Mark Fortner

AI Finally Takes On a Century-Old Cancer Mystery EMBL researchers have created a new AI tool that uses a “molecular laser tag” approach to identify cells capable of revealing the earliest origins of cancer. The human body depends on accurate genetic...

#AI Finally takes on a century old #cancer mystery

Driving in Van Gogh’s footsteps: the 1907 book that imagined a dream art pilgrimage Writer Octave Mirbeau, an early owner of a Sunflowers painting, titled his fictional travelogue "628-E8"—after his car’s own licence plate

Driving in Van Gogh's footsteps: the 1907 book that imagined a dream at pilgrimage | #art #VanGogh

This Cellular Trick Helps Cancer Spread, but Could Also Stop It New research reveals that cells can sense far beyond their immediate surroundings, a biological ability once thought to belong mainly to abnormal or migrating cancer cells.

The cellular trick helps #cancer spread, but could also stop it

His lab was humming with discovery. After one year under Trump, it’s almost silent John Quackenbush built a lab that is at the forefront of human genetics research and bioinformatics. Trump administration cuts have put it in danger of collapse.

His lab was humming with discovery. After one year under Trump, it's almost silent

Scientists Just Discovered How to Wipe Out the World’s Deadliest Infectious Disease Turning off the genetic switch to its respiratory system might finally eliminate the bacteria behind tuberculosis.

Scientists Just Discovered How to Wipe Out the World's Deadliest Infectious Disease

Fungal Molecule Shows Promise Against Brain Cancer - Neuroscience News For the first time, chemists have fully synthesized verticillin A, a notoriously complex fungal molecule with striking anticancer potential.

Fungal Molecule Shows Promise Against Brain Cancer | #cancer

Plastic can be programmed to have a lifespan of days, months or years Inspired by natural polymers like DNA, chemists have devised a way to engineer plastic so it breaks down when it is no longer needed, rather than polluting the environment

Inspired by natural polymers like DNA, chemists have devised a way to engineer plastic so it breaks down when it is no longer needed, rather than polluting the environment

Decay of driver mutations shapes the landscape of intestinal transformation - Nature The order in which driver mutations of colorectal cancer occur in intestinal epithelium can determine whether clones are positively or negatively selected and can shape subsequent tumour development.

Nature research paper: Decay of driver mutations shapes the landscape of intestinal transformation

go.nature.com/49VIh7w

This is figure 4, which shows that popEVE finds evidence for 123 novel candidate genes in severe developmental disorders

A paper in Nature Genetics presents popEVE, a proteome-wide deep generative model to identify and predict pathogenicity of missense mutations causing genetic disorders. go.nature.com/44xoZSh 🧬 🧪

With Phase 3 Duchenne success, Capricor plots path forward after FDA rejection Capricor's cell therapy deramiocel met Phase 3 endpoints for Duchenne muscular dystrophy, showing promise after FDA's July rejection. Company plans to resubmit for approval.

Capricor moves forward after FDA rejection with Phase 3 Duchenne success.
endpoints.news/with-phase-3...

We now have a greater understanding of how exercise slows cancer Tumour growth is reduced by exercise due to a shift in the body’s metabolism that means muscle cells outcompete cancer cells in the race to get sugar to grow

Tumour growth is reduced by exercise due to a shift in the body’s metabolism that means muscle cells outcompete cancer cells in the race to get sugar to grow

Undersea ‘storms’ are melting the ‘doomsday’ glacier’s ice shelf Spinning vortices of water trapped under the Thwaites glacier ice shelf account for 20 per cent of the ice melt. They’re expected to get worse as the world warms

Spinning vortices of water trapped under the Thwaites glacier ice shelf account for 20 per cent of the ice melt. They’re expected to get worse as the world warms

Your brain undergoes four dramatic periods of change from age 0 to 90 Our brain wiring seems to undergo four major turning points at ages 9, 32, 66 and 83, which could influence our capacity to learn and our risk of certain conditions

Our brain wiring seems to undergo four major turning points at ages 9, 32, 66 and 83, which could influence our capacity to learn and our risk of certain conditions

As with Shakespeare, I always found myself coming out of a Stoppard play feeling more intelligent than when I went in.

