After Ozempic: the revolution in peptide science | Jonathan Long

Health influencers and scientists have both gone crazy for peptides. The peptide health craze stems from a lot of online hype — centered on gray-market compounds that haven't been rigorously tested in humans and aren't regulated for safety or purity. But among scientists, there is a genuine "revolution" underway — spurred by technological developments revealing an order of magnitude more peptides in our bodies than we ever realized, and by the unexpected and unparalleled success of GLP-1 drugs like Ozempic.To learn more about what’s driving this excitement – and how much of the peptide hype is really worth your attention – we spoke with Stanford biochemist Jonathan Long, an associate professor of pathology at Stanford Medicine, an affiliate of the Wu Tsai Neurosciences Institute, and an Institute Scholar of Stanford Sarafan ChEM-H.Editor's Note: After we went to press, Colorado biotech Enveda announced promising but early Phase 1 safety results for ENV-308, an oral drug engineered to mimic Lac-Phe — the "exercise in a pill" molecule Long's lab first characterized in 2022. The trial didn't test actual weight-loss or fitness effects, so the real thing isn't here yet — but Long, a scientific advisor to Enveda, calls it "an extremely exciting potential scientific breakthrough." Read moreLearn moreLong Lab of Chemical PhysiologyAn ‘Exercise Pill’ Just Cleared Its First Human Test (Gizmodo, 2026)A pill that mimics exercise? Early results on drug designed to maintain both weight loss and muscle mass (STAT, 2026)Peptides are everywhere. Here’s what you need to know. (MIT Technology Review, 2026)Influencers are promoting peptides for better health. What does the science say? (NPR, 2026)What doctors want patients to know about injectable peptides (American Medical Association, 2026)Why Are People Injecting Themselves with Peptides? (The New Yorker, 2026)Peptides are buzzing: But what does the science say? (Stanford Medicine, 2026)Study of pythons’ extreme diet reveals new hunger-curbing molecule (Knight Initiative for Brain Resilience, 2026)Unlocking the secrets of ketosis (Knight Initiative for Brain Resilience, 2024)Weight loss caused by common diabetes drug tied to "anti-hunger" molecule in study (Stanford Medicine, 2024)Q&A: Unlocking the secrets of taurine in obesity control (Knight Initiative for Brain Resilience, 2024)Exercise and the brain (From Our Neurons to Yours, 2023)Lac-Phe mediates the effects metformin on food intake and body weight (Nature Metabolism, 2024)Send us a text!Thanks for listening! If you're enjoying our show, please take a moment to give us a review on your podcast app of choice and share this episode with your friends. That's how we grow as a show and bring the stories of the frontiers of neuroscience to a wider audience.We want to hear from your neurons! Email us at at [email protected] more about the Wu Tsai Neurosciences Institute at Stanford and follow us on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn.