Wide-field quantum sensing with fluorescent nanodiamonds (FNDs) in biological systems offers significant potential for understanding intracellular dynamics at the nanoscale.

We describe the statistical characteristics of optical speckle patterns formed by illuminating biological tissues, commonly called biospeckles. The predominant techniques used to gather information from the movement of speckle patterns are detailed.

Cancer remains a leading cause of death worldwide, with early and accurate diagnosis being paramount for effective treatment. However, traditional diagnostic methods like biopsies are invasive and carry risks, while non-invasive approaches often struggle to identify reliable biomarkers due to tumor heterogeneity and the complexity of biological data. Integrating information across different molecular layers—genomics, transcriptomics, proteomics, and metabolomics—holds promise but is technically challenging, particularly in capturing the dynamic metabolic state of tumors.

A collaborative team led by Bing Li from Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine published an article titled "BCL7A’s arginine anchor links nucleosome recognition to chromatin remodeling and diffuse large B-cell lymphoma tumor suppression" in Protein & Cell. This study demonstrates that the conserved arginine anchor within the N-terminal α-helix of BCL7A is crucial for its function across all genomic contexts. This anchor acts as a key molecular switch connecting nucleosome binding to chromatin remodeling and tumor suppression, positioning it as a potential therapeutic target for DLBCL.

Radiotherapy (RT) is one of the most widely used cancer treatment modalities, applied in over half of all patients with cancer. In clinical oncology, positron emission tomography (PET) with ¹⁸F-fluorodeoxyglucose (¹⁸F-FDG) is widely used to noninvasively monitor tumor glucose metabolism and evaluate therapeutic responses, including those to RT. However, transient increases in ¹⁸F-FDG uptake—referred to as post-RT “metabolic flares”—are frequently observed in responding tumors and have traditionally been attributed to localized inflammatory reactions. Whether these flares reflect underlying immune cell dynamics, particularly tumor-infiltrating T cells, has remained poorly understood.

Scientists have deciphered a long-standing paradox of the histone variant H3.3: how the same protein can mark both active and silenced regions of the genome. The key lies in a specific combination of modifications—phosphorylation at serine 31 (Ser31p) together with trimethylation at lysine 27 (K27me3). This dual “code” on H3.3 acts as a master switch, recruiting protein complexes that establish H3K9me3-marked heterochromatin, a repressive chromatin state. The study demonstrates that this “H3.3–CBX7–KAP1–H3K9me3” pathway is essential for silencing repetitive DNA elements and, crucially, for the epigenetic silencing of one X chromosome in females, a process vital for mammalian development.

Plant owners with a so-called green thumb often seem to have a more finely tuned sense of what their plants need than the rest of us. A new “smart lighting” system for indoor vertical farms grants this ability on a facility-wide scale, responsively meeting plants’ needs while reducing energy inefficiencies, clearing a path for indoor farms as an energy-efficient food security strategy. The system was designed and tested in a study led by Professor of Plant Biology Tracy Lawson, who conducted the research at the University of Essex and is now a member of the Carl R. Woese Institute for Genomic Biology at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.

BETHESDA, MD – As space agencies prepare for human missions to the Moon and Mars, scientists need to understand how the absence of gravity affects living cells. Now, a team of researchers has built a rugged, affordable microscope that can image cells in real time during the chaotic conditions of zero-gravity flight—and they’re making the design available to the broader scientific community.