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Comparing the Accuracy of ChatGPT-4o, DeepSeek-V3, and Gemini 2.5 Flash in Answering Frequently Asked Questions About Systemic Lupus Erythematosus: Quantitative Study

Background: Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is a complex, fluctuating disease, creating a continuous need for reliable patient information. A prior study concluded that patients with SLE often turn to the internet, including artificial intelligence (AI) chatbots, for information regarding SLE. The rise of AI chatbots as a primary information source presents a critical challenge regarding the accuracy of the information they provide. Objective: This study aimed to evaluate the performance of the latest generation of AI chatbots (ChatGPT-4o, DeepSeek-V3, and Gemini 2.5 Flash) in answering frequently asked questions about SLE. Methods: Twenty-two frequently asked questions about SLE in Bahasa Indonesia (the Indonesian language) were posed to each chatbot. Responses were independently and blindly evaluated for accuracy by 5 clinical immunologists using a 4-point Likert scale. Readability was assessed using the Flesch reading ease score formula. Statistical comparisons for accuracy and readability were performed using repeated-measures ANOVA or the Friedman test, followed by the Bonferroni test for pairwise comparisons. The Spearman ρ was used to evaluate correlations among accuracy, readability, and word count. Results: Gemini 2.5 Flash demonstrated the highest accuracy, with a mean score of 1.25 (SD 0.53), significantly outperforming ChatGPT-4o (mean 1.71, SD 0.61; <.001). Gemini 2.5 Flash significantly outperformed ChatGPT-4o in 2 evaluated domains. The interreliability analysis revealed a statistically significant level of agreement among the 5 evaluators across all responses (Kendall =0.389; <.001). Readability for all 3 chatbots was low (median Flesch reading ease score 42.22‐46.66). Gemini 2.5 Flash produced the longest responses (8509 total words), followed by DeepSeek-V3 (5410 words) and ChatGPT-4o (3632 words). A significant negative correlation was found between word count and lower accuracy (ρ=−0.401; =.001). Conclusions: Our study found that ChatGPT-4o, DeepSeek-V3, and Gemini 2.5 Flash provided overall satisfactory responses to SLE-related questions. The highest accuracy was demonstrated by Gemini 2.5 Flash; however, the absolute differences in scores among the 3 AI chatbots were relatively small. All 3 AI chatbots demonstrated low readability, which may limit accessibility for patient use. This finding highlights a critical “blind spot” in which clinical accuracy, as rated by experts, does not equate to patient accessibility. Thus, further research is required to develop more comprehensive evaluation frameworks incorporating safety, factuality, and calibration of AI chatbots across different medical fields and topics.
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TARGA Imager Enables High-Resolution Imaging of Neurodevelopmental Models

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Neurodevelopment in schizophrenia poses major challenges for experimental study due at least in part to the brain’s genetic complexity, cellular diversity, and limitations in accessing living human tissue. To overcome such barriers, researchers often use complementary human stem cell–derived models: adherent cortical organoids and Neurogenin-2 (NGN2) induced neurons. Adherent cortical organoids form three-dimensional cultures containing diverse cortical neuron types, enabling analysis of network development and long-term maturation over months.1 In contrast, NGN2 neurons generate rapid, two-dimensional, homogeneous populations of excitatory neurons that display robust activity within weeks, making them well suited for scalable, functional assays, and high-throughput screening.2

With the added insight that stem cell models offer into the neural development of the schizophrenic brain, the quantification of patient-derived neurons’ collective function is a priority.3 At Columbia University’s Mortimer B. Zuckerman Mind Brain and Behavior Institute, researchers use NGN2 neurons, yielding reproducible populations of excitatory cortical neurons that scale reliably across experiments.

Calcium imaging provides a powerful functional readout in these NGN2 neuron networks. When a neuron fires an action potential, voltage-gated calcium channels open and intracellular calcium rises sharply.4 Fluorescence calcium indicators convert transient, ionic changes into fluorescence emission that can be quantitatively detected via light microscopy across thousands of cells simultaneously. Coupling calcium-sensitive reporters with high-speed optical microscopy enables noninvasive, population-level measurement of neural activity, synchrony, and network dynamics. Interpreting these rich image sequences requires sophisticated theoretical and numerical approaches.5

Building on the ability to measure neural activity with calcium imaging at scale, Lumencor’s TARGA Imager represents a transformative step in the development of optical imaging hardware for the study of neurodevelopmental conditions such as schizophrenia. It is well suited to workflows where NGN2-neuron cultures are studied across multiple conditions in parallel (Figure 1). In these contexts, TARGA delivers calcium fluorescence images over millimeter-scale fields of view within standard 96-well plates, entire well areas, while maintaining high-speed, faster-than video rate imaging with precision resolution.

