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Part of the Hong Kong Genome Project, genomic analyses of more than 20,000 participants provide information on clinically relevant variants for the Chinese population and offer insights on the implementation of genomic medicine initiatives.

DNA replication initiation requires precise MCM2-7 assembly. Here, the authors reveal cryo-EM structures of human MCM2-7 showing unique roles of its C-terminal extensions, defining how flexible yet accurate helicase loading ensures genome-wide replication initiation.

Cation migration plays a critical role in the evolution of perovskite electrodes but is not fully understood. Here, the authors combine theory and experiment to show that cation migration coupled with phase segregation forms a highly active nanocomposite electrode.

A photolithographic fabrication process can be used to create soft and stretchy organic electrochemical transistor arrays that have a density up to 10,000 devices per square centimetre, and can perform edge computing tasks in wearable devices and soft robots.

Scaling interpretable tree-based AI on analog content addressable memory is hindered by its inherent soft decision boundary and device variations. Wen et al. harness these probabilistic boundaries in a robust MoS₂ array, achieving 96% recognition accuracy on the Wisconsin Diagnostic Breast Cancer dataset.

Global analysis of obesity trends from 1980 to 2024 in 200 countries and territories using data from 4,050 population-based studies reveals that framing obesity as a single global epidemic masks the highly varied dynamics across countries and age groups.

Global Burden of Disease analysis found that in 2023, suboptimal diet was estimated to be responsible for 4 million deaths and 97 million morbidity burdens from ischemic heart disease.

Preeclampsia is a serious pregnancy complication, but early identification of women at risk remains difficult due to limited biomarkers. Here, the authors show that cell-free DNA fragmentomics from maternal blood can predict preeclampsia risk early in pregnancy.

Self-healing materials typically suffer from poor mechanical properties due to the inherent trade-off between mechanical robustness and self-healing capability. Here the authors report a composite featuring an aligned array of hydroxyapatite nanowires interwoven with dynamic borate bond networks by a bidirectional freeze-drying method.

Hong Kong experienced a severe wave of SARS-CoV-2 in early 2022. Here, the authors use genomic and serosurveillance data and show that this wave was dominated by the Omicron BA.2 sublineage, and that low protective immunity, particularly in older age groups, contributed to its severity.

Brassinosteroids and gibberellins are two principal growth-promoting hormones in plants. A transcription factor called JUB1 connects their signalling and biosynthesis through positive and negative feedback loops to finely coordinate developmental output.

Authors reveal symmetry-protected topological phonons and strong phonon interactions in the thermoelectric Mg₃Bi_2-xSb_x family, explaining its low thermal conductivity and offering a strategy to engineer heat flow in thermoelectric materials.

Overcoming parasitic reactions between the electrolyte and electrodes is essential for realizing energy-dense lithium metal batteries. Here, the authors develop an oxygen distal fluorinated diluent that promotes a diluent- and anion-rich solvation structure, forming a stable inorganic-rich interphase and stable cycling in pouch cells at 500 Wh kg^–1 level.

Warming and rising CO₂ generally promote vegetation growth, but the role of surface ozone remains unclear. This study suggests that ozone shortens growing seasons and reduces greenness, offsetting climate-driven gains.

Controlling hierarchical chirality is of critical importance for the design of nanomaterials with enantioselective functionality. Here, the authors synthesize multiscale chiral Pt@Au nanostructures that enable plasmon-enhanced enantioselective electrochemical detection.

Pathological neovascularization is a leading cause of vision loss. In this study, the authors identify FRZB and its NTR domain as suppressors of ocular angiogenesis. FRZB prevents CAV1 phosphorylation at Tyr42 which enhances downstream TGFβ signaling via ALK5 retention.

Endocsymbiosis is known to fuel deep-sea life, while ectosymbiosis remains poorly understood. Analysing the genome of a cold-seep scallop, this study uncovers key adaptations to the deep sea and metabolic complementarity with chemosynthetic bacteria on its gill surface.

The authors study 6R-TaS2 under pressures up to 2 GPa via muon spin rotation and magneto transport measurements, finding a nodal superconducting state at ambient pressure that evolves into a node-less state under pressure, accompanied by an enhanced superfluid density. They also rule out magnetism as the origin of the nonlinear Hall effect observed in this material below T^* ≃ 40 K.

