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Tech & Engineering

Updates every hour. Last Updated: 6-Jun-2026 18:15 ET (6-Jun-2026 22:15 GMT/UTC)

Researchers develop AI model that maps how genes work together in human cells

The Mount Sinai Hospital / Mount Sinai School of Medicine
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Scientists at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai have created a new artificial intelligence (AI) model that helps reveal how genes function together inside human cells, offering a powerful new way to understand biology and disease. The study, published in the May 21 online issue of Patterns, a Cell Press Journal [DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.patter.2026.101565], introduces a gene set foundation model (GSFM) designed to learn patterns in how genes are grouped and function across thousands of biological contexts. The work draws inspiration from advances in large language models (LLMs) such as ChatGPT, which learn how words gain meaning depending on their context. In a similar way, a GSFM learns how genes behave differently depending on their cellular “context.”

Journal: Patterns

Using the power of AI to make genetic diagnosis easier

Baylor College of Medicine
Peer-Reviewed Publication

A new computational tool called MARRVEL-MCP helps researchers move toward genetic diagnoses more efficiently by analyzing and interpreting vast amounts of genetic and biological information using everyday language.

Journal: American Journal of Human Genetics

New passivation strategy boosts perovskite/silicon tandem solar cell performance

Chinese Academy of Sciences Headquarters
Peer-Reviewed Publication

A team of Chinese scientists from the Ningbo Institute of Materials Technology and Engineering has developed a new passivation strategy that significantly improves both the efficiency and operational stability of perovskite/silicon tandem solar cells.

Journal: Matter

AI helps create miniprotein switches for drug targets

University of Washington School of Medicine/UW Medicine
Peer-Reviewed Publication

G protein-coupled receptors sit in the plasma membrane, the boundary that defines the inside and outside of a living cell. They communicate with nearly every physiological process in our bodies, from the ability to see and smell, to sensing of adrenaline, insulin, nutrients and medicines. Researchers now report using AI to create tiny, computationally designed proteins to activate or block G protein-coupled receptors. The methods used in their study may form a roadmap for future efforts to create new drug candidates for metabolic, inflammatory, and neurological diseases. These approaches would try to target G protein-coupled receptors that have been largely inaccessible to conventional drug discovery.

Journal: Nature
Funder: Austrian Science Fund Erwin Schrödinger Program, BioInnovation Institute Foundation, Novo Nordisk Foundation, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Novo Nordisk, Defense Threat Reduction Agency, Microsoft, Audacious Project, Nordstrom Barrier Institute for Protein Design Directors Fund, The Open Philanthropy Project Universal Flu Vaccine Fund, The Open Philanthropy Project Improving Protein Design Fund, The Wu Tsai Protein Innovation Fund, Cancer Research UK, Department of the Defense and Defense Threat Reduction Agency, U.S. Department of Energy, National Health and Medical Research Council of Australia, U.S. Department of Defense, CureSearch for Children's Cancer, DBT Wellcome Trust India Alliance, ANRF, Department of Biotechnology, Lady Tata Memorial Trust

UMass Chan scientist receives $1.6 million from National Institute of General Medical Sciences to refine gene therapy vectors

UMass Chan Medical School
Grant and Award Announcement

Phillip Tai, PhD, received a $1.6 million grant from the National Institute of General Medical Sciences to investigate the basic mechanisms of adeno-associated viral vectors (AAV) using high-resolution DNA sequencing technology. These findings could potentially lead to new vector designs that improve the safety of gene therapy treatments.

The Lancet MedZero: a single platform for carbon data across every product in healthcare

University of Birmingham
Business Announcement

Launching today at the 79th World Health Assembly with more than 14,000 entries across all of healthcare, the first global database of its kind.

3D-printed speaker cover can focus audio into a private ‘sound spot’

Penn State
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Researchers at Penn State designed a system that can manipulate sound waves so that they are only audible at a precise spot slightly wider than an inch. Despite this tiny focal point, their system can produce high-quality audio, potentially offering listeners a crisp, yet private, sound experience. The team detailed their work in a paper recently published in IEEE Transactions on Ultrasonics.

Machine learning personalizes depression treatment with the help of wearable technology

University of California - San Diego
Peer-Reviewed Publication

UC San Diego researchers report substantial reductions in symptoms of depression by using machine learning to tailor behavioral interventions based on data participants collect about their own moods and daily habits

Journal: NPP—Digital Psychiatry and Neuroscience

Wiley equips the world’s laboratories with intelligence to identify substances faster and decide with confidence

Wiley
Business Announcement

Wiley today releases the Wiley Registry of Mass Spectral Data 2026, the new edition of one of the world’s largest and most trusted mass spectral reference databases for identifying unknown chemical compounds

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