United States – Page 31

May 13, 2026

ASGCT 2026: Victoria Gray Roadshow Returns to Boston

BOSTON – The annual American Society of Cell and Gene Therapy (ASGCT) conference got underway in Boston this week with a guest appearance by one of gene therapy’s greatest ambassadors and patient advocates.

Victoria Gray, the sickle cell warrior who was successfully treated in the exa-cel clinical trial sponsored by Vertex Pharmaceuticals/CRISPR Therapeutics seven years ago, spoke in an evening workshop organized by the Emily Whitehead Foundation and ScaleReady.

Boston is becoming a regular stomping ground for Victoria. Last November, she spoke at the Genetic Agency Technology Conference, hosted by Dyno Therapeutics. Last month, she finally received an invitation to visit the headquarters of Vertex and speak in a town hall meeting.

In an extemporaneous 20-minute speech, Victoria talked about her lifelong journey with sickle cell disease (SCD). She recalled her first major pain crisis, when she was a young girl—a lightning-type pain that began in one arm before traveling across her chest and down the other arm. “In minutes, my entire body was engulfed in pain,” she said. “The pain felt like getting struck by lightning and hit by a truck. It took me to the floor.” Her grandmother provided hot towels and Tylenol, but nothing worked—not even prayer. After a week in hospital, Victoria returned home but still felt fatigued.

Stricken by regular pain crises, a hallmark of SCD, Victoria encountered numerous disappointments growing up. Her hematologist said she could not join the cheer team. In eighth grade, she was told she could not join the basketball team, because the exertion would provoke a pain crisis. “As a kid, I was like a Timex: I could take a licking and keep on ticking,” she joked.

In high school, she signed up to join the United States Navy. “I wanted to serve my country,” Victoria recalled. As she was preparing for basic training, she learned that her disease prevented her from enrolling. “So that was another dream lost.” Next, she turned her attention to nursing. Victoria graduated high school in 2003, but it took another seven years before she could qualify for a nursing program. “Professors didn’t understand because I looked whole and complete. They didn’t think I was sick.”

In 2010, just before Halloween, Victoria had the worst pain crisis of her life, stripping her ability to walk or use her arms to feed herself. “I couldn’t do anything, facing some of the worst pain of my life. I was getting strong pain medicines like Dilaudid, ketamine, but still couldn’t move. Pain had taken over my thoughts.” Unable to sleep or even take a nap, Victoria was desperate to go home to her family.

Later, she asked the doctors if they had heard about a haplo-bone marrow transplant (BMT). “I can’t continue living like this,” she said. The doctors looked at each other and said no. After weeks of prayer, Victoria received a call from her hematologist. “Victoria, I have good news, but I only want to tell you in person.” For the first time in her adult life, Victoria was excited about a doctor’s appointment.

She traveled to Nashville with her brother, who would be her BMT donor, and her husband. She met Haydar Frangoul, MD, whom Victoria calls, “the nicest doctor that I’ve met in my adult life.” Frangoul told her: “Victoria, I wish I had met you ten years ago!’

Although Victoria’s brother was a suitable BMT match, Victoria was scared of the possibility of graft vs. host disease (GVHD). “My purple pill basket was filled to the brim with medicine every day. If I would acquire [GVHD], that basket would have to triple in size.”

“I’m a human!”

On her next visit to Nashville, she had to extend her stay because of another pain crisis. But that stay changed her life. Frangoul sat next to her bedside. “Victoria, have you ever heard of CRISPR?” he asked. Victoria shook her head.

Frangoul used a typo-in-a-textbook analogy and reassured Victoria that there was no chance of GVHD, because she would be receiving her own modified stem cells. “You’ll be the first person to do this, Victoria,” he said. “First human?” she asked. “Yes,” Frangoul said, “but it’s been tested in primates.”

“But I’m a human!” she said.

After being reassured that she could still try a bone marrow transplant if the procedure did not work, Victoria agreed to move forward. The chemotherapy, was “hell on Earth,” she recalled. “I lost my hair, which I was prepared for, but the mucositis, the sores in my mouth, the inability to eat for two weeks, was gruesome.”

Victoria swallowed her tears and decided to fight. This was the first time she had been in the hospital by her choice, to live for her children. About eight months after receiving her CRISPR-edited stem cells in July 2019, she woke up one morning, not feeling anything. “Oh my God, I’m dead,” she thought. She called her kids into the room and hugged them, slowly realizing that “this is what normal feels like.” For the first time in more than 25 years, Victoria did not have any pain in her lower back and hips. She was able to breathe deeply without wincing.

A few years after her therapy, Victoria was finally able to take her first ever flight, to Washington D.C. to visit her husband, who was on deployment. “It was the first time that I was ever able to show up for the man who has shown up for me,” she said. She has since watched her daughter dance in a Christmas parade and supported her son playing high school football. “The little things have brought me great joy,” she said.

Her second flight was a business class trip to London with her husband in March 2023, where she spoke at the third International Summit on Human Genome Editing. “I got to keep my covenant that I made with God, that God, if you do this for me, I would tell the world about what you did.”

Victoria welcomed her first granddaughter on Christmas Eve, 2024. Next week, another milestone: she will be in the audience as her twins graduate high school. And next month, she will publish a children’s book called Hema’s Journey, the tale of her inspiring journey with CRISPR gene therapy. She’s currently training for a group effort to climb Mt. Kilimanjaro.

Perhaps at next year’s ASGCT conference in Philadelphia, she will be invited to present in a plenary session on the main stage. It would be hard to think of a more fitting speaker.

The post ASGCT 2026: Victoria Gray Roadshow Returns to Boston appeared first on GEN – Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology News.

May 13, 2026

Gene Therapy ETX101 Improves Seizures and Neurodevelopment in Dravet Syndrome in Phase I/II

Dravet syndrome has long represented one of the most challenging pediatric epilepsies encountered in neurology and genetic medicine. Caused primarily by loss‑of‑function variants in SCN1A, the disorder emerges in infancy with prolonged febrile seizures and evolves into a lifelong condition marked by treatment‑resistant epilepsy, developmental delay, and significant morbidity. As the gene and cell therapy community gathers for the American Society of Gene and Cell Therapy (ASGCT) Annual Meeting, the field’s attention is turning toward approaches capable not only of reducing seizures but also of altering the developmental trajectory that defines the disorder. This year’s Presidential Symposium features new data on ETX101, an investigational gene regulation therapy from Encoded Therapeutics, that appears to move the needle on both fronts.

