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Gold-coated microneedles can detect subtleties in how liver and kidneys process drugs in real time

Scientists have taken a giant leap forward with the development of tiny microneedles designed to detect subtle but critical changes in how the liver and kidneys process therapeutic drugs. The experimental technology, under development at the University of California, Los Angeles, aims to overcome longstanding limitations that have hindered wearable microneedle biosensors.

“Wearable microneedle biosensors promise real-time molecular monitoring for precision medicine but are limited by low sensitivity and tissue abrasion,” writes Dr. Jialun Zhu, lead author of a new study published in Science Translational Medicine.

“Overcoming these challenges, we recast electrode functionality not merely as a sensing substrate but as a mechanism for resilient, high signal-to-noise ratio measurements in tissue,” added Zhu, a bioengineer in UCLA’s Samueli School of Engineering.

In plainer English, the multidisciplinary UCLA team was able to get their system to work flawlessly compared with similar devices by other research groups.

Tracking drug clearance in real time

The team has developed a biosensor that in early research already shows promise for real-time in-tissue monitoring of drug pharmacokinetics. These preclinical studies also show that the device is both safe and highly accurate. However, it has not yet been tested in humans.

Still, if the technology seems futuristic, it may be because tiny wearables and implants that measure any number of biological processes have been themes in science fiction for decades. With refinements underway to improve precision medicine, the future has already arrived. Scientists involved in the project ranged from molecular and cellular biologists to biochemists and a team of bioengineers like Zhu.

One goal in precision medicine has been the development of a minimally invasive device that can monitor the clearance of drugs from a patient’s kidneys and liver, providing more accurate dosing guidelines. To address persistent problems that have impeded progress toward reaching that goal, the team engineered what it calls a “resilient nanostructured bioelectrode” using a microscopically thin layer of a precious metal.

“Our microneedle-based resilient nanostructured bioelectrode is fabricated using a bilayer process that strengthens the electrode with a micrometer-thick gold adhesion layer,” Zhu noted in the research paper.

The key reason that an accurate wearable biosensor is needed is explained by the growing number of medications with narrow therapeutic ranges. That means it is possible to provide doses that are either too low or too high. With a wearable such as the one under development, doctors can tell if they have prescribed a precise dose, and how well the drug is being processed and excreted.

Toward precision monitoring in organ dysfunction

In preclinical experiments, the biosensor enabled continuous in-tissue monitoring of drug pharmacokinetics, including changes associated with liver and kidney dysfunction. Scientists found in the animal model research that their experimental technology measured drug kinetics for six days and produced accurate parameters for drug dosing while also monitoring drug clearance from the liver and kidneys.

The system revealed, for example, that one chemotherapy drug, irinotecan, cleared out slowly in mice with liver damage. The technology also traced the kinetics of several antibiotics during various stages of chronic kidney disease.Comparison between conventional blood-based therapeutic drug monitoring and wearable ISF-based therapeutic drug and metabolic function monitoring. Credit: Science Translational Medicine (2026). DOI: 10.1126/scitranslmed.adr5493

An approach by other research groups has involved the use of wearable biosensors that incorporate microneedles, which measure minute molecular changes in drug concentrations. However, current microneedles suffer from issues such as low sensitivity and poor mechanical durability.

In contrast, Zhu and colleagues developed a more resilient, nanostructured microneedle that analyzes the biochemistry of interstitial fluids between cells. Their design incorporates sensors that endow it with a high degree of specificity and features a strong layer of gold that increases the needle surface area and resists corrosion.

Technology holds promise

In an editorial commentary, Molly Ogle, an associate editor at Science Translational Medicine, notes that wearable technology could play an important role in precision medicine. “The study demonstrates preclinical promise for minimally invasive therapeutic drug monitoring and functional assessment of hepatic and renal drug processing,” Ogle wrote.

Zhu and colleagues underscored, meanwhile, that their device not only has marked improvements over similar technology but also could be economically manufactured. They predict that their resilient nanostructured bioelectrode could be mass produced at less than $1.50 per sensor.

