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Humanity’s Last Exam, a multi-modal benchmark at the frontier of human knowledge, is designed to be an expert-level closed-ended academic benchmark with broad subject coverage.

Phage therapy is an alternative treatment against biofilm-associated infections. In this case report, phage-antibiotic therapy was used to treat a vascular graft infection caused by a refractory fluoroquinolone non-susceptible Pseudomonas aeruginosa.

Magneto-optical traps (MOTs) are a workhorse for laser cooling of atoms and were recently extended to molecules. Yet, new mechanisms for molecular trapping and cooling are still an open area of exploration. Here, the authors show a blue-detuned MOT based on a conveyor-belt effect for CaF molecules, yielding higher number densities, comparable with some atomic MOTs.

The flagship paper of the ICGC/TCGA Pan-Cancer Analysis of Whole Genomes Consortium describes the generation of the integrative analyses of 2,658 cancer whole genomes and their matching normal tissues across 38 tumour types, the structures for international data sharing and standardized analyses, and the main scientific findings from across the consortium studies.

L-phosphinothricin (PPT) is a broad-spectrum herbicide targeting glutamine synthetase. Inefficient PPT uptake confers resistance in M. polymorpha, while ectopic expression of Arabidopsis CAT5 transporter promotes PPT accumulation and susceptibility.

Analyses of 2,658 whole genomes across 38 types of cancer identify the contribution of non-coding point mutations and structural variants to driving cancer.

Long COVID has heterogeneous presentation and clinical trajectories are not well defined. Here, the authors define trajectories using data from a prospective cohort study in the United States involving symptom questionnaires from acute infection up to 15 months.

Studies using human pluripotent stem cells and a mouse model of Down syndrome identify HMGN1 as a key contributor to congenital heart defects in individuals with Down syndrome.

The editorial team present a selection of highlights of research published in Communications Engineering in 2025

The BioDIGS project is a nationwide initiative involving students, researchers and educators across more than 40 research and teaching institutions. Participants lead sample collection, computational analysis and results interpretation to understand the relationships between the soil microbiome, environment and health.

Whole-genome sequencing data for 2,778 cancer samples from 2,658 unique donors across 38 cancer types is used to reconstruct the evolutionary history of cancer, revealing that driver mutations can precede diagnosis by several years to decades.

With the generation of large pan-cancer whole-exome and whole-genome sequencing projects, a question remains about how comparable these datasets are. Here, using The Cancer Genome Atlas samples analysed as part of the Pan-Cancer Analysis of Whole Genomes project, the authors explore the concordance of mutations called by whole exome sequencing and whole genome sequencing techniques.

Genome-wide association and fine-mapping analyses in ancestrally diverse populations implicate candidate causal genes and mechanisms underlying type 2 diabetes. Trans-ancestry genetic risk scores enhance transferability across populations.

Understanding deregulation of biological pathways in cancer can provide insight into disease etiology and potential therapies. Here, as part of the PanCancer Analysis of Whole Genomes (PCAWG) consortium, the authors present pathway and network analysis of 2583 whole cancer genomes from 27 tumour types.

Analysis of cancer genome sequencing data has enabled the discovery of driver mutations. Here, as part of the ICGC/TCGA Pan-Cancer Analysis of Whole Genomes (PCAWG) Consortium the authors present DriverPower, a software package that identifies coding and non-coding driver mutations within cancer whole genomes via consideration of mutational burden and functional impact evidence.

Multi-omics datasets pose major challenges to data interpretation and hypothesis generation owing to their high-dimensional molecular profiles. Here, the authors develop ActivePathways method, which uses data fusion techniques for integrative pathway analysis of multi-omics data and candidate gene discovery.

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

Cancers evolve as they progress under differing selective pressures. Here, as part of the ICGC/TCGA Pan-Cancer Analysis of Whole Genomes (PCAWG) Consortium, the authors present the method TrackSig the estimates evolutionary trajectories of somatic mutational processes from single bulk tumour data.

Phylogenomic analysis of 7,923 angiosperm species using a standardized set of 353 nuclear genes produced an angiosperm tree of life dated with 200 fossil calibrations, providing key insights into evolutionary relationships and diversification.

There’s an emerging body of evidence to show how biological sex impacts cancer incidence, treatment and underlying biology. Here, using a large pan-cancer dataset, the authors further highlight how sex differences shape the cancer genome.

In somatic cells the mechanisms maintaining the chromosome ends are normally inactivated; however, cancer cells can re-activate these pathways to support continuous growth. Here, the authors characterize the telomeric landscapes across tumour types and identify genomic alterations associated with different telomere maintenance mechanisms.