Encoded Therapeutics, a clinical‑stage biotechnology company developing precision genetic medicines for severe neurological disorders, has engineered ETX101 as a one‑time AAV9‑based therapy designed to increase expression of SCN1A. Rather than replacing or editing the gene, ETX101 aims to restore physiologic sodium channel function in inhibitory interneurons. The company’s Phase I/II POLARIS program is evaluating the therapy across multiple international sites in children ranging from six months to seven years of age.

The dataset presented at the ASGCT Presidential Symposium expands the emerging clinical profile of ETX101, incorporating additional patients, early readouts from the highest dose level, and longer‑term follow‑up. Across the cohort, treatment with a single intracerebroventricular dose produced a robust and dose‑dependent antiseizure effect that persisted through 52 weeks of observation. At dose level three, children experienced a median seizure reduction of approximately 76%, a notable finding given that this developmental window is typically associated with escalating seizure burden despite standard therapies. Early data from the top dose level suggest even stronger responses in participants who did not receive sirolimus, consistent with preclinical evidence that the drug can dampen protein expression.

Beyond seizure control, the therapy appears to influence developmental domains that are rarely improved in Dravet syndrome. Children who reached one year of follow‑up demonstrated measurable gains across communication, motor function, and other adaptive behaviors, as assessed by caregiver‑reported Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scales. Particularly striking were the trajectories of children treated before age two. In this group, cognitive assessments showed early and sustained divergence from the stagnation observed in the ENVISION natural history study, with trajectories more consistent with neurotypical development over the first year after treatment.

Families and clinicians have taken note of the dual signal emerging from the POLARIS dataset. “Parents of children with Dravet syndrome live with the fear of every seizure and the heartbreak of watching development stall,” said Mary Anne Meskis, CEO of the Dravet Syndrome Foundation. “To see the early and robust seizure reductions paired with meaningful developmental gains is profoundly encouraging. Families have been waiting for therapies that don’t just manage symptoms but give their children a chance to keep learning and growing.”

Encoded’s chief medical officer, Sal Rico, MD, PhD, underscored the significance of the findings. “Watching these young children not only achieve durable seizure reduction but also show early evidence of neurodevelopmental rescue is truly remarkable,” he said. “These data reinforce our belief that ETX101 has the potential to change the course of the disease and future outlook for the Dravet community.”

ETX101 has been well tolerated across all four dose levels, with no treatment‑related serious adverse events. Transaminase elevations, a known AAV class effect, were the most common treatment‑related finding; they were asymptomatic and resolved with standard management.

As the ASGCT community continues to explore the boundaries of genetic medicine, ETX101’s early results highlight the promise of targeted gene regulation as a therapeutic modality. For a disorder like Dravet syndrome, the possibility of addressing both seizures and developmental delay marks an important moment for the field.

The post Gene Therapy ETX101 Improves Seizures and Neurodevelopment in Dravet Syndrome in Phase I/II appeared first on GEN – Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology News.

May 13, 2026

A plan to make drugs in orbit is going commercial

Varda Space Industries, a startup that’s been pitching its ability to perform drug experiments in space, says it has signed up the pharmaceutical company United Therapeutics in what may be remembered as a notable step toward in-orbit manufacturing.

The idea of building things in outer space for use on Earth has so far been explored mostly on board the International Space Station, and only in small-scale experiments backed by governments.

But Varda, based in El Segundo, California, is now telling drug companies it has a practical, and repeatable, way to produce novel molecules in microgravity.

“This is the first commercial path to products made in space,” says Michael Reilly, Varda’s chief strategy officer.

The scientific idea is that chemical mixtures have different properties under weightless conditions. For instance, water will hang together in a wiggly sphere, since without gravity, surface tension is the strongest force present.

The plan is to launch versions of United Therapeutics’ drugs into orbit, where they can be allowed to form solid crystals. The hope is that in microgravity, they’ll take on atomic arrangements not seen on Earth, possibly leading to new versions with improved stability or other valuable properties.

United is led by CEO Martine Rothblatt, who worked on early telecommunications satellites. Since then, she’s built a multibillion-dollar health franchise with a succession of drugs to treat a lung disease called pulmonary arterial hypertension, which her daughter suffers from, and a subsidiary developing genetically modified pigs as a source of organs for transplantation.

Rothblatt says space could be the next step if orbital conditions permit United to identify “even more amazing” versions of its drugs.

Space to reformulate

Pharmaceutical companies often try to keep their blockbuster franchises alive by creating improved versions of drugs or reformulating them—for example, making the switch from a pill to an inhaled version, as United has done with some of its products. Doing so can keep imitators at bay and create extra decades of patent protection.

Assisting drugmakers are specialist companies, such as Halozyme and MannKind, that earn profits by helping to reformulate other companies’ drugs, often taking a royalty on future sales.

That’s the business Varda has been trying to break into—by using excursions into space instead of nebulizers, patches, or nanoparticles. The company was formed in 2021 by Delian Asparouhov, a partner at Peter Thiel’s Founders Fund, along with Will Bruey, a former avionics engineer with Elon Musk’s SpaceX who is now the company’s CEO.

The pair’s bet is that space manufacturing will become viable once rocket launches become frequent enough—and cheap enough—to support a business model in which raw materials are sent into orbit, processed, and then returned to Earth in a new form.

And that’s starting to happen. To get into space, Varda has been purchasing rides from SpaceX—which now launches a rocket every two or three days, usually a reusable Falcon 9.

Those rockets have a nose cone, or payload fairing, about the size of a moving truck that gets filled with satellites or instruments, which are then released into orbit.

Starting in 2023, Varda began sending up small satellites that have a boulder-size capsule attached. The capsule contains equipment to carry out experiments, and it can detach and fall back to Earth, entering the atmosphere at a speed of around Mach 25 before slowing via air resistance and eventually drifting to land with a parachute. (Varda lands its craft in the Australian outback.)

That speedy reentry has also drawn interest from the US military, including the Air Force, which has paid Varda to fly instruments and take measurements relevant to hypersonic missile technology. Of the six craft Varda has paid to put into orbit so far, half have been dedicated to military research and half carried drug-related demonstrations.

