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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).

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.

Mineralization is common in biological materials for selective strengthening, but similar toughening in polymer composites is challenging. Here, the authors report a mechanically-mediated reaction for formation of mineralized microrods within a synthetic material.

The authors identify changes in insect distribution across Great Britain since 1990. The changes appear connected to insect traits, notably with species with multiple generations per year benefiting from increasing temperatures, particularly in the North.

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.

Environmental heterogeneity in three-spined stickleback pairs contributes to deviations from parallel evolution, but genomic targets of selection were more parallel between environmentally similar pairs, suggestive of a continuum of parallel evolution.

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.

A genome-wide association study of critically ill patients with COVID-19 identifies genetic signals that relate to important host antiviral defence mechanisms and mediators of inflammatory organ damage that may be targeted by repurposing drug treatments.

Polymersomes are used as a delivery vehicle for protein, nucleic acid adjuvant and siRNA payloads by enhancing the encapsulation efficiency through copolymer design.

Circulating tumour DNA profiling in early-stage non-small-cell lung cancer can be used to track single-nucleotide variants in plasma to predict lung cancer relapse and identify tumour subclones involved in the metastatic process.

Analysis of whole-genome doubling (WGD) by using cancer sequencing data combined with simulations of tumor evolution suggests that there is negative selection against homozygous loss of essential genes before WGD but not after.

Combination of epidemiology, preclinical models and ultradeep DNA profiling of clinical cohorts unpicks the inflammatory mechanism by which air pollution promotes lung cancer

A 50 microRNA-based dynamic risk score for stratifying individuals with and without type 1 diabetes was developed using samples obtained from multicenter and multiethnic cohorts.

Controlled assembly of diblock copolymers in which one of the blocks is crystalline enables the growth of a series of complex nano-architectures in a controlled fashion.

Biopolymers, ingeniously designed by nature, can combine different mechanical properties and even adapt to changes in their environment. By imitating the structure of a protein, chemists have now made a strong, tough polymer that also exhibits elastic properties.

Charles Swanton and colleagues used multiregion exome sequencing to study the evolutionary histories of ten clear cell renal cell carcinomas. They observed marked intratumoral heterogeneity in all cases, with extensive evidence of parallel evolution of tumor subclones and only a small number of truncal driver events.

Patient-derived xenografts are important tools for cancer drug development. Here, the authors develop models from 22 non-small cell lung cancer patients. They show genomic differences between models created from different spatial regions of tumours and a bottleneck on model establishment.

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.

The spatial and physical nature of tumour growth remains unclear. Combining whole-tumour images from clear cell renal cell carcinoma with genomic data, the authors show more aggressive subclonal growth and metastasizing subclones in the tumour centre.

Chromosomal instability enables the continuous selection of somatic copy number alterations, which are established as ordered events that often occur in parallel, throughout tumour evolution and metastasis.

Snakebite is a life-threatening neglected tropical disease that is currently treated using different antibody-based antivenoms, each effective against bites of specific snake species, but not others. Here, the authors show that a combination of two toxin-inhibiting repurposed drugs provides broad protection in experimental animals against the lethal effects of snakebites from multiple snake species.

A discovery-oriented synthesis and characterization platform uses interchangeable polymer components to explore a large and complex parameter space to find possible combinations of components that satisfy the design rules at multiple nanolithography patterns dimensions.

Papillary renal cell carcinoma (pRCC) is a subtype of kidney cancer characterized by highly variable clinical behaviour. Here the authors sequence either the genomes or exomes of 31 pRCCs and identify several genes in sub-clones and large copy number variants in major clones that may be important drivers of pRCC.

A combined modelling and tumour analysis approach is used to study the temporal and spatial patterns of subclone evolution in the TRACERx renal study. Studying the tumour shape and spatial features of clonal diversity in early-stage tumours may allow the prediction of tumour progression and patterns of subclone diversification over time.

Computational and machine-learning approaches that integrate genomic and transcriptomic variation from paired primary and metastatic non-small cell lung cancer samples from the TRACERx cohort reveal the role of transcriptional events in tumour evolution.

A longitudinal evolutionary analysis of 126 lung cancer patients with metastatic disease reveals the timing of metastatic divergence, modes of dissemination and the genomic events subject to selection during the metastatic transition.

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.

Analyses of the TRACERx study unveil the relationship between tissue morphology, the underlying evolutionary genomic landscape, and clinical and anatomical relapse risk of lung adenocarcinomas.

Results of the TRACERx study shed new light into the association between body composition and body weight with survival in individuals with non-small cell lung cancer, and delineate potential biological processes and mediators contributing to the development of cancer-associated cachexia.

The authors infer that pelvic skeleton reduction in a fossil sequence of the Miocene stickleback fish, Gasterosteus doryssus, proceeds through the same gene of large effect and a similar suite of genes of small effect as in a closely related extant species, Gasterosteus aculeatus.

Mixed responses to targeted therapy within a patient are a clinical challenge. Here the authors show that TP53 loss-of-function cooperates with whole genome doubling which increases chromosomal instability. This leads to greater cellular diversity and multiple routes of resistance, which in turn promotes mixed responses to treatment.

Measurements of subclonal expansion of ctDNA in the plasma before surgery may enable the prediction of future metastatic subclones, offering the possibility for early intervention in patients with non-small-cell lung cancer.

Analyses of multiregional tumour samples from 421 patients with non-small cell lung cancer prospectively enrolled to the TRACERx study reveal determinants of tumour evolution and relationships between intratumour heterogeneity and clinical outcome.

In lung adenocarcinoma, antibodies against endogenous retroviruses promote anti-tumour activity, and expression of endogenous retroviruses can predict outcomes of immunotherapy.

A robust, cost-effective technique based on whole-exome sequencing data can be used to characterize immune infiltrates, relate the extent of these infiltrates to somatic changes in tumours, and enables prediction of tumour responses to immune checkpoint inhibition therapy.

RNA sequencing data and tumour pathology observations of non-small-cell lung cancers indicate that the immune cell microenvironment exerts strong evolutionary selection pressures that shape the immune-evasion capacity of tumours.

Wu et al. utilize multiparametric analysis of early-stage human NSCLC to characterize a population of Vδ1 T cells displaying a resident memory and effector memory phenotype, which were associated with ongoing remission.

A survey of T cell repertoire evolution in the tumors, healthy tissue and blood of patients with early-stage untreated lung cancer offers an opportunity to monitor and identify neoantigen-specific T cells for personalized immunotherapy.