Lowered Cost of Protein Production, Thanks to AI.

  Researchers at the Michigan Institute of Technology found a way to using artificial intelligence to make the production of protein cheaper. The article explains the importance of industrial yeast and how it is the main contributor to the production of protein and how it is responsible for the manufacturing of vaccines. The AI tool observed the genetic code of a yeast and used that information to predict the best codons for manufacturing.  This AI tool showed to enhance the yeast's production of six different proteins. J. Christopher Love, Professor of Chemical Engineering at MIT, described predictive tools to be time efficient and save money.

Figure 1. K. phaffi is a type of yeast the model learned pattens of codon from in this project and it is important in the biopharmaceutical industry. 

    Technology is constantly evolving and scientists and researchers should take advantage of the possibilities that it brings.  I agree, using artificial intelligence in science could be scary because of potential errors, but this model bases its predictions off of observations of other genetic codes. This article mentioned that the model was trained in trastuzumab, which is an antibody used for cancer treatment. Using this model has the abilities lower costs of production of vaccines and other important compounds that are currently needed. I believe if this research is able to save time on protein production, and ultimately help people, it should definitely be used. 

Source: 

https://news.mit.edu/2026/new-ai-model-could-cut-costs-developing-protein-drugs-0216 

Another source on this topic:

https://nationaltoday.com/us/ma/cambridge/news/2026/02/18/ai-model-may-slash-protein-drug-development-costs/

Fungus Food: CRISPR turns a simple fungus into a meatlike protein with a smaller environmental footprint

    As the demand for sustainable food continues to increase, scientists are exploring alternatives to traditional animal proteins (which currently amount for nearly 14% of global greenhouse gas emissions). Mycoprotein, developed from fungi, has come to be a promising solution due to its meat-like texture and smaller environmental impact. One of the leading sources, Fusarium venenatum, is already approved for consumption in several countries. However, its thick cell walls make it difficult to digest in addition to it being costly to produce.

    To address these challenges, researchers at Jiangnan University in China used CRISPR gene-editing technology to improve both the nutritional value and efficiency of Fusarium venenatum. By taking away two specific genes related to chitin production and metabolism, they created a new strain titled FCPD. The thinner cell wall significantly improved digestibility, while metabolic changes allowed the fungus to produce protein much more efficiently. As a result, the modified strain used 44% less sugar and produced the same amount of protein 88% faster than the original version. There was also no foreign DNA introduced.

                                                                        Picture of Fusarium venenatum.

    Past improving efficiency, the environmental benefits of FCPD were dramatic. A full life-cycle analysis across six countries with different energy systems showed that FCPD consistently produces fewer greenhouse gas emissions than conventional mycoprotein, with reductions of about 60%. In comparison to animal protein, the results were even more striking: FCPD needed 70% less land and caused 78% less freshwater pollution than chicken production in China. This breakthrough highlights how gene-edited foods could play a major role in feeding an increasing global population while crucially reducing strain on the planet.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2025/11/251121082049.htm 

https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/agricultural-and-biological-sciences/fusarium-venenatum 

Using Genetically Modified Fungus as an Alternative to Meat

Benjamin Pruss

BIOL-2110-001 GENETICS

 Professor Guy F. Barbato

November 23rd, 2025

     A study published on November 19th focuses on a group of scientists who used CRISPR to genetically modify a fungus to produce protein more efficiently while also being more environmentally friendly. This fungus, known as Fusarium venenatum, also referred to as Quorn, is being explored as a potential alternative source of protein or a meat substitute. 

    Fusarium venenatum is a popular alternative to meat due to its similar taste and texture. However, it is not the best source of protein due to its thick cell walls, which aren't easily digested, and it is not the easiest to grow. The researchers wanted to make the fungus easier to digest and grow. The new genetically-modified F. venenatum had thinner cell walls, which made it easier to digest, and also reduced the amount of nutrients required to produce protein. "Gene-edited foods like this can meet growing food demands without the environmental costs of conventional farming," said one of the authors of the study, Xiao Liu of Jiangnan University in Wuxi, China. They found that the production of the GMO required significantly less land and produced less pollution than chicken production. Although they didn't comment on the cost of producing the fungus, it is certainly more environmentally friendly than previously.