At Varda, such “dual use” of technology is accepted as part of being in the space business, which remains reliant on government support. The company’s founders say Varda may be the only company that employs hypersonic engineers and pharmaceutical chemists under the same roof.

At Varda’s headquarters, drug samples are loaded into a spinning arm that creates extra-high G-forces. While the opposite of microgravity, increased weight can provide clues into whether a drug will act differently under new conditions.

COURTESY VARDA

Launching industries

Actual space manufacturing still remains mostly an aspirational project. In 2021, Jeff Bezos, after his first trip aloft in a rocket, suggested that polluting industries should be moved beyond the atmosphere. “We need to take all heavy industry, all polluting industry, and move it into space. And keep Earth as this beautiful gem of a planet that it is,” he told MSNBC.

Weight is the big obstacle to such dreams. It still costs around $7,000 to launch a single kilogram of payload into orbit, which makes it impractical to, say, send cotton into space to be dyed there, or even to launch the acids and solvents needed to make a semiconductor chip.

But drugs may be among the few exceptions to this economic rule, since pound for pound, they can be as valuable as rare radioactive isotopes and fine-cut diamonds.

For instance, just one kilogram of the weight-loss drug Ozempic is worth more than $100 million at retail. (The reason your Ozempic bill is only $1,000 a month is that minute quantities of the active ingredient are present in the shots.)

That’s why Varda thinks it may eventually be able to manufacture drugs in orbit. However, its effort with United is more of a flying experiment to learn whether the company’s lung medicines will crystallize differently in microgravity.

The terms of the deal between Varda and United aren’t public, and the companies haven’t said which specific drugs the collaboration will study. But Rothblatt did confirm that United is paying Varda to help it identify new crystal forms of its drugs (also called polymorphs), which it hopes could have improved properties.

“One has to do the experiment to find out if that is so. The first part of the experiment is to see what polymorphs of these molecules can be made without the influence of gravity,” she says. “Then, once we have those polymorphs, we will test them.”

There is good evidence that crystals form differently in space. For instance, in 2017 the pharmaceutical giant Merck sent samples of its cancer immunotherapy drug Keytruda to the International Space Station, where it was found to form crystals of a single size. On Earth, the drug tended to form two different sizes at once.

That experiment offered clues for how to formulate the drug as a shot instead of administering it intravenously. Still, when Merck introduced a Keytruda injection last year, it ended up using a different approach. That means there’s still no straight-line connection between orbital discoveries and any drug here on Earth. Actual space factories are another step further from reality.

“We’ve been learning from space for years, but I can’t name anything manufactured in space, brought down to Earth, and sold,” says Reilly. “So that is a first—or it will be a first.”

Reilly says that Varda anticipates launching United Therapeutics’ drugs into orbit sometime early next year.

May 13, 2026

10x Genomics, Harvard Target Element’s Multiomics Platform in Patent Lawsuit

10x Genomics and Harvard University have sued Element Biosciences, alleging that Element’s AVITI24 multiomics platform, Teton chemistry, and related services infringe on four university-owned patents exclusively licensed by the genomics and sequencing tools giant—while Element has denied wrongdoing and promises to fight the lawsuit.

At issue are four patents—three of which cover technologies related to methods of analyzing the nucleic acids of a cell, awarded between 2021 and 2023, and all titled, “Compositions and methods for analyte detection”: U.S. Patent Nos. 11,021,737 (‘737), 11,566,276 (‘276), 11,566,277 (‘277).

The fourth patent in question, U.S. Patent No. 12,264,358 (‘358), covers methods of selectively sequencing amplicons in a biological sample, and was awarded in April 2025 under the title, “Method of selectively sequencing amplicons in a biological sample.”

“Element’s employees, customers, collaborators, and partners have practiced and continue to practice (with Element’s knowledge) one or more claims of the Harvard patents by using the AVITI24 platform and Teton workflow,” 10x and Harvard alleged in a court complaint filed May 7 in U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware. “Through the development and subsequent making, using, selling, offering for sale, and/or importing of the Accused Instrumentalities, Element has and continues to infringe the Harvard Patents.”

At the deadline, the case, 1:26-cv-00538-UNA, had not been assigned to a U.S. District Judge.

10x and Harvard have asked the court to find that Element infringed the four patents in question, declare that Element’s infringement “has been willful and deliberate;” declare each Harvard-owned patent to be “valid and enforceable;” issue a permanent injunction barring Element from using technologies based on the patents—otherwise pay 10x and Harvard “an award of post-judgment royalty to compensate for future infringement;” as well as require Element to pay 10x’s and Harvard’s attorneys’ fees and “such other and further relief as the Court may deem just, reasonable, and proper.”

Element responds

Element responded to the complaint a day later with a statement denying wrongdoing and promising to fight the lawsuit.

“Element strongly disagrees with the allegations made by 10x Genomics and believes the claims are without merit,” the firm stated. “Element will vigorously defend its technology and remains focused on delivering differentiated solutions that expand scientific discovery and customer choice. Element was founded to expand innovation and competition in the life sciences industry. We remain confident in our technology, our intellectual property, and the differentiated value our products provide to customers,” the company added. “We will continue to focus on supporting our customers and advancing the next generation of scientific innovation.”

AVITI24, launched in 2024 as a top-tier successor to its AVITI benchtop DNA sequencer and introduced two years earlier as a next-gen sequencing (NGS) platform, aims to enable simultaneous analysis of multiple biological signals—DNA, RNA, proteins, phosphoproteins, and cell structure within single cells—through a 5D multiomics system designed to deliver both spatial, single cell multiomics as well as high-quality, affordable sequencing.

Earlier this year, Element announced plans to begin offering Direct In Sample Sequencing to tissue—both FFPE and fresh frozen—during the second half of this year through AVITI24. “By contrast, 10x’s Xenium product included fresh frozen and FFPE tissue capabilities at the time it was introduced in 2022,” 10x countered in the complaint.

Element has applied AVITI24 to offer customers a combined in situ multiomics and next generation sequencing service through its AVITI24 Technology Access Program.

“Element practices the Harvard patents by using the AVITI24 platform on behalf of its own scientists and researchers and for its AVITI24 TAP customers,” 10x and Harvard alleged in their complaint, adding: “Through the AVITI24 TAP, customers submit samples to Element. Element practices the Harvard Patents by analyzing the samples using the Teton workflow on the AVITI24 platform.”