“These results establish the resilient nanostructured bioelectrode as a viable microneedle platform for high-fidelity in vivo deployment of electrochemical biosensors, enabling minimally invasive, longitudinal monitoring of low-concentration analytes and real-time assessment of organ function,” Zhu and the UCLA team concluded.

News Staff by — May 09, 2026 By News Staff in Global News
Smartwatches and GPS devices show promise for tracking environmental impacts on health in real time

As climate change drives more frequent extreme heat and worsening air pollution, researchers are seeking better ways to understand how these exposures affect health in real time. A new pilot study led by researchers at The City University of New York demonstrates the feasibility of combining wearable devices, smartphone location data, and real-time surveys to capture individuals’ environmental exposures and their immediate physical and emotional effects.

The study, “Feasibility of Integrating Wearable Devices and Ecological Momentary Assessment for Real-Time Environmental Exposure Estimation,” appears in the journal JMIR Formative Research.

The study was co-authored by Sameera Ramjan and Melissa Blum (co-first authors), Rung Yu Tseng, Katherine Davey, and Duke Shereen, with Yoko Nomura as senior author.

“People move through many different environments each day, and this approach lets us capture that in real time,” said Ramjan, a doctoral student in the CUNY Graduate Center Psychology program.

“We were struck by how quickly the data revealed patterns—changes in heart rate variability, shifts in mood—that lined up with where participants had been and what they were exposed to.”

For the study, participants wore Fitbit smartwatches for roughly a month while completing short mood surveys known as ecological momentary assessments several times a day.

Researchers combined these data with smartphone location tracking to estimate exposure to heat and air pollutants such as nitrogen dioxide, particulate matter, and sulfur dioxide based on where participants spent time throughout the day.

The findings suggest that this integrated approach is not only feasible but also revealing. On days with higher exposure to heat and nitrogen dioxide, participants showed changes in heart rate variability, a marker of the body’s ability to recover from stress. Higher exposure to sulfur dioxide was associated with increased feelings of nervousness and hopelessness.

Interestingly, higher heat exposure was linked to lower self-reported sadness, a counterintuitive finding that may reflect seasonal patterns in outdoor activity and social engagement during warmer weather, underscoring the need for larger studies to disentangle these effects.

“Even in a small pilot, we could see that the relationship between environmental conditions and people’s physiological and emotional responses is more complex than traditional methods can capture,” said Blum, a medical student at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai.

“By combining wearable sensors, GPS data, and real-time surveys, we’re able to build individualized exposure profiles that move with people throughout their day. That’s a real shift from relying on stationary monitors or home addresses.”

“To our knowledge, this is the first study to combine wearable devices, ecological momentary assessment, and continuous GPS tracking to measure environmental exposures and their immediate health impacts,” said senior author Nomura, a distinguished professor of Psychology at the CUNY Graduate Center and Queens College with an appointment at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai.

“It’s a small pilot, but it demonstrates an integration between consumer technology and environmental epidemiology that could open the door to personalized approaches for preventive medicine.”

The pilot study also identified areas for improvement, including simplifying the system and increasing participant adherence—lessons that have already been incorporated into the next phase of the research.

Building on these findings, Nomura’s team is now applying the refined system to a larger, National Institutes of Health (NIH)-supported study examining how prenatal and current environmental exposures affect brain development and mental health in adolescents.

The work comes at a critical moment. Exposure to extreme heat and air pollution is increasing, with disproportionate impacts on vulnerable populations, including children, pregnant individuals, people experiencing homelessness, and those with lower socioeconomic status. Children are particularly at risk because environmental exposures can have lasting effects on brain development and behavior.

Beyond research, the approach could have clinical applications. Real-time environmental exposure monitoring could one day help clinicians make more informed decisions about patient care, particularly for individuals with conditions sensitive to heat or air quality.

“This is still early-stage work, and we’re cautious about reading too much into a small sample,” Nomura said. “But improving how we measure exposure is a critical step toward protecting public health, and these results give us confidence that the approach can scale.”

