Rice bioengineer Antonios Mikos is part of a team of researchers led by the Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine awarded up to $24.8 million over five years to help address the nation’s growing organ donor shortage by bioprinting on-demand kidney tissues.

A new theoretical study led by researchers at the University of Chicago and Argonne National Laboratory has identified the microscopic mechanisms by which diamond surfaces affect the quantum coherence of nitrogen-vacancy (NV) centers.

As an emerging technology in the field of artificial intelligence (AI), graph neural networks (GNNs) are deep learning models designed to process graph-structured data. Currently, GNNs are effective at capturing relationships between nodes and edges in data, but often overlook higher-order, complex connections. To address this challenge, a research team at The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU) has developed a new heterogeneous graph attention network, revolutionising the modelling of complex relationships in graph-structured data. This innovation is poised to break through AI application limitations in fields such as neuroscience, logistics, computer vision and biology.

Cancer cells often invade different tissues by forming rounded protrusions called blebs. However, the exact mechanism behind this expansion remained unclear. Now, researchers at Kyushu University have discovered that cancer cells use protein clusters to create water pressure inside blebs, which pushes the cell membrane outward, enabling rapid movement. This newly identified mechanism, named “CaMKII-based osmotically-driven deformation or CODE,” reveals a unique physical process that drives the spread of cancer cells inside the body.

In cellular and animal models of neuroblastoma, small cell lung cancer and colon cancer, this strategy reduces tumours, prolongs survival and triggers a tumour-fighting immune response.

The study, published in Molecular Cancer, provides proof of concept for potential future therapies.