Two new RNA panels now live on the platform: Amino Acids Tryptophan, Kynurenine & Monoamine

New long COVID study suggests tiny packets released by gut bacteria may help drive gut problems, immune activation, and brain-related symptoms in some people with long COVID.

Big pharma is going deeper into AI drug development. Lilly’s new deal with Insilico is worth up to $2.75 billion and centres on drugs designed with AI, spanning across multiple therapeutic areas. This is the future of drug development.

A new ME/CFS study found signs that people with more severe illness may show different spinal fluid protein patterns linked to immune activity, blood clotting, cell stress, and brain-related signaling. People with POTS also showed a different pattern. Simple breakdown 🧵

Two new RNA panels live: Gut Barrier & Mucosal Immunity (128 genes): gut lining, mucus, local immune defence Lipid & Fatty Acid Biology (203 genes): fat metabolism, transport, signalling, membranes Now available on individual dashboards.

New study suggests antibodies from some people with ME/CFS may directly affect healthy cells. In lab tests, patient IgG changed how cells produce and manage energy, changed the shape of mitochondria, and changed inflammatory signals.

Two recent stories suggested AI may help find highly personal treatment routes in cancer, one in Sid Sijbrandij and one in Rosie the dog. There is some nuance here, so I’ll break down what happened in simple language, including cost, and how similar logic could apply to chronic disease.

If you have ME/CFS or LC & have done Lyme testing, the result is often not as simple as it reads. Some tests are quite specific. Some tests sold right now can generate lots of false positives. And some miss real infections. I’ll breakdown the testing landscape in this thread 🧵

Vascular gene panel now available for all individuals with RNA results. Covers genes linked to blood vessel structure and function, including endothelial biology, vessel tone, angiogenesis, lymphatics, and barrier integrity. More panels coming soon.

Vascular gene panel now available for all individuals with RNA results. Covers genes linked to blood vessel structure and function, including endothelial biology, vessel tone, angiogenesis, lymphatics, and barrier integrity. More panels coming soon.

A new brain scan study found widespread inflammation-related changes across the brain’s wiring in ME/CFS, and some matched worse mental health, more disability, and greater illness severity.

Switching off 2 genes helped worn-out T cells start working better again in chronic viral infection models, without clearly harming immune memory in those models. That could be relevant if viral persistence drives T-cell exhaustion in some long COVID or ME/CFS.

A study of 40,537 people found key immune cells that fight infections were still below earlier levels up to 20 months after the major COVID wave. In people with heart and blood vessel disease, some of these cells were about 70% lower than earlier levels.

A study found a small set of molecules in blood that can separate people with Long COVID from recovered patients 1 year after severe infection. Using machine learning on metabolomics data, researchers identified 9 molecules linked to energy problems in the body.

New research suggests antibodies from people with ME/CFS and Long COVID may directly change how cells handle energy and inflammation. The study found these antibodies may fragment mitochondria and alter immune signals.

Ion channels control sodium, potassium, and calcium inside our cells. This pathway is being studied in ME/CFS and Long COVID because it could connect immune signals, blood flow control, nerve symptoms, and PEM after exertion. Let’s break it down in simple language.

CAR-T is a treatment that takes your own immune cells, reprograms them to attack a specific target, and puts them back into your body. It is already used in some blood cancers. In this thread, I will explain how it works and how it could potentially relate to long COVID and ME/CFS.

Many patients are told they have Functional Neurological Disorder (FND). This includes people with long COVID, ME/CFS, and many others. The core issue is that FND is built on flawed logic. When you break down the criteria, it often becomes a diagnosis of “we don’t understand.”

Long COVID patients in this study scored worse on thinking tests and had lower levels of mitochondrial DNA fragments in blood. People with higher levels of those fragments tended to score better on cognition and had lower CRP (a blood inflammation marker).

A mitochondrial drug is being tested for long COVID fatigue with post exertional malaise (PEM). What it does, and what the prior trials found 🧵 clinicaltrials.gov/study/NCT072...

Scientists engineered “helper” immune T cells to recognise Alzheimer plaque in mice. The cells piled up where plaque builds up around the brain. A short-lived version was linked to fewer brain plaques and lower inflammation signals. Early mouse proof of concept.

Long COVID blood signal in this study: Many more tiny “microclots” plus higher markers of some overactive white blood cells. The two also often show up stuck together in the same clumps. This pattern may help with measurement and subgrouping.

Some immunosuppressed blood cancer or blood disorder patients stayed COVID PCR positive for weeks to months after single antivirals. In this hospital cohort, 2 to 3 antivirals together was followed by PCR clearance in 13 of 15 followable episodes.

Brain scans in Long COVID found a brain fluid structure that was larger and had lower blood flow. These scan changes were linked to higher Alzheimer’s-related blood markers and small differences on thinking tests.

A 6-month randomised trial tested whether a Fitbit + pacing app could reduce post-exertional malaise (PEM) in long COVID. It was safe and well run, but it did not improve PEM more than usual care.

Replication update in mostly moderate, non-PEM sampling: the 2016 “ME/CFS serum changes muscle cell respiration” signal wasn’t reproduced in this assay. Useful to narrow focus, but it doesn’t cover severe ME/CFS or blood drawn during PEM.