Sources

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2025/11/251121082049.htm

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0167779925004044?via%3Dihub

Sickle Cell Pain Events Caused by Menstrual Cycle

   On Monday, April 14th, 2025 Dennis Thompson from Health Day News reported that women who have sickle cell disease often have pain crises around the same time as their menstrual cycles and how researchers might have a guess on to why. A resident in obstetrics and gynecology at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, Dr. Jessica Wu discussed how the amount of inflammation significantly elevates within the follicular phase, or also known as the first half of the menstrual cycle within female patients who have present sickle cell disease. This led to an observation that would correlate to how researchers viewed the literature which presented the most vaso-occlusice events (VOEs) in the patient population. They discovered that the pain events the patients were experiencing were most related events to sickle cell disease. With this new finding, there could be potential treatments in the future that can help reduce women's risk of painful events during menstruation. With understanding how sickle cell disease is most common inherited red blood cell disorders, the cells are able to become lodged in the veins and block the blood flow that can lead to organ damage and infections. This can cause the VOEs episodes of severe pain that can be so intensive that people may require hospitalization. A new study was created that allowed researchers to analyze blood samples of 13 women and 18 men with sickle cell disease, as they would be tracking the C-reactive protein that is produced by the liver when inflammation is present in the body. They found that the C-reactive protein was higher on and more persistent in women within their first half of their menstrual cycle. 

   I found that this new discovery was really intriguing to learn about because the women's menstrual cycle is often overlooked in research and clinical care. I feel like the more data researchers are able to collect on how patients with sickle cell disease experience pain within their first half of their menstrual cycle is analyzed, they will be able to provide better care to the patients. By creating new methods and treatments to prevent this harmful pain can allow patients to live better lives and get to experience more over time than settling in pain. 

Links:

https://www.usnews.com/news/health-news/articles/2025-04-14/menstrual-cycle-could-be-contributing-to-sickle-cell-pain-events

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK441843/

Treatment for Fatal Prion Diseases: The Promise of CHARMs in Gene Silencing

Prions diseases occur when a protein regularly found in the body is misfolded, causing illness. This misfolding leads to brain damage alongside other symptoms, which take years to develop. Once a person is symptomatic, the disease rapidly progresses in the body, leading to death. Researchers at the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard and researchers from the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research have developed promising new therapies for fatal prion diseases. The collaboration between the two programs led to the development of a new set of molecular tools known as CHARMs (Coupled Histone tail for Autoinhibition Release of Methyltransferase), which silences the gene that causes the production of the disease-causing proteins, alongside stopping the production of more of these genes, CHARMs can also stop already generated prion protein genes. One of the researchers, Sonia Vallabh, pushes the urgency of this project as she suffers from an increased likelihood of developing fatal familial insomnia, another form of prion disease. While initially starting in the law industry, Vallabh and her husband shifted their careers toward biomedical research after discovering a lack of treatments for these conditions. Their work doesn't only focus on treating prion disease, but they continue to research other disorders that cause the loss of neurons in the brain caused by toxic protein accumulation.


The CHARMs technology uses epigenetic editing, which uses an epigenome, a make-up of chemical compounds and proteins that can attach to DNA and allow actions such as turning genes on or off, which specifically targets the prion protein gene, quickly silencing them and preventing any more production of misfolded proteins which may have led to a prions diseases. Tests conducted on mice confirm that these tools can remove up to 80% of prion proteins found in the brain, a significant increase from the 21% removal rate used with past techniques to relieve symptoms. The researchers saw challenges when creating CHARMs, especially in trying to ensure that the components used were non-toxic, alongside being able to target the prion gene without any side effects. Using the machinery built into the cells, the researchers could silence the gene, minimizing the potential toxicity. While the development of CHARMs is still too unsafe for humans, the astonishing rate of development shows hope for those who suffer from prion diseases and other diseases caused by protein misfolding.