Adverse events resulting from COVID-19 vaccination are a public health concern and it is not known whether pre-existing conditions may impose an increased risk. Here, using electronic health records from Hong Kong, the authors show that adverse events are rare for all groups, and there is no evidence of risk modification due to multimorbidity.

RNA-binding proteins (RBPs) regulate gene expression, but predicting RBP–RNA interactions across species is challenging. Here, the authors introduce MuSIC, a deep learning framework leveraging label smoothing and evolutionary conservation across 11 species to predict cross-species RBP–RNA interactions.

Chu, Chung et al. quantify the clinical utility of genome sequencing (GS) using the Clinician-reported Genetic testing Utility InDEx (C-GUIDE) in a diverse cohort from the Hong Kong Genome Project. Findings reveal the highest utility in psychosocial benefits, highlighting that the value of GS is driven more by test results than by patient characteristics.

UCl₃-type electrolytes show promise for all-solid-state batteries, yet their structure and Li⁺ transport remain debated. Here, authors reveal foreign cations reside in the amorphous phase, which serve as the dominant Li⁺ pathway yielding enhanced conductivity and low-temperature battery performance.

An autonomous closed-loop framework combining machine-learning-driven materials discovery with an automated manufacturing platform is introduced for the highly reproducible production of perovskite solar cells that demonstrate high power conversion and certified maximum power point tracking efficiencies.

Type I interferons play important in the innate immune response to HIV-1 infection. Here the authors suggest that nuclear RNA binding protein ZFP36L2 is induced by interferon-β and acts to restrict the nuclear export of HIV-1 transcripts.

Extending the interval between doses of mRNA Covid-19 vaccines has been linked with a reduced risk of myocarditis in children and adolescents, but impacts on vaccine effectiveness are not known. Here, the authors perform a nested case-control study using data from Hong Kong and find evidence of reduced risk of infection following a longer dosing interval.

A two-dimensional polar hedgehog lattice spontaneously forms in layer-ordered perovskites, showing stable topological ferroelectric states without external constraints and enabling new pathways for functional material design.

The breast cancer intelligent non-invasive diagnosis system (BINDS) integrates multimodal medical imaging data for breast cancer risk assessment and subtype classification, improving diagnostics and reducing the need for biopsies of benign lesions.

Biochar-biofilm carrying Arthrobacter  D2 reduced antimicrobial resistance genes and virulence factors in less fertile Ultisol, whereas more fertile Mollisol showed community resilience, based on DNA-stable isotope probing of soil samples

Data storage using proteins offers high capacity and stability, however, expressing unnatural proteins with random sequences often fails. Here the authors encode digital data into amino acid sequences based on collagen-like protein templates to allow stable data storage and retrieval.

Magrinelli et al. link biallelic PSMF1 variants to phenotypes from parkinsonism to perinatal lethality, implicating proteasomal and mitochondrial dysfunction. PI31 loss in fly and mouse models causes age-dependent motor deficits and neurodegeneration.

Wolbachia-driven host miRNAs influence reproduction in the spider mite Tetranychus truncatus, with effects associated with Wolbachia density.

Chen, Cai et al., present a rigorous human-in-the-loop framework for evaluating the medical performance of AI-generated responses to real clinical questions, using a scale aligned with physician career stages. Although some models perform at levels comparable to early-career physicians, substantial rates of incompetent answers and hallucinations demonstrate that unmonitored clinical deployment remains risky, underscoring the continuing need for expert oversight.

Increasing evidence suggests that activation of oncogenic pathways contributes to an unfavorable tumor microenvironment. Here, the authors show that wild-type KRAS plays a key role in immune evasion in hepatocellular carcinoma by impairing interferon-mediated immunity and promoting resistance to immunotherapy via the EGFR/MEK/ERK pathway.

Hong-Xuan Lin, Ji-Ping Gao, Jun-Xiang Shan and colleagues show that natural variation in a proteasome α2 subunit gene contributes to thermotolerance in African rice. Their follow-up studies suggest that the variant allele protects cells from heat stress by enhancing the elimination of cytotoxic denatured proteins and maintaining heat-response processes.

Here the authors isolate two human antibodies, H7.HK1 and H7.HK2, that achieve broad and potent neutralization against H7N9 influenza by targeting a distinct lateral patch on the hemagglutinin head, thus making them favorable to complement other antibodies for combination therapy.