Synthetic torpor has potential to redefine medicine

Washington University in St. Louis

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By Beth Miller

Nature is often the best model for science. For nearly a century, scientists have been trying to recreate the ability of some mammals and birds to survive extreme environmental conditions for brief or extended periods by going into torpor, when their body temperature and metabolic rate drop, allowing them to preserve energy and heat.

Taking inspiration from nature, Hong Chen, professor of biomedical engineering in the McKelvey School of Engineering and of neurosurgery at WashU Medicine, and an interdisciplinary team induced a reversible torpor-like state in mice by using focused ultrasound to stimulate the hypothalamus preoptic area in the brain, which helps to regulate body temperature and metabolism. In addition to the mouse, which naturally goes into torpor, Chen and her team induced torpor in a rat, which does not. Their findings, published in 2023 in Nature Metabolism, showed the first noninvasive and safe method to induce a torpor-like state by targeting the central nervous system.

Now, the team is in pursuit of translating induced, or synthetic, torpor into potential solutions for humans, such as when there is reduced blood flow to tissues or organs, to preserve organs for transplantation or to protect from radiation during space travel.

Conventional medical interventions focus on increasing energy supply, such as restoring blood flow to the brain after a stroke. Synthetic torpor seeks to do the opposite by reducing energy demand.

“The capability of synthetic torpor to regulate whole-body metabolism promises to transform medicine by offering novel strategies for medical interventions,” said Chen in a Perspectives paper published in Nature Metabolism July 31.

Synthetic torpor has been used successfully in preclinical models with medications and specialized targeting of the neural circuit, but there are challenges to adapting these methods for humans. Previous human trials with hydrogen sulfide were terminated early due to safety concerns.

“Our challenges include overcoming metabolic differences among animals and humans, choosing the correct dose of medication and creating ways to allow a reversible torpor-like state,” said Wenbo Wu, a biomedical engineering doctoral student in Chen’s lab and first author of the Perpectives paper, a collaboration between Chen’s team and Genshiro Sunagawa from the RIKEN Center for Biosystems Dynamics Research in Japan. “Collaboration among scientists, clinicians and ethicists will be critical to develop safe, effective and scalable solutions for synthetic torpor to become a practical solution in medicine.”

Chen’s team, including Yaoheng (Mack) Yang, who was a postdoctoral research associate in her lab and is now assistant professor of biomedical engineering at the University of Southern California, targeted the neural circuit with their induced torpor solution in mice. They created a wearable ultrasound transducer to stimulate the neurons in the hypothalamus preoptic area. When stimulated, the mice showed a drop in body temperature of about 3 degrees C for about one hour. In addition, the mice’s metabolism showed a change from using both carbohydrates and fat for energy to only fat, a key feature of torpor, and their heart rates fell by about 47%, all while at room temperature.

“Ultrasound is the only noninvasive energy modality capable of safely penetrating the skull and precisely targeting deep brain structures,” Chen said. “While ultrasound neuromodulation lacks cell-type specificity compared with genetic-based neuromodulation, it provides a noninvasive alternative for inducing synthetic torpor without the need for genetic modifications.”

Chen and her team indicate that synthetic torpor offers a promising therapeutic strategy with additional applications, including inhibiting tumor growth and potential development of new therapies for tau protein related diseases, such as Alzheimer’s disease. However, much remains unknown about how brain regions, peripheral organs and cellular pathways coordinate metabolic suppression and arousal. Researchers also need to study the long-term risks and potential side effects and call for more preclinical studies and technological innovations that will facilitate a dual approach, which would include modulating neural circuits associated with hypometabolism and influencing peripheral metabolic pathways through systemic interventions, such as with drugs or peripheral neuromodulation.

“Synthetic torpor is no longer just a theoretical concept — it is an emerging field with the potential to redefine medicine,” Chen said. “Bridging fundamental neuroscience, bioengineering and translational medicine will be key to overcoming current challenges and advancing synthetic torpor toward real-world applications. Synthetic torpor could transition from a scientific curiosity to a human reality through interdisciplinary collaborations.”

 

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Wu W, Sunagawa GA, Chen H. Synthetic torpor: Advancing metabolic regulation for medical innovations. Nature Metabolism, July 31, 2025. DOI: 10.1038/s42255-025-01345-3

 

Funding for this research was provided by the National Institutes of Health (DP1DK143574 R01NS12846) and JSPS Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (A) 24H00604), and JSPS Grant-in-Aid for Transformative Research Areas (A) 23H04941.

