Search

Surface condensation is predetermined and is typically adjusted by chemical or topographical surface modification. Here, the authors report on a strategy to control the surface condensation behavior by adjusting molecular conformations in self-assembled monolayers.

The gut microbiome regulates behaviour in a number of species. Here the authors show that depletion of the gut microbiome in Drosophila reduced aggressive behaviour, in an octopamine-dependent manner.

The function of METTL3 and RNA methylation is important in various biological processes. Here the authors show that METTL3 is reduced in childhood asthma patients and that conditional knockout of Mettl3 in mouse myeloid cells enhances Th2 response and allergic asthma associated with changes in macrophage function.

The second messenger cAMP modulates a wide range of important biological processes. Here, the authors developed a fluorescent indicator termed G-Flamp1, which can accurately report levels of cAMP in living cells.

Single-cell RNA sequencing is used to catalogue and explore the developmental trajectories of more than 30,000 cells in the developing human hippocampus.

It remains essential to find clinically relevant biomarkers in epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC). Here, the authors perform a comprehensive proteomic profiling of tissue and plasma samples from EOC and control patients; they find potential biomarkers for EOC early detection and develop methods for tumour recurrence prediction.

METTL3 catalyzes mRNA m⁶A deposition. The authors identify an acetylation-mediated regulation of METTL3 subcellular localization and compartment-specific functions, a process that is fine-tuned by anti-inflammatory and pro-inflammatory signals, which ultimately determine breast cancer metastasis.

Quantum nanomagnets, which display collective quantum behaviours, serve as important components in modern quantum technologies, but their fabrication has remained challenging. Quantum nanomagnets have now been constructed spin by spin in metal-free porphyrin chains, using on-surface synthesis and hydrogen manipulation using a scanning tunnelling microscope, and their collective quantum behaviours have been clearly resolved.

Hybrids can be self-pollinated to produce true-breeding progeny through seeds by simultaneous genome editing of four endogenous genes in a rice F₁ hybrid variety.

Chen et al. report that the immune modulatory metabolite itaconic acid selectively inhibits the activity of TET DNA dioxygenases to repress the inflammatory responses.

Architected materials can have enhanced properties compared to bulk but are difficult to design. Here the authors propose a machine-learning-based pipeline to design architected materials with predetermined elastic modulus and enhanced yield strength and test it in additive manufacturing.

Rapid degradation inducing overdose toxicity remains challenging in porous biodegradable bone scaffolds. Here the authors present multiscale architecture design on ZnLi scaffolds with 90% porosity orchestrates immune responses and subsequent bone regeneration.

Organic mechanoluminescent materials have potential in a range of applications, but it can be challenging to achieve long-lived emission. Here, the authors report isostructural doping as a strategy to achieve multicolour and high efficiency organic mechanoluminescence, applied in stress sensing.

A strategy to confine phosphorescent organic chromophores within ionic crystals proves effective in suppressing non-radiative recombination channels and increasing the phosphorescence efficiency of blue-emitting heavy-atom-free emitters.

The photovoltaic performances of perovskite materials are strongly influenced by their crystallinity and film morphology. Here, the authors investigate the formation and morphology evolution mechanisms of lead halide perovskites and reveal that bulk polycrystals grow from intermediate [PbI6]⁴⁻cage nanoparticles.

Lentiviral massively parallel reporter assay (lentiMPRA) analysis of cardiac cis-regulatory elements characterizes the effects of noncoding de novo variants identified in congenital heart disease. EpiCard is a model for variant prioritization.

Low-grade heat conversion has recently emerged and displayed great promise in sustainable electronics and energy areas. Here, the authors propose a new zinc ion thermal charging cell with hybrid behaviours for high value-added conversion from heat to electricity.

Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are persistent and bioaccumulative pollutants in soil. Here, the authors developed a rapid electrothermal mineralization method that can efficiently mineralize PFAS while maintaining soil properties.

This resource describes a collection of neurons from a variety of light microscopy-based datasets, which can serve as a gold standard for testing automated tracing algorithms, as shown by comparison of the performance of 35 algorithms.

Characterizing the soft protein corona on nanoparticles i.e. the outer layer of the corona, remains a longstanding challenge. Here, the authors develop an in situ method to monitor the dynamic processes of multilayered corona formation and evolution that offers a universal strategy to characterize the soft corona proteome.

Stress granules (SGs) are dynamic compartments with a poorly characterized transition in composition and function during prolonged stress. In this study, the authors investigated the dynamic changes in SG constituents during acute to prolonged heat shock using time-resolved proteomic profiling.

