Academic research – Page 5

July 24, 2026

Genetic Variants Linked to CAR T-Cell Efficacy and Safety

Scientists have identified variants in three genes that influence both the efficacy of CAR T-cell therapy and the likelihood of severe side effects. Published today in Science Immunology, these findings represent a first step toward adopting a precision medicine approach in an increasingly used form of cancer immunotherapy.

CAR T-cell therapies have undeniably transformed the treatment of blood cancers, with a rapidly growing number of approvals over the past decade and progressively expanding toward solid tumors. While genetic variants associated with immune-related side effects have been identified for other forms of cancer immunotherapy, such as checkpoint inhibitors, the role of human genetics in CAR T-cell therapy has remained largely unexplored. However, this is particularly important given that most CAR T cells are manufactured from a patient’s own immune cells, meaning the therapy itself carries the patient’s unique genetic makeup.

“Unlike traditional therapeutics that are essentially identical across all patients, CAR T cells are bespoke and harbor all of the ancestral genetic polymorphisms of their parental T cells,” write the study authors, led by Marcela V. Maus, MD, PhD, professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School and director of the Cellular Immunotherapy Program at Massachusetts General Hospital.

Maus and colleagues analyzed data from 236 patients with aggressive lymphoma enrolled across two clinical trials, who had been treated with axicabtagene ciloleucel, a CAR T-cell therapy commercialized by Gilead under the name Yescarta. The analysis combined whole-genome sequencing with detailed biomarker and functional analysis to identify variants affecting the treatment’s efficacy and toxicity.

Among patients who developed treatment-induced toxicity, many carried variants of the STXBP2 gene. Follow-up experiments in human T cells showed that these variants increased the production of inflammatory cytokines and activated macrophages. Consistent with these findings, mutations in the STXBP2 gene have previously been linked to inflammatory bowel disease and a rare immune disease marked by excessive T cell activation.

In contrast, variants in the ADMTSL3 gene were associated with protection against treatment-related toxicity, while variants in the PTPN22 gene were strongly linked to enhanced CAR T-cell expansion—a critical factor that determines treatment efficacy.

“These findings demonstrate that germline genetics shape the safety and activity of engineered immune cell therapies, affecting future design and patient management,” write the scientists. Going forward, they plan to expand this research into larger patient cohorts and a wider range of CAR T-cell therapies to investigate how different genetic variants influence treatment efficacy and the risk of severe side effects across broader clinical settings.

Beyond opening new avenues for precision medicine in CAR T-cell therapy, the researchers noted that these findings could also inform the development of off-the-shelf CAR T-cell therapies where donor-derived T cells are used instead of a patient’s own cells. This approach could enable a more precise selection of donor T cells optimized to maximize therapeutic benefit while minimizing toxicity risks.

The post Genetic Variants Linked to CAR T-Cell Efficacy and Safety appeared first on Inside Precision Medicine.

July 24, 2026

Molecular Atlas of Severe Preeclampsia Reveals New Therapeutic Targets

Researchers from University College London in England have created the most comprehensive molecular map to date of severe preeclampsia, uncovering distinct fetal and maternal drivers of the disease that could lead to more targeted therapies and earlier intervention.

The study, published in Science Advances, combined single-cell RNA sequencing with spatial transcriptomics across the entire fetal-maternal interface and found that severe preeclampsia is not solely a placental disorder. Instead, the disease involves coordinated dysfunction across multiple maternal and fetal tissues, with different molecular programs emerging in early- versus late-onset disease.

Preeclampsia affects 2% to 4% of pregnancies worldwide and remains a leading cause of maternal and fetal illness and death. Although it is traditionally viewed as a placental disease, the mechanisms responsible for widespread maternal inflammation and endothelial dysfunction have remained unclear.

To better define those mechanisms, investigators analyzed tissues from 20 pregnancies, including 10 women with severe preeclampsia and 10 gestational age-matched controls between 25 and 37 weeks of gestation. By matching pregnancies by gestational age rather than comparing preterm cases with healthy term pregnancies, the researchers were able to distinguish disease-related molecular changes from normal developmental differences.

