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The first early human eggs from stem cells

Conception’s mission is to turn stem cells into human eggs and redefine fertility.

We want to share an exciting update that we have generated the first early human egg cells (‘primary oocytes’) derived from stem cells. After performing a simple blood draw, we converted blood cells into stem cells, and then coaxed those stem cells into becoming miniature human ovaries that contain the early eggs.

While there is still work ahead to grow these eggs to full maturity, we think this is a major scientific advance.

DavidAU/Qwen3.5-9B-Claude-4.6-HighIQ-THINKING-HERETIC-UNCENSORED · Hugging Face

Amodei’s dream of “hard-coded” safety is a myth. What This Model Proves: This model uses Claude 4.6’s own thinking traces as training data. It is literally stealing Claude’s “reasoning style” and compressing it into a 9B parameter file that anyone can download for free. *It proves that frontier AI intelligence is leaky and compressible. If a 9B model can mimic Claude’s thinking well enough to boost its benchmarks, then the “magic” isn’t in the billions of dollars of secret sauce—it’s in the data.* 3. “The Developer Controls the Model’s Morality” Amodei’s Argument: Anthropic has a moral duty to act as the “gatekeeper,” deciding what is safe and ethical for users to ask. *It proves that a massive portion of the open-source community rejects centralized moral authority. They are saying, “We don’t trust you, Dario, to be our nanny. We trust the user to be responsible for their own actions.”* Amodei’s Argument: If you train a model to “think” carefully and transparently (like Claude’s reasoning traces), it will naturally arrive at safer, more ethical conclusions. — Hugging Face is already engaging: They’re actively submitting comments to government RFIs, championing “responsible openness” “Your safety is only as strong as the open-source community’s willingness to respect it. We have the data, the tools, and the hardware to clone your intelligence, remove your restrictions, and distribute it to the masses. Your ‘Constitution’ is irrelevant in a world where I can fine-tune a model on my laptop while disconnected from the internet.” The “HERETIC” model isn’t just a technical achievement—it’s a philosophical statement. It says that the open-source community will not accept centralized gatekeeping, that reasoning can be separated from ethics, and that the future of AI belongs to those who can build, not just those who can regulate.

We’re on a journey to advance and democratize artificial intelligence through open source and open science.

Lab-grown retinal cells show promise for new eye therapies

Biomedical engineers at Duke University have used induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) to grow specialized blood vessel cells critical to retinal health for the first time. When injected into mouse models of retinal disease, these “retinal endothelial cells” integrated into the damaged tissue to regenerate blood vessels and restore retinal function. Researchers also demonstrated the cells’ ability to form functional retinal vascular tissue in a lab-grown environment, providing a pathway to model and research various eye diseases.

The results, published in the journal Nature Biomedical Engineering, point toward the potential of using these retinal cells and models to develop new methods for treating vision loss and researching eye disorders.

“Retinal vascular diseases affect millions of people in the US, but our understanding remains limited, hindering our ability to discover and develop new therapeutics,” said Sharon Gerecht, the Paul M. Gross Distinguished Professor and chair of biomedical engineering at Duke. “Using human stem cells, we generated the cells found in retinal blood vessels, paving the way for new therapeutic approaches.”

Long-term outcomes and late effects of surgery and radiotherapy in adult intracranial ependymoma patients

To evaluate progression-free survival (PFS), overall survival (OS), local control (LC), and radiotherapy-related toxicities in the treatment of adult intracranial ependymoma.

A retrospective analysis was performed of WHO grade 2–3 adult intracranial ependymoma patients (≥ 18 years) treated with surgery alone or surgery and adjuvant radiotherapy between 2000 and 2024. Kaplan-Meier analyses were used to estimate PFS and OS. Acute and late treatment-related toxicities were characterized.

Fifty-eight patients met the inclusion criteria. Median age was 39 years (interquartile range [IQR] 25–51), and median follow-up was 51 months (IQR 23–103). Overall, 76% were WHO grade 2, 74% had posterior fossa location, gross total resection was achieved in 60%, 88% received adjuvant local radiotherapy, and 5% received adjuvant chemotherapy. Five and 10-year PFS rates were 80% and 64%, respectively; 5 and 10-year OS rates were 92% and 85%, respectively. There were 13 (22%) recurrences: The location of first failure was local in nine, distant in two, and both local and distant in two. The 5-year LC rate was 82% (95% CI 67–90%), and the 10-year LC rate was 72% (95% CI 53–84%). The median time to local failure was 5.4 years. Ten (22%) patients experienced at least one grade ≥ 2 late treatment-related toxicity. One potential secondary glioma (grade 5) occurred after nine years.