News Staff by — May 09, 2026 By News Staff in Global News
AI tool unifies fragmented cell maps into spatial atlases across tissues

A new computational method could dramatically accelerate efforts to map the body’s cells in space, according to a study published in Nature Genetics. Spatial multi-omics technologies—often described as ultra-high-resolution maps of tissues—allow scientists to see not only which genes or proteins are active in a cell, but exactly where that activity occurs. That spatial context is critical for understanding complex organs such as the brain, immune tissues and developing embryos.

Unfortunately, capturing multiple molecular layers at once remains expensive and technically challenging, said David Gate, Ph.D., assistant professor in the Ken and Ruth Davee Department of Neurology’s Division of Behavioral Neurology, who was a co-author of the study.

“In practice, investigators end up with ‘mosaic’ datasets: different slices or batches that each capture only some of the layers, often from different technologies or labs, with batch effects and missing pieces,” said Gate, who also leads the Abrams Research Center on Neurogenomics.

A new tool to unify data

The new computational method, dubbed SpaMosaic, was designed to solve this growing problem. Developed by a collaborative team led by computational investigators, the tool uses artificial intelligence to align and integrate spatial datasets.

To create the new tool, investigators combined contrastive learning—which helps AI models learn meaningful similarities and differences across datasets—with graph neural networks that account for spatial relationships between neighboring cells. The result is a shared dataset that allows RNA, protein, chromatin accessibility and histone modification data to be analyzed together, even when individual datasets measure only a subset of these features.

Performance across tissues and species

In benchmarking experiments, SpaMosaic consistently outperformed existing integration methods on both simulated data and real-world datasets spanning mouse brain development, mouse embryos and human immune tissues such as lymph node and tonsil. The investigators found that the tool excelled at identifying biologically meaningful spatial domains—regions of tissue with shared functional identity—even when datasets came from different technologies or developmental stages.

“SpaMosaic is also effective at removing technical ‘batch effects’ (like differences in how samples were processed) while keeping the real biology intact,” Gate said.

Predicting missing molecular layers

One of SpaMosaic’s most novel capabilities is its ability to predict molecular layers that were never directly measured. In a large mosaic dataset of the mouse brain, the tool inferred histone modification patterns in regions where only transcriptomic data were available.

“SpaMosaic filled in the gaps and actually revealed stronger links between gene activity and epigenetic regulation than the directly measured chromatin data sometimes did,” Gate said.

Implications for atlases and neuroscience

The findings suggest the method can uncover regulatory relationships between molecular layers, offering an alternative to costly, technically demanding experiments. Instead of being limited by what a single experiment can measure, investigators can now combine data across studies, platforms and labs, Gate said.

“This is a real game-changer for building true multi-omics ‘atlases’ of tissues,” he said. “For neuroscience (our focus), this means better maps of brain development, neuroinflammation, and eventually disease states like Alzheimer’s or ALS, where spatial relationships and multi-layer regulation are critical. It accelerates discovery without requiring every lab to re-do perfect multi-modal experiments on every sample.”

Next steps for SpaMosaic development

The team is already exploring next steps, including scaling SpaMosaic to even larger datasets. Additionally, Gate and his collaborators will further test the method to assess how reliable the predicted data are, he said.

“This project is a great example of what happens when computational innovators and experimental biologists work closely together,” Gate said. “Tools like SpaMosaic are going to democratize spatial multi-omics, letting more labs contribute to and benefit from large-scale tissue atlases.”

News Staff by — May 09, 2026 By News Staff in Biotechnology Today
Ultrasound waves rupture COVID-19 and flu viruses without damaging cells

Researchers at the University of São Paulo (USP) in Brazil have discovered that high-frequency ultrasound waves similar to those used in medical exams can eliminate viruses such as SARS-CoV-2 and H1N1 without damaging human cells. In an article published in Scientific Reports, they describe how the phenomenon, known as acoustic resonance, causes structural changes in viral particles until they rupture and become inactivated.

“It’s kind of like fighting the virus with a shout. In this study, we proved that the energy of sound waves causes morphological changes in viral particles until they explode, a phenomenon comparable to what happens with popcorn. By degrading the structure of the pathogen, the protective membrane of the virus called the envelope bursts and deforms, preventing the virus from invading human cells,” explains Odemir Martinez Bruno, a professor at the São Carlos Institute of Physics (IFSC) at USP who coordinated the study.