Lumencor NGN2-neurons calcium imaging workflow
Figure 1. TARGA implementation for NGN2-neurons calcium imaging workflow

These capabilities allow researchers to observe chemical communications across large neuronal networks rather than isolated cells in real time. Images can be acquired at frequencies up to 100 Hz, enabling capture of fast calcium transients of collective neuronal dynamics. Rapid switching of multicolor excitation light supports multiplexed fluorescence dyes, linking functional activity with cellular structure and organization.

Overall, TARGA achieves high spatial, temporal, and spectral resolution simultaneously with precise, automated opto-mechanical architecture. These data are well matched to modern image analysis and AI algorithms, generating robust fluorescence traces from complex neuronal populations (Figure 2). In combination, these features make the TARGA Imager a revelatory neuroscience tool, uniquely enabling visualization of emergent collective behavior at millimeter scale with exceptional resolution. Such integrated performance accelerates discovery by bridging cellular mechanisms and systems-level phenotypes relevant to schizophrenia pathophysiology and therapeutic screening. By uniting scale, speed, and precision in a single optical platform, TARGA empowers researchers to probe experimental neuroscience and strengthens translational studies of complex psychiatric disease at population scale.

NGN2-neurons calcium imaging workflow
Figure 1. TARGA implementation for NGN2-neurons calcium imaging workflow

 

References

  1. Van der Kroeg et al. Human adherent cortical organoids in a multiwell format. eLife. 2024. 13:e98340.
  2. Shan et al. Fully defined NGN2 neuron protocol reveals diverse signatures of neuronal maturation. Cell Reports Methods. 2024. 4:100858.
  3. Rao et al. Aberrant pace of cortical neuron development in brain organoids from patients with 22q11.2 deletion syndrome‑associated schizophrenia. Nature Communications. 2025. 16:6986.
  4. Zhang et al. Fast and sensitive GCaMP calcium indicators for imaging neural populations. Nature. 2023. 615:884–891.
  5. Pasarkar et al. maskNMF: A denoise‑sparsen‑detect approach for extracting neural signals from dense imaging data. bioRxiv. 2023. 2023.09.14.557777.

 

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To learn more, visit: lumencor.com or contact our team at: info@lumencor.com.

The post TARGA Imager Enables High-Resolution Imaging of Neurodevelopmental Models appeared first on Inside Precision Medicine.

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360° Video-Based Virtual Reality for Preparing Medical Students for Body Donor Dissection: Randomized Controlled Trial

