Generative Model for Constructing Reaction Path from Initial to Final States.

Mapping the chemical reaction pathways and their corresponding activation barriers is a significant challenge in molecular simulation. Given the inherent complexities of 3D atomic geometries, even generating an initial guess of these paths can be difficult for humans. This paper presents an innovative approach that utilizes neural networks to generate initial guesses for reaction pathways based on the initial state and learning from a database of low-energy transition paths.

Innovative Insurance to Improve US Patient Access to Cell and Gene Therapy.

Unlabelled: Policy Points Cell and gene therapies (CGTs) offer treatment for rare and oftentimes deadly disease, but their prices are high, and payers may seek to limit spending. Total annual costs of covering all existing and expected CGTs for the entire US population 2023-2035 to amount to less than $20 per person and concentrate in commercial and state Medicaid plans. Reinsurance fees add to expected costs.

Survey and perspective on verification, validation, and uncertainty quantification of digital twins for precision medicine.

Digital twins in precision medicine provide tailored health recommendations by simulating patient-specific trajectories and interventions. We examine the critical role of Verification, Validation, and Uncertainty Quantification (VVUQ) for digital twins in ensuring safety and efficacy, with examples in cardiology and oncology. We highlight challenges and opportunities for developing personalized trial methodologies, validation metrics, and standardizing VVUQ processes.

Differential impacts of strabismic and anisometropic amblyopia on the mesoscale functional organization of the human visual cortex.

We employed high-resolution fMRI to distinguish the impacts of anisometropia and strabismus amblyopia on the evoked ocular dominance (OD) response. Sixteen amblyopic participants (8 females) plus 8 individuals with normal vision (1 female), participated in this study for whom, we measured the difference between the response to stimulation of the two eyes, across areas V1-V4.In controls, the evoked OD response formed the expected striped pattern within V1.

Mapping the Energy Carrier Diffusion Tensor in Perovskite Semiconductors.

Understanding energy transport in semiconductors is critical for the design of electronic and optoelectronic devices. Semiconductor material properties, such as charge carrier mobility or diffusion length, are commonly measured in bulk crystals and determined using models that describe transport behavior in homogeneous media, where structural boundary effects are minimal. However, most emerging semiconductors exhibit nano- and microscale heterogeneity.

Clonal Hematopoiesis in Women With Breast Cancer.

Purpose: Clonal hematopoiesis (CH) has been associated with a variety of adverse outcomes, most notably hematologic malignancy and ischemic cardiovascular disease. A series of recent studies also suggest that CH may play a role in the outcomes of patients with solid tumors, including breast cancer. Here, we review the clinical and biological data that underlie potential connections between CH, inflammation, and breast cancer, with a focus on the prevalence and impact of clonal hematopoiesis of indeterminate potential in patients with breast cancer.

Permeability Benchmarking: Guidelines for Comparing , , and Measurements.

Permeability is a measure of the degree to which cells can transport molecules across biological barriers. Units of permeability are distance per unit time (typically cm/s), where accurate measurements are needed to define drug delivery in homeostasis and to model dysfunction occurring during disease. This perspective offers a set of community-led guidelines to benchmark permeability data across multidisciplinary approaches and different biological contexts.

Morphogenesis of bacterial cables in polymeric environments.

Many bacteria live in polymeric fluids, such as mucus, environmental polysaccharides, and extracellular polymers in biofilms. However, laboratory studies typically focus on cells in polymer-free fluids. Here, we show that interactions with polymers shape a fundamental feature of bacterial life-how they proliferate in space in multicellular colonies.

Versatile adhesive skin enhances robotic interactions with the environment.

Electronic skins endow robots with sensory functions but often lack the multifunctionality of natural skin, such as switchable adhesion. Current smart adhesives based on elastomers have limited adhesion tunability, which hinders their effective use for both carrying heavy loads and performing dexterous manipulations. Here, we report a versatile, one-size-fits-all robotic adhesive skin using shape memory polymers with tunable rubber-to-glass phase transitions.

Architects of immunity: How dendritic cells shape CD8 T cell fate in cancer.

Immune responses against cancer are dominated by T cell exhaustion and dysfunction. Recent advances have underscored the critical role of early priming interactions in establishing T cell fates. In this review, we explore the importance of dendritic cell (DC) signals in specifying CD8 T cell fates in cancer, drawing on insights from acute and chronic viral infection models.

Protocol to infer off-target effects of drugs on cellular signaling using interactome-based deep learning.

Drugs that target specific proteins often have off-target effects. We present a protocol using artificial neural networks to model cellular transcriptional responses to drugs, aiming to understand their mechanisms of action. We detail steps for predicting transcriptional activities, inferring drug-target interactions, and explaining the off-target mechanism of action.