Ultrasound-mediated inactivation of enveloped viruses opens up a new treatment possibility for viral diseases. In fact, the team is already conducting in vitro tests against other infections, such as dengue, Chikungunya, and Zika. This alternative treatment is particularly interesting given that antiviral drugs are generally difficult to develop.

“Although it’s still far from clinical use, this is a promising strategy against enveloped viruses in general, since developing chemical antivirals is complex and yields difficult results. Furthermore, it’s a ‘green’ solution, as it generates no waste, causes no environmental impact, and doesn’t promote viral resistance,” says Flávio Protásio Veras, a professor at the Federal University of Alfenas (UNIFAL) and a FAPESP postdoctoral fellow.

The research brought together scientists from various fields. In addition to theoretical physicists and acousticians from the IFSC, the initiative benefited from the collaboration of specialists from the Virology Research Center and the Center for Research in Inflammatory Diseases (CRID), both affiliated with the Ribeirão Preto Medical School (FMRP-USP), the School of Pharmaceutical Sciences (FCFRP-USP), and the Faculty of Science and Technology at São Paulo State University (UNESP).

These specialists contributed structural and toxicological analyses using techniques such as microscopy and light scattering.

The initiative also benefited from the collaboration of Charles Rice, a professor at Rockefeller University in the United States and the 2020 Nobel Prize winner in medicine. Rice provided fluorescent viruses for real-time visualization.

It’s the geometry

The discovery surprised the researchers because it contradicts classical physics theories, as the wavelength of ultrasound is much longer than the size of the virus. In theory, this difference in size would prevent interaction.

“The phenomenon is entirely geometric. Spherical particles, such as many enveloped viruses, absorb ultrasound wave energy more effectively. It’s that accumulation of energy inside the particle that causes changes in the structure of the viral envelope until it ruptures. Therefore, if viruses were triangular or square, they wouldn’t undergo the same ‘popcorn effect’ of acoustic resonance,” Bruno explains.

He also points out that since the process depends strictly on the shape of the viral particle and not on genetic mutations, variants such as those observed during the pandemic (omicron and delta, for example) do not affect the effectiveness of the technique.

Frequency adjustment

“The technique isn’t intended for decontamination. That already exists. Ultrasound is already used to sterilize dental and surgical equipment, but it works through a different physical phenomenon called cavitation, which destroys biological material,” says Bruno.

He explains that acoustic resonance and cavitation differ mainly in the frequency used and their effects on viruses and cells. “While cavitation occurs at low frequencies and destroys both viruses and tissues through the collapse of gas bubbles, acoustic resonance operates at high frequencies of 3–20 MHz,” he notes.

Regarding acoustic resonance, Bruno explains that sound energy couples with the viral structure, exciting internal vibrations that lead to the mechanical rupture of the viral envelope without altering the temperature or pH of the medium. “The result is a selective and safe mechanism since only the virus absorbs the energy and is destabilized, posing no risk to human cells,” he adds.

Another article published in the Brazilian Journal of Physics describes the theoretical basis behind the phenomenon of popping enveloped viruses like popcorn.

News Staff by — May 09, 2026 By News Staff in Biotechnology Today
Trump signs off on plan to oust embattled FDA Commissioner Marty Makary: report

If ultimately confirmed, Makary’s planned departure, broken by The Wall Street Journal Friday afternoon, would follow a controversial tenure in which his deputy and constant co-author Vinay Prasad riled biopharma feathers with myriad unexpected drug rejections. Prasad stepped down as biologics chief last week.

President Donald Trump has reportedly signed off on a plan to fire FDA Commissioner Marty Makary, who has overseen a tumultuous period at the agency defined by unexpected drug rejections, staff departures and reported infighting among leadership.

