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Here the authors demonstrate a laser system that can directly output soliton microcombs, with high power efficiency and reconfigurability, paving the way for communication, computing, and metrology based on integrated photonics.

X-chromosomal genetic variants are understudied but can yield valuable insights into sexually dimorphic human traits and diseases such as chronic kidney disease (CKD). Here, the authors perform a sex-stratified, cross-ancestry X-chromosome-wide association meta-analysis of seven kidney-related traits, with results including identification of four novel loci associated with the CKD-defining trait eGFR.

The apelin receptor (APJR) is a drug target for cardiovascular and metabolic health. Here, authors reveal how ligand binding, receptor dimerization, and G protein coupling cooperate to regulate APJR signaling pathway, providing insight for drug discovery.

Machine learning can be used to identify subtypes of psychiatric disease. Here the authors identified two neurostructural subgroups in schizophrenia, each showing reproducibility and generalizability across different collection locations and illness stages, using the SuStain algorithm.

Structural analysis of the human choline and ethanolamine transporters FLVCR1 and FLVCR2 clarifies the mechanisms of transport, the conformational dynamics of these proteins and the disease-associated mutations that interfere with these processes.

The genetics and clinical consequences of resting heart rate (RHR) remain incompletely understood. Here, the authors discover new genetic variants associated with RHR and find that higher genetically predicted RHR decreases risk of atrial fibrillation and ischemic stroke.

Urinary albumin-to-creatinine ratio (UCAR) is associated with various clinical outcomes such as kidney disease and cardiovascular disease. Here, the authors report genome-wide meta-analysis in over 500,000 individuals and find 68 UACR loci, followed by statistical fine-mapping, gene prioritization and experimental validation in flies.

On-Chip integration of laser systems led to impressive development in many field of application like LIDAR or AR/VR to cite a few. Here the authors harness Pockels effect in an integrated semiconductor platform achieving fast on-chip configurability of a narrow linewidth laser.

Understanding how SARS-CoV-2 gains initial entry into the human body is a key step towards the development of prophylaxes and therapeutics for COVID-19. Here, the authors show that ACE2, the receptor for SARS-CoV-2, is abundantly expressed in the motile cilia of the human nasal and respiratory tract and is not affected by the use of angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors or angiotensin II receptor blockers.

A global network of researchers was formed to investigate the role of human genetics in SARS-CoV-2 infection and COVID-19 severity; this paper reports 13 genome-wide significant loci and potentially actionable mechanisms in response to infection.

The crystal structure of the full-length human glucagon receptor reveals the essential role of the 12-residue ‘stalk’ segment and an extracellular loop in the regulation of ligand binding and receptor activation.

The QT interval is a heritable electrocardiographic measure associated with arrhythmia risk when prolonged. Here, the authors used a series of genetic analyses to identify genetic loci, pathways, therapeutic targets, and relationships with cardiovascular disease.

Entanglement was observed in top–antitop quark events by the ATLAS experiment produced at the Large Hadron Collider at CERN using a proton–proton collision dataset with a centre-of-mass energy of √s  = 13 TeV and an integrated luminosity of 140 fb⁻¹.

Increasing evidence suggests that antigen presentation by B cells is critical to the initiation of autoimmunity. Here, the authors demonstrate that tolerance breakdown is initiated outside of germinal centres and that B cells can directly instruct T cells to break tolerance and propagate autoimmune responses.

Missense variants in RNA-binding proteins underlie many diseases. Here the authors report an oculopharyngeal muscular dystrophy caused by heterozygous frameshift mutations in HNRNPA2B1 that alter its nucleocytoplasmic transport dynamics and result in cytoplasmic accumulation of hnRNPA2 protein.

In this study, the authors provide a global overview of SARS-CoV-2 genome sequencing, and estimate the proportion of cases sequenced and time to genome upload. They identify disparities and highlight the need to strengthen surveillance in lower and middle income countries.

Springtails are omnipresent soil arthropods, vital for ecosystems. In the first global assessment of springtails, this study shows a 20-fold biomass difference between the tundra and the tropics, with distinct temperature-related patterns for diversity and metabolism that suggest climate change may restructure the functioning of soil biodiversity.

Trans-ancestry meta-analysis of estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) from 1,046,070 individuals identifies 264 associated loci, providing a resource of molecular targets for translational research of chronic kidney disease.

GWAS have identified more than 500 genetic loci associated with blood lipid levels. Here, the authors report a genome-wide analysis of interactions between genetic markers and physical activity, and find that physical activity modifies the effects of four genetic loci on HDL or LDL cholesterol.

A meta-analysis of genome-wide association studies for 233 circulating metabolites from 33 cohorts reveals more than 400 loci and suggests probable causal genes, providing insights into metabolic pathways and disease aetiology.

