It is not surprising that a large Ebola outbreak would be considered a public health emergency of international concern. But the current PHEIC is notable for the speed with which it was declared, speaking to the urgency of the situation. World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus declared the outbreak a PHEIC on Sunday, May 17, without first convening an emergency committee. That step is unprecedented.

On Sunday, May 17th, 2026, the World Health Organization classified the ongoing Bundibugyo ebolavirus outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) as a public health emergency of international concern (PHEIC). The rapid escalation to PHEIC is due to several factors. Given the high number of cases, the outbreak has likely been going undetected for some time, and may be a “much larger outbreak than what is currently being detected and reported, with significant local and regional risk of spread,” according to the WHO statement. The outbreak appears to already have crossed the border from the DRC into Uganda at least twice. And all this is happening with a virus for which there are no approved treatments or vaccines.

On Sunday, May 17th, 2026, the World Health Organization classified the ongoing Bundibugyo ebolavirus outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) as a public health emergency of international concern (PHEIC). The rapid escalation to PHEIC is due to several factors. Given the high number of cases, the outbreak has likely been going undetected for some time, and may be a “much larger outbreak than what is currently being detected and reported, with significant local and regional risk of spread,” according to the WHO statement. The outbreak appears to already have crossed the border from the DRC into Uganda at least twice. And all this is happening with a virus for which there are no approved treatments or vaccines.

News of eight infections and three deaths so far due to an emerging zoonotic virus has brought back unhappy memories of the early days of SARS-CoV-2. At a press conference on Thursday, officials from the WHO did their best to calm the public’s fears that the MV Hondius, the ship currently heading to the Canary Islands with its remaining passengers plus assorted medical, WHO and European Center for Disease Prevention and Control staff, is the 2026 version of the Diamond Princess.

News of eight infections and three deaths so far due to an emerging zoonotic virus has brought back unhappy memories of the early days of SARS-CoV-2. At a press conference on Thursday, officials from the WHO did their best to calm the public’s fears that the MV Hondius, the ship currently heading to the Canary Islands with its remaining passengers plus assorted medical, WHO and European Center for Disease Prevention and Control staff, is the 2026 version of the Diamond Princess.

The classic origin story for a biotech startup is that of a scientist who nurtures his work out of a university and to commercial success. For Link Biologics Ltd. and its TSG6-based pipeline, the story is the other way around; it began with now-CEO Reuben Dawkins meeting University of Manchester scientists Tony Day and Caroline Milner while he was on the lookout for “great science that needs help to make it to patients.” The three are now co-founders of Link, which spun out of the University of Manchester in 2021 and has four programs in three indications, all based on TSG-6 biology.

Innervation by the sympathetic nervous system is typically a boon to tumors. But researchers from Weill Cornell Medicine and colleagues have shown that in some cases, the relationship between tumors and the nervous system is more complex. Depending on context, innervation can either assist or obstruct tumor growth. “The nervous system typically has been considered as a driver of cancer growth, but here we’ve found that it can be a brake on cancer growth in some contexts,” said David Simon, an assistant professor of biochemistry and biophysics at Weill Cornell Medicine.

If Benjamin Braddock, of The Graduate fame, were a young neuroscientist in the 21st century instead of a liberal arts graduate in 1967, the advice he received from his parents’ neighbor might not have been “One word: plastics!” but “One word: plasticity!” Plasticity is a hot concept in neuropsychiatric disorders. New and old treatment modalities, these days, are said to work as psychoplastogens or neuroplastogens.

Swedish startup One-carbon Therapeutics AB is going after solid tumors with an approach that looks similar to synthetic lethals to some people, and to chemotherapy to others. But One-carbon CEO Ana Slipicevic said that TH-9619, the company’s first-in-class inhibitor of the enzyme MTHFD1/2, is neither of those things.