 

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Journal

Nature Metabolism

DOI

10.1038/s42255-025-01345-3 

 

Simple solution to save lives globally: Low-cost ‘SimpleSilo’ offers hope for babies with gastroschisis

Rice University

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A healthcare worker cares for a baby at the Kakamega County General Teaching and Referral Hospital in Kenya (Photo credit: Sophie Bochaberi).

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Credit: Photo credit: Sophie Bochaberi/Kakamega County General 

Teaching and Referral Hospital in Kenya

In low-resource settings, babies born with gastroschisis — a congenital condition in which the developing intestines extend outside the body through a hole in the abdominal wall —face life-threatening challenges. While survival rates in high-income countries now exceed 90% thanks to advanced medical tools and neonatal care, infants in resource-constrained medical settings still face high mortality rates, partially because of a lack of access to the lifesaving equipment needed to treat the condition.

A team of engineers and pediatric surgeons led by Rice University’s Rice360 Institute for Global Health Technologies is working to change that. Their innovation? A simple, low-cost and locally manufacturable medical device, known as the “SimpleSilo,” designed to provide lifesaving treatment for gastroschisis at a fraction of the current cost and made from locally available materials.

“We focused on keeping the design as simple and functional as possible, while still being affordable,” said Vanshika Jhonsa, a recent Rice alumna and first author of the study recently published in the Journal of Pediatric Surgery. Jhonsa, who is now a medical student at UTHealth Houston, also won the 2023 American Pediatric Surgical Association Innovation Award for the project. “Our hope is that health care providers around the world can adapt the SimpleSilo to their local supplies and specific needs.”

In standard treatment, preformed silo bags are used to protect the exposed intestines and gently return them into the abdominal cavity gradually. These devices are effective but expensive: A single-use bag can cost between $200 and $300, a price well beyond the reach of many hospitals around the world. Alternatives exist, but they typically require surgical sewing, which creates holes in a baby’s abdomen and the bag material that can increase the risk of infection. Additionally, these alternatives lack the structural integrity needed to safely support the intestines.

The SimpleSilo changes that. Constructed from a saline bag, oxygen tubing and a commercially available heat sealer, the device mimics the function of commercial spring-loaded silo bags without the high cost.

“Our goal was to replicate the functionality of commercial silo bags using inexpensive, easy-to-source materials,” said Bindi Naik-Mathuria, pediatric surgeon at UTMB Health and corresponding author of the study. “The result is a bag that costs less than $2.05 to make and can be assembled by hospital staff in under an hour. Working with surgeons in sub-Saharan Africa where expensive commercial silo bags are unavailable, I’m excited to offer this solution as I know that it will be saving lives of babies born with gastroschisis.”

To evaluate the SimpleSilo, the team subjected it to a rigorous series of laboratory tests. The device demonstrated a fluid leakage rate of just 0.02 milliliters per hour, which is comparable to commercial silo bags, and it withstood repeated disinfection without compromising its performance.

“The students’ big innovation was to focus on materials already available in low-resource hospitals and to use accessible manufacturing methods — in this case, cutting materials with scissors and using a food-grade heat sealer to reassemble them,” said Meaghan Bond, lecturer and senior design engineer at Rice360. “The early laboratory testing reported in the paper suggests these easy-to-make bags will stand up to disinfection methods and actual use.”

In a simulated in vitro test using cow intestines and a mock abdominal wall, the SimpleSilo achieved a 50% reduction of the intestines into the simulated cavity over three days, again matching the performance of its high-cost counterparts.

What sets the SimpleSilo apart is its ease of production and usability in real-world hospital settings. Pediatric surgeons in Kenya successfully assembled and used the bag in clinical care, reporting positive outcomes and expressing confidence in continuing its use.

“Gastroschisis has one of the biggest survival gaps from high-resource settings to low-resource settings, but it doesn’t have to be this way,” Bond said. “We believe the SimpleSilo can help close the survival gap by making treatment accessible and affordable, even in resource-limited settings.”

Plans are underway for a formal clinical trial in East Africa. Should the results continue to be positive, the team hopes to make open-source instructions widely available, enabling more hospitals to produce their own SimpleSilo devices.