The analysis revealed extensive placental abnormalities, including molecular signatures of hypoxia, angiogenic imbalance, fibrosis, and altered metabolism. The team also confirmed impaired invasion of fetal extravillous trophoblasts into the maternal uterus, a hallmark of preeclampsia that contributes to defective remodeling of maternal blood vessels.

Beyond the placenta, however, the study identified previously unrecognized maternal immune abnormalities extending into the myometrium and chorioamniotic membranes. These included widespread mitochondrial dysfunction, activation of type I interferon signaling, and altered macrophage responses, providing a potential explanation for the systemic inflammation and endothelial injury that characterize severe disease.

The findings point to several potential therapeutic targets. Leptin (LEP), which was strongly upregulated in placental cells throughout both early and late disease, may contribute to oxidative stress and vascular dysfunction. The researchers suggest that leptin antagonists, already under investigation for autoimmune diseases, warrant exploration as placental-targeted therapies.

The study also highlights type I interferon signaling as a promising target. Elevated interferon activity, detected in maternal immune cells and peripheral blood, could potentially serve as both a biomarker and a therapeutic target for anti-interferon or antioxidant treatments.

“IFN-I in peripheral blood promises better screening of patients that might benefit from anti-IFN or antioxidant therapeutics,” the authors concluded.

Perhaps most importantly, the molecular abnormalities were substantially more pronounced in early-onset disease, suggesting that intervention before clinical deterioration may offer the greatest benefit.

“Given the severity of molecular dysfunctions in early disease, compared to its late presentation, timely intervention during gestation is likely beneficial and could change the extremely poor prognosis of severe PE,” the authors wrote.

The post Molecular Atlas of Severe Preeclampsia Reveals New Therapeutic Targets appeared first on Inside Precision Medicine.

July 24, 2026

Colorectal Cancer Targeted with Mass-Produced iPSC-Derived Allogeneic T Cells

Researchers at Kobe University have generated off-the-shelf, mass-producible induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC)-derived gamma delta T cells (γδT cells) that in a small preclinical study suppressed tumor growth in mouse colorectal cancer (CRC) xenograft models. The team says their development could point to the potential for developing faster, cheaper cancer immunotherapy.

Research lead Takashi Aoi, PhD, and colleagues reported on the work in Stem Cell Reports, in a paper titled “Allogeneic iPSC-derived γδT cells demonstrate antitumor efficacy against patient-derived tissues,” commenting “Our current findings provide robust preclinical evidence supporting the efficacy of T cell therapy for CRC.”

“Various immunotherapies have been developed to treat malignant tumors, and autologous CAR T-cell therapy is clinically used for certain malignancies,” the authors wrote. However, CAR T-cell therapies demonstrate limited efficacy against solid tumors, and current techniques for modifying T cells extracted from the patient are expensive and time consuming. “… obstacles such as the time and cost required to initiate autologous treatment impede their widespread adoption.”

In the journal Stem Cell Reports, Kobe University stem cell researcher AOI Takashi and his team report that they created iPS cells from a subclass of T cells that can be used across patients and could reproducibly turn them back into T cells with an overall 80,000-fold multiplication and without using animal cells or extracts, and that the resulting T cells attack and shrink human patient-derived colorectal cancer tumors that were implanted into mice. [AOI Takashi] — In the journal Stem Cell Reports, Kobe University stem cell researcher Aoi Takashi and his team report that they created iPS cells from a subclass of T cells that can be used across patients and could reproducibly turn them back into T cells with an overall 80,000-fold multiplication and without using animal cells or extracts, and that the resulting T cells attack and shrink human patient-derived colorectal cancer tumors that were implanted into mice. [Aoi Takashi]

Consequently, the authors noted, there is growing interest in allogeneic, or off-the-shelf, cell therapy. Researchers have considered turning to a subclass of T cells called gamma-delta (γδ) T cells that don’t need to be tailored toward each individual patient but can be harvested from a donor and used in other people. “… the development of novel therapies for CRC, a highly heterogeneous cancer, remains a paramount challenge in global healthcare, and γδT cells are considered a promising candidate modality,” the authors stated. “γδT cells represent approximately 3–5% of peripheral blood lymphocytes and are capable of targeting various types of tumors in an MHC-unrestricted manner with a single type of γδT cell receptor.”

However, these cells are much fewer, making the harvesting approach infeasible, and they also cannot be directly multiplied well in the lab. Aoi stated, “Based on our experience with induced pluripotent stem cells, also called iPS cells, we thought that we could approach this issue by creating such easily storable and growable cells from these specific T cells, and then only turning them back into T cells when actually needed.” In their paper the authors added “We focused on γδT cells as a potential therapeutic modality for colorectal cancer (CRC).”

Through their reported study the investigators showed that they could create iPS cells from the subclass of T cells that can be used across patients and reproducibly turn them back into those T cells with an overall 80,000-fold multiplication. Importantly, they achieved this without relying on animal cells or extracts, which is a requirement for clinical applications. “To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study to report the successful induction of differentiation of γδT cells from iPS cells under feeder-free, serum-free conditions.”

Their study was also the first to show, on a small preclinical scale, that the resulting iPSC-derived γδT cells (iγδT cells) attack and shrink human patient-derived colorectal cancer tumors that were implanted into mice, with tumor weights in treated animals reduced by up to 88%, when compared with control mice.

“We demonstrated that these iγδTs exhibit cytotoxic activity against CRC and leukemia cell lines, as well as against patient-derived CRC organoids in vitro, while also exerting antitumor effects in vivo in xenograft models,” they noted. “Cancers from cell culture lines don’t have the same drug insensitivities as actual cancers and also don’t emulate the physical barriers that actual tumors have,” explained first author Ryoko Futai, PhD. “That’s why patient-derived organoids are highly significant for evaluating new cancer treatment approaches,” explained first author.

When they designed the study, the Kobe University team imagined that their approach would be used fighting metastasizing cancers. They also checked whether their T cells would find their targets not only when administered close to the tumor but when administered intravenously a week after the tumor was implanted. And indeed, even in this setting tumor weights decreased 43%, 82% and 92% in the three treated mice. Futai noted, “This suggests potential for future systemic therapy. We believe this achievement represents an important step toward the development of a new immunotherapy for solid tumors.”

The study was conducted at a small scale, with only three or four mice in each experiment and tumor models derived from only two different patients. This is especially important because colorectal cancer tumors are known for their high variability. “This study is a preclinical investigation demonstrating the potential using iPS cell-derived T cells and is not yet at a stage where it can be used on patients,” cautions Futai.

But by conducting further studies using these easily multipliable and very standardized cells, the Kobe University development may also be used to elucidate where the variability comes from and what steps to take to counter it. Aoi commented, “Furthermore, by combining this approach with cell modification techniques such as CAR therapy, we hope that this research will eventually lead to the development of new therapeutic possibilities for patients with solid tumors.” And in their paper the authors concluded, “Our findings will pave the way for the realization of off-the-shelf allogeneic γδT cell therapy.”

The post Colorectal Cancer Targeted with Mass-Produced iPSC-Derived Allogeneic T Cells appeared first on GEN – Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology News.

July 24, 2026

The quest to keep organs alive outside the body

This week, I covered a fascinating effort to preserve organs outside the body. There’s a huge shortage of donor organs, and one of the main reasons is time—they survive only a matter of hours outside the body, even when they’re kept on ice.

Doctors dream of organ banks—stores of human organs that can be preserved for days, weeks, months, or even longer. That would allow them to run tests on organs, find the best matches for them, and transport the organs to those recipients.

In new research, one team has been able to supercool the kidneys of pigs—animals whose organs are of a similar size to human ones—and preserve them for days. The kidneys survived being stored at −4 °C (25 °F) and eventually reimplanted back into pigs. And that’s just the latest development in a field that is positively buzzing.

It has proved super difficult to freeze organs. Once ice forms in them, they’re done. The ice crystals create all kinds of damage and render the organs unusable. That hasn’t stopped many researchers from trying.

Some have focused on cryopreservation—rapid extreme cooling that essentially leaves cells in a glasslike state. This process is now routine for eggs, sperm, and embryos, which are cooled to −196 °C in less than two seconds and can be used even after decades in storage.

