Aisha Abdullah

Researchers at Stanford University and the Arc Institute used generative artificial intelligence (AI) to design fully functional viral genomes, a first for the technology. The team generated 16 viable bacteriophages (viruses that infect bacteria) capable of killing E. coli, underscoring the synthetic viruses’ potential clinical applications. The research, published in Science earlier this month, used the genome language models Evo 1 and Evo 2 to design viral genomes from scratch.

A molecule released by muscles during exercise enhances muscle function and boosts exercise performance, according to a recent study published in Nature Communications. The molecule, β-aminoisobutyric acid (BAIBA), was also shown to protect against muscle dysfunction in a mouse model of diabetes, making it a potential therapeutic target. Skeletal muscles are continually remodeling, or restructuring, to adapt to demands such as exercise, injury, and aging.

Researchers at the University of Aberdeen used lab-grown mini-brains (cerebral organoids) to investigate how maternal immune activation (MIA), an inflammatory response during pregnancy, affects brain development and the risk of neurodevelopmental disorders. The study, published this week in Nature Neuroscience, found that increasing a protein associated with MIA disrupted cortical development. The researchers used fetal cerebral organoids to model MIA’s effects on neurodevelopment.