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Colloidal quantum dots are promising, low-cost materials for infrared technologies, but rarely comply with the EU directive on the restriction of the use of certain hazardous substances (RoHS). Here, the authors present the synthesis of large, near-bulk RoHS-compliant quantum dots, operating deep in the infrared.

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.

Survey data collected across ten low-income and middle-income countries (LMICs) in Asia, Africa and South America compared with surveys from Russia and the United States reveal heterogeneity in vaccine confidence in LMICs, with healthcare providers being trusted sources of information, as well as greater levels of vaccine acceptance in these countries than in Russia and the United States.

l-lactate is a key metabolite supporting neuronal activity, but methods to monitor l-lactate dynamics alongside neuronal activity in vivo have been limited. Here, authors report R-eLACCO2.1, a red fluorescent extracellular l-lactate biosensor enabling simultaneous, multiplexed imaging in awake mice.

Mutations in elongation factor G protect bacteria from aminoglycoside antibiotics through unknown mechanisms. Here, the authors show that the mutations selectively slow the movement of antibiotic-bound ribosomes along mRNA, which prevents error-prone protein synthesis and thus membrane damage and antibiotic uptake.

A study shows that cross-reactivity of microbial antigens and self-antigens presented by HLA-B*27 may be important in the pathogenesis of diseases associated with HLA-B*27 and identifies the shared binding motif responsible.

BindCraft, an open-source, automated pipeline for de novo protein binder design with experimental success rates of 10–100%, leverages AlphaFold2 weights to generate binders with nanomolar affinity without the need for high-throughput screening.

Amino acids possess a new and broad colloidal property: they stabilize patchy nanoscale colloids, such as proteins, by adsorbing onto their surfaces through weak interactions.

Neutrophils infiltrate the ischemic brain. Here, the authors show a disease-stage dependent neutrophil diversification in neonatal brain injury; neutrophils aggravating tissue damage in the acute phase while promoting regeneration in the later stage.

A CasRx-based screening platform for genome-scale long noncoding RNA transcriptome perturbation is described.

Mutations in mtDNA contribute to mitochondrial disease and aging only if they rise in abundance. Here, the authors show that deleterious mutations reach high abundance by hitchhiking on genomes that have a replicative advantage.

The Vertebrate Genome Project has used an optimized pipeline to generate high-quality genome assemblies for sixteen species (representing all major vertebrate classes), which have led to new biological insights.

Curaxins are a recently discovered class of anti-cancer agents that disturbs DNA/histone interactions within. Here the authors provide evidence that curaxins affect the spatial genome organization and compromise enhancer-promoter communication necessary for expression of several oncogenes, including MYC.

During cell division, it is currently unclear how kinetochores transit from lateral microtubule attachment to durable association to dynamic microtubule plus ends. Here, using in vitro reconstitution and computer modeling, the authors provide biophysical mechanism for microtubule end-conversion driven by two kinetochore components, CENP-E and Ndc80 complex

The use of bispecific antibodies to target tumour-specific epitopes presented by MHC molecules in tumour tissue is a promising avenue for cancer immunotherapy. Here the authors use a mass-spectrometry guided analysis to identify off-target MHC-peptide complexes that bind to TCR-like antibodies next to the target peptide, enabling a novel approach to monitoring of antibody specificity during clinical maturation and development.

A two-step error correction process for high throughput–sequenced T- and B-cell receptors allows the elimination of most errors while not diminishing the natural complexity of the repertoires.

Bacteriophages of the crAssphage family have not yet been isolated, despite being highly abundant in the human gut. Here, Shkoporov et al. isolate in pure culture one of these viruses and show that it infects the human gut symbiont Bacteroides intestinalis.

When it comes to reasoning about the motion of physical objects, humans have natural intuitive physics knowledge. To test how good artificial learning agents are in similar predictive abilities, Xue and colleagues present a benchmark based on a two-dimensional physics environment in which 15 physical reasoning skills are measured.

Array-based epigenome-wide association studies only test about 2% of the CpG sites in the genome. Here, the authors describe EWASplus, a supervised machine learning strategy that extends EWAS coverage to the entire genome, and use it to identify novel brain CpGs associated with Alzheimer’s disease.

In this phase 1 trial of a personalized, neoantigen-specific autologous T cell therapy, BNT221, when given as monotherapy in patients with metastatic melanoma refractory to PD-1 and CTLA-4 inhibitor regimens, the therapy was safe and showed preliminary clinical activity and neoantigen-specific T cell responses.

Recent research has found that a protein, Nur77, helps detect the bacterial product lipopolysaccharide inside cells. In this study, authors show that Nur77 helps protect the bladder from infections caused by a common bacterium, Escherichia coli, which leads to urinary tract infections.

