Marc A.

Research with BSL-4 viruses such as Ebola, Marburg, and Nipah presents significant challenges due to their high virulence and the stringent containment measures required. This study establishes human airway organoids as a robust model for investigating BSL-4 pathogens. In contrast to conventional cell lines, airway organoids enable investigation of virus-host interactions within a human tissue context, providing insights that are more directly translatable to human disease. We generated airway organoids from both clinical donor tissues and commercially available nasal epithelial cells and showed in comparative analyses with whole lung tissue that these organoids are comparable in terms of cell composition. Despite biological variations, airway organoids derived from different sources and donors exhibit a remarkably similar cellular make-up. We further demonstrated that organoids derived from nasal swabs can effectively replicate BSL-4 viruses. This establishes them as a standardized 3D model for broader research applications including infection kinetics, immune evasion, and tissue-specific tropism within a controlled environment. This platform provides a powerful tool for antiviral testing and studying virus-host interactions, thus helping bridge critical gaps in high containment virus research and advancing our understanding of these pathogens, bypassing some of the challenges of animal models.

SWI/SNF complexes are mutated in 20% of cancers, yet the underlying mechanisms are poorly understood. Here, the authors identify a compensatory mechanism of chromatin regulation that becomes essential in cancers carrying mutations that broadly inactivate SWI/SNF.

Targeting cells for ablation, gene therapy or drug delivery is an ongoing challenge in development of therapeutics. With the goal of efficiently labeling cell surfaces based on target recognition, we linked the well-established engineered ultraID biotin ligase to cell-surface affinity reagents to enable catalytic installation of tags on the surface of cells. Biotin ligase conjugated to nanobodies against cell surface proteins exhibited an order of magnitude increase in cell labeling compared to nanobody alone. Biotin labeling of cells remained efficient at low nanomolar concentrations of the conjugate, and was stable for at least 4 h. By testing a swath of antibody-biotin ligase conjugates against various targets and cell types, we confirmed the feasibility and generalizability of this approach. Administration of biotin ligase-conjugated antibodies into animals efficiently biotinylated the expected target cells. Biotinylated target cells were subsequently detectable with fluorescent streptavidin injected into the same mice. Enzyme mediated cell targeting thus provides an efficient and modular platform for biotinylation and detection of cells expressing specific surface targets with potential applications for research and therapeutics.

Advances in molecular epidemiology and computational modeling have improved our ability to track pathogen evolution, but accurate reconstruction of...

Iron is a primary constituent of terrestrial planetary cores. Through direct measurements of Fe strength at 310-430 GPa and 3700-5800 K, and simulations, the authors study rheological properties of iron under conditions approaching those of Earth's inner core.

This Review discusses global approaches to infectious disease analysis and modeling, focusing on federated methods and addressing long-standing challenges in data interoperability, equity and trust.

Genomics reveals a major cluster of coadapted loci underpinning repeated ecotype evolution in landlocked freshwater fishes. Migratory ‘jackpot’ individuals carry intact sequences essential for rapid life-history shifts.

Background: Problematic smartphone usage among adolescents and young adults is a growing concern. Objective: The purpose of this study was to investigate whether depressive symptoms mediate the relationship between academic stress and problematic smartphone usage, and, more importantly, whether problem-focused coping moderates the association between academic stress and depressive symptoms. Method: The sample comprised of 316 middle school students (46.8% males, M¼13.74 years old, SD¼0.87) in Southwest China. The results showed that depressive symptoms mediated the association between academic stress and problematic smartphone usage. Results: This indirect relationship was conditioned by the degree of problem-focused coping. Specifically, those with lower or moderate levels of problem-focused coping tended to report more depressive symptoms, which in turn led to a higher score on problematic smartphone usage. However, this indirect relationship was weakened for those with higher levels of problem-focused coping. Conclusions: Thus, problem-focused coping should be cultivated when designing mental health interventions to reduce problematic smartphone usage among adolescents.

R. Edward Freeman and colleagues think of the stakeholder approach as a “genre”: “rather than being a specific theory used for one purpose…, seeing stakeholder theory as a ‘genre’ is to recognize the value and variety of uses one...

While conventional nanocarriers like liposomes are effective for small-molecule delivery, their fabrication often involves complex, multi-step processes.