Touching Base

More big biotech deals on the docket this week. First, Merck KGaA is buying Bio-Techne for $11.3 billion to expand its presence in high-growth life science markets. We dive into the details of this deal and then turn our attention to a $2.5 million collaboration to use artificial intelligence to find drug candidates for neuroimmune disorders. That deal involves Insilico Medicine and SK Biopharmace...

We are still talking about big pharma deals and biotech fundraising in this episode. The big news this week was Parabilis Medicines’s history-making IPO. We dive into the drug developer’s plans for the eye-popping $770.5 million that it raised. Next, we discuss the details of a collaboration between Merck and Protillion Biosciences to use artificial intelligence to discover multiple therapeutic ca...

In this week’s episode, we start with news that Fulcrum Therapeutics is scrapping its lead pipeline program for sickle cell disease following concerns from the FDA about the drug’s risks and benefits. Also on the docket, news of Eli Lilly’s latest spending. The pharma giant has added its genetic medicines pipeline and capabilities by signing a $1.9 billion agreement with Ascidian Therapeutics to d...

Agentic AI is growing in its applications. Google DeepMind and Edison are leveraging the growing capabilities by developing AI Scientists. These platforms are poised to streamline the scientific process, aiding human scientists with a variety of tasks. Meanwhile, despite positive data in its Phase III DMD therapy trial, Regenxbio’s stock fell for a variety of reasons. 10X Genomics and Harvard Univ...

Craig Venter recently passed away at the age of 79 from complications following a cancer diagnosis. He was well known in both science and industry and was an integral part of sequencing the human genome in the late 90s, competing with the government organized Human Genome Project. Through his career, he made many other important contributions in microbiology, with the “minimal cell”, in synthetic...

Some GEN editors were in sunny San Diego covering the hottest research, trends, and products from the American Association for Cancer Research meeting. We kick things off with news from America’s Finest City, particularly around the growing role of AI in oncology. Then we dive into two new research studies. In the first, scientists used CRISPR to identify genes in primary CD4+ T cells that promote...

From designing drugs with a simple text prompt to running experiments guided by extended reality, a new wave of agentic AI is transforming the modern lab. Our editors discuss the latest autonomous systems accelerating biological discovery. In business deals, Gilead Sciences has acquired Tubulis in a transaction worth up to $5 billion, strengthening the buyer’s position in antibody–drug conjugates...

This week, agentic AI steps into the limelight buoyed by the momentum from generative AI. And there’s a new virtual cell model in town courtesy of AI-drug developer Xaira Therapeutics. From the frontiers of AI, our discussion turned to feats of engineering in regenerative medicine and lipid nanoparticles. In one study, scientists redesigned LN...

A new study from the J. Craig Venter Institute simulates the complete life cycle of a minimal bacterial cell in 4D space and time at nanoscale resolution. Meanwhile, in gene editing, a new technology has designed DNA donors that evade the immune system, allowing safer large gene insertion that is one step closer to scalable mutation-agnostic therapies. In brain diseases, researchers have found a n...

In the industry news section of this week’s episode, we kick things off with Tamarind Bio’s efforts to develop user-friendly artificial intelligence tools for science researchers. Then we examine the impact of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s reversal on its earlier refusal to review Moderna’s mRNA vaccine for the flu, discuss Gilead’s acquisition of Arcellx to expand its cancer therapy pip...

Women in Science Day (February 11) was the top of the list for discussion for GEN editors in this week’s podcast. They shared an anecdote on the history of the term “scientist”—hint it was coined for a woman. A modern scientist, Medra CEO Michelle Lee, discussed with GEN how the company is integrating robotics with AI for use in biological research. GEN attended SLAS this week and we got an update...

We kick off the very first episode of 2026 with a major legal development. This week, the former CEO of CytoDyn was sentenced to 30 months in prison, more than a year after being convicted on multiple charges including four counts of securities fraud, two counts of wire fraud, and three counts of insider trading. Also, we examine recent investments in artificial intelligence by several major drugm...

In the final episode of 2025, the GEN team came together to reflect on some of the stories over the last year that they each found impactful. Some of the stories were covered in GEN ’s December issue, but our editors took the time to discuss some topics in a bit more depth during the podcast. The discussion began with an update on the progress of AI use in drug discovery. Cell and gene therapy was...

