A comprehensive review published in the inaugural issue of Targetome offers a full-spectrum overview of RNA therapeutics, dissecting their mechanisms of action, persistent delivery bottlenecks, cutting-edge delivery technologies, and global clinical progress across a wide range of diseases. The work, led by researchers from China Pharmaceutical University and The First Hospital of Hebei Medical University, clarifies core challenges and highlights transformative strategies to accelerate the clinical translation of RNA-based medicines, a fast-growing class of next-generation therapies.

Researchers from Donghua University and Yanshan University have developed an enhanced neural network called EF-YOLO, which significantly improves the automated detection of colorectal polyps—a key precursor to colorectal cancer. By integrating advanced modules such as transformer, deformable convolution, coordinate attention, and a newly designed multi-scale aggregation mechanism, the model achieves a mean average precision (mAP) of 96.60% on standard medical datasets. This represents a major step forward in reducing missed detections during colonoscopy and supporting early clinical intervention.

Researchers from Donghua University have developed an efficient method to transform industrial hemp bast—an abundant yet underutilized agricultural resource—into high‑performance nanocellulose with excellent dispersion stability. By comparing three different preparation routes (TEMPO oxidation, sulfuric acid hydrolysis, and lignin‑containing hydrolysis), the team identified optimal conditions that dramatically improve the material’s quality for use in advanced composites, food packaging, and biomedical applications.

Researchers from Donghua University, in collaboration with ANTA Sports Products Ltd., have developed a one-step ultraviolet (UV) irradiation technology to significantly improve the thermal stability and hydrophilicity of medium molecular weight polyethylene (PE) fibers. By integrating crosslinking and grafting modifications using a cost-effective photoinitiator system and acrylic acid (AA) as a grafting monomer, the modified fibers exhibit excellent morphological integrity and mechanical performance at elevated temperatures (130–150 °C), while the water contact angle dramatically decreases from 105.0° (hydrophobic) to 48.4° (hydrophilic). This innovation offers a practical and scalable solution for expanding the application of PE fibers in high-temperature and dyeable textile production.

As India grapples with searing heat and an erratic monsoon, a perspective paper reveals the crisis is worse than thought—and offers a surprising ray of hope.