#74 - Enzymes, espionage, and experimental excrement
The coffee break biotech roundup, by SomX.
Hello, my little catalysts of chaos
This week in biotech: a world-first gene therapy has changed life forever for 3-year-old Oliver Chu; US military research into brain-targeted weapons starts to sound alarmingly plausible; microbial donations are being used to reset the gut; electronic noses are helping patients smell again; and immunology insights offer new hope in the fight against Alzheimer’s.
It’s been a truly weird and wonderful week in the world of biotech!
Dodo
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Discover 🔍
🧬 Boy with rare condition amazes doctors after world-first gene therapy (BBC News): A pioneering gene therapy has reshaped the outlook for three-year-old Oliver Chu, who lives with Hunter syndrome. Previously facing a life-threatening prognosis with progressive physical and neurological decline, Oliver is now producing a crucial enzyme his body couldn’t before, and is showing improvements in his speech and mobility. This treatment modifies his stem cells to repair the faulty gene and crosses the blood-brain barrier to protect his brain.
Our take: This genuinely heart-warming tale marks a meaningful moment in the fight against rare genetic diseases. For too long, families like the Chus have faced devastating diagnoses with little hope beyond managing symptoms and inevitable decline. Oliver’s progress, fueled by a novel one-off treatment that repairs faulty DNA, is nothing short of remarkable. Beyond Oliver’s inspiring turnaround lies the broader promise for thousands of children worldwide living with rare conditions.
🤯 Mind-altering ‘brain weapons’ no longer only science fiction, say researchers (The Guardian): Like a tale out of a dystopian novel, British academics are warning that advanced “brain weapons” that can manipulate human consciousness and behaviour. They argue that breakthroughs in neuroscience, pharmacology, and AI have made it possible to develop highly precise chemical or neuro-weapons targeting the central nervous system, capable of sedation, confusion, coercion, or cognitive disruption.
Our take: The threat of brain-targeting “neuro-weapons” is very much a Black Mirror moment. For decades, advancements in neuroscience were celebrated for the promise of healing and understanding. With current systems already able to read intention, emotional tone and sensory weighting, this new level of access creates a category of extreme exposure. Behaviour can be shaped through targeted signal adjustments rather than traditional persuasion tactics.
💩 Poo donation is the life-saving medical gift you never considered (The Independent): While donating your poo is certainly a far cry from a kidney, it plays a vital contribution to medicine through faecal microbiota transplantation. This procedure uses healthy donor stool to restore the gut microbiome in patients, successfully treating stubborn infections like Clostridioides difficile and IBS. Candidates undergo medical screening, with only a tiny fraction of samples suitable for treatment.
Our take: With donor programmes accepting only a tiny fraction of volunteers, FMT becomes a supply-limited therapy shaped by the biology of a few unusually stable microbiomes. That scarcity is now guiding researchers toward cultured, standardised microbial products. The science works, but the field might need to have backup options that don’t depend on rare gut outliers.
👃 Artificial ‘nose’ tells people when certain smells are present (Science.org): While smellovision isn’t on the cards just yet, scientists have developed a novel device enabling people who lost their sense of smell to detect certain odours via the trigeminal nerve, a lesser-known sensory pathway in the nose that picks up sensations like spiciness. Instead of targeting traditional olfactory nerves, the device uses an artificial sensor to detect specific smells and delivers these signals inside the nose.
Our take: While it cannot yet restore the rich, emotional, and nuanced experience of natural smells, the device gives clinicians a stable foothold in a notoriously difficult sensory system. The trigeminal pathway offers a direct line for engineered cues, which creates a simple and dependable signal for users who have no remaining olfactory function. It's an incredible anchor for future work in sensory repair.
And finally…
🦠 Biotech lands funding to combat Alzheimer’s by targeting the immune system (Longevity Technology): MindImmune Therapeutics’ recent $10.2M extension to their Series A funding, bringing the total to $30M, promises a new Alzheimer’s treatment through targeting neuroinflammation, a less explored but crucial driver of neurodegeneration. Their lead drug, MITI-101, is designed to block harmful peripheral immune cells from entering the brain, aiming to halt inflammation and protect neurons before significant damage occurs.
Our take: MindImmune’s target is cellular traffic through the blood–brain barrier during the earliest stages of disease, long before plaques or tangles dominate the picture. That focus turns a slow neurological decline into a problem of immune movement and timing, which gives researchers a measurable process to intercept rather than a late-stage pathology to chase.
Tune in 🎧
🇪🇺 How to succeed at BIO-Europe: DISCO Pharma takes us behind the scenes: This series follows DISCO Pharma, a German biotech, through their first BIO-Europe conference in Vienna, capturing pre-event science and goals, real-time partnering meetings with big pharma and investors.
💊 Rewriting drug discovery with an AI-multi-omics approach: Mo Jain, Chief Scientific Officer of Sapient, explains how their next-generation mass spectrometry and AI-powered multi-omics platform rapidly captures thousands of small molecule biomarkers across metabolomics, lipidomics, proteomics, and genomics.
💰How biotech companies get debt funding (without revenue): In this episode of The Biotech Startups Podcast, Parag Shah, CEO and Founding Managing Director of K2 HealthVentures, reflects on how his upbringing in New York City with immigrant parents fostered an experimental, risk-taking mindset.
Apply ✍️
🥼 Field Application Scientist, ChemoMetec: Are you ready to become the expert who empowers life science labs? You’ll lead product demos, installations, training, and presentations at customer sites, provide technical support remotely and onsite, and assist marketing and sales in targeting key customers.
🧫 Biomarker Studies Asset Manager, Roche: Interested in leading study-level biomarker? You’ll oversee end-to-end planning and execution of biomarker strategies, manage vendors and budgets, and collaborate cross-functionally to ensure data quality and timelines.
🧑🔬 Automation Scientist, Arctoris: Want to drive innovation in cell biology research and drug discovery? You’ll plan, design, and manage in vitro research projects focusing on mammalian cell culture across diseases like cancer and neuroscience.
RSVP 📆
🐝 03.12 | Co-created Future Conference with The University of Manchester | Manchester, UK: This one-day conference brings together researchers, policymakers, industry, and community partners to share collaborative sustainability research spanning materials, energy, and nature.
🧪 11.12 | International Conference on Microbial Biotechnology and Applications | London, UK: This global scientific association unites scholars, academicians, and leaders to uphold high standards in research and education.
09-10.12 | Synbitech | London, UK: SynbiTECH is the UK’s premier international forum bringing together leaders in engineering biology business, investment, policymaking, science, and research.
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