Technology

Say Cheese3D: A new model for tracking facial expression

Published

3 days ago

April 27, 2026

COLD SPRING HARBOR, N.Y., April 27, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Love, pain, joy, fear, desire: the full spectrum of emotion resides in facial expression. We grasp this almost intuitively. However, we still lack a quantifiable understanding of the nuanced relationship between the face and the brain. We haven’t yet found a way to precisely measure and reliably interpret the full complexity of facial expressions in mice, let alone humans. Or have we? Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL) Assistant Professor Helen Hou and her team have developed a new tool that should help set science and medicine off in that direction.

In a study published in Nature Neuroscience, the Hou lab introduces a discovery platform called Cheese3D. This innovative camera and computer vision system tracks even the subtlest changes in mouse facial expression. Then, using AI, it quantifies those changes so scientists can methodically study and interpret them.

Where did the idea come from? According to Hou, it was born of necessity. “When I started my lab, we were really excited to capture the rich repertoire of facial behavior,” she says. Experienced veterinarians can often “read” an animal’s well-being from its face. However, until now, there hasn’t been a reliable, automated way to measure facial expression with a level of detail that might offer insight into brain function.

Over the past three decades, CSHL has helped establish mice as vital models for studying the brain and how it controls behavior. But as everyone knows, there are clear distinctions between humans’ and mice’s faces. For one, theirs are cone-shaped.

To confront this challenge, the Hou lab worked with CSHL’s Core Facilities. Together, they rigged up a high-tech system of six tiny cameras that simultaneously film a mouse’s facial movements from multiple perspectives. Machine learning models compile the movies together like an expert film editor. Meanwhile, the rig also tracks electrical activity in the mouse’s brain.

Of course, it wasn’t merely a matter of having mice “say cheese.” To demonstrate the system’s accuracy, the Hou lab used Cheese3D to monitor several important behaviors, including eating. Perhaps most crucially, they ran the system on mice that had gone under anesthesia.

Impressively, they could use Cheese3D to measure how deeply “awake” or “asleep” the mice were at a given moment. In collaboration with CSHL’s Borniger lab, they matched the accuracy of gold standard EEG methods. Plus, they did it without disturbing the animal.

“Very subtle changes in facial muscle tone teach us a lot,” Hou explains. “So, we can predict depth of anesthesia in a non-invasive way using the face.”

Given the potential clinical implications, Hou is also starting to look into facial expressions during specific disease states. Additionally, she points out, “facial movement is one of the first milestones of development. We can smile long before we can crawl or walk. So, how do we learn to move our faces socially?” Any new answer would have major implications for autism and behavioral therapy. With Cheese 3D, Hou and colleagues Kyle Daruwalla and Irene Nozal Martin have built a new way to ask the question.

About Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory

Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory is one of the world’s most renowned institutions for biomedical research and education. Founded in 1890 and located on the North Shore of Long Island, the 501(c)(3) nonprofit inspires curiosity, discovery, and innovation across the life sciences. For more information, visit www.cshl.edu.

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Technology

Yon Raz-Fridman Joins Intrinsic Labs as Co-Founder and Partner

Published

35 minutes ago

April 30, 2026

Most AI companies are selling software. Intrinsic is deploying AI workers into the core operations of mid-market companies – and just brought in a serial tech entrepreneur to help the firm scale across the Heartland.

COLUMBUS, Ohio, April 30, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Intrinsic Labs today announced that Yon Raz-Fridman has joined the firm as a Co-Founder and Partner.

Raz-Fridman has spent nearly two decades building across software, hardware, and platform businesses. Early in his career, he served as Chief of Staff to the President of Keter Group, a $1 billion-plus global consumer products manufacturer. He went on to co-found Kano, the award-winning educational computing company, and later founded Supersocial, the immersive gaming studio acquired by Super League Enterprises in 2025. He is a member of the World Economic Forum’s Technology Convergence Council.

He joins Intrinsic at a moment when mid-market companies are moving from AI experimentation to deployment. Intrinsic works with operators in logistics, construction, insurance, manufacturing, and industrial markets to deploy AI workers into the workflows that run the business – increasing throughput, reducing manual work, and expanding capacity without adding headcount.

The firm has built its reputation on practical deployments tied to real operating metrics. In one engagement with a national real estate brokerage, Intrinsic’s AI Accounting Agents reached 97% invoice coding accuracy, automated 90% of the AP workflow, and fully removed FTEs from the review flow.

“Yon understands what it takes to build and scale in the real world,” said Jon Slemp, Managing Partner at Intrinsic Labs. “Our clients aren’t buying flashy agents, they’re buying outcomes and reliable labor. They need agentic systems that take work off their teams, perform reliably, and produce measurable gains in throughput and capacity. That’s what we build.”

As Co-Founder, Raz-Fridman will oversee Intrinsic’s expansion – designing the channel relationships, institutional partnerships, and market positioning that take the firm from a proven Ohio model to the defining AI workforce platform for America’s industrial middle market.

