Chrysanthemums—prized for their beauty and medicinal value—have long lacked a centralized, data-rich research platform. That's about to change. 

This study outlines a protocol to generate human pluripotent stem cell-derived myotubes for investigating skeletal muscle aging mechanisms linked to sarcopenia. The method enables gene editing, drug screening, and addresses challenges like differentiation efficiency and senescence variability, offering a translational tool to bridge aging research and therapeutic development.

This study overcomes the challenge of imaging low-copy-number proteins in live cells by combining Halo-SiR labeling with sparse deconvolution structured illumination microscopy (Sparse-SIM). Targeting nuclear pore complexes (NPCs), Halo-SiR-tagged POM121 achieved 6× higher fluorescence intensity and 4× greater contrast than conventional mCherry tags, alongside minimal photobleaching during 200-frame SR imaging. This enabled the discovery of dynamic NPC remodeling, including heterogeneous architectures (ring-like and cluster-like structures) and sequential recruitment of nucleoporins. The method establishes a versatile tool for prolonged live-cell SR imaging of low-abundance targets, with potential applications in studying rare membrane proteins or transient complexes. Future integration with advanced microscopy and computational models could further enhance its spatiotemporal resolution.

Cryogenic electron microscopy (cryoEM) faces challenges such as particle aggregation, preferential orientation, and loss at the air-water interface (AWI), particularly for membrane proteins like the ClC-1 channel. This study demonstrates that particles migrate to the AWI to minimize surface energy, a behavior mitigated by adding surfactants to reduce surface tension. CryoET and single-particle cryoEM experiments with GroEL revealed that surfactants reduce AWI adsorption from >90% to <20% while preserving structural integrity (≤3 Å resolution). Applied to the ClC-1 channel, this approach enabled its first near-atomic structure determination (3.8 Å), resolving ion transport mechanisms. The surfactant-based strategy provides a simple, universal solution to AWI artifacts, expanding cryoEM’s applicability to previously intractable targets.