An international team led by the University of Surrey with Imperial College London have identified a strategy to improve both the performance and stability for solar cells made out of the 'miracle material' perovskite by mitigating a previously hidden degradation pathway. 

Genes aren’t the sole driver instructing cells to build multicellular structures, tissues, and organs. In a new paper published in Nature Communications, USC Stem Cell scientist Leonardo Morsut and Caltech computational biologist Matt Thomson characterize the influence of another important developmental driver: cell density, or how loosely or tightly cells are packed into a given space. In both computational models and laboratory experiments, the team of scientists used cell density as an effective tool for controlling how mouse cells pattern themselves into complex structures. The research represents progress towards the big picture goal of engineering synthetic tissues. Synthetic tissues could have endless medical applications, ranging from testing potential drugs or therapies to providing grafts or transplants for patients.

Cell-to-cell communication through nanosized particles, working as messengers and carriers, can now be analyzed in a whole new way, thanks to a new method involving CRISPR gene-editing technology. The particles, known as small extracellular vesicles (sEVs), play an important role in the spread of disease and as potential drug carriers. The newly developed system, named CIBER, enables thousands of genes to be studied at once, by labeling sEVs with a kind of RNA “barcode.” With this, researchers hope to find what factors are involved in sEV release from host cells. This will help advance our understanding of basic sEV biology and may aid in the development of new treatments for diseases, such as cancer.

In a study published in Science China Earth Sciences, research teams from China collaboratively reconstructed the tectonic evolution and sedimentary filling processes of the North Sea Basin through the lens of multi-spheric interactions. Their analysis reveals how deep dynamic processes, climate, and transgression evolution jointly controlled the formation and development of distinct gas-rich and oil-rich zones in the basin, while also discusses hydrocarbon exploration prospects in mid- to high-latitude regions.

Researchers from Qingdao University and the Qingdao Institute of Bioenergy and Bioprocess Technology (QIBEBT) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences have developed a novel method for rapidly and accurately assessing the metastatic potential of cancer cells. The new tool— combining Raman spectroscopy and machine learning—introduces the Ramanome-based Metastasis Index (RMI), offering an innovative means of diagnosing and managing cancer.