Writing
2Fred Hutch's HSV gene therapy in 2026: mouse and guinea-pig results, no human trial, and the antivirals arriving firstA gene therapy clears up to 97% of dormant herpes in mice. In the animal that relapses the way people do it clears above 30%, nobody has filed to test it in a person, and the drugs arriving first suppress the virus rather than remove it.Article10 Oct20 quotes · 1 source · 6 minOpioid deaths and overdose calls in Hamilton: why the two counts moved in opposite directionsHamilton's opioid deaths have fallen every year since 2021, while paramedic calls for overdoses more than doubled. The death count is measuring a drug supply that no longer exists.Article10 Oct45 quotes · 2 sources · 7 min
Research
5The Fringe Pharmacopeia of HSV Latency Destruction: A Deep-Hunt Survey of Natural, Botanical, Fungal, and Bioactive CompoundsNo natural compound has been shown to destroy or eradicate HSV latency in human neurons.ResearchSep14 figures · 5 sourcesNovel and Underexplored Mechanisms for Disrupting and Destroying HSV Latency: A Mechanistic Research PassThe single most mature "destruction" approach is AAV-delivered meganuclease gene editing, which eliminated over 90% of latent virus from mouse superior cervical ganglia (Aubert et al.Research passSep9 figures · 8 sourcesThe State of HSV Gene-Therapy Development: Fred Hutch's Meganuclease Program and the Broader Herpes-Cure PipelineThe Fred Hutch/Jerome-lab HSV meganuclease program remains preclinical (pre-IND) as of mid-2026 — no IND has been filed and no human trial has begun.ResearchSep29 figures · 4 sourcesThe Fentanyl Crisis Research Synthesis: Sharpest Evidence for a Long-Form Hamilton/Ontario EssayThis synthesis is organized by the four focus areas in your brief.Research brief22 Jul46k charactersHow We Got Here: A Field Guide to the Fentanyl Crisis in Canada and on Hamilton's StreetsHamilton in 2026 — the open wounds, the forward-leaning catatonia, the people who appear neither awake nor unconscious but suspended in some grotesque middle state — is not the same drug crisis Canada has been talking about for the last decade.Research brief22 Jul40k characters
Key figures
2In guinea pigs (natural recurrence model), latent HSV was reduced >30%, with fewer recurrences and 50% lower severity.The State of HSV Gene-Therapy Development: Fred Hutch's Meganuclease Program and the Broader Herpes-Cure Pipeline30%Because ~90% is not 100%, residual latent genomes could in principle reactivate; re-infection from a new exposure also remains possible.The State of HSV Gene-Therapy Development: Fred Hutch's Meganuclease Program and the Broader Herpes-Cure Pipeline90%