iHUPO2026 Conference Highlights Biosamples to Bioinsights in Singapore

Fascinating perspective from a talk by Prof Stuart Schreiber today at the #TPDsummit especially on the heels of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine awarded for optogenetics: We usually talk about induced proximity and molecular glues strictly within small molecule pharmacology, using chemical compounds to bring target proteins together and execute new biological functions. But at its conceptual core, optogenetics is doing the exact same thing. Instead of a small molecule acting as the glue, photons provide the trigger, inducing conformational changes that bring proteins into close proximity with spatial and temporal precision. Whether triggered optically or chemically, the underlying paradigm is all about spatial choreography, bringing the right macromolecules together at the exact right time and place to drive biology. It is exciting to see pioneers like Yotam Eldar , Ofir Levi , Ofer Yizhar, and the team at Modulight Biotherapeutics pushing this very paradigm forward. Chemical or optical, the future of precision therapeutics is all about rewiring interactomes on demand. #Biotechnology #Optogenetics #MolecularGlues #InducedProximity #DrugDiscovery #NobelPrize #optogenetics

Fitness and recovery research gets more interesting when different biological pathways are studied side by side. BPC-157, TB-500, GHK-Cu, and NAD+ are each investigated for different areas of laboratory research, including tissue response, cell migration, connective tissue biology, mitochondrial activity, and cellular energy pathways. What makes this group noteworthy is not a single promised outcome, but the range of mechanisms researchers can evaluate across recovery-related and metabolic models. At ROVIQ Labs, the focus remains on controlled research, analytical precision, and responsible interpretation of what the data actually shows. 🧬 For research purposes only. No therapeutic claims are being made.   👉 For more detailed research, visit.   🔹 roviqlabs.com . . . . #FitnessResearch #RecoveryResearch #CellularScience #LaboratoryResearch #ROVIQLabs

Our white paper is out and I'm excited! It lays out a function-first approach to drug development, built on mitochondrial biology, machine learning, and recognizing real human variability. It starts with muscle and brain. I think our team did a great job of showing both the strategy and where the trajectory could take us. 👇

White paper on engineered human resilience and potential therapeutics This is a broad white paper from a startup focused on mitochondrial biology. The pitch is not really disease treatment: it is capability therapeutics, adding function to human cells to push a person above a healthy baseline, with disease used mostly as the regulatory entry point. Even without evaluating the specific biological mechanisms being targeted, the lack of focus appears to be one of the biggest challenges underlying the company's key ideas/unique insights: 1. Adopting protein components or parts from more durable organisms One of the big things is to leverage AI and existing knowledge/data to identify what components of a relevant protein (relevant = mitochondria biology-related) can be adopted into human biology, with goals to improve robustness, durability, and/or performance (e.g. stress-proof) of mitochondria in human cells. The idea isn't to replace a human protein with an ortholog, but to replace parts (e.g., domains, sequences, folds) or create a chimeric protein that can perform the functions needed in mitochondrial biology in humans. But perhaps the key underlying issues are that 1) proteins rarely perform a single function for a single mechanism and 2) the risk of impacting other biological processes creates safety concerns. He Jiankui's CCR5 editing is the prime example from the human safety perspective (outside the context of germline editing): one intended benefit, on a target whose other functions were not understood. Parts, domains, and folds of a protein are optimized in the organism they came from. How much of that optimization survives the move into a human cell is an open question. And here I already assumed and completely ignored protein biochemistry/behavior in cells (e.g. expression level, thermodynamics/fold, solubility, etc.). 2. mRNA delivery for this chimera/novel protein To avoid permanently replacing relevant human wild-type proteins via genome editing, the idea is to express these chimeras via mRNA. But mRNA changes the format of the payload, not the delivery problem. Delivery remains cell-type- or tissue-specific, and this proposal needs it in muscle, heart, etc. -- the tissues where reserve is supposed to show up. Whether it be viral-based or LNP-based, there isn't a method that can universally target all cell types. So it will be costly to find the actual delivery mode, whether it be the most promiscuous option or another cell-specific method (always the million dollar questions). And unlike a one-shot gene therapy, this ends in chronic repeat dosing. Their own staged exposure plan starts in a deficit population and widens to near-healthy participants, with a registry to catch what a trial is too small to see. So the carrier has to be tolerated over and over, in people who are not sick. That raises the bar on delivery rather than lowering it.

Rachel Jacobson and the team at Powerhouse Biology just published a white paper, and it's a great read. It's a good example of acceleration with a direction. AI narrows 250 million known proteins down to the few worth building. The goal stays fixed from the start: a measurable gain in how much stress a cell can take, tested in human cells from many different donors. It's early work, and the authors say what would prove them wrong. Link to the paper here and in their post: https://lnkd.in/gGg34exg Congrats to Rachel and the team! #Mitochondria #DrugDiscovery #AI #Biotech

Exciting new #mitochondria & #mitochondrialmedicine frontiers from our friends Powerhouse Biology -- check out their white paper below for all the details! https://lnkd.in/p/eNMP3dQr #mitoscientists United Mitochondrial Disease Foundation

And now for the detailed follow-up to our video teaser from Friday. Here, we describe how our approach to drug development can be used to efficiently make therapeutics that improve cell health in the preclinical stages that translates to improved human health in the clinic, where the vast majority (as in, >90%) of drugs fail. Grab a cup of coffee and curl up for a good read!

At Powerhouse Biology, we build capability therapeutics, medicines that add function to human cells. This is challenging biology that requires drug developers to move away from the classic target-based approach toward a more complex function-based approach. This is our 2026 White Paper "Engineered human resilience and durability", where we describe how mitochondrial biology, machine learning, AI-optimized data, and human physiology (inclusive of its variability) come together to safely enable that. We’re starting with indications in muscle and brain. We'd love for folks to share in the excitement of building this new frontier! https://lnkd.in/gYkDTs9B

*Recovery research becomes more meaningful when the focus stays on pathways, signaling, and controlled observation.** BPC-157 and TB-500 are research compounds studied in laboratory settings for their relationship with tissue response pathways, cell migration, angiogenesis-related activity, connective tissue models, and musculoskeletal signaling. Current research is focused on understanding how these mechanisms interact, how cellular responses can be measured, and what controlled studies may reveal about complex biological repair pathways. At ROVIQ Labs, the focus remains on scientific precision, analytical quality, and responsible research without overstating what current evidence can support. 🧬 For research purposes only. No therapeutic claims are being made. 👉 For more detailed research, visit. 🔹 roviqlabs.com . . . #BPC157Research #TB500Research #TissueResearch #LaboratoryScience #ROVIQLabs