“The companies that win over the next decade will be the ones that figure out how to staff AI into their operations and manage it like a workforce. Intrinsic is doing that work now, inside real businesses, tied to real outputs. The Heartland is exactly the right place to prove this model, and Intrinsic is exactly the right team to do it.” — Yon Raz-Fridman

About Intrinsic Labs LLC
Intrinsic Labs helps mid-market companies deploy AI workers into the workflows that run their business. The firm focuses on logistics, construction, insurance, manufacturing, and industrial markets, where manual work, fragmented systems, and labor constraints create clear opportunities for leverage. Intrinsic works with clients to put AI workers into production, tie them to operating KPIs, and help teams scale output without scaling headcount. https://www.intrinsic-labs.ai/

About Team Yon LLC
Team Yon LLC is a management company founded by Yon Raz-Fridman that incubates new ventures, provides executive leadership, and makes strategic investments at the intersection of emerging technology and human advancement. Through Team Yon LLC, Raz-Fridman partners with founders and operators across healthcare, AI, and frontier technology – including his role as co-founder and Partner at Intrinsic Labs. https://teamyon.org

Media Contact:hello@intrinsic-labs.ai

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Technology

Wipfli to complete CompliancePoint transaction and add associates, expanding capabilities

Published

36 minutes ago

April 30, 2026

MILWAUKEE, April 30, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Wipfli, a top 25 national advisory and accounting firm, announced today it has entered into an agreement with CompliancePoint Inc., a provider of risk management services focused on information security, data privacy and regulatory compliance. 2 partners and 52 associates will join the firm as a result of the transaction.

Based in Duluth, Georgia, CompliancePoint brings specialization across cybersecurity, privacy and compliance, serving clients across a wide variety of industries. The addition strengthens Wipfli’s risk management offerings and expands its ability to help organizations navigate regulatory scrutiny, evolving cybersecurity threats and complex data protection requirements.

“Organizations today are under more pressure than ever to protect sensitive information and operate responsibly in an evolving regulatory environment,” said Kurt Gresens, CEO at Wipfli Advisory, LLC. “The team at CompliancePoint brings specialized experience and a strong, people-first approach that enhances how we support clients navigating today’s risk landscape.”

CompliancePoint has built its reputation on helping organizations manage risk across the full data lifecycle, with a holistic approach that recognizes how privacy, security and compliance intersect. The combined professional teams from CompliancePoint and Wipfli will deliver expanded, integrated advisory solutions designed to help clients proactively manage risk while supporting long-term growth and operational resilience.

“Wipfli shares our commitment to practical, client-focused solutions and long-term relationships,” said Greg Sparrow, CompliancePoint president. “Together, we’re expanding the resources available to our clients while continuing to deliver the specialized experience and trusted relationships they rely on.”

The addition of the CompliancePoint team also supports Wipfli’s continued investment in talent and innovation. CompliancePoint associates will join a national firm that emphasizes collaboration, professional development and meaningful client impact, while maintaining the specialized focus that has defined their work.

The transaction is expected to become effective on May 1st, 2026

About Wipfli

Wipfli is a leading national advisory and accounting firm with nearly 100 years of experience serving ambitious middle-market organizations. We understand our clients’ unique challenges and help them succeed on their terms through assurance, tax, advisory, outsourcing and technology services. With 3,000+ associates and global alliances, we combine national capabilities with local relationships. Wipfli operates under an alternative practice structure: Wipfli LLP, a licensed CPA firm, provides attest services, while Wipfli Advisory LLC, a non-CPA firm, delivers business advisory and non-attest services. Learn more at wipfli.com or contact Alicia O’Connell at alicia.oconnell@wipfli.com.

Media Contact

Alicia O’Connell
Wipfli
alicia.oconnell@wipfli.com

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Technology

Ginkgo Bioworks Announces Date of First Quarter 2026 Results Presentation

Published

36 minutes ago

April 30, 2026

Presentation and Q&A session scheduled for post-market on Thursday, May 7, 2026

BOSTON, April 30, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Ginkgo Bioworks Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: DNA, “Ginkgo”) today announced that it plans to host a presentation and Q&A session reviewing business performance for the first quarter ended March 31, 2026, on Thursday, May 7, 2026, beginning at 4:30 p.m. ET.

The presentation details and webcast link will be available on Ginkgo’s investor relations website at https://investors.ginkgobioworks.com, and a replay will be made available.

To ask a question ahead of the presentation, please submit them to @Ginkgo on X (hashtag #GinkgoResults) or by sending an e-mail to investors@ginkgobioworks.com.

About Ginkgo Bioworks
Ginkgo Bioworks builds the tools that make biology easier to engineer for everyone. The company offers autonomous laboratories that replace manual laboratory work with robotics in the lab, greatly improving the productivity of scientists. Ginkgo’s in-house autonomous lab is also available as a “cloud lab” through our Datapoints and Solutions contract research services. For more information, visit ginkgobioworks.com and ginkgobiosecurity.com, read our blog, or follow us on social media channels such as X (@Ginkgo and @Ginkgo_Biosec), Instagram (@GinkgoBioworks), Threads (@GinkgoBioworks), or LinkedIn.

Ginkgo Bioworks Contacts:

INVESTOR CONTACT:

investors@ginkgobioworks.com

MEDIA CONTACT:

press@ginkgobioworks.com

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