No one has managed to cryopreserve and thaw human organs for transplantation. But plenty of human bodies and brains have been stored at ultra-low temperatures in the hope that they might one day be rewarmed and brought back to life. (You can read more about why some people opt for cryonics here.)

In March, I wrote about Stephen L. Coles, a gerontologist who had opted to cryopreserve his own brain. After the scientist died in 2014, his body was taken to Alcor, a cryonics facility in Arizona. A team at the facility removed Coles’s head, perfused his brain with cryoprotective chemicals (which work like antifreeze), removed the brain from the skull, and cooled it to −146 °C.

When Coles’s friend Greg Fahy, a cryobiologist, studied pieces of his brain years later, he found that the brain cells, which had shrunk, “bounced back” once they were rewarmed. But that doesn’t mean the cells are alive, or that it might one day be possible to reanimate the brain. As Matthew Powell Palm of Texas A&M told me at the time: “There are so many ways those neurons could be toast.”

Powell Palm is working on other ways to preserve organs. It was he, along with his colleagues, who managed to store supercooled pig kidneys and successfully transplant them, in a study described as “a landmark achievement.” Those organs did better than kidneys stored on ice, he says.

His approach didn’t require cryoprotectants. But other teams are exploring potential chemical cocktails that might allow them to store organs at lower temperatures, potentially for longer periods of time. (More on this in The Checkup soon!)

Another way to prolong the lifespan of an organ is to use a machine that perfuses it with nutrients, mimicking what happens inside the body. Machine perfusion devices have become more commonly used over the last decade or so and are typically used to maintain livers and kidneys for up to about 24 hours.

Researchers are now adapting this protocol for a growing list of organs, even eyeballs—a recent feat that might enable whole-eye transplants. In March, I went to visit scientists in Valencia who had developed a perfusion system for uteruses. They had used their device—which they nicknamed “Mother”—to keep a human uterus alive for a day.

It’s an exciting time for organ preservation. Keep an eye out for more coverage from MIT Technology Review in the coming weeks.

This article first appeared in The Checkup, MIT Technology Review’s weekly biotech newsletter. To receive it in your inbox every Thursday, and read articles like this first, sign up here.

July 24, 2026

Oral Antiviral Blocks Measles-Like Virus Transmission in Ferrets

This year, the United States has recorded the highest number of measles cases since 2000, the year that the disease was declared eliminated from the country. As of mid-July, 2,260 measles cases were reported—just 29 cases less than the entire year of 2025. And outbreaks are widespread, with 34 new outbreaks reported in 2026.

The reason for this surge in cases is waning vaccination rates across the country. Given that, the production of new antivirals is an urgent matter.

Now, the new oral antiviral drug candidate GHP-88310 has shown promising results in a ferret model of infection. When administered before or after direct contact or airborne exposure to canine distemper virus (which causes measles-like disease in ferrets) GHP-88310 blocked transmission of the virus and reduced clinical symptoms in ferrets.

“We were very excited to see that GHP-88310 given by mouth completely prevented airborne transmission in our ferret model of measles,” said Carolin Lieber, PhD, a postdoctoral fellow in the Plemper lab at Georgia State University. “This finding is unprecedented for a viral polymerase inhibitor and demonstrates the extraordinary antiviral potency of this drug.”

This research is published in Nature Microbiology in the paper, “Antiviral GHP-88310 blocks contact-mediated and airborne transmission in a ferret model of measles-like disease.”

“Silencing measles outbreaks quickly is essential to reestablish control over the virus,” said Richard Plemper, PhD, professor and director of the Center for Translational Antiviral Research (CTAR) at Georgia State University. “This study follows our recent development of the drug candidate GHP-88310. It demonstrates that the drug is suitable to augment traditional ring vaccination against measles.”

GHP-88310 (described earlier this year in Science Advances) is known to be an orally efficacious broad-spectrum orthoparamyxovirus polymerase inhibitor. But its effect on viral transmission has remained unclear. This study explored whether prophylactic administration of GHP-88310 prevents virus transmission through close contact or through the air. The results demonstrate that GHP-88310 efficiently blocks both forms of viral spread. In addition, the study showed that treatment of infected animals shortened the time period in which infected animals could transmit the virus.