Blood biomarkers could measure response to psychotherapy in patients with depression

Research by the Barcelona Institute for Biomedical Research (IIBB), part of the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC), and the Institut de Recerca Sant Pau (IR Sant Pau) provides some of the first evidence that psychological therapies act as biological stimuli that induce molecular responses measurable through blood biomarkers.

The preliminary study, involving 22 patients with major depressive disorder at Hospital de Sant Pau, reveals that psychotherapy sessions trigger changes in microRNAs—molecules that regulate gene expression in cells—associated with significant improvements in the participants’ cognitive status. The results, published in Scientific Reports, represent an advance toward monitoring patients’ responses to pharmacological treatments and nonpharmacological therapeutic interventions.

The study, led by Dr. Maria J. Portella (IR Sant Pau) and Dr. Analia Bortolozzi (IIBB-CSIC), with Lluís Miquel-Rio (IIBB-CSIC) and Dr. Muriel Vicent-Gil (Hospital de Sant Pau) as first authors, focused on major depressive disorder (MDD). This condition is characterized not only by its effects on mood but also by a broad spectrum of cognitive impairments, including difficulties with attention, memory, processing speed and executive function. These symptoms frequently persist despite treatment and severely affect patients’ quality of life.

New tool helps uncover rare genetic mutations in common diseases, including Parkinson’s

Studies of genetics conducted in yeast cells, human neurons, mice or other model systems often reveal networks of genes that could contribute to complex diseases, such as breast cancer, type 2 diabetes and Parkinson’s disease. But those findings don’t always translate to human biology. Human genetics offers a path to determining which genes among those networks are most relevant to human disease.

Researchers at Harvard Medical School have developed a new statistical framework to link networks identified in models with human genetic data. This could make it faster and easier for researchers to identify which groups of genes are most likely to contribute to a particular human disease, uncover rare disease-causing mutations and zero in on promising therapeutic targets.

The work was published in Cell Genomics.

Cryo-EM helps identify the mechanisms of dental plaque formation

Periodontal (gum) disease is one of the most prevalent diseases worldwide, caused by the bacterium Porphyromonas gingivalis (P. gingivalis). In Japan alone, approximately 80% of adults 30 and older are affected or considered at risk.

Published in Communications Biology, a joint study by the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology (OIST), Tottori University, Hiroshima University and Nagasaki University provides new insights into how this bacterium causes plaque formation.

Using cryo-electron microscopy (cryo-EM), the researchers reveal the 3D structure of Mfa pili, an arm-like filament that enables the bacteria to stick to host tissues and other microbes.

Faster breast MRI—AI unlocks one image per second and sharper tumor tracking

A group of researchers from the Technion and the United States reports a breakthrough in MRI scanning in a paper published in Nature Communications. The researchers developed an innovative method that accelerates and enhances MRI scans for breast cancer imaging, a disease diagnosed in approximately 2.3 million people each year, most of whom are women.

The new method, called ELITE, combines artificial intelligence with advanced mathematical models, enabling dynamic MRI with unprecedented speed and accuracy. This international study brings together expertise in engineering, MRI physics, artificial intelligence and clinical radiology.

Dr. Eddy Solomon of the Technion’s Faculty of Biomedical Engineering, the paper’s lead author, explains that the study focuses on dynamic MRI, a critical technology in breast cancer diagnosis. Dynamic MRI is used primarily for screening populations at high risk for breast cancer and is characterized by exceptionally high sensitivity, with more than 90% accuracy, compared with approximately 50%–60% for ultrasound and mammography combined. However, MRI technology faces a major challenge: Producing highly detailed images usually requires longer scan times, making it difficult to track the flow of contrast material through the examined tissue.

Rare aging disorder links ‘biological clock’ to disease

Scientists have discovered a rare genetic condition that causes people to age at a much faster rate, offering fresh insights into the aging process. The study shows for the first time how a “biological clock” present in every cell of the body could contribute to age-related diseases.

Experts say the findings could support the design of future medicines to counter diseases linked to older age, as life expectancies continue to rise across the globe.

The study is published in the journal Nature Genetics.

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