The ATLAS Collaboration reports the observation of the electroweak production of two jets and a Z-boson pair. This process is related to vector-boson scattering and allows the nature of electroweak symmetry breaking to be probed.

On the electrocardiogram, the PR interval reflects conduction from the atria to ventricles and also serves as risk indicator of cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. Here, the authors perform genome-wide meta-analyses for PR interval in multiple ancestries and identify 141 previously unreported genetic loci.

Sarcopenia is the loss of muscle mass and strength associated with physical disability during ageing. Here, the authors analyse muscle biopsies from 119 patients with sarcopenia and age-matched controls of different ethnic groups and find transcriptional signatures indicating mitochondrial dysfunction, associated with reduced mitochondria numbers and lower NAD⁺ levels in older individuals with sarcopenia.

EY6A, a neutralizing antibody isolated from a patient convalescing from COVID-19, binds the receptor binding domain of the SARS-CoV-2 spike glycoprotein with high affinity, at a location away from the binding site for the ACE2 receptor, similar to the one recognized by CR3022.

Isolation of antigen-reactive T cell receptors (TCRs) to cancer epitopes is important for engineered T cell immunotherapies. Here the authors show an aptamer-based microfluidic single-cell method to isolate antigen-reactive TCRs and show proof of principle isolations for cytomegalovirus and prostate specific antigen.

Sun et al. report human lifespan changes in the brain’s functional connectome in 33,250 individuals, which highlights critical growth milestones and distinct maturation patterns and offers a normative reference for development, aging and diseases.

Comparison of DNA methylation profiles from isolated cell types of cord and adult blood reveals that lymphoid cells develop antigen-driven epigenetic variability during maturation, while myeloid cells, especially monocytes, are more stable.

Identifying sources of quasiparticle poisoning is an active problem in superconducting quantum circuits. Here the authors show that the rate of quasiparticle bursts in a cryogenic calorimeter decreases by two orders of magnitude in a low-stress suspended state, suggesting stress as a key mechanism.

Hundreds of genetic loci associated with age at menopause, combined with experimental evidence in mice, highlight mechanisms of reproductive ageing across the lifespan.

Evolutionary modelling and expert review are applied to integrate experimentally supported knowledge accumulated in the Gene Ontology knowledgebase to create a draft human gene ‘functionome’.

Ribosomally synthesized and post-translationally modified peptides are a source of antimicrobials. Here, the authors report a platform for the rapid evaluation and characterization of biosynthetic gene clusters that enables the identification of 30 structurally diverse modified peptides, including three showing antimicrobial activities.

Monocytes recruited to skin infection are not involved in bacterial clearance but instead regulate local angiogenesis and healing.

Circadian disruption is implicated in the development of different human cancers. Here the authors show that chronic circadian disruption, through continuous jet lag, only moderately affects primary tumour growth but promotes cancer-cell dissemination and metastasis in a mouse model of spontaneous mammary tumorigenesis.

Manju Kurian and colleagues report heterozygous variants in KMT2B in 27 unrelated individuals with a complex progressive childhood-onset dystonia, often associated with a typical facial appearance. Their findings highlight a clinically recognizable form of dystonia and demonstrate a crucial role for KMT2B in the physiological control of voluntary movement.

This overview of the ENCODE project outlines the data accumulated so far, revealing that 80% of the human genome now has at least one biochemical function assigned to it; the newly identified functional elements should aid the interpretation of results of genome-wide association studies, as many correspond to sites of association with human disease.

A special-purpose quantum simulator, based on a coherently controlled broadband quantum frequency comb produced in a chip-scale dynamically modulated monolithic lithium niobate microresonator, is demonstrated, opening paths for chip-scale implementation of large-scale analogue quantum simulation and computation in the time–frequency domain.

The authors show that the deep thermocline and strong stratification of the North Equatorial Current of the western North Pacific cause rapid intensification and maintain tropical cyclones, as with 2018 Mangkhut, the longest Category-5 super typhoon in record.

A fundamental superconducting qubit is introduced: ‘blochnium’ is dual to the transmon, relies on a circuit element called hyperinductance, and its fundamental physical variable is the quasicharge of the Josephson junction.

Sufficiently small antimony nanoparticles form uniform voids that are reversibly filled and vacated during cycling.

The CMS Collaboration reports evidence for off-shell Higgs boson contributions in the production of Z boson pairs, and measures the width of the Higgs boson, which is inversely related to its lifetime.

The CMS Collaboration reports the study of three simultaneous hard interactions between quarks and gluons in proton–proton collisions. This manifests through the concurrent production of three J/ψ mesons, which consist of a charm-quark–antiquark pair.

Whole-genome sequencing, transcriptome-wide association and fine-mapping analyses in over 7,000 individuals with critical COVID-19 are used to identify 16 independent variants that are associated with severe illness in COVID-19.