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Complexes of the transcription factor Ume6 bridge morphogenesis, adherence and hypoxic genes that determine biofilm architecture in the human fungal pathogen Candida albicans.

Tumour endothelial cell macropinocytosis is the dominant mechanism for nanoparticle entry into the tumour. Enhanced nanoparticle tumour accumulation may be due to upregulated macropinocytosis membrane ruffling compared with most healthy tissues.

Federated learning (FL) algorithms have emerged as a promising solution to train models for healthcare imaging across institutions while preserving privacy. Here, the authors describe the Federated Tumor Segmentation (FeTS) challenge for the decentralised benchmarking of FL algorithms and evaluation of Healthcare AI algorithm generalizability in real-world cancer imaging datasets.

DNA transactions promote torsional constraints that pose inherent risks to genome integrity. Here the authors identify the macro-histone splice variant macroH2A1.1 as an epigenetic modulator of topoisomerase 1-associated genome maintenance. MacroH2A1.1 expression determines sensitivity to TOP1 poisons and may present a cancer vulnerability.

An integrated smart capsule that encapsulates an array of electrochemical sensors can provide real-time, continuous and multiplexed monitoring of the gastrointestinal tract.

Extending the optical response of silicon below the band gap towards infrared wavelengths is of interest for applications such as imaging. Here, Mailoa et al. achieve room-temperature infrared photoresponse from silicon doped with supersaturated concentrations of gold impurities.

Using cryo-electron microscopy, the interactions of Sestrin2 and CASTOR1 with GATOR2 were resolved, revealing how mTORC1 activation is regulated and how nutrient availability triggers signalling for cellular growth.

A Telluride Science Workshop on electrochemical separations was convened in early 2025. In this Feature, 17 of the workshop participants share their perspectives and future outlooks on this rapidly growing research area.

Two phase 2 trials, along with translational analysis of prospective cohorts and experimental analysis, indicate that immunosenescence as a mechanism of resistance to immunotherapy can be overcome with the senolytics dasatinib and quercetin in patients with head and neck squamous cell carcinoma.

Electrolyte gating enables the accumulation of large carrier densities in two-dimensional electron systems. Here, the authors demonstrate that a few-atom thick layer of hexagonal boron nitride can dramatically improve carrier mobility in an electrolyte-gated system by limiting chemical reactions and disorder.

A COVID vaccine developer, an Arctic voyager and a prime minister are some of the people behind the year’s big research stories.

Acquiring biomarkers from blood or sweat is limited by invasiveness or biofouling. Skin gas emissions bypass these issues, offering rich biosignals. Authors present passive sensing strategies capturing water vapor (Sweat rate), CO2, and VOCs, enabling real-time tracking of physiological changes.

A PICALM allele associated with increased risk of late-onset Alzheimer’s disease has a microglial-specific role in lipid droplet accumulation.

Chirality transfer from molecules to nanomaterials enables advanced optical functionalities. Here, the authors use exfoliated MoS₂ nanosheets to seed the growth of chiral Au nanoparticles to form Au/MoS₂ heterostructures for enantioselective drug release.

Evan Eichler and colleagues use single-molecule molecular-inversion probes to sequence the coding and splicing regions of 208 candidate genes in more than 11,730 individuals with neurodevelopmental disorders. They report 91 genes with an excess of de novo or private disruptive mutations, identify 25 genes showing a bias for autism versus intellectual disability, and highlight a network associated with high-functioning autism.

The adhesion of single DNA molecules on modified gold surfaces can be adjusted by surface potential, and the desorption forces of these interactions are measured by single-molecule force spectroscopy.

The existence (or not) of electronic coherence in homopolymers is dependent on a balance between monomer–monomer interactions and environmental heterogeneity. Now, by understanding how even–odd orbital symmetry influences coherence and produces resistance oscillations as a function of distance—it is shown that DNA sequences can be designed to support coherent charge transport.

Circulating tumor cell (CTC) clusters are much more likely to produce viable metastasis than single CTCs. Here the authors find that the transmembrane protein Plexin-B2 (PLXNB2) mediates homotypic and heterotypic CTC cluster formation, driving lung metastasis in breast cancer mouse models.

Ethanol electrosynthesis from CO reduction is achieved using an oxygen-affinity-engineered copper alloy catalyst. Unlike conventional CO dimerization pathways, which yield diverse products, this catalyst selectively promotes the CO–CH_x coupling route, enabling selective ethanol production.

Mendelian randomization (MR) identifies causal relationships from observational data but has increased error rates when the genetic variants used as instruments come from a single region, a typical scenario when assessing molecular traits like protein or metabolite levels as risk factors. Here the authors introduce a single-region pleiotropy-robust MR method, validating the method on three ground truth sources, showing its capability to identify disease-causing molecular traits.

The authors demonstrate strain-induced morphotropic phase boundary-like nanodomains in lead-free NaNbO₃ thin films, enabling multi-state switching and large enhancements in dielectric susceptibility and tunability over a broad frequency range.

Nanoparticle exposure and accumulation can have detrimental health effects, but measuring these exposure levels in animals is difficult. Here, the authors show that exposure can be visualized on the skin, and can be used to quantify accumulation in the liver and spleen using elemental analysis.

