Pandemic Preparedness Latest dispatch
On 5 August 2026, the FDA approved Moderna's mFLUSIVA, the first mRNA seasonal flu vaccine. The decision is small in label and large in consequence, because the same platform that produced COVID-19 shots in months can now be redirected to a pandemic influenza strain in weeks.
The latest dispatches from the field.
Jennifer Doudna's lab used an AI protein-design model to build a synthetic gene-editing enzyme, SynTnpB, that edits human cells nearly twice as efficiently as the natural version. Here is what the Science paper actually shows, and what it does not.
Biohub's open-source ESM models learned the rules of protein biology from evolution alone — and designed working drug binders in days. Here's what the release means, and where it falls short.
QED Science's AI ranked 57,455 bioRxiv preprints and named a 'top 1%'. Blinded experts sided with the machine over journal prestige in 75% of cases. We examine the evidence, the backlash, and what AI triage means for pandemic-era science.
Eli Lilly just wagered up to $2.75 billion on AI-designed medicines, yet not one AI-discovered drug has full FDA approval. Here's why 2026 is the year the field finally gets tested against clinical reality.
Insilico Medicine has pushed rentosertib, a drug whose target and molecule were both generated by AI, into a pivotal Phase III trial. It's the clearest test yet of whether AI drug discovery can produce medicines that work, not just headlines.
The first Bundibugyo Ebola vaccine reached human trials just 68 days into the DRC's largest-ever outbreak. What the sprint reveals about AI-era pandemic preparedness.
Stanford and Arc Institute researchers used genome language models to write complete bacteriophage genomes from scratch. Sixteen worked in the lab — and the result reopens a hard debate about AI biosecurity.
VirTues, a new foundation model published in Nature, learns one shared representation of spatial proteomics data across marker panels and imaging platforms—and finds biomarkers that predict immunotherapy response.
