We can now follow inflammatory signaling inside living organs, repeatedly, without taking tissue samples. Oliinyk and colleagues engineered a 19-kDa protein whose near-infrared absorption can be switched with light. Photoacoustic imaging converts this absorption into ultrasound, allowing signals to be detected through tissue while subtracting background from blood. They programmed mouse liver cells to produce the probe when NF-κB or AP-1, two major regulators of inflammation, become active. Following LPS exposure, NF-κB reporter signals peaked after 12 hours, AP-1 after 48. This makes it possible to track how inflammatory pathways evolve spatially and temporally, potentially including their response to treatment. The more remarkable demonstration involved GFP. By inserting the probe into an intracellular GFP-binding nanobody that is degraded unless it binds its target, they detected GFP inside liver cells through intact tissue. GFP is merely a model antigen. The achievement is detecting an intracellular protein through molecular recognition, something conventional injected antibodies struggle to accomplish. Although genetic delivery is still required, the same principle could eventually visualize intracellular viral proteins, inflammatory mediators or cancer-associated antigens in living disease models. doi.org/10.1038/s41592-026-0…

Made one myself inspired by @andra_sms

Somatosensory amplification as a PEM explanation is even worse. DMN abornamlities are incredibly nonspecific and do not ind. psychosomatics, see "Zhang, Jilei, et al. "Increased default mode network connectivity and increased regional homogeneity in migraineurs without aura"