Search

A three-dimensional topological magnetic superlattice structure exhibits the quantum anomalous Hall effect when the Fermi energy is tuned into the correct energy window.

Bansal, Olechnowicz et al. examine levels of inflammatory and neurology-related proteins in individuals with long COVID. They find that vaccination and breakthrough infections are linked to differential plasma levels of a subset of proteins compared to initial infection suggesting an altered immune response outcome upon re-exposure.

The dynamical axion quasiparticle, which is directly analogous to the hypothetical fundamental axion particle, is observed in two-dimensional MnBi₂Te₄, and has implications for quantum chromodynamics, cosmology and string theory.

Using well-calibrated statistical methods the authors jointly analyze Undiagnosed Diseases Network genomes, identifying known and novel disease genes. Software is publicly available to support future cross-cohort rare disease discovery efforts.

An analysis of 24,202 critical cases of COVID-19 identifies potentially druggable targets in inflammatory signalling (JAK1), monocyte–macrophage activation and endothelial permeability (PDE4A), immunometabolism (SLC2A5 and AK5), and host factors required for viral entry and replication (TMPRSS2 and RAB2A).

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.

Recent work has demonstrated that the relationship between brain and body mass across mammals is curvilinear. Here, the authors demonstrate this curvilinearity across 4679 species, spanning multiple major animal classes. They show that it is caused by systematic changes in allometry within species leading to macroevolutionary patterns.

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.

Chronic care manages long-term, progressive conditions, while acute care handles short-term ones. Here, authors show chronic conditions account for most of the global health burden, with 68% of DALYs and 93% of YLDs attributed to chronic care needs.

As presented at the ESMO Congress 2025: Results of the phase 2/3 AGITG DYNAMIC-III trial show that de-escalated chemotherapy based on ctDNA-negative status in patients with stage III colon cancer did not meet non-inferiority for 3-year recurrence-free survival when compared to standard of care, although it enables better informed treatment decisions.

Timothy Frayling, Joel Hirschhorn, Peter Visscher and colleagues report a meta-analysis of genome-wide association studies for adult height in 253,288 individuals. They identify 697 variants in 423 loci significantly associated with adult height and find that these variants cluster in pathways involved in growth and together explain one-fifth of the heritability for this trait.

MYCN-amplified neuroblastoma remains an aggressive childhood cancer with its core regulatory circuits less understood. Here, the authors identify that the transcriptional corepressor Runx1t1 is indispensable for MYCN-driven neuroblastoma tumorigenesis.

Dalit, Tan and colleagues provide a multiomic profile of T follicular helper (T_FH) cells responses to diverse pathogens, revealing a blueprint for transcriptional flexibility and new tools to interrogate T_FH heterogeneity in mice and humans.

Group 2 innate lymphoid cells (ILC2s) are generally considered to have pro-tumor functions. However, Belz and colleagues demonstrate that ILC2s have anti-melanoma effects due to their high production of the inflammatory cytokine granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor in the tumor microenvironment.

Available wheat genomes are annotated by projecting Chinese Spring gene models across the new assemblies. Here, the authors generate de novo gene annotations for the 9 wheat genomes, identify core and dispensable transcriptome, and reveal conservation and divergence of gene expression balance across homoeologous subgenomes.

A multivariate genome-wide association study identifies 203 signals associated with facial variation. These signals are enriched for enhancer activity in cranial neural crest cells and craniofacial tissues.

Terminally differentiated plasma cells reside in multiple tissues to contribute to local immunity. Nutt and colleagues examined tissue-specific differences in long-lived plasma cell lifespan and function, identifying unique transcriptional attributes in addition to the core plasma cell program.

T cells are highly dynamic and their spatial and cellular interactions can influence their differentiation program. Groom and colleagues use three-dimensional spatial imaging to show that effector and stem-like memory cell fates are imposed within distinct lymph node regions.

NKp46⁺ innate lymphoid cells are important for the control of gut microbes, but their development is unclear. Belz and colleagues show that they develop from lymphoid tissue–inducer cells in a Notch- and T-bet-dependent manner.

The PSA (KLK3) genetic variant rs17632542 is associated with reduced prostate cancer risk and lower serum PSA levels, although the underlying reasons are unclear. Here, the authors show that this PSA variant reduced proteolytic activity and leads to smaller tumours, but also increases invasion and bone metastasis, indicating its dual risk association depending on tumour context; the variant is associated with both lower risk and poor clinical outcomes.

