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Assembling random networks on a surface is an intriguing — and potentially useful — phenomenon, but partial order is difficult to control. Researchers have now altered two-dimensional tetracarboxylic acid networks through only small chemical changes. This phase behaviour reveals that entropy, alongside energy, plays a crucial role in the order–disorder balance.

Quasicrystals are intriguing structures that exhibit long-range positional correlations but no periodicity in real space. Now, T-shaped amphiphilic molecules featuring rigid cores have been found to self-assemble into a columnar liquid quasicrystal with dodecagonal symmetry. The honeycomb structure observed arises from a strictly quasiperiodic tessellation of square, triangular and trapezoidal tiles, rather than from random tiling.

The chemical and electronic properties of quasi-periodic and nonperiodic crystalline surfaces are expected to differ from surfaces with conventional Bravais lattices. Here, nonperiodic tiling is seen on the surface of delafossite PdCrO₂; induced by hydrogen adsorption, its formation leads to modifications to the electronic structure.

Quasicrystals promise exciting technological advances in optical devices, but their formation mechanism is yet not fully understood. Here, the authors describe a two-dimensional dodecagonal fullerene quasicrystal, forming on a Pt₃Ti(111)-surface due to the complex adsorption-energy landscape.

Functional characterization of the regulatory landscape of the adjacent costimulatory genes CD28, CTLA4 and ICOS in primary human T cell subsets identifies context-dependent programs controlling this locus critical for immune homeostasis.

Tiled amplicon sequencing is an essential tool for tracking the spread and evolution of pathogens, including SARS-CoV-2, however existing methods for tiled amplicon design require slow and costly downstream manual optimization. Here the authors present Olivar, a first step towards fully automated, variant-aware design of tiled amplicons for pathogen genomes.

Globally important BTEX hydrocarbons are separated using a T-shaped host with the shape and crystal tiling characteristics of a pentomino. A strategy based on designing and applying crystalline molecular ominos to perform separations of hydrocarbons and other environmentally-relevant compounds is outlined.

Quasicrystals are of significant interest due to their ordered yet non-periodic atomic structure. Here, the authors report on a three-dimensional single-element quasicrystal formed by atomic deposition of lead onto a quasicrystalline Ag-In-Yb template.

Mesothelioma is a highly lethal cancer that remains challenging to diagnose. Here, the authors curate a histomorphological atlas of resected mesothelioma and map it using self-supervised AI endorsed by human pathological assessment, revealing patterns that generate highly interpretable predictions.

Glioblastoma—the deadliest form of brain cancer—alters the calvarial bone and its marrow components, pushing it toward producing more myeloid cells and contributing to an immunosuppressive environment.

Existing Moiré materials are mostly van der Waals heterostructures. Here the authors show that hydrogen-bond adaptability allows spontaneous formation of twisted bilayer ice at magic angles in 2D confinement, establishing a new class of Moiré materials.

The PrimeGen framework is a multi-agent large language model system used to navigate intricate primer design workflows for amplicon sequencing.

The next step after sequencing a genome is to figure out how the cell actually uses it as an instruction manual. A large international consortium has examined 1% of the genome for what part is transcribed, where proteins are bound, what the chromatin structure looks like, and how the sequence compares to that of other organisms.

Improved Cas12a variants and sgRNA design rules enhance genome-wide screens.

Montage parallel array cryo-tomography adopts principles of montage tomography via regular array beam-image-shift montage acquisition and is robust for imaging large fields of view while retaining high-resolution structural information in cryo-electron tomography.

In quasi-crystals, constituents do not form spatially periodic patterns, but their structures still give rise to sharp diffraction patterns. Now, quasi-crystalline patterns are found in a system of spherical macroscopic grains vibrating on a substrate.

Human pluripotent stem cells with one copy of the BRCA2 gene deleted can be used to annotate variants of the gene and to test their sensitivities to inhibition by the poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase.

The directed self-assembly (DSA) of block copolymers (BCPs) has shown great promise in fabricating customized two-dimensional (2D) geometries at the nano- and mesoscale. Here, the authors report the discovery of spontaneous symmetry breaking and superlattice formation in DSA of BCP.

The authors uncover the roles and regulations of DNA polymerase κ (Polκ) during DNA damage bypass. In addition to a catalytic function across minor groove DNA lesions, Polκ stimulates Polζ-mediated extension past various DNA lesions.

Here they perform a systematic dissection of OCT4 and reveal how intrinsically disordered regions can be used to serve specific functions during reprogramming and embryonic development. This can be exploited to engineer more efficient and specific reprogramming factors.

ESCAPE-seq (enhanced single-chain antigen presentation sequencing) is a massively parallel platform for screening of class I HLA–peptide combinations for antigen presentation. The authors assess more than 75,000 peptide–HLA combinations, revealing presented epitopes from oncogenic driver mutations and fusions across diverse HLA-A, HLA-B and HLA-C alleles.