Background: Body donor dissection is fundamental to medical education but often induces anxiety and emotional distress in students, potentially impacting learning outcomes and well-being. Traditional preparation methods emphasize technical and procedural elements while inadequately addressing students’ emotional challenges. Recent advances in educational technology, particularly 360° video-based virtual reality (VR), may enhance students’ emotional readiness by providing immersive previews of dissection environments. However, the application of this technology specifically for emotional preparation for body donor dissection remains largely unexplored. Objective: This study aimed to develop and evaluate a 360° video-based VR application designed to enhance medical students’ emotional preparedness for their first body donor dissection experience. Methods: A randomized controlled longitudinal study was conducted with 43 first-year medical students (26/43, 60.5% female, mean age 20.9, SD 0.57 years) at Weill Cornell Medicine-Qatar in Fall 2025. Participants completed a baseline survey including the 40-item State-Trait Anxiety Inventory and were randomly assigned to intervention (n=22) or control (n=21) groups using computer-generated permuted block randomization. Before their first dissection session, the intervention group viewed a custom-designed 360° video-based VR experience that featured a virtual tour of the anatomy laboratory and a simulated first encounter with a body donor. The control group received no intervention. State-Trait Anxiety Inventory surveys were administered at baseline (survey 1, all participants), post-VR intervention (survey 2, intervention group only), and postfirst dissection (survey 3, all participants). A follow-up perception survey (survey 4) was administered to the intervention group 1 week into the dissection course. Data were analyzed using 2-tailed paired-samples and independent-samples tests, with qualitative responses analyzed using artificial intelligence–assisted thematic analysis. Results: The intervention group demonstrated a statistically significant reduction in trait anxiety (TA) immediately following the VR experience (mean difference 2.32, SD 4.95; =2.20; =.04), while the reduction in state anxiety (SA) was not significant (mean difference 2.41, SD 8.55; =1.32; =.20). No significant differences in SA or TA were found between intervention and control groups immediately before the first dissection session (SA: =0.03; =.98 and TA: =0.70; =.49) or in anxiety trajectories from baseline to postdissection (SA: =0.85; =.41 and TA: =0.46; =.65). Female students reported higher baseline TA compared to normative college populations (45.42 vs 40.40; mean difference 5.02, SD 7.72; =3.32; =.003). Qualitative analysis revealed positive perceptions, with 91% (10/11) reporting clear content and 82% (9/11) recommending it to future cohorts. Key perceived benefits included environmental familiarization, procedural understanding, and psychological preparation. Conclusions: The 360° video-based VR intervention significantly reduced TA and was perceived as valuable for emotional and procedural preparation. The intervention shows promise as a preparatory tool for enhancing emotional and procedural readiness; however, its impact on objective educational outcomes was not assessed and warrants further investigation. Trial Registration: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT07521033; https://clinicaltrials.gov/study/NCT07521033
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Social Partner Effects on Type 2 Diabetes Prevention, Management, and Spillover Health Outcomes: Single-Arm Pre-Post Pilot Intervention

Background: South Asian Americans are at high risk of prediabetes and type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). South Asian populations are typically close-knit communities, with support networks that could be leveraged in lifestyle interventions. Objective: This study was a single-arm, pre-post pilot study to evaluate the feasibility and efficacy of a culturally tailored telehealth intervention for South Asian adults with prediabetes or T2DM and their social partners (trusted household members) who agreed to complete preintervention and postintervention surveys. Methods: Participants attended 5-hour-long health education sessions delivered in English and Bengali. Participant outcomes included pre-post changes in hemoglobin A1c (HbA), BMI, blood pressure (BP), self-reported minutes of physical activity, and dietary choices at baseline and at the 6-month follow-up. For social partners, outcomes included pre-post survey changes in physical activity and dietary choices. We used Pearson chi-square tests and paired 2-tailed tests to compare baseline measures with postintervention outcomes. Results: This pilot study included 54 participants and 106 social partners in Atlanta, Georgia, between March 2021 and November 2023. All participants were Bangladeshi and spoke native Bengali. Social partners were most commonly participants’ children (39/106, 36.8%) or spouses (34/106, 32.1%). The participant baseline HbA level was 7.5% (SD 1.48%), which decreased by −0.83% (95% CI 0.42%-1.30%; <.001). Participants also improved systolic BP by −5.8 mm Hg (95% CI 0.196-11.37; =.04) with no change in diastolic BP (−0.451 mm Hg, 95% CI −1.49 to 2.39; =.60) or BMI (−0.642 kg/m, 95% CI −1.87 to 0.59; =.17). Compared with baseline, 39% more participants exercised at least 150 minutes weekly (<.001), but there was no difference in self-reported fruit and vegetable intake. However, the social partners increased fruit and vegetable intake (=.02), decreased soda intake (<.001), and increased daily moderate exercise (=.003). Conclusions: Including social partners in T2DM prevention and management is feasible and potentially beneficial, but comparative studies are needed to determine the incremental effects of social partners’ participation vs individual-focused lifestyle interventions. Trial Registration: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT05275231; https://clinicaltrials.gov/study/NCT05275231
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<![CDATA[Lawsuits, research, and clinicians clash over youth screen addiction—learn more about how problematic social platform use evades diagnosis and how we can curb harm.]]>
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<![CDATA[Post hoc SUSTAIN-1 data reveal who relapses after stopping intranasal esketamine in TRD—key risk factors guide personalized relapse-prevention plans.]]>
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CiteSentinel Launched to Detect and Prevent AI Hallucinations in Legal Citations

Legal tech startup BrentWorks reports that it has launched CiteSentinel, a dedicated platform built specifically to detect and prevent AI hallucinations in legal citations, including those related to biotechnology. The tool scans legal documents and flags case law, statutes, and legal authorities that may be fabricated, misstated, or otherwise erroneous, before they reach a judge, according to the company.