An artificial intelligence model defines a data-driven set of total parenteral nutrition compositions to assist clinicians in personalized treatment of neonates in intensive care and is able to adapt recommendations to patient status, with validation from large external cohorts and a blinded reader study.

Slow light effects are interesting for telecommunications and quantum photonics applications. Here, the authors use coupled exciton-surface plasmon polaritons (SPPs) in a hybrid monolayer WSe₂-metallic waveguide structure to demonstrate a 1300-fold reduction of the SPP group velocity.

Elemental mass spectrometry imaging of biomolecules provides detailed knowledge of their abundance and location within tissue samples. This Review highlights the analytical instrumentation and strategies used to bring this technique from a research tool to clinical studies.

Accurate segmentation of ischemic stroke lesions from brain MRI is crucial for timely diagnosis and treatment planning. Here, the authors present DeepISLES, an AI ensemble for stroke MRI analysis that outperforms previous methods and matches expert radiologist performance in identifying stroke lesions.

Solid oxide cells for interconversion of hydrogen and electricity typically have planar designs with low performance per unit mass and volume. Zhou et al. fabricate solid oxide cells with 3D architectures, improving space utilization and mass-normalized performance.

Researchers use a DNA-mediated approach for the programmable assembly of octahedron-shaped plasmonic gold nanocrystals into nonlinear optical metacrystals. A maximum second-harmonic generation conversion efficiency of 10⁻⁹ is demonstrated.

The M₅ muscarinic acetylcholine receptor represents a promising therapeutic target for neurological disorders. Here, the authors reveal a 2.1 Å cryo-EM structure of the M₅ bound to a selective positive allosteric modulator site that enables structure-based drug design.

In Drosophila, coherent slow-wave activity between sleep-promoting and locomotion-promoting neural networks provides a brain state structure that allows for quiescent behaviours.

Portable robots may assist subjects with disabilities. However, upper limb movements are hard to fine-tune. Here, the authors design a personalized AI intention detection model to decode user’s motion intention from IMU and compression sensors.

To better understand the etiology of frailty, the authors perform a large genetic study. They identified 45 additional variants and implicated MET, CHST9, ILRUN, APOE, CGREF1 and PPP6C as potential causal genes, linking frailty to immune regulation, metabolism and cellular signaling.

Creating new materials requires novel approaches to design and synthesize small building particles. Sacanna et al. develop a versatile synthetic strategy to design and mass-produce colloidal building blocks starting from two different colloids that leads to selectively functionalized surface areas.

Extracting signals from noise is challenging in single-particle catalysis. Here, the authors use deep learning to enhance mass spectrometry, enabling detection of reactions on single nanoparticles.

The authors demonstrate a nanoscale particle-exchange heat engine using a diradical molecule coupled to superconducting electrodes. By driving a phase transition into the Yu-Shiba-Rusinov regime, they achieve a fivefold boost in thermoelectric power, enabling advances in cryogenic heat recovery and quantum cooling.

X-ray free-electron lasers offer a wealth of possibilities for future diffraction studies, but variations in successive pulses mean the wavefront is not well defined. Rutishauseret al. use grating interferometry to characterize the wavefronts shot to shot, both in situand under operating conditions.

Epidemiological estimates from wastewater are not biased by testing rates but may be subject to other biases. Here, the authors investigate the impact of variable virus shedding profiles for different SARS-CoV-2 variants on estimates of their selection advantage.

Artis and colleagues show that enteric neurons produce CGRP-related ADM2 to promote intestinal tissue-protective functions in ILC2s.

Molecular catalysts can be made more practical by anchoring them onto electrode surfaces, but such systems are less stable than standard heterogeneous electrocatalysts. Now, supramolecular hosts bound to electrode surfaces have enabled the immobilization of molecular electrocatalysts through host–guest interactions. Desorbed or degraded guest molecules can be replaced with fresh guest molecules, extending their lifetimes.

A population of TRAIL-positive astrocytes in glioblastoma contributes to an immunosuppressive tumour microenvironment and this mechanism can be targeted with an engineered oncolytic virus to improve outcomes.

There is little known about the function or molecular identity of the electron-dense stereocilia coat, which is transiently present at the surface of stereocilia. In this study authors screened a database of hair-cell-enriched translated proteins to identify the expression of Polycystic Kidney and Hepatic Disease 1-Like 1 (PKHD1L1), a large, mostly extracellular protein, and show that it forms the coat at the tips of stereocilia and is required for normal hearing in mice

A remora-inspired mechanical underwater adhesive device adheres securely to a range of soft substrates and maintains performance under extreme pH and moisture conditions, with potential applications in biosensing and drug delivery.

An analysis of 2,954 genomes from 38 cancer subtypes identified 19,166 retrotransposition events in 35% of samples. Aberrant LINE-1 retrotranspositions can lead to the deletion of tumor-suppressor genes as well as the amplification of oncogenes.

The authors present SVclone, a computational method for inferring the cancer cell fraction of structural variants from whole-genome sequencing data.