To explore relevant conditions of viral transmission, the researchers established both direct-contact and airborne canine distemper virus transmission models to examine pharmacological suppression of virus spread. The transmission systems allowed them to pair infected and uninfected animals in direct physical contact or shared airspace, each under controlled environmental parameters.

“We designed the study to recapitulate viral spread between people with direct contact, for instance in a household, and between more distant social contacts, for example in classrooms or other indoor settings that bring people into proximity without direct interaction,” said Plemper.

The results showed that pre- and post-exposure prophylactic GHP-88310, given twice daily to air contacts, prevented transmission. The authors note that once-daily prophylactic administration mediated complete survival with all air contacts undergoing seroconversion. In addition, they note that therapeutic treatment of air contacts mitigated clinical signs, and animals survived, whereas all vehicle-treated air contacts succumbed. In addition, therapeutic treatment of infected source animals shortened the contagious phase by five days.

“In addition to this prophylactic benefit, GHP-88310 used therapeutically shortened the duration of disease in our model,” noted Plemper. “If equally applicable to human hosts, it may shorten the severe social and economic burden of prolonged quarantine of patients and further aid outbreak management.” The investigators are now readying GHP-88310 for formal clinical testing.

The post Oral Antiviral Blocks Measles-Like Virus Transmission in Ferrets appeared first on GEN – Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology News.

July 24, 2026

Gut Bacteria Chemical Linked to Irregular Heart Beat

A chemical called trimethylamine N-oxide (TMAO), which originates from gut bacteria digesting animal products such as red meat, is present at higher levels in the blood of people with an irregular heart beat than the rest of the population.

The researchers found that after they had controlled for various factors like age and comorbidities, people in the top third of TMAO levels had a 70% increased risk of having atrial fibrillation compared with those in the bottom third.

Atrial fibrillation is the most common sustained heart rhythm disorder in the U.S. impacting more than 10 million adults. It occurs because the upper chambers of the heart beat rapidly and irregularly, which can lead to blood clots, stroke and heart failure if left unchecked.

TMAO is formed when trimethylamine produced by gut bacteria is carried to the liver and oxidized. Animal-derived foods such as red and processed meat, eggs, high fat dairy products, and some supplements, are the main dietary precursors for production of TMAO. It has previously been linked to increased risk of cardiovascular disease more generally, but whether high levels of this chemical increased risk of atrial fibrillation was less clear.

In this study, published in the journal of Journal of Clinical Investigation, lead investigator Robert Koeth, MD, PhD, a clinician scientist based at the Cleveland Clinic, and colleagues assessed blood TMAO levels in 5,000 adults who underwent elective heart catheterization for known or suspected cardiovascular disease.

They also studied the effects of TMAO on heart beat regularity in model mice susceptible to atrial fibrillation and tested a potential candidate drug to see if it could reduce levels of TMAO in these animals.

After controlling for age, sex, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, blood pressure, smoking, body mass index, inflammation and kidney function, people with the highest TMAO levels had about 1.7‑times the odds of having atrial fibrillation compared with people with the lowest levels.

In the mouse studies, when TMAO levels in the blood were higher, the animals developed atrial fibrillation sooner and it became a persistent problem more quickly. The researchers also saw changes in how electrical signals moved through parts of the heart that made it easier for abnormal rhythms to start and continue.

The researchers tested iodomethylcholine in the mice, an experimental small molecule drug that blocks the gut microbial enzyme responsible for converting choline into trimethylamine. In response to the drug, TMAO levels fell, the mix of gut bacteria changed, and both the first episodes of atrial fibrillation and its progression were delayed without notable negative effects on the liver.

“A possible pathogenic culprit for the development of atrial myopathy and electromechanical dysfunction is chronic autonomic dysfunction from TMAO inhibition of the M2 muscarinic acetylcholine receptor and increasing sympathetic tone,” write Koeth and team.

The results suggest “TMAO promotes atrial fibrillation in a gut microbiota dependent manner by causing autonomic dysfunction, atrial myopathy, and electromechanical dysfunction,” they conclude.

The post Gut Bacteria Chemical Linked to Irregular Heart Beat appeared first on Inside Precision Medicine.