The news, reported by The Wall Street Journal Friday afternoon, citing “people familiar with the matter,” comes after Makary defended one of those controversial rejections—that of Replimune’s advanced melanoma therapy RP1—in a heated interview with CNBC on Tuesday. Other unexpected rejections during the past year include Capricor Therapeutics’ deramiocel for Duchenne muscular dystrophy cardiomyopathy last summer, and Disc Medicine’s rare disease drug bitopertin, which was awarded a Commissioner’s National Priority Voucher (CNPV) in October 2025.

Makary took over the FDA leadership role on March 25, 2025, after congressional confirmation. He previously served as a surgical oncologist at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.

While he was head of the agency, Makary often faded into the background behind larger personalities, such as Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research Director Vinay Prasad. Prasad left the FDA on April 30 at the end of an apparently planned one-year leave of absence from the University of California, with Katherine Szarama put in his place as acting director—the fifth leader of CBER in less than 18 months.

Makary also came under fire after the FDA refused in February to review an application for Moderna’s mRNA-based flu vaccine. Makary was called to the White House and Trump “expressed frustration” to Makary over how the agency is handling vaccine issues, Politico reported at the time, citing two people privy to details about the meeting. The FDA accepted an amended application for the vaccine a week later.

Trump’s plan is not final and could change, WSJ noted.

“President Trump has assembled the most experienced and talented administration in history, an administration that continues to focus on delivering more historic victories for the American people,” White House spokesman Kush Desai told the publication.

BioSpace has reached out for independent confirmation.

One of Makary’s more controversial ideas is the Commissioner’s National Priority Voucher (CNPV) program, which is meant to grant swift reviews to hand-selected therapies. The program, however, has been met with legality concerns. Questions were also raised about the efficacy of the scheme in February after bitopertin was rejected.

Veteran regulator Richard Pazdur pointed to pressure from Makary as one of the concerns that led to his resignation as head of the FDA’s Center for Drug Evaluation and Research in December 2025.

Pazdur has since spoken out about his experience, claiming that the “wall between the commissioner’s office and the review staff has been breached” under Makary’s leadership.

Makary was a frequent figurehead at the White House as President Donald Trump announced policies related to health or drug pricing. He attended the Most Favored Nation drug pricing announcements in the fall as major pharmaceutical companies, including Pfizer, Eli Lilly and Novo Nordisk reached agreements to lower prices for some of their medicines.

In November 2025, reports emerged that the Trump administration was considering limiting Makary’s role or replacing him entirely. He seems to have survived that review until now.

News Staff by — May 09, 2026 By News Staff in Bio Space
Biogen, Eisai hit with 3-month delay for starting SubQ Alzheimer’s therapy

The FDA’s extension will give reviewers more time to review a major amendment to Biogen and Eisai’s application for a subcutaneous induction formulation of Alzheimer’s therapy Leqembi. The new target action date is on Aug. 24.

Biogen and Eisai may have to wait three more months to learn the FDA’s verdict on their bid to start patients on an under-the-skin formulation of their anti-amyloid Alzheimer’s disease therapy.

As part of the ongoing drug review process, the FDA has requested additional information regarding the proposed use of subcutaneous Leqembi for treatment initiation, the pharma partners announced Friday. The regulator then deemed the companies’ submission as a major amendment to the application and pushed back the target action date.

The FDA’s original deadline for a decision was May 24. Now, Biogen and Eisai are expecting a verdict on or before August 24.

Analysts at RBC Capital Markets expect the impact of this delay to be “limited,” according to a Friday morning note to investors, given that with either decision date, reimbursements for the drug “would not have kicked in until 2027.”

The delay “pushes out a catalyst we believe the Street had been keying in on to provide visibility on medium-term Leqembi growth acceleration and adds incremental risk” to Biogen, RBC added, “but should still ultimately get resolved.”

Leqembi was first approved in January 2023 under the FDA’s accelerated pathway and in July that year became the first anti-amyloid antibody for Alzheimer’s to win the agency’s full approval. Leqembi is administered intravenously over one hour every two weeks.

In September 2025, the FDA cleared a new formulation of Leqembi, Leqembi Iqlik, that allowed the drug to be administered via an under-the-skin injection—a more convenient route of administration that also opened the option of at-home treatments. This approval, however, only applied to maintenance treatments. New patients would still have to undergo an 18-month induction period.