This study describes a new method that improves the sensitivity of viral detection compared with next-generation sequencing and enables the detection of emerging flaviviruses not specifically targeted a priori. Metagenomic sequencing with spiked primer enrichment is simple, low cost, fast and deployable on either benchtop or portable nanopore sequencers, making it applicable for diagnostic laboratory and field use.

Leveraging RNA-targeting dCas13d enables selective interference with phage protein translation and facilitates measurement of phage gene fitness at a transcriptome-wide scale.

As part of the modENCODE initiative, which aims to characterize functional DNA elements in D. melanogaster and C. elegans, this study uses RNA-Seq, tiling microarrays and cDNA sequencing to explore the transcriptome in 30 distinct developmental stages of the fruitfly. Among the results are scores of new genes, coding and non-coding transcripts, as well as splicing and editing events.

Light can control neural activity but often requires genetic modification. Here, the authors present a graphene-based platform for non-genetic light controlled neuronal stimulation, enabling all-optical network analysis, stem cell derived neuron maturation, and closed-loop robotics.

Early breast cancer is often responsive to treatment, however, long-term prognosis is variable. Here, the authors utilise a deep learning model to predict metastasis free survival using digitised tumour slides.

Here the authors show that mutations in V-ATPase genes in follicular lymphoma trigger V-ATPase-dependent autophagy. This process, linked to tryptophan metabolism and ribosome biogenesis, may help tumor cells thrive under stress conditions.

Chapman, Klaourakis and colleagues reveal that a lymphatic vasculature with poor clearance capacity in perinatal, regeneration-competent mouse hearts is required to retain pro-reparative macrophages and allow cardiac regeneration.

This analysis provides 108 noncoding CRISPR screens collated by the ENCODE4 consortium and establishes experimental guidelines for future CRISPRi screens characterizing functional cis-regulatory elements.

Tissue clearing has revolutionised histology, but limited penetration of antibodies and stains into thick tissue segments is still a bottleneck. Here, the authors characterise optically cleared tissue as an electrolyte gel and apply this knowledge to stain the entirety of thick tissue samples.

Profiling antibody responses to vast antigenic spaces has been challenging using programmable phage display (PhIP-Seq). Here, authors develop a methodology for compressing large proteomic spaces and have discovered human antibodies targeting gut bacteria-infecting phages.

Various biological processes are entrained by the day–night cycle to occur at a specific time of day. One way the circadian system exerts these effects is through post-transcriptional regulation. These authors show that a protein that transfers methyl groups onto several spliceosome subunits, PRMT5, is regulated by the light–dark cycle. Methylation of these subunits affects alternative splicing of some genes, thus making them subject to circadian control.

Quasicrystals possess long range order but no translational symmetry, and rotational symmetries that are forbidden in periodic crystals. Here, a fullerene overlayer deposited on a surface of an icosahedral intermetallic quasicrystal achieves a Fibonacci square grid structure, by selective adsorption at specific sites.

The S-layer is a two-dimensional protein array that covers the cell surface of many bacteria and archaea. Here, the authors use high-resolution X-ray crystallography and electron microscopy to provide detailed insights into S-layer organisation and assembly for the bacterial pathogen Clostridioides difficile.

A foundation model trained on neural activity of visual cortex from multiple mice accurately predicts responses to video stimuli and cell types, dendritic features and connectivity within the MICrONS functional connectomics dataset.

HistoPlexer, a deep learning model, generates multiplexed protein expression maps from H&E images, capturing tumour–immune cell interactions. It outperforms baselines, enhances immune subtyping and survival prediction and offers a cost-effective tool for precision oncology.

DNA2 suppresses recombination-restarted replication and checkpoint activation at stalled forks, and its loss triggers recombination-dependent synthesis, checkpoint signalling and cell-cycle exit, highlighting its essential role in proliferation and growth failure in primordial dwarfism.

DNA double-strand break (DSB) leads to genome rearrangements with various genetic and phenotypic effects. Here, the authors develop a tool to induce large-scale genome restructuring by introducing conditional multiple DNA breaks, and produce various traits in yeast and Arabidopsis thaliana.

Light-sheet microscopes are increasingly used for imaging cleared tissues, but have imposed constraints on sample geometries and protocols. Here the authors present a multi-immersion open-top light-sheet microscope to overcome these limitations and enable high-throughput imaging of samples processed with various clearing protocols.

Two JmjC-domain-contain ing enzymes are shown to catalyse demethylation of histone H3K27me3, a histone modification mediated by polycomb proteins and associated with stem cell maintenance and differentiation.

The ability to edit large stretches of mRNA transcripts remains a significant challenge. Here, the authors demonstrate that CRISPR-Cas13 systems can be repurposed to assist trans-splicing of exogenous RNA fragments into an endogenous pre-mRNA transcript, a method termed CRISPR Assisted mRNA Fragment Trans-splicing (CRAFT).