A genome-wide association study and Metabochip meta-analysis of body mass index (BMI) detects 97 BMI-associated loci, of which 56 were novel, and many loci have effects on other metabolic phenotypes; pathway analyses implicate the central nervous system in obesity susceptibility and new pathways such as those related to synaptic function, energy metabolism, lipid biology and adipogenesis.

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.

Sera from vaccinated individuals and some monoclonal antibodies show a modest reduction in neutralizing activity against the B.1.1.7 variant of SARS-CoV-2; but the E484K substitution leads to a considerable loss of neutralizing activity.

Which combination of current genome sequencing and assembly approaches results in high-quality, complete diploid genome assemblies is determined.

Comparison of multiple genome assemblies from wheat reveals extensive diversity that results from the complex breeding history of wheat and provides a basis for further potential improvements to this important food crop.

A chromosome-scale genome assembly of rye inbred line ‘Lo7’ provides insights into its incomplete genetic isolation from wild relatives, mechanisms of genome structural evolution and the yield benefits of rye–wheat introgressions.

Unpredicted aversive experiences activate DA neurons in dorsal tegmentum; these neurons are important for fear learning. This prediction-error circuit module linking amygdala and dorsal tegmentum enables a solution to an associative learning problem.

Here, the authors characterize two distinct T_reg cell populations in the visceral adipose tissue of lean and high-fat diet-fed mice. ST2⁺ T_reg cells are dominant in male mice and are transcriptionally driven by GATA3 and PPARγ, regulators that limit the differentiation of the more female-dominant population of CXCR3⁺ T_reg cells that are T-bet dependent. Functional distinctions are also evident in glucose tolerance and adipose inflammation.

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.

Openshaw and colleagues find myeloid inflammation and complement activation signatures in patients with long COVID who were previously hospitalized.

A study details the results of the PARTNER trial, a prospective, randomized controlled trial of the use of neoadjuvant olaparib with carboplatin–paclitaxel chemotherapy in patients with triple-negative breast cancer who were germline BRCA1 and BRCA2 wild type.

A genome-wide-association meta-analysis of 18,381 austim spectrum disorder (ASD) cases and 27,969 controls identifies five risk loci. The authors find quantitative and qualitative polygenic heterogeneity across ASD subtypes.

The muscular and organismal response to exercise training is reduced in animal models associated with chronic hyperglycaemia, thus suggesting that chronic hyperglycaemia inhibits aerobic adaptation to exercise.

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.

Whole-genome sequencing analysis of individuals with primary immunodeficiency identifies new candidate disease-associated genes and shows how the interplay between genetic variants can explain the variable penetrance and complexity of the disease.

Deep sequencing and lineage tracing analysis of esophageal epithelium of mutagen-treated aging mice leads to a model in which the proliferative advantage of positively selected mutations depends on the competitive fitness of neighboring cells.

New methods and larger sample groups are used to precisely determine the alleles in the HLA complex which contribute susceptibility to type 1 diabetes.

A genome-wide association study in ~3 million individuals identifies 3,952 independent variants associated with educational attainment. A polygenic index explains 12–16% of variance for this trait and contributes to risk prediction for ten diseases.

Notch1 mutations have opposing effects on clonal growth in normal and tumor cells of the mouse esophagus. In a mouse model of squamous esophageal tumorigenesis, Notch1 blockade reduced premalignant tumor growth, suggesting that it might be an effective prevention strategy for the disease.

In this study, Aggarwal and colleagues perform prospective sequencing of SARS-CoV-2 isolates derived from asymptomatic student screening and symptomatic testing of students and staff at the University of Cambridge. They identify important factors that contributed to within university transmission and onward spread into the wider community.

Reducing the competitive advantage conferred by driver mutations can abrogate expansions of mutant clones in healthy tissue in mice. This suggests ways to prevent cancer and other diseases that are associated with somatic mutations in humans.

Cities may host surprisingly diverse and functionally distinct biological communities. This global analysis on 5302 vertebrate and invertebrate species finds evidence of 4 trait syndromes in urban animal assemblages, modulated by spatial and geographic factors.

Munk et al. show that exogenous NAD⁺, but not its precursors, induces metabolic changes in mitochondria affecting nucleotide metabolism with impacts on genomic DNA synthesis and genome integrity.

Investigation of variation in three cohorts has identified multiple genetic signals associated with the pregnancy-specific liver disorder, intrahepatic cholestasis of pregnancy, giving insight into the disease which can cause preterm birth and stillbirth.

Biomphalaria glabrata is a fresh water snail that acts as a host for trematode Schistosoma mansoni that causes intestinal infection in human. This work describes the genome and transcriptome analyses from 12 different tissues of B glabrata, and identify genes for snail behavior and evolution.