Are olives healthy? The short answer is a resounding yes, but with a salty caveat. Olives are technically a stone fruit (drupe), related to peaches and cherries, yet they are treated as a savory vegetable in the culinary world. For thousands of years, they have been celebrated not just for their rich flavor but for their medicinal properties. From heart-healthy fats to powerful antioxidants, the benefits…
Enjoy this roundup of some of the best neuroscience stories of 2025. They delve into psychedelics, the benefits of exercise for brain health, and more.Image credit:©iStock.com, nopparitThe brain is at the center of who people are, shaping how they think, feel, and move through the world. This year, the top neuroscience stories covered topics ranging from how microplastics build up in the brain to how psychedelics affect it. Catch up on a few standout neuroscience stories before we head into 2026.Microplastics are an ever-present part of people’s lives, whether in the air they breathe or in the food they eat.…
Innovation meets economic caution as life sciences leaders prepare for 2026, balancing investment and regulation in a shifting global market. Step inside a life sciences boardroom heading into 2026, and you will hear inconsistencies. Leaders feel good about their own companies, but far less sure about everything else. Confidence, yes. Comfort, no. According to Deloitte’s latest Life Sciences Outlook Survey, more than three in four biopharma and medtech executives say they are confident in their organizations’ financial prospects for the year ahead. Yet only 41% share that confidence when asked about the global economy. That gap is telling – not…
This postdoc studies how metabolic stress is sensed and relayed across organs to regulate growth and developmental timing.Image credit:Angelique di Domenico, ©iStock.com, aleksandarvelasevicQ | Write a brief introduction to yourself including the lab you work in and your research background. My name is Madhulika Rai. I am a developmental metabolism scientist with a strong interest in science communication, and I am also a passionate dancer. I moved to the United States to pursue postdoctoral research in Jason Tennessen’s laboratory at Indiana University Bloomington, where I investigated how metabolic processes influence organismal health and disease. Using Drosophila melanogaster as a model…
Data-rich heart scans are fused with AI to spot drug opportunities faster, offering clearer path for future of cardiovascular innovation. For years, researchers have relied on vast biological databases to understand how genes, diseases and drugs connect. These databases are powerful but abstract. In heart disease, that missing detail matters; two patients can share a diagnosis while their hearts look and function very differently. A new AI-driven tool called CardioKG aims to close that gap. Developed by researchers at the MRC Laboratory of Medical Sciences and published in Nature, the platform brings detailed heart imaging into what’s known as a…
Autophagy-enhancing drug candidate enters Phase 1 trial as longevity focused biotech eyes Alzheimer’s as a potential first indication. Longevity biotech Retro Biosciences has achieved its goal of becoming a clinical-stage company in 2025, after dosing the first participant in a clinical trial of its autophagy-focused drug candidate. The San Francisco–based company enters the clinic following reports earlier this year that it was preparing to raise as much as $1 billion to support its next phase of growth, having already raised a $180 million seed round funded exclusively by OpenAI boss Sam Altman. Retro’s clinical drug candidate, RTR242, is a small-molecule…
Insilico Medicine IPO signals that AI‑native drug discovery is moving from promise to public markets with a central longevity narrative. Insilico Medicine (3696.HK) has successfully listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange today, becoming the first AI-driven biotech company to go public on the Main Board under HKEX Chapter 8.05 listing rules. This initial public offering (IPO) raised a total of HK$2.277b ($293m), marking the largest biotech IPO in Hong Kong this year by funds raised [1]. Alex Zhavoronkov, PhD, Founder, CEO & CBO of Insilico Medicine. “With this massively oversubscribed listing we set several world firsts, further confirming Insilico’s…
Walk into a standard grocery store, and you see rows of white and brown cartons filled with chicken eggs. But lately, sitting quietly next to them—or perhaps found in the gourmet section or your local farmer’s market—are tiny, speckled gems: quail eggs. Once considered a delicacy reserved for sushi bars and high-end French cuisine, quail eggs are gaining traction as a daily superfood. Health enthusiasts claim they are packed with more vitamins, are safer for allergy sufferers, and taste creamier than the standard chicken egg. But are these claims true, or is it just hype wrapped in a cute, spotted…
Scientists made advances in various aspects of molecular biology.Image credit:© iStock.com, D3DamonFrom the molecules that drive fundamental cellular processes to the signals that influence disease, the field of molecular biology continues to reshape how scientists understand life. Read the top molecular biology stories of this year that delve into how plastic additives influence biology, how venoms affect blood vessels, and more. Plastic is everywhere in modern life, from packaging and clothing to electronics and medicine, because it is cheap, durable, and versatile. However, some additives in plastics, such as benzyl butyl phthalate (BBP), which makes plastic products flexible and durable,…