Courts across the country are increasingly sanctioning attorneys who submit briefs containing invented case citations, a well-documented byproduct of generative AI drafting tools that produce authoritative-sounding, but entirely fictional, legal authority, says BrentWorks co-founder Brent Britton, a technology attorney and MIT-trained engineer. CiteSentinel was designed to close that verification gap, giving attorneys a fast and easy way to confirm that every citation in a filing corresponds to a real case, a real statute, and a real legal authority, he adds.

“The legal profession is learning, in very public ways, that AI doesn’t just make mistakes, it confidently lies to your face,” continues Britton. “CiteSentinel is about restoring trust. It lets lawyers move fast with the irresistible efficiencies of generative AI while still filing documents reciting authorities they can stand behind. It also enables them to scan opposing counsel’s documents, giving them a competitive edge in the courtroom.”

AI hallucinations
When a brief containing fabricated citations reaches the court, the question of who drafted it quickly becomes secondary to the question of whose name is on it. [BestForBest/Getty Images]

Many attorneys who do not personally use AI to draft documents are discovering they have a problem anyway, Britton points out. Opposing counsel may have used AI. Co-counsel may have. Contract attorneys and paralegals almost certainly have access to it and may be using it without disclosing that fact. When a brief containing fabricated citations reaches the court, the question of who drafted it quickly becomes secondary to the question of whose name is on it, he explains.

CiteSentinel lets attorneys scan any document, their own, a colleague’s, or an adversary’s, for citation errors before those errors become their problem, notes Britton. Attorneys who review opposing counsel’s filings with CiteSentinel gain an additional advantage: the ability to identify and challenge citations to authorities that simply do not exist, he says.

Unlike traditional research platforms that focus on finding more information, states Britton, CiteSentinel was created to confirm that the law cited in a document is real. Attorneys can scan:

  • Their own AI-assisted drafts, before filing
  • Submissions from co-counsel, contract attorneys, and support staff
  • Opposing counsel’s filings, for strategic advantage
  • Any document where citation accuracy carries professional or ethical weight

BrentWorks’ other co-founder is Brent Hunter, a technologist who applied neural networks to finance in 1993. He cites CiteSentinel as the first in a series of products the company will be releasing for the practice of law in the age of AI.

Both BrentWorks’ co-founders agree that AI hallucinations pose particular risks in biotechnology-related legal matters because cases often depend on highly technical evidence, including patent claims, prior art, clinical trial data, FDA regulatory history, scientific publications, expert witness testimony, freedom-to-operate analyses, and licensing agreements. In this context, an AI system could invent scientific references that do not exist, mischaracterize FDA guidance documents, fabricate patent precedents, incorrectly summarize clinical trial results, or generate inaccurate prior-art searches. Such errors can undermine legal arguments, regulatory submissions, and intellectual property strategies.

“Biotech litigation is where AI hallucinations turn genuinely dangerous. You have a system trained to sound authoritative now injecting phantom patent precedents and counterfeit clinical data into documents that determine whether a drug reaches patients or a patent survives challenge,” explains Brent Britton. “In this domain, where the technical record is everything, a ghost FDA guidance document or a fabricated prior art reference can unravel an entire legal strategy and years of work along with it. The law has always been a high-stakes information game, and right now the machines are playing it with synthetic cards.”

As CiteSentinel expands beyond just case citation verification, “it will be the truth layer that keeps all players honest,” he predicts.

 

The post CiteSentinel Launched to Detect and Prevent AI Hallucinations in Legal Citations appeared first on GEN – Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology News.

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CRISPR Shreds Undruggable Cancer Cells with Precision

When Jingkun Zeng, PhD, joined the lab of Nobel laureate, Jennifer Doudna, PhD, as a postdoctoral researcher in 2024, he was not interested in applying CRISPR for gene editing.

The molecular scissors had demonstrated extraordinary clinical promise in correcting single-point mutations, most strikingly in Baby KJ’s case, where a rare metabolic disorder once presented a 50% mortality rate in infancy.  