Integrative analyses of transcriptome and whole-genome sequencing data for 1,188 tumours across 27 types of cancer are used to provide a comprehensive catalogue of RNA-level alterations in cancer.

Whole-genome sequencing data from more than 2,500 cancers of 38 tumour types reveal 16 signatures that can be used to classify somatic structural variants, highlighting the diversity of genomic rearrangements in cancer.

Viral pathogen load in cancer genomes is estimated through analysis of sequencing data from 2,656 tumors across 35 cancer types using multiple pathogen-detection pipelines, identifying viruses in 382 genomic and 68 transcriptome datasets.

A pan-cancer genomic analysis reports the effects of structural variations on chromatin domains (TADs). Most TAD disruptions do not result in appreciable changes in expression of nearby genes.

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.

Some cancer patients first present with metastases where the location of the primary is unidentified; these are difficult to treat. In this study, using machine learning, the authors develop a method to determine the tissue of origin of a cancer based on whole sequencing data.

Many tumours exhibit hypoxia (low oxygen) and hypoxic tumours often respond poorly to therapy. Here, the authors quantify hypoxia in 1188 tumours from 27 cancer types, showing elevated hypoxia links to increased mutational load, directing evolutionary trajectories.

The characterization of 4,645 whole-genome and 19,184 exome sequences, covering most types of cancer, identifies 81 single-base substitution, doublet-base substitution and small-insertion-and-deletion mutational signatures, providing a systematic overview of the mutational processes that contribute to cancer development.

In this study the authors consider the structural variants (SVs) present within cancer cases of the ICGC/TCGA Pan-Cancer Analysis of Whole Genomes (PCAWG) Consortium. They report hundreds of genes, including known cancer-associated genes for which the nearby presence of a SV breakpoint is associated with altered expression.

A sequencing chemistry that separates nucleotide identification from nucleotide incorporation achieves high accuracy.

Zaman, Yang and Huang et al. demonstrate MDK’s suppressive effect on amyloid-β and its impact on amyloid burden and microglial activation in Alzheimer disease mice, highlighting its protective role in pathogenesis.

Observations from the JWST MIRI-MRS instrument reveal the detection of rotational emission from molecular hydrogen near the only O-type star in the 3% solar metallicity galaxy Leo P, providing confirmation that significant quantities of molecular gas can form in such metal- and dust-poor environments.

The authors use Patch-seq and electron microscopy datasets to relate synaptic connectivity to the transcriptomic cell type of different types of inhibitory neuron.

Activated carbon has been widely used for PFAS adsorption, but this method generates secondary solid wastes. The flash Joule heating approach realizes mineralization of PFAS and generation of useful flash graphene in waste granular activated carbon.

EBV (Epstein-Barr virus)-targeted therapy is limited by efficient agents inducing lytic cycle in cancer cells. Here they report a transcriptional activator incorporated into lipid nanoparticles that could specifically activate endogenous BZLF1 and induce lytic reactivation in EBV-positive cancer cells thereby suppress tumor progression.

Materials popular for insulation and noise reduction are typically derived from petroleum or minerals or have other environmental costs. This study reports a scalable material for thermal insulation and noise reduction derived from treated wood.

Multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children (MIS-C) onsets in COVID-19 patients with manifestations similar to Kawasaki disease (KD). Here the author probe the peripheral blood transcriptome of MIS-C patients to find signatures related to natural killer (NK) cell activation and CD8+ T cell exhaustion that are shared with KD patients.

Liu et al. investigate the ‘boiling frog’ effect and demonstrate that binary climate data visuals increase climate change perception via creating an ‘illusion’ of sudden shifts.

Glioblastoma (GBM) is rich in tumor-associated vasculature and it remains to be understood how GBM is supported by vascular endothelial cells. Here, the authors identify that endothelial-secreted proteoglycan endocan acts as a ligand of PDGFR alpha receptor to promote GBM progression and induce therapy resistance.

Clinically significant genetic variation in Asian populations is under-characterized. Here, the authors show the diversity in prevalence and spectrum of human disease and pharmacogenetic variants in a multi-ethnic Asian population.

Efficient, large-scale genomic analysis is facilitated on the cloud by a computational tool with error-diagnosing and self-healing capabilities.

In this phase 1/2 trial, the authors show that INO-3107, a DNA immunotherapy designed to elicit an immune response against HPV-6 and -11 recurrent respiratory papillomatosis, is well-tolerated and demonstrates an antigen specific immune response resulting in surgical reduction in 81% of trial participants.

A new acid-degradable linker termed ‘azido-acetal’ has been developed that rapidly hydrolyses at pH 6.0 but is stable at pH 7.4. Lipid nanoparticles made with this linker delivered mRNA in vivo and in vitro better than traditional lipid nanoparticles.