Stories on lung organoids and autism were some of the most read this week. We kicked things off by digging into recent breakthroughs in both areas including an automated method for manufacturing iPSC-derived lung organoids and how a combination of supplements reduced autism-linked behaviors in mice. Still on the topic of new research, we discussed how a protein in the extracellular matrix helps mu...

Nasal vaccines show new promise for human papillomavirus (HPV) to address cervical cancer and whooping cough. In business news, Korro's stock craters 81% as AATD interim Phase I/II results miss expectations. Additionally, Johnson & Johnson acquires Halda to expand their cancer pipeline while Merck acquires Cidara to boost antivirals. Lastly, the inaugural Genetic Agency Technology Conference (...

uniQure's “game changing” data announced in September, which showed significant slowing of Huntington’s disease (HD) progression in patients treated with its gene therapy candidate AMT-130, may not be enough to secure FDA approval. We also discuss Recursion's pivotal leadership transitions, as Najat Khan, PhD, chief R&D officer and chief commercial officer, is set to take over as the company's...

We are gearing up for our annual AI in Drug Discovery summit in a few days. So, for this episode, we focused on some recent AI news coverage. First, GEN senior editor Fay Lin, PhD, visited Seattle recently for some AI-focused meetings. She discusses her experiences in the Emerald City including an exclusive in-person interview with Nobel laureate, David Baker, PhD, on what’s real and what’s hype w...

Metal-organic frameworks and peripheral immune tolerance were the big winners of the Nobel prizes in chemistry, and in physiology or medicine, respectively. In this episode of the podcast, we discuss the winners and the impacts of their discoveries. Then we move over to some business news where we discuss a novel gene therapy for Huntington’s disease from uniQure that made waves recently. Early cl...

GEN has been at the forefront of biotech and bioprocessing news for over 40 years. Last week, editor in chief, John Sterling and deputy editor in chief, Julianna LeMieux, PhD, attended BioProcess International (BPI). This annual meeting is a hallmark event for GEN, where we attend talks, speak with a multitude of bioprocess companies, and keep up to date on the latest products and news for the yea...

Novartis has agreed to license and develop Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals’ preclinical stage small interfering RNA (siRNA) therapy ARO-SNCA, a potential treatment for Parkinson’s disease and other synucleinopathies, plus additional targets. Two stories this week covered very different types of cell reprogramming techniques for therapy development. The first approach may overcome the time delays and saf...

This week’s episode explores two frontiers: space travel and artificial intelligence. First, we discuss a study testing whether mouse sperm cryopreserved and stored in the International Space Station could still produce healthy offspring back on Earth. It’s a question with real implications for the future of deep space missions and even space tourism. Then, we turn to recent advances in AI. We tal...

This episode of  GEN 's Touching Base spotlights the unexpected relationship between breathing low oxygen and restoration of neuron function in a mouse model of Parkinson’s disease. In addition, a single gene therapy injected at birth now offers lasting protection from HIV in infant rhesus macaques. Rounding out our episode, we discuss key factors shaping this year’s A-List of Top 1...

Sarepta has temporarily paused shipments of Elevidys, its FDA-approved treatment for Duchenne muscular dystrophy. In this episode of GEN 's Touching Base , we discuss the company’s response to the tragedies associated with its DMD therapy as well as with a new therapy for limb-girdle muscular dystrophy. Also in this episode, big updates from AstraZeneca including a $50 billion investment in U.S. m...

Merck & Co. has acquired Verona Pharma for $10 billion in a deal designed to expand the pharma giant’s portfolio of cardio-pulmonary disease treatments. In a step toward virtual cell benchmarking, the Arc Institute has launched the Virtual Cell Challenge to evaluate the ability of transcriptome AI models to generalize to new cell contexts for therapeutic applications. Fujifilm rebrands life sc...

Acast BIO 2025, Huge Virtual Cell Dataset, AI-Designed De Novo Proteins BIO 2025 is off and running. GEN editors discuss the size and scope of the bustling conference hall and share excitement about the week’s talks and panels. News from BIO includes the announcement of Lilly’s acquisition of Verve Therapeutics. Editors discuss the implications of industry-backed therapeutics amid cautious investo...