While new tools to treat prion diseases are being developed at astonishing rates, it will still be a while before CHARMs can be used to treat humans with prion disease. When the time comes when CHARMs are safe to use, they will revolutionize the medical field, helping prevent the decline in mental capacity due to misfolding. I find this article very reliving as while prion disease doesn't run in my family, Alzheimer's does, and both are similar to where misfolding can lead to a decline in cognitive functions. While not the same, if the development goes well for CHARMs to help treat prion disease, it could be used as a stepping stone to preventing Alzheimer's as well.


https://news.mit.edu/2024/charmed-collaboration-creates-therapy-candidate-fatal-prion-diseases-0627

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/health/2024/06/27/stop-dementia-delay-brain-disease-medical-research/74190613007/

Advances in Understanding Miscarriages

An article published by Mirage News  study done by Rutgers University recently revealed some of the genetic causes behind miscarriages. Researchers found that some women have a gene variant that causes accelerated aging of their eggs, with a difference of a single amino acid in the resultant protein. This leads to higher rates of aneuploidy, and as a result a higher chance of miscarriage. Rutgers decided to conduct a follow-up study on mice, and the results showed that the variant was indeed associated with egg abnormalities.

This new discovery may have an important impact on women's reproductive health. As the article states, it may give women who are aware of this variant more time for planning a family. Having this information might allow women to make more informed, more successful choices.

I personally thought that this was a really insightful article; the writer simplifies the full research into digestible, interesting information. As a woman myself, I do worry about my own reproductive health and fertility, so I find that this article quite helpful in explaining why things like miscarriages happen. I was very surprised to find how simple the cause was as well; everything that was written in the article were all concepts and terms that I was very familiar with. All in all, this article makes me feel less fearful and more in control about my own reproductive health.

ARTICLES
https://www.miragenews.com/researchers-target-genetic-variant-linked-to-1362336/

https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5dca0a45fa89f656027593e6/bf708264-9b89-4380-b65e-0764ce26446b/IG+Stories+Patient+FAQs+%28Instagram+Post%29.png

https://www.cancer.gov/publications/dictionaries/genetics-dictionary/def/aneuploidy

Prolific Research on Azoospermia

Published in August 2024, the article "A novel missense variant in PNLDC1 associated with nonobstructive azoospermia" discusses a new genetic mutation related to nonobstructive azoospermia, possibly causing faulty meiosis and spermatogenesis. The study was conducted by Mouness Rahimian, Masomeh Askari, and fellow genetics researchers.

The article states that approximately half of all infertility cases amongst couples are due to the male partner, the most common form being azoospermia. There are two types of azoospermia, obstructive (OA) and nonobstructive (NOA). This article focuses on nonobstructive, which has been associated with a number of genes. Through testing mice, the research team discovered that missing the PNLDC1 protein reduces testis size and causes infertility. In humans, the PNLDC1 gene is highly expressed in spermatocytes and having a mutated gene for the PNLDC1 protein results in NOA.

The bulk of the research involves clinical investigation of three men, all of whom were brothers, whose parents are first cousins. Blood samples were drawn, and then DNA isolation and sequencing was completed. A protein model for PNLDC1 was also created. The provided pedigree in the article shows that the infertile men received two copies of mutated recessive allele of the PNLDC1 gene. Siblings who were fertile had two wildtype alleles. A physical exam and karyotype analysis of the men showed normal results.

This was a recent publication that I personally found very interesting due to the clinical investigation subjects, who were all products of a consanguineous marriage. This resulted in three of the couple's children receiving mutated copies of a gene, which were seemingly recessive. This really goes to show that inbreeding depression is real, possible, and detectable even among a population as large and diverse as humans. 

Another great reminder from this article--mutated genes make mutated mRNA, makes mutated proteins, makes mutated phenotypes. One single mishap in the DNA can be fatal. In this case, one missense mutation in a single gene results in infertility or other spermatogenic failure disease. While not so sure if this single gene is the cause of NOA, there is strong reason to believe that the gene and NOA are related.

ARTICLES:

https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12041-024-01478-6
https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/health/conditions-and-diseases/azoospermia#:~:text=Azoospermia%20is%20the%20medical%20term,sperm%20production%20by%20the%20testis.
https://www.rcsb.org/