New study: People with ME/CFS and Long COVID show a clear drop in how their bodies make energy after exertion. This drop appears on repeat testing, and not just from being unfit.

Viruses appear to play a meaningful role in aging. Across a lifetime, infections may speed up immune aging, increase long-term inflammation, and raise the risk of age-related diseases.

Many diseases were once called “psychological” or “all in the mind”. Again and again, biology later proved otherwise. This thread shows clear cases where medicine got it wrong, then changed its mind once real mechanisms were found.

A blood protein often found elevated in Alzheimer’s patients rose ~59% after COVID, but only in people with long-lasting neurological symptoms. This study tracked people before and after COVID and found the signal wasn’t there before infection.

Brain scans in ME/CFS and Long COVID have found changes in glutamate and GABA, the chemicals that control brain activity. Multiple studies now suggest disrupted excitation and inhibition may be linked to brain fog, fatigue, and sensory symptoms. Let’s breakdown in simple terms.

New Google DeepMind AlphaGenome paper: an AI reads 1,000,000 DNA letters at once and predicts lab-style genome signals down to single letters. What this means: it may help turn “unknown” non-coding variants into testable guesses about which genes or processes they affect.

New ME/CFS + fibromyalgia study: Patients had higher “OPRM1” DNA methylation (a gene control tag that can reduce gene activity, how on or off genes are). This supports the idea the body’s own opioid pain-control system may be altered in these illnesses.

Long COVID blood clue: tiny “packages” in serum (extracellular vesicles, EVs) contained fragments of SARS-CoV-2 proteins in many samples, even long after infection. This could help explain why symptoms can persist and may offer a biomarker.

Scientists just mapped tiny veins across the entire living human brain in under 7 minutes using ultra-high resolution MRI. Previously this kind of detailed view was mainly built from postmortem (after death) methods. Here’s what they did and why it matters.

ME/CFS (myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome) is a serious, chronic, multi-system disease. It is not “just being tired” The hallmark problem is exertion intolerance: activity can trigger a delayed worsening of symptoms, known as PEM Breakdown in simple language 🧵

Breakdown of our Health Rising interview: we’re building one of the biggest Long COVID + ME/CFS biology datasets yet, using a blood test that reads ~20,000 gene activity signals plus a 350-question symptom map. The aim is to find subgroups and speed up treatments that may actually fit.

Long COVID brain fog may have a measurable brain energy signal. A whole brain scan found lower ATP/PCr (ATP = main energy molecule in cells, PCr = fast energy backup) in the cingulate cortex, and in the anterior cingulate, lower values lined up with worse cognitive test scores.

EBV and MS: a shared T cell target (ANO2). This study finds about 57% of people with MS have CD4 T cells that react to ANO2. Some of those T cells also react to EBV EBNA1. In mice, ANO2-focused T cells were linked to worse MS-like disease.

ME/CFS immune cell lines show unusual fat buildup. One specific membrane fat, PC(O-38:4), is much lower and almost separates ME/CFS from controls. Many triglycerides, diglycerides, and fatty acids are higher. A lipid enzyme PTDSS1 is higher too. Paper by @DanMissailidis & Co

New research on ME/CFS finds unusual cell signals after exercise. Tiny packages released by cells (extracellular vesicles) show problems with energy production, an overactive immune system, and cell stress. Let’s break it down in simple terms.

New analysis suggests treating COVID-19 right at its entry point (nose & throat) can slow or stop the virus early. Using simple nasal sprays or gargles (like iodine solution or salt water) early on might lower the risk of severe illness.

For the first time, scientists have reversed advanced Alzheimer’s disease in mice - fully restoring memory and repairing brain damage by targeting the brain’s energy supply.

Microclots and protein chemical changes: separating pre-COVID POTS, Long COVID, and Long COVID POTS. Microclot counts were not clearly different after strict stats. Protein amounts barely changed. But PTMs (chemical changes on proteins) inside microclots differed a lot.

Lab-grown mini muscles showed that blood from people with chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS) and Long COVID can directly weaken and damage muscle cells. The muscles first tried to adapt their energy use, then became fragile and lost strength.

New research finds people with ME/CFS have a striking deficiency in vasopressin - a hormone that helps the body retain water. This could explain common symptoms like constant thirst and dizziness upon standing. Let's break down the findings.

Long COVID immune findings from a large clinical trial (STOP-PASC). Short antiviral (Paxlovid) treatment changed immune signals briefly, but did not improve symptoms. Across many studies, Long COVID shows a shared pattern of ongoing immune activation.

2025 brought big new clues about Long COVID and ME/CFS: Genes tied to risk, immune and clotting changes, PEM findings, possible blood tests, and brain changes. Here is an end of year round up in plain language.

New research shows major damage in the brain stress system of people with very severe ME/CFS. The key finding: a near-loss of the neurons that start the cortisol stress response. This helps explain low cortisol and many symptoms. Let’s break it down in simple language.

New ME genetics study: using a new way to scan DNA, researchers found over 22,000 repeatable genetic patterns linked to ME, many shared with long COVID. 259 noted as core genes. Let’s break it down in simplified language. precisionlife.com/news-and-eve...