Yet, Zeng had his ambitious sights on stopping cancer progression, where the biology “became messy.” Cancer can be driven by hundreds of thousands of mutations, making it nearly impossible to correct each mutation one-by-one to restore healthy function. 

Zeng, who completed his PhD training in cancer evolution at The Francis Crick Institute, aimed to develop new CRISPR-based technology that could therapeutically access the undruggable tumor suppressor protein, p53. Mutations in this “guardian of the genome” are found in nearly half of all cancers, and up to 70–90% of cases of the most deadly tumors, including ovarian, pancreatic, and non-small cell lung cancer. 

In a new study published in Nature titled, “Targeting Cancer-Specific Mutations with RNA-Triggered Chromatin Shredding,” Zeng and colleagues from Innovative Genomics Institute (IGI), University of California (UC) Berkeley, UC San Francisco (UCSF), and Gladstone Institutes, have now engineered a CRISPR system to selectively trigger cancer cell death by chromatin shredding. 

The approach recognizes cancer cells using the RNA-guided nuclease, CRISPR-Cas12a2, to recognize mutant p53 mRNA transcripts. Therapeutic effectiveness was demonstrated in mouse models of lung and liver tumors. 

Bacterial roots 

Mutations in p53 are early drivers in the cancer-causing cascade, making the tumor suppressor one of the most sought-after targets in cancer therapy. Yet despite decades of effort, no approved p53 drugs exist on the market. 

Unlike many druggable proteins, p53 lacks a well-defined binding pocket traditionally required by established modalities, such as small molecules or antibodies. Additionally, most cancer therapeutics are designed to inhibit disease-driving proteins, whereas restoring p53 function demands precise, controlled activation of a tumor suppressor. 

“It’s the first time we managed to target p53 with such precision,” Zeng told GEN, emphasizing that CRISPR-Cas12a2 can distinguish healthy and disease cells that differed by just one nucleotide.

The novel drug modality takes advantage of CRISPR’s bacterial roots as a defense system that protects against infection by cutting the genetic material of invading viruses, preventing replication and spread.

Zeng also emphasizes that the guide RNA is easily programmable for additional therapeutic areas, such as destroying viral infected cells or abnormal cells due to aging. The technology can also be multiplexed to recognize multiple cancer mutations simultaneously.

The work joins a growing industry effort to develop scalable and generalizable genetic medicines. 

Looking ahead, the authors aim to improve the delivery efficiency to cancer cells, a longstanding challenge across CRISPR therapies. The team is also undergoing collaborations to apply the technology across diverse cancer types, including brain, prostate, and ovarian cancer. 

The post CRISPR Shreds Undruggable Cancer Cells with Precision appeared first on GEN – Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology News.

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STAT+: UnitedHealthcare’s lactation billing feud, and fake strokes

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I live in northwest Indiana, and it appears the Chicago Bears are going to put the team’s new stadium here, well outside the actual city of Chicago with almost no public transit and financed completely by Indiana taxpayers. The Bears are successfully pissing off just about everyone — no small feat. Send all Bears thoughts and health care tips my way! bob.herman@statnews.com.

The breastfeeding billing battle

UnitedHealthcare is cutting back on paying for lactation counseling, and the clinicians who provide those services are up in arms, another example of the deepening rifts between providers and insurers.

Continue to STAT+ to read the full story…

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STAT+: Novo underwhelmed by drug it once fought Pfizer for

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Gene therapies can now cure disease, but America still hasn’t figured out how to pay for them. Is there a better way? Also, Novo executives are downplaying a once-coveted obesity drug, Incyte is making a $2 billion blood disease bet, and new data suggest Boehringer’s obesity contender may struggle to stand out in an increasingly crowded market.

The need-to-know this morning

  • Roche is partnering with Nurix Therapeutics to co-develop an experimental antibody treatment that works by degrading, or eliminating, a protein called BTK that is associated with blood cancer and other diseases. 
  • Treeline Biosciences, the developer of early-stage cancer medicines co-founded by biotech entrepreneur Josh Bilenker, is going public via a reverse merger with Standard BioTools. 

Combination of pancreatic cancer drugs from Tango, Revolution leads to high response rate

Revolution Medicines’ experimental pancreatic cancer drug has been the star of the oncology field in recent weeks, with new data showing the medicine produced unprecedented outcomes for patients.

Continue to STAT+ to read the full story…