Biosensors have a wide number of potential applications, but rapidly constructing genetically encoded biosensors remains challenging. Here, authors report a method for rapidly converting ANL superfamily enzymes into biosensors for organic acids, based on their conformational changes upon binding.

Bone implants with antibacterial and osteogenic properties are important for clinical applications, but creating both properties simultaneously remains challenging. Here, the authors demonstrate a self-activating implant using a hydroxyapatite and molybdenum disulfide coating which accelerates bone regeneration and at the same time prevents bacterial infection.

Liu and colleagues show that specification of the dendritic-cell lineage occurs in parallel with specification of the myeloid and lymphoid lineages in or around the hematopoietic-stem-cell stage, starting as a lineage bias defined by transcriptional programs that correlate with the combinatorial dose of IRF8 and PU.1.

Gram-negative bacteria are more resistant to antibacterial agents due to the outer membrane. Here, the authors use microwave irradiation to generate nanopores in the outer membrane allowing Garcinia nanoparticles to penetrate and damage the inner membrane leading to leakage and cell death.

Generating continuous power by ionic thermoelectric material modules remains challenging. Here, the authors find the ionic thermoelectric material exhibiting bipolar thermopower property by manipulating the interactions between ions and electrodes.

The Cancer Genome Atlas presents an integrative genome-wide analysis of genetic alterations in 279 head and neck squamous cell carcinomas (HNSCCs), which are classified by human papillomavirus (HPV) status; alterations in EGFR, FGFR, PIK3CA and cyclin-dependent kinases are shown to represent candidate targets for therapeutic intervention in most HNSCCs.

Several two-dimensional materials have been synthesized to date, yet elemental materials, consisting of individual atomic species, are still scarce. Here, the authors synthesize few-layer, monocrystalline polygons of antimonene via van der Waals epitaxy growth.

Single atom catalysts (SACs) are promising in electrocatalysis but challenging to characterize. Here, the authors apply a recently developed quantum mechanical grand canonical potential kinetics method to predict reaction mechanisms and rates for CO₂ reduction at different sites of graphene-supported Ni-SACs.

Membrane-free coacervates are interesting, but balancing stability and permeability can be challenging. Here, the authors report the use of a tannic acid modification to improve stability, and subsequent use of the modified coacervates in enzyme-triggered drug release.

Large, bilayer graphene single crystals can be grown by oxygen-activated chemical vapour deposition.

In Escherichia coli, the uptake of L-fucose, an important source of carbon for microorganisms, is mediated by a proton symporter from the major facilitator superfamily (MFS). These authors report the first X-ray crystal structure of the outward-open conformation of an MFS proton transporter, FucP. Building on previous work, they develop a working model for how the substrate is recognized by the transporter and how the protein mediates L-fucose/proton symport.

The emergency of a high frequency of early memory T cells has been associated with clinical success of CAR T cell therapy. Here the authors show that target cancer cells stressed by disulfiram/copper complexes and ionizing radiation favour the reprogramming of CAR T cells that acquire memory-like characteristics, associated with prolonged anti-tumor response in preclinical solid tumor models.

Nanographenes, as their name suggests, are small sections of graphene. They offer a diverse array of magnetic behaviors; for example, sublattice imbalances in the nanographene lead to unpaired spins. Here, Du et al uncover a large variation in the exchange energy in nanographenes, due to changes in the frontier orbital symmetries.

MXenes have emerged as potential antimicrobial materials. Here, the authors report on the creation of a Schottky junction to increase the charge separation between MXenes and semiconductor to increase photodynamic creation of reactive oxygen species under near infrared irradiation for antibacterial purposes.

A bilayer hydrogel sensor is presented for continuous monitoring of solid epidermal biomarkers on human skin.

Protein engineering is an active area of research in which machine learning has proven quite powerful. Here, the authors present a deep learning method that integrates both general and protein-specific sequence representations to improve the engineering of one’s protein of interest.

The sensitivity of Li-ion battery materials to moisture complicates their synthesis, storage, processing and recycling. Here, authors show that protonation causes structural instability in LiNi_xCo_yMn_1-x-yO₂ (0 <x,y < 1) and that controlled H⁺ and Li⁺ concentration in aqueous processing is critical.

Computational methods are important for interpreting missense variants in genetic studies and clinical testing. Zhang and colleagues develop a method based on graph attention neural networks to predict pathogenic missense variants. The method pools information from functionally correlated positions and can improve the interpretation of missense variants.