“This project is proof that thoughtful engineering and global collaboration can save lives,” Bond said, noting that it was led by undergraduate students in a global health technologies class. “We don’t have many class projects make it to a peer-reviewed publication, and I’m so proud of the extra work these students put in to get there. Sometimes, the most powerful solutions are the simplest ones.”

Additional authors on the study include Shreya Jindal and Shriya Shah, both undergraduates at the time of the study, and Mary Seifu Tirfie, a current Rice360 Global Health Fellow.

The work was funded by Rice, Rice360 and its generous donors.

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Journal

Journal of Pediatric Surgery

DOI

10.1016/j.jpedsurg.2025.162369 

Article Title

The SimpleSilo: An Effective and Affordable Solution for Gastroschisis Management in Low-resource Settings

 

Several healthy diet patterns are associated with reduced risk of type 2 diabetes regardless of ethnicity – shows meta-analysis of more than 800,000 people

European Association for the Study of Diabetes

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A large new meta-analysis of more than 800,000 participants to be presented at this year’s Annual Meeting of the European Association for the Study of Diabetes (EASD) in Vienna, Austria (15-19 September) shows that high adherence to three well-established healthy eating patterns is linked to a lower risk of type 2 diabetes, regardless of one’s ethnicity. The study is led by PhD student and Gates Cambridge Scholar Ms Jia Yi Lee, Professor Nita Forouhi, and colleagues from the MRC Epidemiology Unit, University of Cambridge, UK.

The study investigated three healthy dietary patterns: the Mediterranean Diet, the Alternative Healthy Eating Index (AHEI), and the Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH). All three have been recommended for general health and their potential to reduce chronic disease risk.

Through a systematic search of published studies, the authors identified 33 publications reporting the association between these dietary patterns and type 2 diabetes. When all the available evidence was combined, the results showed that people who were in the top 10% for adherence to each dietary pattern had significantly lower risks of developing type 2 diabetes compared to those with the 10% lowest adherence : a 17% lower risk for the Mediterranean Diet, a 21% lower risk for AHEI, and a 23% lower risk for the DASH diet. Importantly, the potential benefits of these dietary patterns did not appear to vary significantly across African, Asian, European, and Hispanic ethnic groups, despite known ethnic differences in dietary culture, as well as diabetes risk.

While some of the lowered risks did not reach statistical significance among Hispanics and mixed ethnic groups, this may be due to the limited data available from non-European ethnic groups in existing studies. Over one-third of the data included in this analysis came from people of European descent, highlighting the need for more research from underrepresented populations.

The authors conclude: “Although more research is needed in specific populations, this study strengthens the evidence that the Mediterranean, AHEI, and DASH dietary patterns may reduce the risk of type 2 diabetes across diverse ethnic groups, and that they can be promoted across all populations.”

This analysis is part of a larger ongoing review examining the associations of various dietary patterns, including plant-based dietary patterns (that include vegetarian and vegan diets) with type 2 diabetes risk. The researchers will further determine whether similar benefits extend across ethnic groups for these other dietary patterns.

Ms Jia Yi Lee, MRC Epidemiology Unit, University of Cambridge School of Clinical Medicine, Cambridge, UK E) JiaYi.Lee@mrc-epid.cam.ac.uk  (note Ms Lee is currently in Singapore, 7 hours ahead of UK time)

Professor Nita Forouhi, MRC Epidemiology Unit, University of Cambridge School of Clinical Medicine, Cambridge, UK E)  nita.forouhi@mrc-epid.cam.ac.uk

Alternative contact: Paul Browne in the MRC Epidemiology Unit Comms Team: E) paul.browne@mrc-epid.cam.ac.uk

 

Alternative contact: Tony Kirby in the EASD Press Office T) +44 7834 385827 E)

tony.kirby@tonykirby.com

 

Notes to editors:

Figure available in link to full abstract

 

Actual distance travelled by migrating whales drastically underestimated

Griffith University

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The new study revealed traditional methods for calculating animal movement may be drastically underestimating the actual distance travelled, particularly for marine species such as whales. 

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Credit: Olaf Meynecke

Whales are swimming further than previously estimated - up to 20% more - according to a new study published in Ecology.

Co-authored by Griffith University’s Dr Olaf Meynecke, the study reveals traditional methods for calculating animal movement may be drastically underestimating the actual distance travelled, particularly for marine species such as whales.