Biogen and Eisai are now proposing to use this subcutaneous formulation to initiate patients, completely eliminating the need for intravenous infusions. To back their application, the partners submitted data showing that Leqembi Iqlik, given weekly, achieved bioequivalent drug exposure to the intravenous version given once every two weeks, according to a January 2026 news release.

Both formulations of Leqembi had similar safety profiles, the companies added.

If approved, Leqembi Iqlik would be the first anti-amyloid therapy that offers patients at-home, subcutaneous dosing for the entirety of their treatment journey, Biogen and Eisai said in January. A nod would also allow them to better compete with Eli Lilly’s Kisunla on the convenience front.

An approval is “going to be extremely important,” Chris Viehbacher, Biogen’s CEO, said at the J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference in January. Kisunla offers once-monthly infusion compared to Leqembi’s biweekly infusion. Kisunla’s convenience edge “is going to go away once we have a subcutaneous formulation,” Viehbacher said.

A subcutaneous, at-home treatment option also plays into Biogen’s strategy of catching patients who have finished treatment with Kisunla and are looking to transition to another Alzheimer’s therapy.

The first batch of Kisunla-treated patients are set to end their 18-month treatment period, Alisha Alaimo, Biogen’s head of North America, said during the company’s Q1 call on April 29. “Physicians are asking, what do we do? Patients in general, who are on either of the products, want to stay on product. There is a fear of coming off and having a decline in their cognition.”

News Staff by — May 09, 2026 By News Staff in Bio Space
OpenBind’s first data and model release marks a milestone for AI enabled drug discovery

The UK-led OpenBind initiative has reached a major milestone with the release of its first publicly available dataset and predictive AI model, a groundbreaking step toward accelerating the discovery of new medicines using artificial intelligence.

The release showcases how engineering the production of AI-ready data is not only feasible but essential to evolving AI tools for scientific fields, which all suffer from a lack of data. With this OpenBind release, both high-quality, standardized experimental data, and a newly trained predictive model, OpenBind v1, become freely accessible to researchers worldwide, for immediate use in therapeutic discovery and to drive the next generation of AI models.

While AI has introduced a step-change in predictive accuracy for protein structures, its impact on drug discovery has remained muted, limited above all by the global shortage of reliable experimental data measuring in atomic detail how molecules of drug discovery bind to disease-related proteins. OpenBind aims to fill this critical gap.

Led by Diamond Light Source, the collaboration of structural biologists and AI specialists—supported in its foundation phase by the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT)—is the first initiative to generate these essential datasets at an industrial scale, openly and continuously, and designed specifically for AI.

This first release demonstrates that OpenBind’s pipeline is now operational, having generated 800 high-quality measurements in only seven months—in the past, such large datasets took years to be produced and released.

This integrated operation combines automated chemistry, robust binding measurements and high throughput crystallography at Diamond’s XChem Fragment Screening facility with an engineered data release process and AI model training using the UK’s Isambard-AI compute cluster.

It lays the groundwork for transformative progress in drug discovery, with future data tranches planned to address global-health challenges such as COVID-19, malaria, dengue, Zika, and cancer, where rapid development of new treatments remains vital.

Professor Mohammed Alquraishi of Columbia University said, “AlphaFold2 revolutionized protein structure prediction by leveraging decades of experimental data on protein structures in the PDB. The equivalent of such a dataset for protein-drug complexes does not yet exist, but OpenBind aims to create it, and in the process create the next generation of computational tools for modeling interactions between drugs and proteins.”

The initial dataset also reflects invaluable learning from the initiative’s early experimental cycles. Standardized workflows, strong metadata practices and high levels of automation have proven crucial in ensuring the consistency and reproducibility required for AI, while highlighting opportunities to further streamline data handling and release frequency.

Dr. Fergus Imrie of the University of Oxford said, “High-quality experimental data is essential for developing new and improved AI models, and this first data release shows that OpenBind now has this foundation in place. We’re enabling AI to improve model performance and guide future experiments, helping to accelerate discovery.