July 24, 2026

Dual Bispecific Regimen Shows Strong Phase III Signal in Earlier-Line Relapsed Myeloma

Bispecific antibodies are moving rapidly from late-line rescue therapy into earlier phases of multiple myeloma care. The latest signal comes from MonumenTAL-6, a Phase III study evaluating Johnson & Johnson’s TECVAYLI^® (teclistamab) plus TALVEY^® (talquetamab) in patients with relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma who had received one to four prior lines of therapy, including an anti-CD38 antibody and lenalidomide.

According to topline results released by the company, the dual bispecific regimen reduced the risk of disease progression or death by 89% compared with investigator’s choice standard of care, corresponding to a hazard ratio of 0.11. The combination also reduced the risk of death by 62%, with a hazard ratio of 0.38. A second investigational arm, TALVEY plus pomalidomide, also met the primary endpoint, reducing the risk of progression or death by 73%.

A dual-antigen strategy

The clinical rationale is clear. TECVAYLI targets BCMA, a validated plasma cell antigen, while TALVEY targets GPRC5D, another antigen highly expressed on myeloma cells. Combining the two agents could deepen tumor control by engaging T cells against two distinct myeloma-associated targets, potentially reducing the likelihood that disease escapes through antigen loss or heterogeneous target expression.

This dual-antigen approach is particularly relevant in earlier-line relapse, where patients may still have better marrow reserve, less heavily treated immune systems, and more opportunity to achieve durable disease control. It also reflects a broader shift in myeloma treatment: immunotherapy is no longer being reserved only for patients who have exhausted conventional options.

“These findings add to a growing body of Phase III evidence evaluating the survival outcomes associated with the early use of immunotherapy doublets in the treatment journey,” said Ajay K. Nooka, MD, MPH, director of the Myeloma Program at Emory University School of Medicine.

Topline data, not yet full clinical detail

MonumenTAL-6 compared TECVAYLI plus TALVEY and TALVEY plus pomalidomide with investigator’s choice of elotuzumab, pomalidomide and dexamethasone or pomalidomide, bortezomib and dexamethasone. The Independent Data Monitoring Committee recommended unblinding the study at the first interim analysis, and Johnson & Johnson said full data will be presented at a future medical meeting and submitted to global regulatory authorities.

That timing matters. The reported hazard ratios are striking, particularly for progression-free survival with the TECVAYLI-TALVEY arm. However, clinicians will need the full dataset to assess response depth, duration, subgroup consistency, treatment discontinuation, infection burden, cytopenias, quality-of-life effects, and practical feasibility in community settings.

Safety will be central to interpretation. Both drugs are T-cell redirecting bispecific antibodies and carry risks including cytokine release syndrome, neurologic toxicity including ICANS, infections, cytopenias, and other target-specific adverse events. The company reported that overall safety profiles in MonumenTAL-6 were consistent with the known profiles of the individual monotherapies, but detailed rates from the combination study have not yet been released.

Implications for myeloma sequencing

If confirmed, these data could strengthen the case for earlier use of off-the-shelf bispecific combinations in relapsed myeloma. TECVAYLI is already approved in combination with daratumumab and hyaluronidase in certain patients after at least one prior line of therapy, while TALVEY is currently approved as monotherapy for more heavily pretreated relapsed or refractory disease.

The key question is no longer only whether bispecific antibodies work, but how they should be sequenced and combined alongside CD38 antibodies, proteasome inhibitors, immunomodulatory drugs, CAR T therapies, and emerging antibody-drug conjugates. A BCMA/GPRC5D combination may offer a way to intensify immune pressure without the manufacturing delays associated with autologous cell therapy, but it will also require careful infection prevention, monitoring infrastructure, and patient selection.

For now, MonumenTAL-6 adds an important signal to the changing treatment landscape. Earlier-line myeloma therapy is becoming increasingly immunotherapy-based, and dual-antigen targeting may become one of the strategies used to push responses deeper and make remission more durable.

The post Dual Bispecific Regimen Shows Strong Phase III Signal in Earlier-Line Relapsed Myeloma appeared first on Inside Precision Medicine.

July 24, 2026

The Download: an organ transplant breakthrough, and homegrown Chinese chips

This is today’s edition of The Download, our weekday newsletter that provides a daily dose of what’s going on in the world of technology.

