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This Review outlines the fundamental role of chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cell therapy for children, adolescents and young adults (CAYAs) with relapsed and/or refractory B cell acute lymphoblastic leukaemia, emphasizing the crucial need to further exploit CAR T cells and other immunotherapies to improve survival with broadened access across disease states. Opportunities and challenges for expanding CAR T cell therapy to other haematological and non-haematological malignancies in CAYAs are also discussed.

Natural or artificially created mutant strains of mice are of great value in studying development and disease, but often such models reveal more differences than expected.

Inhibition of the histone methyltransferase NSD2 and the androgen receptor in preclinical models can reverse lineage plasticity to suppress tumour growth and promote cell death in multiple subtypes of castration-resistant prostate cancer.

The CPLANE complex is essential for ciliogenesis, and mutations to all but one subunit have been associated with ciliopathies. Here they identify three familial mutations in the final subunit, RSG1, that cause ciliopathy and add to our understanding of ciliary transition zone assembly.

The number of individuals in a given space influences animal interactions and network dynamics. Here the authors identify general rules underlying density dependence in animal networks and reveal some fundamental differences between spatial and social dynamics.

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 device architecture based on indium arsenide–aluminium heterostructures with a gate-defined superconducting nanowire allows single-shot interferometric measurement of fermion parity and demonstrates an assignment error probability of 1%.

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.

An expert-elicitation process identifies current methodological barriers for monitoring terrestrial biodiversity, and how technological and procedural development of robotic and autonomous systems may contribute to overcoming these challenges.

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.

The status of immune cells within human pancreatic lymphatic tissues during the onset and progression of type 1 diabetes (T1D) is underexplored. Here, by flow cytometry and CITEseq, the authors profile pancreatic, mesenteric, and splenic lymphatic tissues from individuals with varying clinical statuses and identify tissue-specific immune responses associated with T1D autoimmunity.

Thlaspi arvense (pennycress) has the potential to provide new sources of food and bioproducts when grown as a winter cover crop. Here, Chopra et al. demonstrate that multiple desirable traits can be stacked to rapidly domesticate pennycress. The resulting crop integrates into current crop rotations and produces seeds with improved nutritional qualities, easier harvesting and suitability for human consumption.

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.

The observation of the radiative decay mode of free neutrons, with measurements that agree with theoretical predictions may provide opportunities for more detailed investigations of the weak interaction processes involved neutron beta decay.

A study demonstrates that sustained membrane blebs in cancer cells recruit curvature-sensing septins that form plasma membrane-proximal signalling hubs that promote cancer cell survival.

The extent and mechanisms by which developmental process may constraint natural variation are poorly understood. Here, Fritz et al. show that beak shape in songbirds is strongly constrained by developmental mechanics shared by several bird species.

The analysis of food web properties under different environmental conditions informs us how the ecosystem functions. Here, Tunneyet al. use post-glacial lakes as model ecosystems to show how macroscopic patterns of food webs vary with changes in habitat and resource accessibility.

IL-33 induces tertiary lymphoid structures.

The isolation and propagation of oligodendroglial cells from postnatal animals can be impractical for functional genetic studies. This study highlights the potential of a new approach to rapidly generate oligodendrocytes and their progenitors from mouse embryonic and induced pluripotent stem cells, independent of mouse strain or mutational status.

A combination of structural and functional data provides insight into the mechanism used by the blue light photosensory protein Vivid to convert the light-driven formation of a protein-flavin bond into a conformational change in the surrounding protein.

A multiomics single-cell atlas of the human maternal–fetal interface including the myometrium, combining spatial transcriptomics data with chromatin accessibility, provides a comprehensive analysis of cell states as placental cells infiltrate the uterus during early pregnancy.

NMR spectroscopy’s effectiveness across scientific disciplines hinges on robust computational tools for data analysis. Here, the authors introduce NMRFx, a software that enhances data processing and visualization, demonstrating its utility through diverse case studies, including protein, RNA, natural product, and metabolomics analyses.

Animals form cognitive maps of the world to guide behavior. This study shows that the lateral orbitofrontal cortex is essential for creating precise, outcome-specific cognitive maps during initial learning, but not for general map creation in itself.

Optogenetic systems permit the temporal and spatial control of gene expression using light. A variant of the LOV domain–containing EL222 protein displays responsive blue light–gated transcriptional control of genes in zebrafish and in mammalian cell lines.

A new small-molecule inhibitor that selectively binds an internal cavity in HIF-2α allosterically disrupts HIF-2α–ARNT interaction in vitro and in cells. This compound should allow scientists to interrogate HIF-2α's activity in hypoxia and cancer cells.

Turajlic and colleagues assess longitudinal antibody and cellular immune responses against SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern in patients with cancer, following either recovery from SARS-CoV-2 infection or vaccination, in two back-to-back reports from the CAPTURE study.

In this immunological ancillary study of the PREVAC trial, the authors show that approved Ebola virus vaccines induce memory T-cell responses that persist during the five year follow-up after initial vaccination.

Randomised controlled experiments are the gold standard for scientific inference, but environmental and social scientists often rely on different study designs. Here the authors analyse the use of six common study designs in the fields of biodiversity conservation and social intervention, and quantify the biases in their estimates.

By integrating healthcare and exome-sequencing data from parent–offspring trios of patients with developmental disorders, 28 genes that had not previously been associated with developmental disorders were identified.

The function of single-nucleotide variants can now be tested in a base editor mouse model.

Many Gram-negative bacterial pathogens use the type III secretion system to translocate effectors into the host cell. Here, the authors characterize a bacterial phosphoinositide-binding domain, which is conserved in diverse type III effectors of both plant and animal pathogens and couples membrane localization with refolding.

The super elongation complex, which is involved in transcriptional elongation, contains the Eleven-nineteen Lysine-rich Leukemia protein (ELL). In this study, ELL is shown to stabilize RNA polymerase II prior to recruitment into the super elongation complex, suggesting ELL has a role in early transcription elongation.

Multi-modal analysis of genomically unstable ovarian tumours characterizes the contribution of anatomical sites and mutational processes to evolutionary phenotypic divergence and immune resistance mechanisms.