Stifling or protecting?

In its statement, Element also repeated an argument made by several other companies sued by 10x in recent years: “We believe this lawsuit yet again reflects a broader pattern of using the same patent portfolio to stifle innovations across the industry.”

Countered Michael Schnall-Levin, 10x’s chief technology officer, chief strategy officer, and founding scientist: “We strongly disagree with that characterization. 10x welcomes competition and innovation. “Over the past decade, we’ve invested more than $2 billion in R&D that has transformed how biology is studied. Protecting that work is part of our responsibility as innovators and is what enables us to continue investing in the next generation of technologies.”

Element is the latest of 10x’s rivals to find itself the target of a patent infringement lawsuit filed by 10x. Last year, 10x settled separate lawsuits with Vizgen and Bruker—the latter acquiring NanoString in 2024 from U.S. Bankruptcy Court after the company sought protection from creditors under Chapter 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code, blaming a $31 million jury award assessed against it in 2023 in a patent infringement case filed by 10x.

In October, 10x joined with two licensor partners, Prognosys Biosciences and Roche Sequencing Solutions, to file a pair of federal lawsuits accusing sequencing and multiomics giant Illumina of infringing on nine patents related to spatial biology and single-cell sequencing. Earlier last year, Illumina sued Element, accusing its smaller rival of infringing on five of its patents covering flow cell and imaging technologies used in automated genetic sequencing.

Schnall-Levin said 10x’s latest wave of litigation, starting last year, was not a response to competitive pressures the company has discussed publicly, such as academic customers slowing down spending due to federal budget cuts: “Our litigation is driven by the merits of each case based on clear evidence of others infringing our patents.”

“We consistently act when others infringe our single cell and spatial patents,” Schnall-Levin added.

Speaking with GEN last year, Serge Saxonov, PhD, co-founder and CEO of 10x Genomics, defended the company’s approach to protecting its intellectual property: “If others end up infringing and copying our inventions, then we have to protect them. It is incumbent on us, both as a means of serving our mission and as a means of being fair to all our stakeholders.”

Patents detailed

In their lawsuit, 10x and Harvard allege that the ‘358 amplicon sequencing patent’s claims cover “concrete, unconventional” methods for sequencing RNA molecules in cell or tissue samples by generating circularized RNA molecules by crosslinking or copolymerizing circular DNA, amplifying the circular DNA to produce amplicons, then using selective sequencing primers to sequence different subsets of the amplicons at a time: “These additional unconventional combinations include sequencing by synthesis (Claim 15) and using at least sixteen different selective sequencing primers (Claim 18).”

The other three patents, which cover analyte detection, include claims directed to “concrete, unconventional methods that cover:

‘276: multiplex detection of analytes in biological samples by contacting the biological sample with ‘detection reagents.’
‘277: multiplex detection of analytes in cell and tissue samples by binding ‘detection reagents’ to the cell or tissue sample.
‘737: Multiplex detection of analytes in cell and tissue samples by contacting the cell or tissue sample with ‘detection reagents.’”

10x says the methods of all three patents are practiced by its two spatial biology platforms—the Xenium In Situ single-cell spatial imaging platform, launched in December 2022, and the Atera spatial platform, unveiled last month during the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) conference.

Atera, which is designed to enable whole-transcriptome spatial biology at scale, offers more plex, throughput, and sensitivity than Xenium, thus enabling whole-transcriptome at scale. Atera includes an all-in-one instrument for sample imaging, liquid handling, hardware stabilization, and onboard analysis.

According to 10x, Atera enables 800 whole transcriptome samples per year, a 500 mm² imageable area per slide, and four slides per instrument run. Users can choose from Atera WTA, which allows for analysis of 18,000 genes, or Atera Select 1,000 custom gene panels with optional stacking of up to two 1,000-gene panels. Compared to Xenium, Atera has four times the throughput, six times higher plex capacity for targeted assays, 3.6x higher plex, and 2–3x sensitivity for whole transcriptome assays.

10x has said it plans to make Atera available in the second half of this year, though it has begun taking orders for the Atera, which is list-priced at $495,000 and measures roughly 53” x 36” x 64” or (4.42 ft × 3 ft × 5.33 ft).

Acquired for $350M

Xenium In Situ was developed by 10x using technology from ReadCoor, a company that 10x acquired in 2020 for $350 million. In 2016, Harvard licensed patents covering the technology exclusively to ReadCoor, a company founded by George M. Church, PhD, of Harvard Medical School.

Church and Je Hyuk Lee, MD, PhD, founder of Terrain Life Science and an investigator who developed Fluorescent In Situ Sequencing while a research fellow in Church’s lab more than a decade ago, are listed as first and second investors on all four patents.

The analyte detection patents (‘737, ‘276, and ‘277) also list two other Church lab alumni: Daniel Levner, PhD, co-founder and CTO of Emulate; and Michael Super, PhD, senior director, translational R&D with the Hansjörg Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University, as co-inventors.

The amplicon sequencing patent (‘358) lists as co-inventors two other Church lab alumni: Richard C. Terry, who became ReadCoor’s CEO before his current post as CEO, CTO, and founder of cell therapy manufacturer Harton, and Evan R. Daugharthy, PhD, Harton’s president, CSO, and founder.

The post 10x Genomics, Harvard Target Element’s Multiomics Platform in Patent Lawsuit appeared first on GEN – Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology News.

May 13, 2026

The Download: a Nobel winner on AI, and the case for fixing everything

This is today’s edition of The Download, our weekday newsletter that provides a daily dose of what’s going on in the world of technology.

Three things in AI to watch, according to a Nobel-winning economist

A few months before he won the Nobel Prize in economics in 2024, Daron Acemoglu published a paper that earned him few fans in Silicon Valley. He argued that AI would give only a small boost to US productivity and would not eliminate the need for human work.

Two years later, Acemoglu’s measured take has not caught on. The technology has advanced quite a bit since his cautious predictions, but the data is still largely on his side.

MIT Technology Review spoke with him to understand if any of the latest developments have changed his thesis. Here are the three things Acemoglu is paying closest attention to in AI right now.

—James O’Donnell

This story is from The Algorithm, our weekly newsletter giving you the inside track on all things AI. Sign up to receive it in your inbox every Monday.

