Cell and gene therapies often fail to reach patients not because the science is wrong but because academic development, hospital production capacity, regulatory planning, and commercial viability are addressed sequentially rather than simultaneously. Researchers at Lund University and Skane University Hospital have published a new collaborative model in Molecular Therapy, Methods and Clinical Development to close that translational gap.

North Carolina State University researchers combined machine learning with CO2 laser ablation to create superomniphobic siloxane elastomers without chemical solvents. The material repels virtually any liquid and retains those properties at 400% strain across more than 5,000 stretch-release cycles. Published in Matter, the work offers a solvent-free manufacturing route for applications in soft robotics, artificial skin, and stretchable electronics.

Researchers at Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology developed an AI method that extracts spectral information from existing optical coherence tomography signals to detect lipid-rich plaques in coronary arteries - no hardware changes required. The deep learning model, validated in a rabbit atherosclerosis model against histopathology, learns from frame-level rather than pixel-level labels, dramatically reducing annotation burden for clinical training data.

SeaCast, a graph-based neural network developed by CMCC and the University of Helsinki, produces high-resolution Mediterranean Sea forecasts at roughly 4 km spatial resolution in about 20 seconds on a single GPU - compared to 70 minutes on 89 CPUs for the equivalent operational model. Trained on 35 years of reanalysis data, it integrates both ocean and atmospheric variables and consistently outperforms the Copernicus 10-day operational forecast.

JMIR Publications has opened submissions for a theme issue titled 'Bridging Data, AI, and Innovation to Transform Health' in JMIR Bioinformatics and Biotechnology. The call covers AI diagnostics, computational genomics, precision oncology, drug discovery pipelines, large language model applications, and genomic digital twins. Submissions from the MCBIOS 2026 Conference (March 27-29, Tampa) are specifically invited.

Using a drone-based 3D tracking system, University of Freiburg researchers recorded 255 honey bee flight paths across a 120-meter agricultural corridor. Each bee developed and maintained its own individualized route, deviating from its preferred path by only a few centimeters - and by fewer degrees than waggle dance directional errors, indicating navigation is far more precise than communication.

An analysis of 27.8 million US Medicare recipients aged 65 and older, tracked from 2000 to 2018, found that greater exposure to fine particulate air pollution was associated with increased Alzheimer's disease risk. The Emory University study, published in PLOS Medicine, found the association was largely direct - not mediated by hypertension or depression - though prior stroke amplified the relationship.

A study of about 300 children hospitalized for febrile UTIs across five US pediatric hospitals found that renal and bladder ultrasounds done within 24 hours of fever produced significantly more false-positive abnormal findings. Waiting until closer to discharge did not prolong hospital stays, suggesting a practical change in imaging timing could reduce unnecessary catheter-based VCUG testing in infants and young children.

UC San Diego Health has joined the NIH's Maternal-Fetal Medicine Units Network as a satellite site affiliated with UCSF, bringing access to more than 50 active clinical trials on pregnancy complications to Southern California patients. The network has enrolled over 160,000 births annually across the US and produced evidence that changed standards of care for preterm steroids and labor induction.

MD Anderson Cancer Center researchers developed TmS - a tumor-specific total mRNA expression biomarker - that outperformed existing deconvolution methods for predicting chemotherapy response in 575 triple-negative breast cancer patients. Published in Cell Reports Medicine, the tool also identified biologically distinct tumor microenvironments between Asian and European patient populations.

The Brain Trauma Foundation has issued the first major revision of its penetrating traumatic brain injury guidelines since 2001. More than 30 expert panelists used evidence review and a Delphi consensus process to produce over 30 new recommendations, including practical treatment algorithms designed for emergency use. The guidelines emphasize that survivable penetrating brain injury is more common than assumed and that surgery is nearly always indicated.

A systematic review of 67 studies covering more than 28,000 musicians across 21 countries found tinnitus in 42.6% of musicians versus 13.2% of controls, hearing loss in 25.7% versus 11.6%, and hyperacusis in 37.3% versus 15.3%. Classical and rock musicians showed no significant difference in auditory damage rates, suggesting genre is less important than individual exposure factors.

Ulcerative colitis patients face up to four times the colorectal cancer risk of the general population, but predicting who will progress from precancerous lesions has been difficult. A UC San Diego study published in Clinical Gastroenterology and Hepatology applied AI to 55,000 VA patient records, sorting patients into five risk tiers with outcomes matching real-world data over more than a decade.

Mayo Clinic has installed the first US magnetic nanoparticle hyperthermia system for cancer research, manufactured by New Phase Ltd. Iron oxide nanoparticles delivered intravenously collect in tumors and heat them via electromagnetic induction to a maximum of 50 degrees Celsius. The first US patient was treated in December 2025 in an ongoing clinical trial targeting metastatic solid tumors resistant to prior therapies.

Calibr-Skaggs Institute and Kainomyx have launched a Gates Foundation-supported collaboration to develop antimalarial drugs that target the Plasmodium parasite's cytoskeleton - a largely unexplored mechanism that could bypass existing resistance. Malaria kills more than 600,000 people annually, and resistance to current therapies is spreading.

The Jackson Laboratory-New York Stem Cell Foundation Collaborative and GSK have announced a five-year research partnership focused on human iPSC models of neurodegenerative diseases. The effort combines patient-derived stem cell technology with GSK's translational science to accelerate drug candidate identification for Alzheimer's disease and related conditions.

Scientists at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital and collaborators in Germany have built M-PACT, an AI system that classifies pediatric brain tumors using circulating tumor DNA from cerebrospinal fluid. Trained on more than 5,000 methylation profiles, it identified 92% of tumors correctly and can track disease evolution without repeated tissue sampling.

Insilico Medicine and Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center entered a collaborative research agreement to identify new drug targets for gastroesophageal cancers using Insilico's AI-driven PandaOmics platform. The project integrates MSK's genomic, proteomic, and transcriptomic patient data with Insi

A UCLA single-arm trial combined modified FOLFIRINOX with nivolumab before surgery in 28 patients with borderline-resectable pancreatic cancer. 79% proceeded to surgery, 86% had clean margins, and 18% had near-complete or complete tumor regression. But overall survival was similar to chemotherapy al

A CU Boulder and Hiroshima University WPI-SKCM2 team engineered porous, perfluorocarbon-coated silica microrods 2-3 micrometers long that remain dispersed and mobile in nematic liquid crystals. Changing temperature causes the rods to reorient and the suspension to switch between distinct phases, inc

A SUNY College of Optometry study published in Cell Reports proposes that myopia progression is driven by excessive accommodative pupil constriction during prolonged near work in low-light environments, reducing retinal illumination. The hypothesis explains why diverse interventions - outdoor time,

Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center researchers used a humanized mouse model to develop monoclonal antibodies against two Epstein-Barr virus surface antigens. One antibody against gp42 prevented EBV infection in mice with human immune systems. The work addresses a major unmet need: 128,000+ annual US tran

UCSF and Wayne State University researchers gave eight AI chatbots the same preterm birth prediction task that took human data science teams months to complete. Four tools produced models matching or exceeding human performance on microbiome and blood data from over 1,000 pregnancies. The entire pro

A JAMA Network Open analysis of six pooled cohorts found cancer survivors with higher moderate-to-vigorous physical activity after diagnosis had lower cancer-specific death rates across seven cancer types not previously well-studied for this association. The consistent pattern across diverse tumor b

A cohort study of patients with chronic kidney disease published in JAMA Network Open found that more advanced CKD stage was independently associated with higher incidence of cognitive impairment across the full disease spectrum. The findings suggest kidney function decline may directly accelerate c