“The lessons from these early cycles are already helping us improve the speed, consistency, and reproducibility of the pipeline, which will be critical as OpenBind grows.”

Professor Frank von Delft, principal beamline scientist at Diamond Light Source, said, “We couldn’t have made such rapid progress without the contributions of our consortium members and operational team. Their expertise and commitment have enabled us to reach this ambitious milestone. We will now implement the lessons from this foundation phase to ramp up a long-term operation that links high-volume production of AI data with active discovery projects.”

Building on this foundation, OpenBind will expand to include many more targets, larger chemical series and deeper datasets, alongside community-blind challenges that will validate AI models for newly generated experimental data. Ultimately, OpenBind aims to create a global, open data engine capable of supporting the development of faster, more accurate and more equitable therapeutics.

News Staff by — May 08, 2026 By News Staff in Biotechnology Today
Key magic mushroom ingredient makes fish less aggressive and lazier

More than 200 mushrooms—primarily those belonging to a genus of gilled mushrooms called Psilocybe—contain the psychoactive compound psilocybin. In the brain of mammals, this chemical can bind to serotonin receptors and influence behavior and emotions, including aggression, appetite, and mood. Its effects on the social behavior of animals, however, remain largely undescribed.

In a new Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience study, researchers in Canada have tested whether the effects of psilocybin extend to the social behavior of the amphibious mangrove rivulus fish (Kryptolebias marmoratus).

“We show that an acute, low dose of psilocybin significantly reduces activity and aggressive attack behavior during social interactions in adult mangrove rivulus fish, a species that is naturally highly aggressive,” said first author Dayna Forsyth, a research associate and former MSc student at Acadia University in Nova Scotia.

“These findings provide the first evidence that psilocybin can selectively reduce escalated aggression in a vertebrate model without suppressing social interaction,” added senior author Dr. Suzie Currie, a biologist at The University of British Columbia.

Calm waters

Mangrove rivulus fish are innately aggressive, especially when paired with another individual. Their aggressive behaviors are straightforward and subtle changes can easily be detected. These fish are also self-fertilizing and produce embryos that are genetically identical. Therefore, this model ensures all observed effects are caused by psilocybin treatment rather than genetic differences between fish.

The team used three genetically distinct, laboratory-bred lines. Fish from one line were exposed to psilocybin, fish from a second served as stimulus fish. A third line was used to quantify whole-body concentrations and absorption of psilocybin.

For the first phase of the experiment, the focal fish was added into a tank containing a stimulus fish to measure baseline behavior. The fish were separated by an opaque cover placed over a fiberglass mesh barrier through which the fish could see and smell, but not reach, each other. After a five-minute adjustment period to the shared tank, the opaque barrier was removed and interaction monitored.

Twenty-four hours later, the same focal fish was put in a water tank in which psilocybin was dissolved. After exposure to the substance for 20 minutes, the fish was added into the tank occupied by the same stimulus fish of the day before. After removal of the opaque barrier, interaction was observed again.

Magic mushroom, mellow fish

Observation of behaviors to measure activity (time spent moving) and aggression levels (including swimming bursts) revealed that fish dosed with psilocybin showed decreased levels of activity and performed fewer swimming bursts compared to specimens that hadn’t received psilocybin treatment.

“Swimming bursts are high‑energy attack behaviors that represent an escalation of aggression towards the stimulus fish without making physical contact,” explained Currie. “Other types of aggressive behaviors, like head‑on displays, are more about communication and social assessment and require very little energy.”

“Psilocybin’s calming effect appears to selectively reduce energetically costly, escalated behaviors while lower‑energy social display behaviors remained largely unchanged,” said Forsyth. “This suggests that this compound can selectively dampen escalated social conflict rather than shutting down behavior altogether.”

Psilocybin also influenced activity levels, with dosed fish spending less time moving than control fish when paired with a conspecific.

Diving deeper

In the long run, non-human models in drug-screening experiments like this can provide robust results that can later be translated to humans. In the future, findings like those made here could help inform therapeutic research by clarifying which aspects of social behavior are most sensitive to psilocybin.

