We are at the dawn of a golden age of biosciences, characterized by massive leaps in molecular biology.
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We → characterize → biology
Breakthroughs in precise gene editing, mRNA vaccines, targeted cancer treatments, and more are transforming biomedicine.
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Breakthroughs → target → biomedicine
Move Over, Wegovy and Zepbound
Retatrutide, a new diabetes and weight loss medication that targets three different receptors in the brain and body, is even more potent than earlier GLP-1 medications.
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that → move → medications
In preliminary trials, the drug enabled people to lose an average of 70 pounds over 80 weeks.
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drug → enable → weeks
Millions of Americans with diabetes and/or obesity have benefited from GLP-1 medications, and the obesity rate for adults has begun declining largely due to their advent.
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rate → benefit → advent
GLP-1 drugs also reduce the risk of heart attacks, reverse fatty liver disease, slow the progression of chronic kidney disease, and effectively treat sleep apnea.
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drugs → reduce → apnea
Although retatrutide has not yet been reviewed, let alone approved, by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), black market versions are popular among biohackers.
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versions → review → biohackers
Get Your Lipoprotein(a) Level Tested
Lipoprotein(a), or Lp(a), is an especially dangerous kind of cholesterol that triples the risk of a heart attack.
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that → get → attack
Your genes largely determine your Lp(a) level.
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genes → determine → level
Cardiologists have known for decades that around 20 percent of Americans are at risk of elevated Lp(a), but they have not offered to test their patients.
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they → know → patients
Because doctors could offer no treatments for the condition.
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doctors → offer → condition
Never mind that patients might want to know their risk for their own reasons, such as career planning.
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patients → mind → planning
In April, the cadre of medical paternalists finally recommended that patients take a one-time blood test to determine their Lp(a) levels.
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patients → recommend → levels
Fortunately, treatments to lower Lp(a) may be available soon.
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treatments → lower → Lp(a
Preliminary clinical trials show that small interfering RNA drugs shut down Lp(a) production in the liver, reducing levels by 80 percent to 94 percent.
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drugs → show → percent
New Infectious Disease Vaccines
The FDA willing, a powerful new mRNA influenza vaccine providing broad protection against various strains of the virus should be available during the next flu season.
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vaccine → provide → season
More than 620,000 Americans are estimated to be infected by Lyme disease each year.
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Americans → estimate → disease
But thanks to trial lawyers, Americans have not had access to a vaccine against the tick-borne illness.
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Americans → have → illness
That could soon change: This year, Pfizer and Valneva reported that their new vaccine is 70 percent effective in preventing Lyme disease.
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vaccine → change → disease
So far, 91 million people worldwide have been infected with HIV, and 44 million have died of the disease.
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million → infect → disease
Researchers at the La Jolla Institute for Immunology and the Scripps Research Institute report that they have developed a vaccine that induces broadly neutralizing antibodies against HIV in primates.
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that → report → primates
A preliminary human trial began earlier this year.
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trial → begin → ?
Back in 2009, I paid 23andMe $1,000 for a genotyping test that analyzed about 555,000 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs).
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that → pay → polymorphisms
The test captured about 5 percent of the common human SNPs.
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test → capture → SNPs
Using the data, 23andMe compiled health predisposition reports, carrier status, and ancestry insights.
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23andMe → use → reports
I just paid sequencing.com $399 to sequence my entire genome.
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I → pay → genome
The company is analyzing my genetic data against more than 15,000 diseases, rare conditions, traits, and medication reactions.
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company → analyze → diseases
Highly effective vaccines targeting cancer-inducing pathogens—such as HPV and Hepatitis B—have been available for decades.
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vaccines → target → decades
Researchers are now developing therapeutic mRNA vaccines to prime patients' immune systems to attack their cancers.
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Researchers → develop → cancers
A preliminary 2026 study reported that seven of eight patients who responded to a pancreatic cancer vaccine were still alive four to six years after surgery.
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who → report → surgery
More excitingly, researchers are beginning to develop vaccines that trigger a preventative immune response to common cancer-causing mutations before tumors develop.
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tumors → begin → mutations
In a preliminary preventative vaccine trial, none of the patients with a genetic predisposition or worrisome cysts developed pancreatic cancer.
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none → develop → cancer
In May, Paterna Biosciences reported that it had grown functional human sperm entirely outside the body.
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it → report → body
Paterna used the lab-grown sperm to successfully fertilize human eggs.
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Paterna → use → eggs
In June, the biotech company Conception announced that its researchers had turned blood cells into mini ovaries that contain millions of future human egg cells.
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that → announce → cells
That same month, a team of Columbia University researchers detailed how they used a precise version of CRISPR genome editing to correct a specific mutation in early-stage human embryos.
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they → detail → embryos
(Not surprisingly, the achievement provoked bioethical warnings that rich people would start combining the tech with in vitro fertilization to optimize their children.
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people → provoke → children
Reversing the Clock
Getting older makes you more prone to all kinds of maladies.
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you → reverse → maladies
Considerable research is focused on Yamanaka factors, a set of four proteins discovered by Nobel laureate Shinya Yamanaka that reprogram old cells into youthful stem cells.
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that → focus → cells
Life Biosciences is launching a clinical trial deploying three of the Yamanaka factors to restore sight by resetting old, damaged cells to more youthful patterns of gene expression.
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Biosciences → launch → expression
…and 6 more, not listed.
The Aporia
