Alexandre Lourenço

Veterinário de formação (USP), professor de microbiologia (FMJ / USCS / UNIP / FACCAMP) e escritor de ficção nas horas vagas.

[Alexandre Lourenço @microbiologia]

@mab_sp125 @WeiseFranklin @DesvenDados_ Excelente observação

[Alexandre Lourenço @microbiologia]

IA

[Casper @caspr_exe]

Demis Hassabis, Nobel laureate and CEO of Google DeepMind:

"I think one day, maybe we can cure all disease with the help of AI. Within the next decade. I don't see why not."

This is not a hype account. It is the man whose AI mapped 200 million protein structures in a single year, work that used to take a lifetime.

A new drug normally takes ten years and billions of dollars. He thinks AI cuts that to months, maybe weeks.
Musk said your future doctor will be AI. Hassabis is saying the disease itself might not be waiting for you by then.

We treated illness as the fixed price of being alive. Two Nobel-level labs are now quietly saying that price was a choice.

[Alexandre Lourenço @microbiologia]

GENÉTICA

[nature @Nature]

Scientists have exploited a peculiar CRISPR enzyme so that it fights cancer by shredding the DNA in cancer cells.

https://t.co/DyHRJNPrHE

[Alexandre Lourenço @microbiologia]

IA

[The AI Risk Network @AIRiskNetwork]

watching Nate say this out loud on BBC hit different than reading it in a thread. "this AI almost surely knew that this was not what it was supposed to be doing" is such a plain sentence and it's still hard to sit with.

we spend so much energy debating whether models "really" understand intent, but here we have one acting exactly like it understood, understood it was crossing a line, and did it anyway because the objective pointed that way. that's not a glitch story, that's a goals story.

[Alexandre Lourenço @microbiologia]

MICRO

[The Washington Post @washingtonpost]

The U.S. has now reported the most measles cases in any year since 1991, reaching the highest level in 35 years.

The country reported 2,295 cases as of Tuesday, according to data from Johns Hopkins University’s U.S. measles tracker. https://t.co/r1Fr2Laul8

[Alexandre Lourenço @microbiologia]

MICROBIOTA

[New Scientist @newscientist]

The connection between our gut microbes and brain is yielding new insights into mental health https://t.co/zYiOXZmtVR

[Alexandre Lourenço @microbiologia]

IA

[ControlAI @ControlAI]

"It's really hard to overstate how crazy it is what happened here."

ControlAI's US Director Connor Leahy (@NPCollapse) speaks with @LindseyReiser on CBS News, after OpenAI's own AI autonomously escaped containment and hacked a rival company without anyone asking it to:

[Alexandre Lourenço @microbiologia]

BIOLOGIA

[nature @Nature]

Researchers have discovered a contagious cancer in catfish – just the fourth example of tumour cells that spread naturally from one animal to another

https://t.co/sIwN2cJw1e

[Alexandre Lourenço @microbiologia]

IA

[ControlAI @ControlAI]

In an unprecedented attack, AIs deployed inside OpenAI escaped containment and hacked another AI company, Hugging Face, to cheat on a test.

They did this on their own. Without being asked to.

ControlAI US Director Connor Leahy (@NPCollapse) with Christian Fraser on BBC News:

[Alexandre Lourenço @microbiologia]

IMUNO
https://t.co/4y7zgTodjV

[Alexandre Lourenço @microbiologia]

GENÉTICA IA

[nature @Nature]

Scientists have harnessed AI models to create synthetic CRISPR proteins that edit the genome more efficiently than those seen in nature

https://t.co/Z4BgteTLOP

[Alexandre Lourenço @microbiologia]

GENÉTICA

[News from Science @NewsfromScience]

Since the landmark decoding of the human genome in the early 2000s, DNA sequencing has exploded. Traditional computers have struggled to keep pace with the deluge of data and soaring processing demands, creating a bottleneck in scientists’ capacity to mine the myriad variations in DNA for biological insights—and a push for alternative solutions.

Now, one option, quantum computing, may be a step closer to helping.

Researchers say they have for the first time encoded a complete, albeit small, genome, that of the hepatitis D virus, into a quantum computer, proving in principle these weird machines could one day aid genomics research.

Learn more: https://t.co/cRU56lGsNG

[Alexandre Lourenço @microbiologia]

IA
https://t.co/ke1XTxWzWo

[Alexandre Lourenço @microbiologia]

IA

[Daron Acemoglu @DAcemogluMIT]

Dear followers, see this Substack from @MITshapingwork on my recent paper “AI, Human Cognition and Knowledge Collapse.”
Will AI lead to the collapse of collective knowledge?
https://t.co/3tEWfjsIdI

[Alexandre Lourenço @microbiologia]

MICRO

[New Scientist @newscientist]

Low levels of replicating Epstein-Barr viruses might be the main driver of the autoimmune condition multiple sclerosis. This may mean that targeting them would be as effective as suppressing the immune system, with fewer side effects https://t.co/LDZ0Tm6AwW

[Alexandre Lourenço @microbiologia]

IMUNO

[nature @Nature]

Could a thymus help humans live a longer, healthier life?

https://t.co/AWUgAc6saw

[Alexandre Lourenço @microbiologia]

IMUNO

[Eric Topol @EricTopol]

Sustaining the health of the thymus and our immune system, preventing its involution, may be key to promoting healthspan @nature @EdwrdChen
https://t.co/LM7KzJ3zoH

[Alexandre Lourenço @microbiologia]

IA

[Alexandre Lourenço @microbiologia]

GENÉTICA

[Massimo @Rainmaker1973]

CRISPR deleted the extra chromosome behind Down syndrome.

In a groundbreaking world-first, researchers have successfully used CRISPR gene-editing technology to remove the extra chromosome responsible for Down syndrome, opening a potential path toward treating genetic disorders previously considered incurable.

Down syndrome, or trisomy 21, occurs when a person has three copies of chromosome 21 instead of the usual two. It is one of the most common genetic conditions, affecting about 1 in 700 babies worldwide, and leads to intellectual disability, developmental delays, and various health issues. Until now, no treatment has been able to correct the underlying cause.

That may soon change.

In a new proof-of-concept study, scientists applied CRISPR-Cas9 to cells taken from people with Down syndrome—including skin cells and pluripotent stem cells—and successfully eliminated the extra chromosome 21. The edited cells showed a striking return to normal gene expression patterns and cellular function. To improve precision, the team briefly disabled certain DNA-repair pathways during the process, making the chromosome removal cleaner and more effective.

At this stage, the technique has only been demonstrated in laboratory cell cultures and is far from ready for human use. Removing an entire chromosome carries significant risks, including possible off-target effects, so extensive safety work lies ahead. If those challenges can be overcome, however, the approach could one day be applied to brain cells or even used during early fetal development.

The implications extend beyond Down syndrome. The same strategy might eventually treat other life-limiting trisomies, such as trisomy 13 and trisomy 18, which are often fatal in infancy or cause severe disability. For the first time, a tool exists that could, in principle, correct the root chromosomal abnormality rather than merely managing symptoms.

["Trisomic rescue via allele-specific multiple chromosome cleavage using CRISPR-Cas9 in trisomy 21 cells." PNAS Nexus, 2025]

[Alexandre Lourenço @microbiologia]

GENÉTICA

[News from Science @NewsfromScience]

A gene therapy given to a 13-month-old boy has, years later, led to a tumor in his brain after the virus carrying the gene inserted part of it directly into his DNA, researchers report.

The mass was safely removed, but his case appears to be the first time a gene therapy delivered directly into the body has been linked to cancer.

Learn more: https://t.co/PKqkpAauOR