Exclusive: Trial Library raises $10M to sell clinical trial matching to insurers Trial Library raises $10M Series A to match patients with clinical trials, uniquely targeting insurers with navigator-supported service, says CEO Hala Borno

Clinical trials are about to become accessible to more patients: Trial Library has raised $10M as it begins offering its services to insurers, an uncommon move so far.

Plastic can be programmed to have a lifespan of days, months or years Inspired by natural polymers like DNA, chemists have devised a way to engineer plastic so it breaks down when it is no longer needed, rather than polluting the environment

Inspired by natural polymers like DNA, chemists have devised a way to engineer plastic so it breaks down when it is no longer needed, rather than polluting the environment

Alzheimer's Clinical Trial Results, Sadly Running True to Form

Still more Alzheimer’s ideas appear to be in the process of biting the dust:

Exclusive: ARCH, Parker Institute build next big oncology bet with suite of programs and startup acquisition Medici recently acquired Nutcracker Therapeutics, and CSO Ira Mellman leads a list of big names involved with the company.

Exclusive: Medici Therapeutics — backed by ARCH and the Parker Institute — has quietly acquired Nutcracker and built a broad oncology pipeline with some of the field’s biggest names.

We now have a greater understanding of how exercise slows cancer Tumour growth is reduced by exercise due to a shift in the body’s metabolism that means muscle cells outcompete cancer cells in the race to get sugar to grow

Tumour growth is reduced by exercise due to a shift in the body’s metabolism that means muscle cells outcompete cancer cells in the race to get sugar to grow

Drug repurposing resources

For readers interested in drug repurposing, this article overviews computational approaches to drug repurposing and evaluates available in silico resources
rdcu.be/eSY57
www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Cheap Computation of Small Peptide Binders

How well does free software work to design peptide binders? It depends:

New Nasal Nanodrops Eradicate Brain Tumors in Mice A nasal nanotherapy triggers a potent immune assault on glioblastoma and eradicates tumors in mice.

New Nasal Nanodrops Eradicate Brain Tumors in Mice | #cancer

Parkinson's Link to Gut Bacteria Suggests Unexpectedly Simple Treatment Researchers have suspected for some time that the link between our gut and brain plays a role in the onset of Parkinson's disease.

Parkinson's Link to Gut Bacteria Suggests Unexpectedly Simple Treatment| #ParkinsonsDisease

Scientists identify 168 chemicals that could be toxic for gut health UK scientists tested more than 1,000 chemicals on gut bacteria samples in a lab, and identified 168 that appear harmful.

UK scientists tested more than 1,000 chemicals on gut bacteria samples in a lab, and identified 168 that appear harmful.

Proposed mechanism of receptor-dependent activity of bitopic ligands. Structures of PTHR1 and A2AR used in this panel were generated using Alphafold2.

Bitopic ligands comprise a #pharmacophore & a linked moiety that bind to separate sites. @rche54.bsky.social &co show that #GPCRs that bind small molecules can be potently activated by #bitopic #nanobody -ligand conjugates to selectively target pairs of GPCRs @plosbiology.org 🧪 plos.io/4p3VOyH

YouTube video by Scripps Research Expanding the drug target universe

An interesting talk by Ben Cravatt at Scripps | #chemsky #DrugDiscovery #DrugTargets

YouTube video by Atlas Venture Atlas Venture Year in Review 2025 - B. Booth

Atlas Ventures Year in Review:2025 | #vc #biotech

Gemini 3 Prompting Best Practices | #AI #Gemini #Google

Hmm. I guess this was just an accident of timing. @gilman.bsky.social