The case for fixing everything

Stewart Brand, the counterculture icon and tech industry legend, considers maintenance a “civilizational” act. His new book argues that taking responsibility for maintaining something, whether a motorcycle, a monument, or the planet, can be radical.

Brand argues that maintainers haven’t gotten the laurels they deserve—and he’s right. Yet his vision of maintenance often feels solitary: profound, but more about personal fulfillment than tending to a shared world or making it better.

Read the full review of his handsome new book, Maintenance: Of Everything, Part One.

—Lee Vinsel

Lee Vinsel is an associate professor of science, technology, and society at Virginia Tech, a cofounder of The Maintainers, and the host of Peoples & Things, a podcast about human life with technology.

This story is from the latest edition of our print magazine, which is all about nature. Subscribe now to read the full issue and receive future print copies once they land.

The must-reads

I’ve combed the internet to find you today’s most fun/important/scary/fascinating stories about technology.

1 The first zero-day exploit built by AI has been discovered
Google spotted and stopped the attempted “mass exploitation event.” (CNBC)
+ The hackers used AI to discover an unknown bug. (NYT $)
+ AI-powered hacking has exploded into an industrial-scale threat. (Guardian)
+ New tools are simplifying online crime. (MIT Technology Review)

2 OpenAI just launched its answer to Claude Mythos
Daybreak patches vulnerabilities before attackers find them. (The Verge)
+ Sam Altman said it will “continuously secure software.” (Gizmodo)
+ It will rival Anthropic’s Claude Mythos, which arrived a month ago. (BBC)
+ OpenAI is allowing wider access to its cyber models than Anthropic. (CNBC)

3 Trump is heading to China to spread the gospel of American tech
While taking cues from Beijing’s more stringent approach. (Guardian)
+ But investors want Trump and Xi to stay out of AI’s way. (Reuters $)
+ Elon Musk and Tim Cook are joining him on the trip this week. (BBC)

4 Ilya Sutskever has testified on Sam Altman’s “pattern of lying”
OpenAI co-founder Sutskever took the stand in the Altman v. Musk trial. (BI)
+ He said he spent a year gathering proof of Altman’s dishonesty. (Reuters $)
+ But he also added to OpenAI’s defense. (Wired $)
+ While Satya Nadella called attempts to remove Altman “amateur city.” (FT $)
+ Here’s what happened last week in the trial. (MIT Technology Review)

5 A new hantavirus vaccine is in the works
Moderna and Korea University are developing an mRNA vaccine. (Wired $)
+ Here’s what you need to know about the cruise ship outbreak. (MIT Technology Review)

6 Texas has sued Netflix over alleged data harvesting and “addictive” design
AG Ken Paxton accuses Netflix of secretly collecting and selling user data. (Quartz)
+ And spying on children while deliberately fostering addiction. (Guardian)

7 A data center guzzled 30 million gallons of water—and no one noticed
The curious case serves as a warning for other data center projects. (Ars Technica)

8 Europe is reportedly selling spyware to human rights abusers
EU states allegedly sold the tech to countries violating rights. (Bloomberg $)

9 The US government’s AI vetting announcement has mysteriously vanished
It had detailed a security test agreement with Google, xAI, and Microsoft. (Gizmodo)

10 Amazon staff are using AI for pointless tasks just to inflate usage scores
In a bid to impress managers. (FT $)
+ An AI expert says we should stop using AI so much. (MIT Technology Review)

Quote of the day

“This is like the cheating husband complaining about the cheating wife.”

—Anupam Chander, a professor of law and technology at Georgetown Law School, tells the New York Times that Elon Musk’s hypocrisy over OpenAI becoming a for-profit company will undermine his courtroom battle with Sam Altman.

One More Thing

How sounds can turn us on to the wonders of the universe

For decades, astronomy has relied on visual information to make sense of the cosmos: images, charts, and graphs. Now, some researchers are trying something different: listening to the universe.

Using sonification, the process of turning information into sound, they’re helping blind and visually impaired researchers explore the cosmos—and even uncover patterns that might otherwise go unnoticed. The approach is spreading beyond astronomy into fields like climate science, navigation, and education.

Discover how sound could make science more accessible—and even more revealing.

—Corey S. Powell

We can still have nice things

A place for comfort, fun, and distraction to brighten up your day. (Got any ideas? Drop me a line.)

+ This musical mashup beautifully blends LCD Soundsystem with Twin Peaks.
+ Match your speculative ideas to sci-fi stories with the Extrapolated Futures Archive.
+ A live-action animation Coyote vs. ACME is coming soon—and the first trailer just dropped.
+ Want to surf elsewhere in the galaxy? Here’s what it would be like to catch waves on distant planets.

May 12, 2026

The Child Mind Institute Hosts 2026 Spring Luncheon “Future-Proofing Your Kids: Empowered Parenting in the Digital Age”

New York Times bestselling author Lisa Damour, PhD, led a thoughtful discussion to honor Mental Health Awareness Month

New York, NY – The Child Mind Institute, the leading independent nonprofit dedicated to transforming the lives of children struggling with mental health and learning disorders, hosted its 2026 Spring Luncheon on Monday, May 11. The event featured a dynamic discussion between Lisa Damour, PhD, a three-time New York Times bestselling author and host of the podcast, Ask Lisa: The Psychology of Raising Tweens & Teens, and Dave Anderson, PhD, Vice President of Public Engagement and Education and a senior psychologist at the Child Mind Institute. Their conversation was moderated by Ali Wentworth, an actress, comedian, author, and host of the television show, The Parent Test.

The event brought together advocates and distinguished individuals dedicated to equipping children and families with the skills they need to thrive in today’s rapidly evolving online and social environments. Attendees included Carson and Siri Daly, Jeannie Gaffigan, Kyle MacLachlan, Zibby Owens, and Alysia Reiner.

“We are raising children in a world fundamentally different from any generation before them…a world where childhood unfolds not just in homes and schools but online,” said Harold S. Koplewicz, MD, founding president and medical director of the Child Mind Institute. “Technology brings creativity and connection but also real risks: constant comparison, disrupted sleep, compulsive engagement, and exposure to harmful content. Our job is to help kids build the skills to navigate this world with resilience, confidence, and balance.”

