Weekly Recap: Oct 26–30, 2026

Oct 30, 2026 · Weekly Recap · 1 min read

This week was all about germs, and how the tiny things living with us change as we age.

Germs 101: Viruses vs. Bacteria (Oct 26)
Bacteria are complete living cells that can split on their own. Viruses are just instructions in a protein coat that borrow your cells to copy themselves.
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The Garden in Your Gut (Oct 27)
Your gut microbiome (MY-kro-BY-ohm) is like a garden that keeps changing with age, and a more varied garden tends to line up with healthier aging.
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Ancient Viruses Hiding in Your DNA (Oct 28)
About 8% of your DNA is leftover notes from ancient viruses. In aging cells, some of those notes can wake back up.
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Your Immune System Grows Up, Then Grows Old (Oct 29)
The thymus, where new immune “guards” train, shrinks with age, and older guards can keep a low alarm ringing called inflammaging.
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Who's researching this

Seres Therapeutics is a Cambridge, Massachusetts biotech company that builds medicines out of carefully chosen gut bacteria, which it calls live biotherapeutics. Seres developed VOWST, the first FDA-approved microbiome medicine taken by mouth, and sold that business to Nestlé Health Science in 2024. Its most advanced research candidate today, SER-155, is a mix of bacteria being studied in people with weakened immune systems, such as patients getting stem cell transplants. It's still investigational, not an approved treatment. (Seres company update)

Mentioning a company is not an endorsement or medical advice.

Simon Ng · Founder, cells.com

Simon Ng is the founder of cells.com. He has spent more than a decade on biotech finance executive teams, including at Quark Pharmaceuticals and Adverum Biosciences, and holds an MBA.