Pollen apertures, the special areas on the surfaces of pollen grains that allow pollen tube emergence, show enormous diversity of patterns across plant species. Now a species-specific module formed by two DOG1-domain proteins is identified to control the formation of pollen apertures in flowering plants.

Greter and colleagues identify a population of CD11c⁺F4/80⁺CD64⁺MHCII⁺CX3CR1⁺ macrophages in the mouse mammary gland that is induced by lactation and resembles several subsets of macrophages detected in human milk.

In patients with Crohn’s disease, CD4⁺ T cells with cytotoxic T_H1 cell-like effector functions reactive against dietary and commensal yeasts are increased in blood and inflamed tissue compared with patients with ulcerative colitis and healthy controls.

The E2F family of transcription factors controls many important cellular processes. Here, the authors determine the structure of an atypical E2F that contains two DNA binding domains, and propose a mechanism of action for these atypical E2Fs.

Genomes are partitioned into topologically associating domains (TADs). Here the authors present single-nucleus Hi-C maps in Drosophila at 10 kb resolution, demonstrating the presence of chromatin compartments in individual nuclei, and partitioning of the genome into non-hierarchical TADs at the scale of 100 kb, which resembles population TAD profiles.

Phytochrome photoreceptors are master regulators of plant development. This paper describes 3D structures of soybean phytochrome A in both Pr (inactive) and Pfr (signalling) states, revealing changes that might transmit the light signal to the cell.

Improved diagnostics for malaria are desired. Here the authors present first-in-human data for a non-invasive device based on detection of hemozoin in malaria-infected red blood cells, and show that it is safe with comparable performance to current point-of-care diagnostics without the need for a blood sample.

The p30 isoform of C/EBPα associated with leukemia interacts with WDR5, a component of the SET/MLL histone methyltransferase complex. A small molecule, OICR-9429, disrupted p30-WDR5 interactions, resulting in differentiation of p30-expressing leukemia cells.

Automated and single-cell CUT&Tag is used to characterize the effects of KMT2A fusion proteins on chromatin in human primary leukemia samples, identifying oncogenic networks and fusion-specific therapeutic vulnerabilities.

Ribosomal DNA is an unstable genomic region with the underlying mechanisms remaining elusive. Here the authors find that rDNA hyper recombination in Bloom Syndrome cells arises from RAD51 accumulation in the absence of long-range resection and cause genome instability through micronuclei formation.

Chronic infection with SARS-CoV-2 leads to the emergence of viral variants that show reduced susceptibility to neutralizing antibodies in an immunosuppressed individual treated with convalescent plasma.

A study of SARS-CoV-2 variants examining their transmission, infectivity, and potential resistance to therapies provides insights into the biology of the Delta variant and its role in the global pandemic.

Analyses of 1,277 human brain proteomes reveal the extent of sex differences in the brain and identify genes associated with neuropsychiatric traits that have differential regulation between males and females.

Structural characterization sheds mechanistic insights behind λN-dependent processive antitermination.

A localization algorithm is applied to datasets obtained with conventional and high-speed atomic force microscopy to increase image resolution beyond the limits set by the radius of the tip used.

An engineered biosensor, which optimizes metal-sensing and couples it to transcriptional amplification cascades that produce a fluorescent protein, was applied to build a sensitive and easy-to-use sensor for the toxic metals As³⁺ and Hg²⁺.

While our brain is primarily composed of lipids, their functions have largely remained unexplored. Here, authors show that specific lipids can be linked to the structural organization and functional hierarchy of the human and macaque brain.

The SARS-CoV-2 spike glycoprotein is flexible, and its receptor-binding domain (RBD) fluctuates between open and closed conformations. Disulfide bonds are engineered into the spike ectodomain to lock the RBD in the closed state, leading to a construct with high thermostability.

High-resolution (≤1.2 Å) structures of functional states of bacteriorhodopsin reveal the molecular mechanism for generating a membrane proton electrochemical gradient, a key event of cell bioenergetics driving ATP synthesis.

The host range of bacteriophages defines their impact on bacterial ecology and diversity. Here, Göller et al. isolate 94 staphylococcal phages from wastewater and determine their host range on 117 staphylococci from 29 species, revealing a predominant multi-species host range and thus great potential for horizontal gene transfer.

Epigenetic therapies are known to synergize with immunotherapies through the de-repression of endogenous retroviral element (ERV)-encoded promoters. Here the authors identify treatment-induced neoantigens and validate their ability to induce T cell response and anti-tumor effects in vitro and in patient samples.

In this Consensus Statement, the authors present results from an international multi-stakeholder consensus conducted by the PIONEER consortium to identify the most important questions in the field of prostate cancer that could be addressed using big data.

Genome-wide analysis of copy number variants in 2,824 cases across the phenotypic spectrum of CAKUT sheds light on the genomic architecture of disease and identifies TBX6 as a driver for CAKUT subphenotypes in the 16p11.2 microdeletion syndrome.