The discussion centered on kids and families and how they can build healthy habits and resilience as they face the demands and distractions of a world increasingly reliant upon and centered around digital technology.

“My umbrella concern is what the conversation about technology is doing to the relationship between adults and kids. The single most powerful force for youth mental health is strong relationships with caring adults,” said Dr. Damour.

“If we focus on driving causal factors — such as family relationships, academic success, in-person friendships, sleep, and movement — we end up promoting a child’s wellness far more than by taking technology away,” said Dr. Anderson.

The luncheon raised over $260,000 to support the Child Mind Institute’s mission to change the lives of children with mental health and learning disorders in the United States and around the world.

The luncheon was co-chaired by Chris Mack, Lisa and Guy Metcalfe, Zibby Owens, and Jil Schaps. The host committee included Robyn and Paul Goldschmid, Desiree Gruber, Molly Jong-Fast, Breanna and John Khoury, Isabelle Krishana, Arielle Tepper, and Sarah J. Wetenhall.

Photos from the luncheon can be found here.

This special event is part of the Child Mind Institute’s programming during Mental Health Awareness Month. The Child Mind Institute recently launched its latest campaign, Mental Health Fitness. Physical fitness doesn’t just happen — it takes skills, regular practice, and a supportive environment. The same is true for mental health. Alongside relatable content from influencers and world-renowned athletes, the Mental Health Fitness resources from the Child Mind Institute provide kids and families with five core mental health skills they can practice every day.

About the Child Mind Institute

The Child Mind Institute is dedicated to transforming the lives of children and families struggling with mental health and learning disorders by giving them the help they need. We’ve become the leading independent nonprofit in children’s mental health by providing gold-standard, evidence-based care, delivering educational resources to millions of families each year, training educators in underserved communities, and developing tomorrow’s breakthrough treatments.

Visit Child Mind Institute on social media: Instagram, Facebook, X, LinkedIn

For press questions, contact our press team at childmindinstitute@ssmandl.com or our media officer at mediaoffice@childmind.org.

The post The Child Mind Institute Hosts 2026 Spring Luncheon “Future-Proofing Your Kids: Empowered Parenting in the Digital Age” appeared first on Child Mind Institute.

May 12, 2026

Males who discuss suicide seek help less often than females, report finds

Death by suicide is a male emergency. Although three times as many women as men report suicidal ideation and attempts, the vast majority of deaths by suicide in the U.S. — up to 80% — are among men. The reasons: higher impulsivity, lower reported fear of death, and, crucially, easy access to guns.

The most recent report from Crisis Text Line — a nonprofit working with the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline to provide free and confidential text-based mental health support — sheds light on another explanation: Men reach out for help a lot less than women.

Read the rest…

May 12, 2026

Acute Myeloid Leukemia Therapy Improved by CRISPR Stem Cell Transplant

For highly aggressive types of blood cancer, stem cell transplantation is often the only potentially curative therapy. Yet, these cancers can often return even after a transplant. Notably, CAR T cell therapy has not been effective against all blood cancers, including acute myeloid leukemia (AML) and myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS).

A recent Phase I/II multicenter clinical trial, led by researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, shows that a stem cell transplant, that removes CD33 from donor cells using CRISPR, can help prevent cancer recurrence.

The work was published in Nature Medicine and titled, “CRISPR−Cas9 CD33-deleted allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantation with gemtuzumab ozogamicin maintenance in AML: a Phase I/II trial.” The study was conducted at Siteman Cancer Center, based at Barnes-Jewish Hospital and WashU Medicine, and 14 other sites in the U.S. and Canada. 30 adult patients with AML or MDS at high risk of relapse received the stem cell transplant.

Myeloid cancers, such as AML and MDS, are difficult to treat with CAR T cells because the same proteins targets are present on both cancer cells and healthy myeloid cells, leading to toxicity risks.

“We are encouraged by the results of this study showing that a CD33-deleted stem cell transplant looks very similar to the outcomes of standard stem cell transplantation,” said John DiPersio, MD, PhD, professor of medicine at WashU Medicine and corresponding author of the study. “In the future, we are hopeful we will be able to combine this with CD33-targeted immunotherapies, such as CAR T cells, and improve treatment options for patients with these very aggressive blood cancers.”

As proof of concept, patients also received a maintenance therapy that targets CD33, after completion of the stem cell transplant. While not a CD33-targeted CAR T cell, the maintenance therapy, called gemtuzumab ozogamicin, is an engineered antibody that targets CD33 and carries an anti-cancer drug. Gemtuzumab ozogamicin is approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to treat CD33-positive AML and is in clinical trials for CD33-positive MDS. While it helps prevent relapse, the drug’s use is limited because it can cause liver toxicity and damage to blood cells, including dangerously low counts of white blood cells, red blood cells, and platelets.

All patients from the trial achieved engraftment of their transplanted stem cells by day 28. Some patients met this goal sooner with platelet production returning by day 16 on average. These timeframes are comparable to those of standard transplanted stem cells.

Average survival was just over 14 months. Nineteen patients received at least one cycle of the antibody maintenance therapy as part of a dose-escalation protocol. The authors found that patients maintained blood cell counts across all doses, suggesting that the gene-edited stem cell transplant protected patients from low blood cell counts typically seen following a standard stem cell transplant.

DiPersio and colleagues published a single case study detailing a patient with high-risk AML who received a CD33-deleted stem cell transplant. Upon relapse after the transplant, the patient received a CD33-targeted CAR T cell therapy, which used T cells from the same donor who provided the stem cell transplant.

The treatment resulted in complete remission and the patient remains cancer free over one year after receiving the CAR T cell therapy. Normal blood cell production returned with all blood cells lacking CD33, providing evidence that the genetically engineered donor cells had established themselves in the bone marrow.

DiPersio said the results of the study lay the groundwork for developing paired CD33-deleted stem cell transplant and CD33-targeted immunotherapy interventions that avoid destruction of healthy donor cells in the course of cancer treatment.

The post Acute Myeloid Leukemia Therapy Improved by CRISPR Stem Cell Transplant appeared first on GEN – Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology News.

May 12, 2026

Finding Answers When Your Child Is Struggling: Introducing Ask Kai

Every day, parents reach out to the Child Mind Institute with questions that keep them up at night: Why does my daughter have such strong emotions? Why can’t my son sit still in class? Is this normal anxiety or something more?.