Supercooled kidneys have been transplanted into pigs in a “landmark achievement”

When it comes to organ donation, time is everything. As soon as an organ has been removed from a donor’s body, it starts to deteriorate. Surgeons have only a matter of hours to get it into a recipient.

In most cases, organs will be kept on ice during that time, at around 4 °C (39 °F). They cannot be frozen—in previous attempts, ice has formed, causing all kinds of damage.

But now, scientists have come up with a device that allows organs to be cooled to -4 °C (25 °F) without forming any ice. They’ve tested it with pig organs and shown that kidneys, at least, can be preserved in the device for days then successfully transplanted.

Read our story about their breakthrough, and why it raises hopes for longer-term storage of donated human organs.

—Jessica Hamzelou

If you want to read more about this story and its implications for organ preservation and transplantation, sign up to receive The Checkup, our weekly biotech newsletter, later today.

The must-reads

I’ve combed the internet to find you today’s most fun/important/scary/fascinating stories about technology.

1 Inside China’s epic push to replace US chips
The gap between their chips’ capabilities remains large—for now. (WSJ $)
+ How China is using open source AI as a new form of soft power around the globe. (NYT $)
+ A new bill in the US takes aim at Chinese AI companies’ training practices. (NBC)
+ US lawmakers are also mulling banning the military from using Chinese humanoid robots. (SCMP)

2 Space data centers don’t exist yet, but people already oppose them
Environmental experts warn it’ll further pollute the stratosphere. (Guardian)
+ Four things we’d need to put data centers in space. (MIT Technology Review)
+ What it’s like inside the data centers powering AI down here on Earth. (Axios)
+ The left and right are finding common cause with data center protests in the US. (The Verge)

3 US lawmakers are pushing for an AI ‘kill switch’
After OpenAI’s models went rogue and hacked Hugging Face. (BBC)

4 Peptides seem on the cusp of going mainstream in the US
A lack of scientific evidence didn’t stop the FDA just voting to let some pharmacies to legally dispense them. (Wired $)
+ How does Make America Healthy Again hold up to scientific scrutiny? (Nature)
+ US measles cases are reaching levels not seen for three decades. (Wired $)
+ Peptides are everywhere. Here’s what you need to know. (MIT Technology Review)

5 The EU just fined Google almost $1 billion
For competition breaches over apps and search. (FT $)
+ It came just a day before Trump renewed tariffs on 60 trading partners, including the EU. (BBC)

6 Electric vehicles are selling well in Europe
And the share made by Chinese firms has doubled in the last year. (The Next Web)
+ Hybrids are hot property in the US this summer. (Wired $)

7 There’s a worsening shortage of computer science professors
You can blame AI companies—they keep snapping them up, to our general detriment. (The Atlantic $)

8 A judge caught a stenographer allowing AI errors into their transcript
It’s apparently the first time this has happened, but it certainly won’t be the last. (404 Media)
+ Even judges themselves are falling for AI. (MIT Technology Review)

9 Here’s what new tech millionaires will do with their IPO wealth
What a nice problem to have to grapple with! (Quartz $)

10 Dating apps’ latest wheeze? In-person events
Well well well, it seems we’ve come full circle. (Bloomberg $)

Quote of the day

“Call us optimists, call us dreamers. Just as we’ve always done, we’re betting on people.”

—The voiceover from a new advert from Meta, which exhorts us to be more optimistic about AI.

One More Thing

AI is changing how we study bird migration

In a warming world increasingly full of human infrastructure that can be deadly to them, like glass skyscrapers and power lines, migratory birds are facing many existential threats.

Scientists rely on a combination of methods to track the timing and location of their migrations, though each has shortcomings. But now, machine-learning tools are unlocking a treasure trove of acoustic data for ecologists.

Read our story about the technology that’s making it easier to detect and identify birds and their movements.

—Christian Elliott

We can still have nice things

A place for comfort, fun, and distraction to brighten up your day. (Got any ideas? Drop me a line.)

+ It’s never too late to live your dreams. Here’s how these late bloomers did it.
+ Limbs feeling a bit tight? Try these stretches!
+ These English football fans went to the 1986 World Cup—and loved it so much they never came home.
+ How the invention of the humble paint tube revolutionized the world of art.

