Yiming Qin, Tao Yan, Matthew Yu Heng Wong, Sahana Srinivasan, Hong-Yu Zhou, Roland Eils, Yih-Chung Tham, Nigam H. Shah, Jiamin Wu, Haibo Wang, Tien Yin Wong
{"title":"Small language models in medicine","authors":"Yiming Qin, Tao Yan, Matthew Yu Heng Wong, Sahana Srinivasan, Hong-Yu Zhou, Roland Eils, Yih-Chung Tham, Nigam H. Shah, Jiamin Wu, Haibo Wang, Tien Yin Wong","doi":"10.1038/s41551-026-01734-3","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41551-026-01734-3","url":null,"abstract":"Small language models can serve as a more scalable, practical and efficient alternative for medical applications compared to large language models. Here we discuss the strengths and limitations, challenges and future directions of small language models in healthcare implementation, highlighting their potential to enable broader real-world adoption across diverse clinical settings.","PeriodicalId":19063,"journal":{"name":"Nature Biomedical Engineering","volume":"10 8","pages":"1519-1523"},"PeriodicalIF":26.3,"publicationDate":"2026-07-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148432112","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Gabrielle N Grifno,Han Ali Kahvecioglu,Robert LeBourdais,Victoria Travnik,Rohin Banerji,Winita Wangsrikhun,Linzheng Shi,Suleyman B Bozal,Heewon Suh,Ahmed A Raslan,Athanasios Batgidis,Byungjun Kang,Feiyang Deng,Caleb Dalton,Andrew Tsao,Lauren Castle,Kathryn Regan,Abdulrahman Kobayter,Michael Vannini,Mohammad Rashidian,Liang Hao,Giovanni Ligresti,Joseph P Mizgerd,Worth Longest,Michael Hindle,W Mark Saltzman,James P Butler,Béla Suki,Hadi T Nia
{"title":"Real-time single-particle imaging of functional lungs reveals mosaic-like patterns of aerosol deposition in alveoli.","authors":"Gabrielle N Grifno,Han Ali Kahvecioglu,Robert LeBourdais,Victoria Travnik,Rohin Banerji,Winita Wangsrikhun,Linzheng Shi,Suleyman B Bozal,Heewon Suh,Ahmed A Raslan,Athanasios Batgidis,Byungjun Kang,Feiyang Deng,Caleb Dalton,Andrew Tsao,Lauren Castle,Kathryn Regan,Abdulrahman Kobayter,Michael Vannini,Mohammad Rashidian,Liang Hao,Giovanni Ligresti,Joseph P Mizgerd,Worth Longest,Michael Hindle,W Mark Saltzman,James P Butler,Béla Suki,Hadi T Nia","doi":"10.1038/s41551-026-01724-5","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1038/s41551-026-01724-5","url":null,"abstract":"Inhaled pathogens, pollutants and therapeutics interact with the dynamic architecture of the alveoli, yet how individual particles move and deposit at cellular resolution remains unclear. Here, utilizing the crystal ribcage platform, we track aerosol transport in ex vivo, actively ventilated lungs using real-time fluorescence imaging with single-particle resolution, capturing droplet trajectories, free-flight motion, impact orientation and deposition timescales within functional alveoli. These measurements show that intra-alveolar transport is directional and shaped by airway-guided flow and tissue motion. At larger scales, aerosols do not disperse uniformly throughout the lung's volume but instead concentrate into geometrically constrained clusters of alveoli, forming a conserved mosaic-like compartmentalization while neighbouring alveoli remain largely unexposed. The pattern persists across particle types and species and varies with particle properties and lung age. In models of emphysema, fibrosis and metastasis, airway remodelling alters both the geometry and amount of deposition. These multiscale insights reveal how single-particle transport and airway structure together shape alveolar exposure, immune activation, development and therapeutic accessibility.","PeriodicalId":19063,"journal":{"name":"Nature Biomedical Engineering","volume":"39 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":28.1,"publicationDate":"2026-07-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148408338","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Julia Frei,David Eisel,Natalia Teresa Jarzebska,Mark Mellett,Ikra Gizem Yener,Marie Therese Abdou,Cécile Gouttefangeas,Lukas Flatz,Mustafa Diken,Thomas M Kündig,Ugur Sahin,Steve Pascolo
{"title":"Chemically synthesized, non-capped and non-polyadenylated peptide-coding RNA efficiently induces antigen-specific CD8+ T cells.","authors":"Julia Frei,David Eisel,Natalia Teresa Jarzebska,Mark Mellett,Ikra Gizem Yener,Marie Therese Abdou,Cécile Gouttefangeas,Lukas Flatz,Mustafa Diken,Thomas M Kündig,Ugur Sahin,Steve Pascolo","doi":"10.1038/s41551-026-01738-z","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1038/s41551-026-01738-z","url":null,"abstract":"Recombinant in vitro-transcribed mRNA is broadly used for vaccination and is evaluated in numerous clinical studies for multiple indications. Typical features of mRNA are the 5' cap, 5' untranslated region, start and stop codons, 3' untranslated region and 3' poly(A) tail. Here, contrary to current dogma, we show that short, chemically synthesized RNA oligonucleotides lacking some or all of these features are efficiently translated when they encode epitopes recognized by CD8+ T cells. In particular, one design that we termed ChemRNA with the structure 5'-OH-AUG-coding sequence-3'-OH strongly stimulates antigen-specific CD8+ T cells both in vitro and in vivo. Our results challenge the current understanding of canonical mRNA structure and introduce the possibility that defective or supposedly non-coding RNA may encode human and murine major histocompatibility complex class I-associated peptides. Moreover, ChemRNA could help overcome challenges associated with the design and purification of individualized anti-cancer vaccines.","PeriodicalId":19063,"journal":{"name":"Nature Biomedical Engineering","volume":"63 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":28.1,"publicationDate":"2026-07-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148400653","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Engineering bispecific antibodies for brain delivery of biotherapeutics in multiple species.","authors":"","doi":"10.1038/s41551-026-01717-4","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1038/s41551-026-01717-4","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":19063,"journal":{"name":"Nature Biomedical Engineering","volume":"43 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":28.1,"publicationDate":"2026-07-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148400654","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}