Lanmodulin-Decorated Microbes for Efficient Lanthanide Recovery.

Rare earth elements (REEs) are essential for many clean energy technologies. Yet, they are a limited resource currently obtained through carbon-intensive mining. Here, bio-scaffolded proteins serve as simple, effective materials for the recovery of REEs.

Insulin Delivery Pumps for Human Spaceflight: Steps Toward an Accessible Space Future.

Commercially available insulin pumps for treatment of diabetes mellitus are currently not qualified to operate in the space environment. This work rigorously tested the fluid delivery performance of a Tandem t:slim X2 insulin pump in both micro- and hypergravity during a parabolic microgravity research flight. The parabolic research flight environment serves as an analogue to the types of transient gravitational loadings experienced during human-led missions, which provides a foundation to expand testing to suborbital and orbital flights in addition to other extreme environmental tests for wilderness dependency.

Fermi Level Equilibration and Charge Transfer at the Exsolved Metal-Oxide Interface.

Exsolution is a promising approach for fabricating oxide-supported metal nanocatalysts through redox-driven metal precipitation. A defining feature of exsolved nanocatalysts is their anchored metal-oxide interface, which exhibits exceptional structural stability in (electro)catalysis. However, the electronic interactions at this unique interface remain unclear, despite their known impact on catalytic performance.

An implantable system for opioid safety.

Naloxone can effectively rescue victims from opioid overdose, but less than 5% survive due to delayed or absent first responder intervention. Current overdose reversal systems face key limitations, including low user adherence, false positive detection, and slow antidote delivery. Here, we describe a subcutaneously implanted robotic first responder to overcome these challenges.

The Future Hospital in Global Health Systems: The Future Hospital Within the Healthcare System.

Future hospitals must be able to adapt in many ways to the changing demands on their roles and functions within evolving healthcare delivery infrastructures. These include changing population structures and needs, new models of healthcare provision, technological advances, and innovations in design, all while enhancing their environmental sustainability. This article sets out the issues that those determining healthcare policy and designing future hospitals must consider if they are to become and remain fit for purpose within the wider health and social care system.

Shear-Mediated Stabilization of Spin Spiral Order in Multiferroic NiI.

Type-II multiferroicity from non-collinear spin order is recently explored in the van der Waals material NiI. Despite the importance for improper ferroelectricity, the microscopic mechanism of the helimagnetic order remains poorly understood. Here, the magneto-structural phases of NiI are investigated using resonant magnetic X-ray scattering (RXS) and X-ray diffraction.

A novel human fetal lung-derived alveolar organoid model reveals mechanisms of surfactant protein C maturation relevant to interstitial lung disease.

Alveolar type 2 (AT2) cells maintain lung health by acting as stem cells and producing pulmonary surfactant. AT2 dysfunction underlies many lung diseases, including interstitial lung disease (ILD), in which some inherited forms result from the mislocalization of surfactant protein C (SFTPC) variants. Lung disease modeling and dissection of the underlying mechanisms remain challenging due to complexities in deriving and maintaining human AT2 cells ex vivo.

De novo designed proteins neutralize lethal snake venom toxins.

Snakebite envenoming remains a devastating and neglected tropical disease, claiming over 100,000 lives annually and causing severe complications and long-lasting disabilities for many more. Three-finger toxins (3FTx) are highly toxic components of elapid snake venoms that can cause diverse pathologies, including severe tissue damage and inhibition of nicotinic acetylcholine receptors, resulting in life-threatening neurotoxicity. At present, the only available treatments for snakebites consist of polyclonal antibodies derived from the plasma of immunized animals, which have high cost and limited efficacy against 3FTxs.

Gender inventorship equity in patent prosecution.

There are pervasive gender gaps throughout the patent process. Here, we add to the literature by providing an in-depth analysis of gendered outcomes across each stage of patent prosecution. We show that female inventors are more likely to face rejection, experience unsuccessful appeals, and exhibit lower responsiveness to rejections than male counterparts.

Cyclodehydrogenation of molecular nanographene precursors catalyzed by atomic hydrogen.

Atomically precise synthesis of graphene nanostructures on semiconductors and insulators has been a formidable challenge. In particular, the metallic substrates needed to catalyze cyclodehydrogenative planarization reactions limit subsequent applications that exploit the electronic and/or magnetic structure of graphene derivatives. Here, we introduce a protocol in which an on-surface reaction is initiated and carried out regardless of the substrate type.

Acrobatics at the insect scale: A durable, precise, and agile micro-aerial robot.

Aerial insects are exceptionally agile and precise owing to their small size and fast neuromotor control. They perform impressive acrobatic maneuvers when evading predators, recovering from wind gust, or landing on moving objects. Flapping-wing propulsion is advantageous for flight agility because it can generate large changes in instantaneous forces and torques.