@FinanceYF5: AASF 2026: Life Sciences Moving from "Observation" to "Programming" 1/ The clearest signal from this life sciences panel: We are no longer just observing biology more accurately, but starting to learn how to precisely manipulate genes, proteins, and cellular states.
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A tweet about the AASF 2026 life sciences panel discussion, noting that life sciences are shifting from observation to targeted manipulation of genes, proteins, and cellular states.
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AASF 2026: Life Sciences Moving from “Observation” to “Programming”
1/ The clearest signal from this life sciences panel: We are no longer just observing biology more accurately, but beginning to learn how to purposefully manipulate genes, proteins, and cellular states. https://t.co/GaEH8UnoR5
2/ Stanley Qi put it bluntly from the stage: The next generation of CRISPR may not need to alter DNA at all.
Epigenetic editing can reprogram how cells read their own genome, opening new frontiers in cellular resilience, age-related diseases, and in vivo medicine.
3/ Alice Ting used a vivid analogy: Think of cells as countries, organelles as cities, and proteins as people.
With proximity labeling, it’s like being able to monitor everyone’s “credit card transaction records,” allowing us to reconstruct communities, commutes, and relationship networks.
4/ Na Ji said the biggest advance of the past decade is finally being able to see, at high resolution and high sensitivity in living animals, how cells communicate with each other.
Bianxiao Cui reminded us: genetics isn’t everything. The softness, stickiness, and relaxation of the cellular microenvironment shape fate just as much.
5/ Looking twenty years ahead:
Alice Ting’s top wish is a “protein version of CRISPR and PCR.” Stanley Qi envisions intelligent programmable medicine — shifting from intervening after problems arise to actively programming cell fate.
6/ The advice to students was remarkably consistent:
First, build a solid foundation — chemistry, biology, physics, math. Only then talk about anti-aging, or about using AI to interpret what chemistry AlphaFold has actually learned.
7/ The most immediate takeaway after listening: Life sciences are shifting from “reading life” to “writing life.” Once this step is firmly made, medicine, aging, and regeneration will all be redefined.
Which direction are you most excited to see come to fruition first?
That’s all.
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AASF 2026: Ninety-Year-Old Samuel Ting on Choosing Research Topics
1/ Ninety-year-old Samuel Ting joined in from the other end of the screen.
The entire conference was about how AI accelerates research, but he talked about how a person decides to redo something everyone believes is already finished.
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