“For years, we've tracked whales using satellite tags, plotting their movements across oceans,” Dr Meynecke said.

“But this research shows we’ve been looking at only part of the picture.”

The study, led by a multidisciplinary team of global researchers from the University of Connecticut, Smithsonian Institute and Pontific University of Ecuador, underlines the notion that animal movement isn’t confined to flat maps.

Marine animals such as whales move in three dimensions - across the surface and up and down through the water column.

By integrating geodesy (the science of Earth’s shape) with animal tracking data, the researchers revealed the curvature of the Earth and diving behaviour significantly extend the total distance travelled.

Using satellite data from the Whales & Climate Program’s longest continuous humpback whale track from Ecuador to near Antarctica, the team compared two methods of measuring distance: a standard surface track of approximately 6,658 kilometres and a revised, 3D geodesic estimate that factored in average dive depths and speed.

The result was an additional 1,055 kilometres or about 16% more distance covered.

“For humpback whales migrating between South American breeding grounds and Antarctic feeding areas, that could mean covering up to 14,000 kilometres in a single migration season,” Dr Meynecke said.

“That’s seven times more than the average human travels in a year.

“These findings are more than just fascinating; they have real implications for how we understand the energy demands and ecological pressures on migrating species.

“If animals are expending more energy than previously estimated, we may be underestimating the ecological costs of migration and the impacts of environmental change.”

The study ‘Accounting for Earth’s curvature and elevation in animal movement modeling’ has been published in Ecology.

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Journal

Ecology

DOI

10.1002/ecy.70167 

Large study uncovers specific impacts of flooding on older adult health

Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health

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New research examining 17 years of data from Medicare hospitalization claims and major flooding events finds increased rates of skin diseases, nervous system diseases, and injuries or poisonings among adults aged 65 and older following major floods. Researchers from Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Ohio State University, University of Wisconsin–Madison, and Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health published the findings in the journal Lancet Planetary Health.

While past research has been limited to a single flood or a small set of health outcomes, with little information on older individuals, the new study provides robust, generalizable findings that can inform flood preparation in high-income countries.

The researchers matched Medicare hospitalization data from 2000 to 2016, representing adults aged 65 years and older, with satellite-based, high-resolution historical flood maps from the Global Flood Database. They estimated relative percentage changes in hospitalization rates for 13 disease categories within four weeks following flood exposure. These included 72 significant flood events and over 4.5 million hospitalizations.

They observed elevated rates of hospitalization on average during and following flood exposure for skin diseases (3⋅1%), nervous system diseases (2.5%), musculoskeletal system diseases (1.3%), and injuries or poisoning (1.1%). Communities with lower proportions of Black residents experienced worsened effects for nervous system diseases (7.6%), whereas skin diseases (6.1%) and mental health-related impacts (3.0%) were more pronounced for areas with larger percentages of Black residents during flood exposure.

Older adults are particularly vulnerable to flood-related health impacts because of their weakened immune systems, restricted mobility, limited ability to cope with climate hazards due to pre-existing conditions such as dementia, and poor access to medical services for routine appointments.

Skin diseases may be the result of exposure to polluted water sources, crowded shelters, and poor sanitation. Seizures could arise from traumatic brain injuries sustained during floods. For individuals with epilepsy, flood events can induce stress and fatigue that might result in poor seizure control. Musculoskeletal system hospitalizations may result from underlying conditions and delays in seeking care, as well as injuries from flood clean-up. Distinct patterns of pre-existing conditions, housing quality, and access to emergency resources may explain why some health impacts of flooding are more acute for Black communities. Another possible explanation is differences in access to care and implicit biases in the coding of disease conditions between racial groups.

“The findings of this study provide crucial new insights into the diverse, and previously underappreciated, health consequences of floods in older adults and can guide flood-specific resilience-building efforts to protect public health under climate change,” the researchers write. “Targeted outreach and robust evacuation planning for vulnerable populations, such as older individuals, along with community-based alert systems, are crucial to minimizing health impacts. Hospital infrastructure should be equipped to function during flood events by moving essential components above flood levels, and mobile medicine units and telemedicine can serve as effective alternatives if access to hospitals is temporarily eliminated. Drones can also deliver essential medical supplies to flood-affected hospitals or help identify safe evacuation routes in real time to guide emergency responders,” they conclude.

The study’s lead author is Sarika Aggarwal, a PhD candidate at Harvard Chan School. Additional authors include Jie K. Hu ( Ohio State University), Jonathan A. Sullivan (University of Wisconsin–Madison), Robbie M. Parks (Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health), and Rachel C. Nethery (Harvard Chan School).

Funding for the study was provided by the Harvard Data Science Initiative, Harvard Graduate Prize Fellowship, Sloan Foundation (grant number G20201394), and National Institutes of Health (grants ES032458, ES000002, ES033742, ES007142, ES7069). 

The authors declare no competing interests.

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Journal

The Lancet Planetary Health

DOI

10.1016/S2542-5196(25)00132-9 

Method of Research

Data/statistical analysis

Subject of Research

People

Article Title

Severe flooding and cause-specific hospitalisation among older adults in the USA: a retrospective matched cohort analysis

Article Publication Date

30-Jul-2025

 

Weather-tracking advances are revealing astonishing extremes of lightning

Researchers used space-based instruments to measure a record-setting megaflash

Arizona State University

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GOES-16 satellite image recording a record-setting 515-mile ligtning megaflash during a storm in October 2017. Red circles mark positively charged branches of the lightning, and blue circles mark negatively charged branches. 

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Credit: World Meteorological Organization, American Meteorological Society

It was a single lightning flash that streaked across the Great Plains for 515 miles, from eastern Texas nearly all the way to Kansas City, setting a new world record.

“We call it megaflash lightning and we're just now figuring out the mechanics of how and why it occurs,” said Randy Cerveny, an Arizona State University President’s Professor in the School of Geographical Sciences and Urban Planning.

Cerveny and colleagues used space-based instruments to measure the megaflash, which took place during a major thunderstorm in October 2017. Its astonishing horizontal reach surpasses by 38 miles the previous record of 477 miles recorded during an April 2020 storm in the southern U.S. The new record-setter went unnoticed until a re-examination of satellite observations from the 2017 storm.

“It is likely that even greater extremes still exist, and that we will be able to observe them as additional high-quality lightning measurements accumulate over time,” said Cerveny, who serves as rapporteur of weather and climate extremes for the World Meteorological Organization, the weather agency of the United Nations.

For years, lightning detection and measurement relied on ground-based networks of antennas that detect the radio signals emitted by lightning and then estimate location and travel speed based on the time it takes signals to reach other antenna stations in the network.

Satellite-borne lightning detectors in orbit since 2017 have made it possible to continuously detect lightning and measure it accurately at continental-scale distances.

“Our weather satellites carry very exacting lightning detection equipment that we can use document to the millisecond when a lightning flash starts and how far it travels,” Cerveny said.

Parked in geostationary orbit, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Agency’s GOES-16 satellite detects around one million lightning flashes per day. It is the first of four NOAA satellites equipped with geostationary lightning mappers, joined by similar satellites launched by Europe and China.

“Adding continuous measurements from geostationary orbit was a major advance,” said Michael Peterson at the Georgia Tech Research Institute. “We are now at a point where most of the global megaflash hotspots are covered by a geostationary satellite, and data processing techniques have improved to properly represent flashes in the vast quantity of observational data at all scales.” Peterson is first author of a report in the Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society documenting the new lightning record.

Most lightning flashes are limited to less than 10 miles in reach. When a lightning bolt reaches beyond 60 miles (100 kilometers to be exact), it’s considered a megaflash. Less than 1 percent of thunderstorms produce megaflash lightning, according to satellite observations analyzed by Peterson. They arise from storms that are long-lived, typically brewing for 14 hours or more, and massive in size, covering an area comparable in square miles to the state of New Jersey. The average megaflash shoots off five to seven ground-striking branches from its horizontal path across the sky.

While megaflashes that extend hundreds of miles are rare, it’s not at all unusual for lightning to strike 10 or 15 miles from its storm-cloud origin, Cerveny said. And that adds to the danger. Cerveny said people don’t realize how far lightning can reach from its parent thunderstorm.

Lightning kills 20 to 30 people each year in the U.S. and injures hundreds more. Most lightning strike injuries occur before and after the thunderstorm has peaked, not at the height of the storm.

“That’s why you should wait at least a half an hour after a thunderstorm passes before you go out and resume normal activities,” Cerveny said. “The storm that produces a lightning strike doesn't have to be over the top of you.”

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Journal

Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society

Method of Research

Imaging analysis

Subject of Research

Not applicable