Tony Hunter receives the 2026 Albany Prize in Medicine and Biomedical Research in recognition of his tyrosine phosphorylation discovery in 1979, which paved the way for 100+ cancer drugs. The award celebrates scientists whose research has led to treatments that significantly improve patients’ lives and comes with a $500,000 prize.

Animals may have evolved up to 200 million years earlier than their first appearance in the fossil record. This is according to new research that challenges key assumptions scientists have used to date the origins of animal life.

University of Sydney researchers have developed a powerful new way to test how closely lab-grown biological models resemble real human embryos, finding that while some models perform well, none yet fully capture the complexity of early human development.

Thanks to enzyme-based biocatalysis, an enormous range of pharmaceutical active ingredients and other complex molecules can be synthesized in an environmentally friendly manner. Researchers at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) have now developed a technology that allows to assemble enzymes into millimeter-sized, storable beads. In this process, the enzymes not only act as catalysts but also constitute the beads’ material itself. In a further variant, the enzyme networks can be combined with living cells. A patent application has been filed for the technology. The results have been published in Advanced Materials. (DOI: 10.1002/adma.75120)

- KAIST and IBS researchers determine the three-dimensional structure of the VEGF-C–VEGFR-3 complex and uncover receptor clustering as a key mechanism that amplifies lymphangiogenic signaling.

- The findings offer a structural basis for developing new therapeutic strategiesfor intractable lymphatic vessel-related diseases, from treating lymphedema to suppressing cancer metastasis

Scientists at Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute published findings September 27, 2026, in Aging Cell adding new wrinkles to our understanding of the links between aging and autophagy. The study showed that autophagy rates do not simply decline with age but instead vary in different types of cells and based on the sex of research participants. The researchers also show that exercise may modify autophagy levels in humans.

In a new PNAS study published on September 22, 2026, scientists at Scripps Research engineered a small synthetic protein that can bind to TLR4 within cell membranes and block subsequent inflammatory responses. The findings advance understanding of what TLR4’s membrane-embedded region does: rather than a passive anchor, it’s an active determinant of cross-membrane signaling—mechanistic insight that could guide design of a new class of anti-inflammatory treatments. More broadly, the study outlines new computational tools that other researchers can use to target proteins within membranes.

Scientists for years have known that squids have cells with bundles of tiny, hair-like protrusions on their heads and arms like those buried deep inside the human ear that allow us to hear. Now, researchers at Case Western Reserve University have discovered that these animals have hundreds more of these cells, called hair cells, lining the entire surface of their bodies. The discovery may provide researchers an unprecedented window into how humans use—and lose—their hearing.