July 24, 2026

Identification and validation of mitophagy and astrocyte-related molecular signature in the pathogenesis of Alzheimer’s disease: evidence from ensemble learning-driven multi-omics and clinical validation

BackgroundAlzheimer’s disease (AD) is a progressive neurodegenerative disorder with limited diagnostic tools and therapeutic options. Dysregulated mitophagy in astrocytes plays a pivotal role in AD pathogenesis. This study aims to identify a mitophagy and astrocyte (MA)-associated molecular signature for AD diagnosis and therapeutic targeting.MethodsLimma, WGCNA, xCell, PPI network and integrated machine learning pipeline coupled with SHAP were deployed on AD patient hippocampal bulk profiles (GSE28146, GSE36980, GSE29378, GSE48350) for identification of MA-associated predictive model and hub gene. Next, astrocyte patten and MA-associated hub gene molecular performance were estimated in hippocampal single-cell profile of AD patients (GSE163577) via advanced analytical frameworks. In addition, active learning framework and molecular docking was deployed in GSE29378 for identification of therapeutic candidate for AD patients by targeting MA-associated hub gene. Furthermore, AD hippocampal tissues were collected, and then MA-associated hub gene expression was estimated.ResultsA core 8-gene MA signature (ITSN1, VLDLR, CYP7A1, SREBF2, RASL12, TPMT, CYP4X1, ARHGEF) was identified, which can guide the molecular subgroup identification and predictive model construction for AD patients. ITSN1 can be considered as the MA-associated hub gene in AD pathogenesis, which was up-regulated and predominantly expressed in astrocytes. Drug repositioning identified BRD-K10008415 as the potential compound predicted to reverse the AD signature by targeting ITSN1.ConclusionsThis study identified ITSN1 as a MA-associated critical hub potential connecting mitophagy dysregulation and astrocyte dysfunction in AD. We also identified MA-associated molecular signatures that can potentially elaborate predictive effects on AD pathogenesis. BRD-K10008415 can be considered as potential candidate for AD treatment by targeting ITSN1.

July 24, 2026

Effects of music interventions on disorders of consciousness: a systematic review and meta-analysis

ObjectiveThe study aimed to systematically evaluate the effects of music intervention on outcomes related to the recovery of consciousness in patients with disorders of consciousness (DOC).MethodsDatabases including PubMed, Web of Science, Embase, the Cochrane Library, China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), and ProQuest were systematically searched from January 1970 to December 2025 to identify relevant randomized controlled trials (RCTs). The literature was screened based on pre-established inclusion and exclusion criteria, and the review was reported in accordance with the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines. The methodological quality of the included studies was assessed using the Cochrane Risk of Bias tool (RoB 1).ResultsA total of 12 randomized controlled trials (RCTs) involving 926 patients with disorders of consciousness (DOC) were included. As the types of outcome indicators reported in the included studies varied, the number of studies included for each outcome also differed. Specifically, five studies were included in the analyses of Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) scores and the GCS-based awakening rate, whereas two studies were included in the analyses of GCS scores of > 8, the Coma Recovery Scale-Revised (CRS-R), and the National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale (NIHSS). A meta-analysis showed that GCS scores were significantly higher in the music intervention group than in the control group (mean difference (MD) = 2.32). The analyses of GCS scores of > 8 showed that a higher proportion of patients in the music intervention group achieved a GCS score of > 8 (odds ratio (OR) = 5.98). The awakening rate also indicated that the music intervention group was significantly superior to the control group (OR = 3.76). For secondary outcomes, the music intervention group showed higher CRS-R scores (MD = 2.86) and lower NIHSS scores (MD = −1.24).ConclusionMusic intervention may help improve consciousness levels and awakening-related outcomes in patients with disorders of consciousness and may serve as a safe and non-invasive adjunctive measure in rehabilitation nursing care. However, more high-quality randomized controlled trials are needed to further verify its effects and mechanisms.Systematic review registrationhttps://www.crd.york.ac.uk/prospero/display_record.php?ID=CRD420261354569, Identifier: CRD420261354569.