The team cautioned, however, that the current study did not test clinical treatments and results from fish cannot be directly extrapolated to humans.

The study also focused on single doses and short periods of exposure, and didn’t examine long-term effects, repeated dosing, or adaptation over time. Future studies are needed to confirm whether the lower level of aggression observed here can be sustained.

“Future studies can build on this work to explore how psilocybin alters neural signaling, which serotonin pathways are involved, and why some aspects of social behavior are affected while others are not,” concluded Currie. “These are questions that are difficult or impossible to answer directly in humans.”

News Staff by — May 08, 2026 By News Staff in Global News
Large study finds a strong link between depression and problem cannabis use

A new meta-analysis of 55 studies involving more than 3 million people has found that 31% of individuals with cannabis use disorder (CUD) also struggle with major depressive disorder (MDD). While a link between these two conditions has been known for some time, this study provides the clearest evidence to date that the relationship goes both ways. CUD was also found to be present in 10% of those with MDD.

The findings are published in the Journal of Psychiatric Research.

An international team of scientists searched major databases to identify relevant studies published in English and Portuguese through to 2024. They used mathematical models to combine results from millions of people, ensuring they accounted for differences in age, gender, and location.

Setting matters

The team discovered that the overlap between MDD and CUD varies significantly depending on the setting. For example, in the community (among the general public or volunteers in the studies), rates of cannabis use disorder among people with depression are relatively low. However, in psychiatric clinics, the connection is much stronger. More than 28% of patients being treated for depression also meet the criteria for CUD.

The meta-analysis also revealed that the two disorders are often linked throughout a person’s life, even if they are not present at the same time. While 20% of those with cannabis use disorder were found to be depressed at the time they participated in their respective study, 35% had struggled with depression at some point during their lives.

The problem of overlapping symptoms

Despite these findings, the researchers note that several limitations may prevent us from getting a clear picture of what is happening. One major challenge is an overlap in diagnosis where symptoms of cannabis withdrawal, such as anxiety, irritability, and sleep disturbances, are very similar to the clinical signs of depression. This makes it difficult for doctors to determine whether someone is suffering from a depressive disorder or the effects of their cannabis use.

Additionally, much of the data comes from North America, so it may not reflect conditions in other countries or cultures.

Future screening

However, due to the high percentages involved, the study authors recommend that health care providers regularly screen for cannabis use in depressed patients. Likewise, they suggest evaluating depression levels in those seeking help for CUD.

“Differences between psychiatric and community samples—especially the markedly higher current CUD prevalence in patients with MDD—underscore the need for systematic screening across treatment settings,” wrote the team in their paper.

Because the two disorders appear deeply linked, catching one early may prevent the other from worsening.

News Staff by — May 08, 2026 By News Staff in Global News
With large DNA fragment assembly, scientists can design microbes that produce countless complex products

A review in Quantitative Biology demonstrates that scientists can now reliably build and combine very large pieces of DNA, making it much easier to redesign microbes such as yeast and bacteria to act as efficient “cell factories.” With these advances, whole biological pathways, and even extra chromosomes, can be assembled and inserted into cells, allowing microbes to produce complex products like medicines, fuels, and chemicals more efficiently than before.

The review highlights recent progress and makes clear that the field has reached a turning point. The ability to assemble large DNA segments quickly and accurately opens possibilities with relevance for health care, sustainable manufacturing, agriculture, and industrial biotechnology.

The methods described are relevant to ongoing global debates about how to reduce reliance on fossil fuel-based production, improve the sustainability of manufacturing, and scale up biotechnological solutions safely.

“As large DNA assembly technologies increasingly integrate with automated platforms and AI-driven design, the development cycle of microbial cell factories is poised to accelerate dramatically,” said corresponding author Yue Shen, Ph.D., Chief Scientist of Synthetic Biology of BGI Research, in China. “This technological leap is unlocking their true potential as practical, sustainable platforms for global biomanufacturing.”

News Staff by — May 08, 2026 By News Staff in Biotechnology Today