AI Nasal Spray Blocks Flu and COVID

FEATURED RESEARCH

AI-Engineered Nasal Spray Shows Strong Protection Against Flu and COVID

Respiratory viruses keep finding ways around our defenses. Vaccines help, but flu and COVID variants mutate quickly, and protection often arrives after exposure.

Researchers at KAIST think a different strategy could work better by stopping viruses right where they enter the body, our noses!

Their solution is an AI-engineered nasal spray built around interferon-lambda, a protein the body already uses to fight respiratory infections. The idea is simple. Strengthen what nature already made, then deliver it exactly where it’s needed.

A fragile but powerful immune protein: Interferon-lambda plays a key role in early antiviral defense, especially in the lining of the nose and airways. In theory, spraying it directly into the nose should block viruses before they spread.

In practice, the protein breaks down quickly, clumps together, and gets cleared by mucus before it can do much good.

That’s where AI came in. The team used AI-based protein design to reinforce weak regions of interferon-lambda, replacing unstable structures with more rigid ones and adding sugar chains to improve stability and movement through mucus.

The redesigned protein stayed intact even after two weeks at high temperatures and diffused efficiently through thick nasal mucus.

Getting the drug to stick: Stability alone wasn’t enough. The researchers wrapped the engineered protein inside tiny nanoliposomes and coated them with chitosan, a material that helps drugs adhere to the nasal lining. This allowed the antiviral to remain in place long enough to do its job.

In animal studies, a single intranasal dose reduced viral levels in the nasal cavity by more than 85 percent during influenza infection. The platform also showed activity against SARS-CoV-2 in lab models.

Why it matters: This work points toward a new kind of frontline defense. A heat-stable nasal spray that works across viruses could be deployed quickly during outbreaks, even in places without reliable cold-chain storage.

It’s not a replacement for vaccines. It’s a fast, early barrier that could buy time before infections take hold. And for once, the nose might be doing most of the work.

For more details: Full Article 

Brain Booster

Select the right answer! (See explanation below and source)

What Caught My Eye

UK POLICY

The UK Opens A Public Review Of How AI Should Be Regulated In Healthcare

This week in UK policy, the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) launched a national call for evidence on how AI should be regulated in healthcare, as AI tools spread rapidly across the National Health Service (NHS).

The call runs from December 18 to February 2 and will inform the work of a newly formed National Commission on the Regulation of AI in Healthcare.

The commission brings together clinicians, regulators, patient advocates, academics, and industry leaders to advise the MHRA on future standards. The timing matters. Many current rules were written before adaptive and learning AI systems entered routine clinical use.

Three issues are front and center. Whether existing regulatory pathways still work for modern AI. How patient safety should be protected as systems evolve after deployment. And how responsibility should be shared between developers, healthcare organizations, clinicians, and patients.

The MHRA has framed this as a trust-building exercise, not just a technical update.

Patients experience the consequences of AI decisions directly, from diagnostic accuracy to privacy and access to care. By inviting public and professional input early, the regulator is signaling that AI oversight in healthcare will be shaped by real-world use, not just what happens inside the model or the lab.

For more details: Full Article

Top Funded Startups

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📢 Other Happenings in Healthcare AI

• New Hampshire's HB 1406 aims to restrict insurers from using AI to override doctors' decisions, while HB 1232 would mandate equal reimbursement for telemedicine and in-person care, both set to take effect in January 2027 if passed. [Link]

• Hyperfine received FDA clearance for its first Optive AI software update, adding multi-direction diffusion imaging to its portable MRI system, significantly enhancing stroke detection accuracy and expanding clinical utility in acute neurological care. [Link]

• Takeda’s AI-designed psoriasis pill, zasocitinib, succeeded in two late-stage trials and is set for FDA filing in 2026, positioning it as a potential $3-6B blockbuster in a crowded market of oral and injectable treatments. [Link]

Have a Great Weekend!

Trivia Answer: B) Your immune system releases chemicals that cause inflammation

Those aches aren’t directly caused by the virus invading your muscles. Instead, they’re due to inflammatory molecules like cytokines and prostaglandins released by your immune system as it fights the infection. It's your body turning up the heat, literally and figuratively, to push the virus out.