Fighting off pathogens is a tour de force that must happen with speed and precision. A team of researchers at CeMM and MedUni Vienna led by Christoph Bock and Matthias Farlik has investigated how macrophages—immune cells that are the body’s first responders—master this challenge. Their study, published in Cell Systems (DOI: 10.1016/j.cels.2025.101346), offers a time-resolved analysis of the molecular processes that unfold when these cells encounter various pathogens. They developed a new method that combines gene editing and machine learning, which identified key regulators of macrophage immune responses.

 

The Japanese rhinoceros beetle Trypoxylus dichotomus is a large insect native to Asia, characterized by the large horn of the male. A research team led by Professor Teruyuki Niimi at the National Institute for Basic Biology is investigating the molecular mechanism of horn development and is developing various molecular techniques essential for this research. To date, the team has successfully decoded the whole genome of the Japanese rhinoceros beetle and established a gene function analysis method using RNA interference.

This time, published in Scientific Reports, the team reported the development of a gene function analysis method using electroporation in Trypoxylus dichotomus larvae.

In a study published in PLOS Genetics, a research team led by Professor Shuji Shigenobu at the National Institute for Basic Biology (NIBB), Japan, has identified the Laccase2 (Lac2) gene as essential for the darkening and hardening of overwintering eggs in the pea aphid (Acyrthosiphon pisum). By applying a refined CRISPR/Cas9 genome editing protocol specifically optimized for aphids, and introducing the innovative “DIPA-CRISPR” technique for the first time in this species, the researchers disrupted Lac2 and uncovered its critical role in egg protection.

The Barcelona Institute for Global Health (ISGlobal), a centre supported by the ”la Caixa” Foundation, has launched HTGAnalyzer, a new, easy-to-use, fast and reproducible bioinformatics tool for advanced transcriptomic data analysis. Designed within the R statistical environment, this package simplifies complex analytical processes, making them accessible to professionals without specific expertise in bioinformatics.

This review introduces a novel paradigm in cancer biology, focusing on the nuclear phosphoinositide (PIPn)-p53 signalosome and its crucial role in regulating cell motility. Traditionally associated with cytoplasmic and membrane-bound signaling, PIPns are now recognized for orchestrating nuclear events including the stabilization of p53 and activation of nuclear AKT. The review emphasizes the interplay between wild-type or mutant p53 and nuclear PIPn metabolism, opening new directions for therapeutic strategies targeting metastasis.

This study reveals that dynamin 1 (DNM1) promotes N-cadherin recycling through caveolae-mediated endocytosis, maintaining epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT) plasticity and driving ovarian cancer metastasis. DNM1 deficiency disrupts N-cadherin/Rab11 co-localization, while β-1,3-galactosyltransferase 1 (B3GALT1) inhibits this process. Clinically, elevated DNM1 expression correlates with poor prognosis in high-grade serous ovarian cancer and enhances nanoparticle uptake, providing a novel therapeutic target.

This study investigates the potential of the African swine fever virus (ASFV) p15 protein as an immunogen for developing vaccines against ASF. Researchers identified a high-affinity neutralizing antibody, 4E2, against p15 and elucidated the structure of the p15-4E2 complex. They also constructed two types of virus-like particles (VLPs) displaying p15 and evaluated their protective efficacy in pigs challenged with a moderately virulent ASFV strain.