These questions are urgent, but finding answers isn’t easy. The wait time to see a children’s mental health professional can be months or even years. Many families don’t know where to start, what’s normal for their child’s age, or whether their concerns warrant professional help. And with nearly 1 in 5 children experiencing a mental health challenge within the U.S. alone, too many families are navigating this uncertainty on their own.

That’s why we built Ask Kai — a free, evidence-based symptom checker designed specifically for children’s mental health, available in both English and Spanish.

Meet Ask Kai

Ask Kai is a conversational symptom checker that helps parents and caregivers understand their child’s behavior and points them to appropriate resources. Through a streamlined series of questions and prompts, Ask Kai gathers information about your child’s challenges and provides personalized recommendations in minutes.

Ask Kai doesn’t diagnose your child. Instead, it helps you:

Understand whether your concerns align with common mental health challenges
Learn what to look for and what questions to ask
Find evidence-based resources specific to your child’s needs
Know how to find additional support if needed

Think of Ask Kai as a knowledgeable guide who helps you make sense of what you’re seeing and points you toward your next best step.

How Ask Kai works

If you’ve ever used a symptom checker for physical health, you know the challenge: enter “headache,” and you might walk away convinced you have everything from a sinus infection to a brain tumor. Mental health symptom checkers face even greater challenges. Because every child is different, what looks like defiance in one child could look like anxiety in another, and a behavior that’s appropriate at age five might be cause for concern at age ten. On top of that, mental health conditions often overlap.

So how did we build a tool that captures this complexity without overwhelming families? We focused on expertise and evidence:

Clinicians and data lead the way: Ask Kai was built using thousands of child mental health evaluations — open datasets spanning different ages, backgrounds, and conditions — and developed in close collaboration with child psychologists and psychiatrists.
Evidence-based question selection: Rather than asking hundreds of questions, we used machine learning to identify which combinations of questions provide the most meaningful information without burdening families.
Comprehensive resource library: Every recommendation Ask Kai makes is matched to our extensive collection of guides, articles, expert perspectives, and pathways to professional help.

Here’s what happens when you use Ask Kai

Step 1: Initial Screening

You’ll answer a brief set of questions about your child’s behavior, emotions, and how these challenges affect daily life. You’ll also have the chance to describe in your own words what brought you to Ask Kai. These questions cover the areas where we see the most common concerns.

Step 2: Personalized Deep Dive

Based on your responses, Ask Kai selects targeted follow-up questions that dig deeper into the areas you flagged, whether that’s attention and focus, social anxiety, learning, or other behavioral challenges.

Step 3: Matching You to Resources

Ask Kai analyzes your complete response pattern, including the severity and impact of the behaviors you described, and provides a report with recommendations relevant to your child’s age, challenges, and needs.

What Ask Kai can assess

We designed Ask Kai to explore the areas where we can provide the most help to the most families. Ask Kai offers comprehensive screening and resources for:

ADHD (Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder)

Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder that is characterized by difficulties with attention, organization, and impulsive behaviors. Symptoms are usually divided into inattentive behaviors or hyperactive and impulsive behaviors. Inattentive symptoms may include making careless mistakes, being easily distracted, difficulty listening to instructions, trouble with organization, and forgetfulness. Hyperactive/impulsive symptoms may include fidgeting or squirming, trouble playing quietly, extreme impatience, as well as constant talking and interrupting.

Autism Spectrum Disorder

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder that begins in utero, but children may not get diagnosed until they’re in preschool or even older, when symptoms become more apparent. The disorder is characterized by deficits in social communication skills as well as restrictive or repetitive behaviors. Symptoms include a wide range of impaired cognitive abilities, language skills, and behaviors. These symptoms have been thought of as a set of disorders but are now being considered one disorder that presents along a spectrum.

Depression

Depression is a mood disorder that can cause children and teenagers to feel very sad and hopeless. Kids with depression have trouble enjoying things they used to love. They may also seem listless and easily annoyed.

Generalized Anxiety Disorder

Generalized anxiety disorder is characterized by excessive, persistent, and unreasonable worries about everyday things, like doing well in school or sports. In general, kids with this disorder worry a lot about being perfect.

Oppositional Defiance Disorder

Oppositional defiance disorder is a disruptive behavior disorder characterized by ongoing persistent, age-inappropriate disobedience and resistance to authority. To be diagnosed with this disorder, children would have had to display extreme behavior issues for at least six months. Diagnosis occurs around early elementary school ages and stops around adolescence.

Social Anxiety Disorder

Social anxiety disorder is a type of anxiety characterized by such intense self-consciousness and fear of embarrassment in social situations that the individual avoids social events; also known as social phobia. While some kids with this disorder are specifically afraid of performance engagements like public speaking or sporting events, others are scared of general social situations.

Specific Phobia

Specific phobia is an anxiety disorder characterized by an excessive and irrational fear of an object, situation, or place. Common specific phobias include dogs, clowns, bugs, the dark, and loud noises.

Elimination Disorders (Enuresis & Encopresis)

For young children, bathroom troubles are often a normal part of growing up. But once kids pass potty-training age, peeing or pooping in places other than the toilet might be a sign of an underlying issue. If it involves urine, it’s called “enuresis.” If it involves feces, it’s called “encopresis.”

Nonverbal Learning Disorder (NVLD)

Nonverbal learning disorder (NVLD) is a condition characterized by difficulty processing visual-spatial information — which involves the brain’s ability to interpret and respond to visual input, including where things are in space. These skills are used to do things like putting together a puzzle or reading a diagram.

Specific Learning Disorder (Dyslexia, Dyscalculia, & Dysgraphia)

Specific  learning disorder is a condition that causes children to have difficulty with reading, writing, and/or math. If they have trouble with reading, the disorder is called dyslexia. If they have trouble with writing, it’s called dysgraphia. If they have trouble with math, it’s called dyscalculia. Symptoms are typically first noticed when the child is in preschool or early elementary school.

These ten areas represent some of the most common mental health concerns in childhood. They’re also areas where we have robust data, validated assessments, and comprehensive resources.

What if your concerns aren’t on this list?

Ask Kai can still help. When you describe your situation in your own words, Ask Kai analyzes your response to identify additional concerns and match you to appropriate resources. Your child’s challenges don’t need to fit neatly into one of these categories for Ask Kai to provide value.

