Life and Health Today Weekly: CRISPR therapy cuts sickle haemoglobin by two-thirds in lab and mouse tests
Issue of 21 September 2026
What happened last week.
- Regenerative CRISPR therapy cuts sickle haemoglobin by two-thirds in lab and mouse tests
Researchers have published preclinical data for CRISPR_SCD001, a gene-editing therapy designed to correct the mutation that causes sickle cell disease. In laboratory cultures and in mice, the approach sharply reduced the proportion of disease-causing haemoglobin. The work has not yet been tested in people, but the authors say the data support moving to a first-in-human safety trial.
- Longevity AI model predicts which memory-impaired patients will develop dementia within two years
A machine-learning tool trained on data from 828 people with mild cognitive impairment correctly identified who would progress to dementia within two years about 82% of the time. The model drew on brain scans, cognitive tests and genetic risk factors together, and it was tested on patients it had never seen before. The findings, published in GeroScience, do not yet tell us whether acting on such a prediction changes outcomes.
- Biohacking Brain scans reveal five distinct biological subtypes of depression in 263 patients
A University of Helsinki study using high-resolution brain imaging found that people diagnosed with the same condition can have opposite patterns of brain activity. The finding may explain decades of contradictory research and points toward a future where treatment is matched to biology rather than chosen by trial and error. Nobody is there yet, but the map just got more detailed.
- Biohacking Fish brains have a dedicated circuit for reading a neighbor's panic
Researchers at the University of California San Diego found a midbrain circuit in glassfish that fires when a schoolmate escapes, or simply vanishes. The same ancient brain structure exists in birds and mammals, including humans. The study was published in Nature.
- Longevity Kidney protection from GLP-1 and SGLT-2 drugs depends on one blood marker
A large observational study published in The BMJ found that two widely used diabetes drug classes cut the five-year risk of serious kidney decline by roughly 40%, but only in patients who already showed signs of kidney stress. In people without that marker, neither drug class outperformed an older comparison drug. The finding matters for anyone on these medications who has never had their urine tested for albumin.
- Regenerative FDA flags Class I recall of CooperSurgical infant nasal CPAP sets over loose tubing
CooperSurgical has recalled specific lots of its INCA Neonatal Nasal CPAP Complete Set and Replacement Set after the company found that tubing can disconnect from the nasal cannula, potentially cutting oxygen delivery to newborns. The FDA has classified this as its most serious category of recall. No injuries or deaths had been reported as of August 11, when CooperSurgical notified affected customers.
- Regenerative CRISPR tool maps unknown genes across bacteriophage genomes
Researchers at the University of Otago in New Zealand have built a method that systematically disrupts genes across phage genomes, revealing which ones are essential and which can be replaced or augmented. The work, published in Nature Microbiology, could accelerate efforts to engineer phages as treatments for drug-resistant bacterial infections. Most phage genes are still functionally unknown, and this platform is designed to change that.
- Regenerative A UTI drug may work in a second way: helping bladder cells destroy hidden bacteria
E. coli can burrow inside the cells lining the bladder and hide from antibiotics, which is one reason urinary tract infections keep coming back. A study published in PLOS Pathogens now reports that an existing preventive drug, OM-89, appears to strengthen the very cellular machinery that bladder cells use to destroy those hidden bacteria, and to pull antibiotics inside with them. The work was done in mouse and human cell models, not in patients, so its clinical meaning is still open.
- Longevity A blood score built on AI may track how many 'zombie cells' you carry
Researchers have developed a deep-learning tool that converts dozens of blood proteins into a single score for cellular senescence, the accumulation of damaged cells that refuse to die. In a large UK population dataset, the score predicted mortality and the onset of serious conditions including dementia, stroke and heart attack. A separate trial found that 18 months of exercise shifted the score's trajectory.
- Longevity Liver growth hormone signalling shapes ageing pace in mice, study finds
Mice engineered to lack growth hormone receptors only in their liver aged faster, lived shorter lives and developed worse metabolic disease than normal mice, according to a study published in Aging Cell in October 2026. The work identifies a molecular chain linking liver signalling to fat metabolism and mitochondrial damage, and points to one enzyme in that chain as a possible drug target. All of this is in mice; none of it has been tested in people.
- Longevity Blood proteins may flag Alzheimer's risk earlier than spinal fluid, monkey study finds
Researchers profiling proteins in the blood and spinal fluid of 66 rhesus macaques found that plasma markers of amyloid buildup tracked brain pathology more closely than the same markers measured in cerebrospinal fluid. The work, published in GeroScience, is entirely in non-human primates and has not been tested in people, but it maps a set of biological signals that researchers hope to use as early-warning tools for neurodegenerative disease.