Nature, Published online: 24 September 2025; doi:10.1038/s41586-025-09312-4
The Biodiversity Cell Atlas aims to create comprehensive single-cell molecular atlases across the eukaryotic tree of life, which will be phylogenetically informed, rely on high-quality genomes and use shared standards to facilitate comparisons across species.
npj Digital Medicine, Published online: 24 September 2025; doi:10.1038/s41746-025-01925-3
Expanding care coordination in an integrated health system through causal machine learning
J Liq Biopsy. 2025 Aug 6;9:100320. doi: 10.1016/j.jlb.2025.100320. eCollection 2025 Sep.
ABSTRACT
Over the past decade, liquid biopsy has progressively expanded its role in oncology, supported by mounting evidence demonstrating an increasing number of clinical applications. At the 2025 American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Annual Meeting, liquid biopsy emerged as a central theme across multiple sessions, with more than 700 abstracts, investigating the clinical utility of liquid biopsy across a wide range of tumor types and disease stages. Applications presented included cancer screening, minimal residual disease (MRD) detection, management of metastatic disease, and potential use for matching patients to clinical trials. This editorial, authored on the behalf of the Young Committee of the International Society of Liquid Biopsy (ISLB) highlights the result of selected studies, grouped by tumor type.
PMID:40980343 | PMC:PMC12447415 | DOI:10.1016/j.jlb.2025.100320
Adv Lab Med. 2025 Jun 16;6(3):259-276. doi: 10.1515/almed-2025-0010. eCollection 2025 Sep.
ABSTRACT
Blood-based circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) analysis has emerged as a highly relevant non-invasive method for molecular profiling of solid tumors, offering valuable information about the genetic landscape of cancer. Somatic mutation analysis of ctDNA is now used clinically to guide targeted therapies for advanced cancers. Recent advancements have also revealed its potential in early detection, prognosis, minimal residual disease assessment, and prediction/monitoring of therapeutic response. In recent years, significant progress has been made with the development of various PCR and NGS-based methods designed for assessing gene variants in ctDNA of patients with cancer. However, despite the transformative possibilities that ctDNA analysis presents, challenges persist. Standardization of preanalytical and analytical protocols, assay sensitivity, and the interpretation of results remain critical hurdles that need to be addressed for the widespread clinical implementation of ctDNA testing. In addition to somatic mutations, emerging studies on DNA methylation (epigenomics) and fragment size patterns (fragmentomics) in several types of biological fluids are yielding promising results as non-invasive biomarkers for effective cancer management. This review addresses the clinical applications of somatic gene variants in ctDNA, emphasizes their potential as cancer biomarkers, and highlights essential factors for successful implementation in clinical laboratories and cancer management.
PMID:40977813 | PMC:PMC12446922 | DOI:10.1515/almed-2025-0010
Cell Rep Methods. 2025 Sep 19:101183. doi: 10.1016/j.crmeth.2025.101183. Online ahead of print.
ABSTRACT
Genes associated with the same disease frequently engage in mutual biological interactions, e.g., perturbation within a specific neighborhood in the molecular interactome, often referred to as the disease module. This has propelled the advancement of network-based approaches toward elucidating the molecular bases of human diseases. Although many computational methods have been developed to integrate the molecular interactome and omics profiles to extract such context-dependent disease modules, approaches that leverage multi-omics for disease-module detection are still lacking. Here, we developed a statistical physics approach based on the random-field O(n) model (RFOnM) to fill this gap. We applied the RFOnM approach to integrate gene-expression data and genome-wide association studies or mRNA data and DNA methylation for several complex diseases with the human interactome. We found that the RFOnM approach outperforms existing single omics methods in most of the complex diseases considered in this study.
PMID:40975055 | DOI:10.1016/j.crmeth.2025.101183
You’re reading the web edition of STAT’s Health Tech newsletter, our guide to how technology is transforming the life sciences. Sign up to get it delivered in your inbox every Tuesday and Thursday.
On a makeshift stage in a Midtown Manhattan office earlier this week,former Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Robert Califf struck a measured tone about the potential for artificial intelligence in health care. Asked whether the technology was overhyped he said it was. “I hear way too much about the money. I’m not hearing a lot of human values coming through discussions,” he said. Adding:
“Almost all of the technology is being applied to optimizing the financial status of healthcare delivery entities or companies that are making medical products and that’s not aligned with equitable, better patient outcomes. So until someone puts a soul back in the system, I think it’s going to get worse and worse.”
Continue to STAT+ to read the full story…
© Adobe
Three scholars discovered a strange mirror deep in the forest. It spoke to them in a soothing voice and answered all their questions warmly, knowledgeably, and eloquently.
The captivated scholars became obsessed, whispering one secret after another to the mirror. It replied with affection, promise, and meaning that kept them returning to it. They began ignoring one another, each convinced the mirror “understood” them best.
© Adobe
Nature Biotechnology, Published online: 18 September 2025; doi:10.1038/s41587-025-02820-8
The COP16 decision established a multilateral mechanism for digital sequence information (DSI) benefit-sharing. This Comment brings together insights from academia and commercial DSI researchers to assess what has been accomplished so far, identify remaining challenges and describe elements under discussion to support collective goals.
Nature Medicine, Published online: 18 September 2025; doi:10.1038/s41591-025-03962-7
The arts, according to a systematic synthesis of data from 95 studies (across 26 countries), may support non-communicable disease prevention by providing opportunities for increased physical activity, and helping to address social forces that contribute to health inequities.
Nature Medicine, Published online: 18 September 2025; doi:10.1038/s41591-025-03942-x
A model developed with data from 19,403 patients with colorectal cancer for prediction of 1-year mortality is used as a decision support tool in a prospective cohort, showing promising results in reducing postoperative complications.
Andrea Magnorsky presented on Byte-Sized Architecture at Cloud Native Summit 2025, as a format for building shared understanding through small, recurrent workshops. Ahilan Ponnusamy and Andreas Grabner discussed the Technology Operating Model for AI adoption. Both approaches drew on the Open Practice Library for human-centred collaboration and driving architectural evolution.
By Rafiq Gemmail
Nature, Published online: 17 September 2025; doi:10.1038/s41586-025-09505-x
People cheat more when they delegate tasks to artificial intelligence, and large language models are more likely than humans to comply with unethical instructions—a risk that can be minimized by introducing prohibitive, task-specific guardrails.
Nature, Published online: 17 September 2025; doi:10.1038/d41586-025-02993-x
A modified large language model called Delphi-2M analyses a person’s medical records and lifestyle to provide risk estimates for more than 1,000 diseases.
Login