However, we will only make recommendations when we’re confident in the evidence behind them. If a particular concern isn’t well represented in our data, we won’t try to provide guidance in that area. Regardless of the results, everyone receives a core set of resources that we believe are helpful for all families navigating children’s mental health.

Your privacy matters

We take data privacy seriously:

Your responses are confidential and secure
Free-text responses are analyzed using secure AI systems
We don’t share your individual information with third parties
In addition to providing you with resources, your data will only be used to improve Ask Kai

Try Ask Kai Today

If you’re wondering whether your child’s behavior is typical or cause for concern, Ask Kai can help. In just 10 to 15 minutes, you’ll get personalized insights and resources to guide your next steps.

Start Your Assessment

You don’t have to figure this out alone. We’re here to help.

If your child is in crisis, expressing thoughts of self-harm, experiencing severe symptoms, or in immediate danger, please seek emergency help right away. Call 988 (Suicide and Crisis Lifeline), text “HELLO” to 741741 (Crisis Text Line), or go to your nearest emergency room.

Frequently Asked Questions

How long does it take?

Most families complete Ask Kai in 10–15 minutes.

Who should use this tool?

Parents, caregivers, and professionals working with children ages 4–18.

Will I get a diagnosis?

No. Ask Kai provides screening information and resources, but only a qualified clinician can provide a diagnosis.

What if I need immediate help?

If your child is in crisis, please call 988, text “HELLO” to 741741, or visit your nearest emergency room.

What makes this different from other symptom checkers?

Ask Kai was built specifically for children’s mental health, uses evidence-based assessments, provides personalized follow-up questions, and was developed in close collaboration with child mental health professionals.

The post Finding Answers When Your Child Is Struggling: Introducing Ask Kai appeared first on Child Mind Institute.

May 12, 2026

Applications Open for the SNF Global Center Communicator Fellowship

The Stavros Niarchos Foundation (SNF) Global Center for Child and Adolescent Mental Health at the Child Mind Institute launches its next two-year fellowship for professionals pursuing evidence-based approaches across diverse, underserved global communities

New York, NY—Applications are now open for the 2026 Communicator Fellowship at the Stavros Niarchos Foundation (SNF) Global Center for Child and Adolescent Mental Health at the Child Mind Institute. The fellowship is designed to support a new generation of communicators working to shape child and adolescent mental health care in low- and middle-income countries, in addition to the SNF Global Center’s core country offices in Brazil, Greece, and South Africa. Up to three professionals working in public communications, including journalists, broadcasters, and podcasters, will be selected for the two-year program.

The Communicator Fellowship is part of the SNF Global Center’s broader mission to reduce gaps in data and care, catalyze system-level advancements, and transform child and adolescent mental health care by turning evidence into action, scaling culturally appropriate solutions, and building a global network of experts so young people everywhere can access support when they need it.

The application deadline is June 15, 2026. Fellows will be selected and announced by early August 2026. In addition to financial support of up to $100,000 USD, fellows will receive training, mentorship, and networking opportunities.

At a time when one in five young people are experiencing mental health or learning challenges, with most cases beginning by age 14, effective and accurate communication is urgently needed.

At the Child Mind Institute, we believe that translating research into accessible knowledge that empowers young people, families, and communities is integral to advancing mental health care. The Communicator Fellowship builds on this commitment by supporting professionals who can bring evidence-based mental health information to the public in clear, engaging, and culturally relevant ways.

Vinicius Gaby Vieira Rego, MD, of Brazil, a current Communicator Fellow with the support of the Institute of Psychiatry at the University of São Paulo, exemplifies this mission. Working with youth, Dr. Rego is co-creating a multi-platform literacy hub designed to combat harmful misinformation by empowering Brazil’s young leaders.

“I am deeply grateful for the opportunity to join the SNF Global Center’s network of fellows to support adolescent mental health in Brazil through communication,” said Dr. Rego. “This fellowship will enable a multi-channel communication project aimed at strengthening mental health literacy and peer-support capacity — with young people and for young people — across the country.”

As a fellow, Dr. Rego’s work directly addresses complex mental health challenges faced by young people in Brazil, while contributing to broader global efforts to improve communication about mental health care.

“In the current digital environment, where adolescents are exposed to a high volume of mental health content, the need for evidence-based information that resonates with young people has never been greater,” said Guilherme Polanczyk, MD, PhD, associate professor of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at the University of São Paulo. “We are proud to endorse a project committed to supporting how young people and their communities understand and reflect on their mental health.”

Other current fellows are leading high-impact projects dispelling misinformation, reducing stigma, and increasing youth engagement — all while bringing critical attention to links among mental health, climate change, and human rights. Through partnerships, these efforts are transforming the future of youth mental health across the globe.

“Vinicius’s project is ambitious, and with the support of the Institute of Psychiatry at the University of São Paulo, we know it will provide young people in Brazil with much-needed resources to support their mental health,” said Peter Raucci, Director of Global Fellowship Strategy of the SNF Global Center at the Child Mind Institute. “What we’re seeing through the Communicator Fellowship is how quickly ideas can move from concept to culturally relevant, real-world impact.”

SNF Global Center Communicator Fellowship

Application deadline: June 15, 2026

Fellows announced: August 2026

Program resources

About the SNF Global Center at the Child Mind Institute
The Stavros Niarchos Foundation (SNF) Global Center for Child and Adolescent Mental Health at the Child Mind Institute brings together the Child Mind Institute’s expertise as a leading independent nonprofit in children’s mental health and the Stavros Niarchos Foundation’s deep commitment to supporting collaborative projects to improve access to quality health care worldwide. The center is building partnerships to drive advances in under-researched areas of children and adolescents’ mental health, and expand access to culturally appropriate training, resources, and treatment in low- and middle-income countries. This work is conducted by the Child Mind Institute with support from SNF through its Global Health Initiative (GHI).

About the Child Mind Institute
The Child Mind Institute is dedicated to transforming the lives of children and families struggling with mental health and learning disorders by giving them the help they need. We’ve become the leading independent nonprofit in children’s mental health by providing gold-standard, evidence-based care, delivering educational resources to millions of families each year, training educators in underserved communities, and developing tomorrow’s breakthrough treatments.

The post Applications Open for the SNF Global Center Communicator Fellowship appeared first on Child Mind Institute.