Features based on peer-reviewed papers published in Cell Reports.
Professor Paul Hasty's team found that the enzyme TREX2 drives most spontaneous mutations in lab-grown mouse stem cells and human cancer cells lacking mismatch repair, and removing it cut mutations.
In mice with acetaminophen liver injury, Professor Sen-Yung Hsieh's team found that oral fecal transplants enriched butyrate-producing gut bacteria, eased liver damage and improved survival.
Professor Stelios Andreadis's team found that adding the amino acid proline to aged stem cells restored mitochondrial function and mitophagy and reduced several markers of cellular aging.
Professor Andrew Harman's review explains that dendritic cells, not only Langerhans cells, capture viruses in skin and mucosal linings, with implications for designing vaccines that work at these surfaces.
Professor Rachel Golub's team found in mice that, during fatty liver inflammation, activated bone marrow monocytes boost production of natural killer cells, which then travel to the liver and slow scarring.
Dr. Amanda Craig's team mapped transcription factor activity in single cells from liver tumors, finding factors that separate the two main liver cancer types and linking POU activity to poorer survival.
Dr. Bing Yao's team found that chronic loss of TDP-43 disturbs the interplay between R-loops and 5hmC, unsettling gene activity and transposable elements in ways that may contribute to neurodegeneration.
Dr. Brad St. Croix's team re-engineered an antibody-drug conjugate targeting CD276, widening its safety window so lower doses eliminated large solid tumours ahead of clinical trials.
Dr. Hayato Hirai and Professor Kunihiro Ohta found that when fission yeast run short of glucose, inactivation of the TOR complex triggers heterochromatin to form over ribosomal DNA.
Dr. Jason Plemel's team found that microglia, the brain's immune cells, help start myelin repair by supporting the recruitment of progenitor cells, beyond simply clearing myelin debris.
Professor Bomyi Lim's team found that enhancer strength and long introns, but not promoters or exon length, change how fast RNA polymerase II moves along genes in fruit fly embryos.
Professor Gaetano Montelione's team found that several hepatitis C drugs blocked replication of the COVID virus in lab-grown cells, and some made remdesivir work markedly better.
Professor Shantanu Chowdhury's team found that the telomere protein TRF2 binds G-quadruplex structures in the telomerase gene promoter and directly regulates it, linking telomeres and telomerase.
