When cells experience sudden physical stress, like stretching or pressure, they can activate a fast, protective mechanism that shields their nuclei from destruction, according to a new study published in the Biophysical Journal. This mechanism could help scientists develop therapies to prevent DNA damage, a major driver of aging and cell death.

Researchers at Eurac Research have obtained a detailed picture of the microbial community associated with Ötzi, Europe's oldest known natural human mummy. The study provides insights into a complex microbiome, ranging from the gut flora of a Copper Age human to cold-adapted yeasts.

Embryonic development is one of the most dynamic biological processes in nature. Cells and tissues organize and reorganize themselves following incredibly precise patterns, while remaining flexible and robust. Scientists are increasingly probing the role the physical properties of embryonic tissues—such as rigidity or stiffness—play in this process.

Researchers have captured the first atomic structures of human SMUG1, an enzyme that helps cells repair damaged DNA. The findings provide new insight into how cells recognize and remove harmful DNA bases, and may support future efforts to develop drugs that target this DNA repair pathway.

Canadian scientists have made a significant advance in understanding the mechanisms that enable embryos to properly form their limbs, thanks to new research led by Université de Montréal medical professor Marie Kmita at the Montreal Clinical Research Institute (IRCM). In findings published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Kmita and her team highlight the crucial role of certain molecular systems that act as true "genetic brakes," ensuring that development proceeds correctly.

Industrial oxidation chemistry is a cornerstone of modern manufacturing, accounting for nearly one-third of all chemical industrial processes. While essential for making pharmaceuticals, dyes, and many specialty chemicals, industrial oxidation typically relies on high-temperature, high-pressure processes involving toxic oxidizing agents. This has motivated scientists to look into cytochrome P450 monooxygenases (P450s) as a compelling alternative.

A team of Israeli scientists at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem has developed a novel method to significantly lower the production costs of cultivated meat. The new study demonstrates that preloading plant-derived cellulose scaffolds with growth factors supports the cost-efficient proliferation and differentiation of bovine stem cells. By binding these vital proteins directly to an anisotropic, directionally frozen framework instead of dispersing them in liquid media, this method achieves high-quality tissue development using up to 10 times fewer expensive factors. Upon multi-week cultivation and subsequent pan-frying, the cell-bound constructs show partially similar mechanical and visual responses to traditional sirloin cuts.

Water deficit resistance in plants has long been a topic of interest for cultivating reliable crops. Some plants can alter their above-ground structure to lock in moisture, while others develop deep, industrious roots that find hard-to-reach water sources. While such responses are obvious to the naked eye, we know little about how responses to environmental stress occur at the microscopic, cellular level.

Plastics, medicines, cosmetics—there are very few everyday products that do not rely on using fossil resources. A European research team led by Charité—Universitätsmedizin Berlin is now aiming to revolutionize this cornerstone of the chemical industry: as part of the CarboNcare project, scientists are developing bacteria that can produce important chemical base materials from sustainable methanol—thereby replacing fossil resources.

Scientists from six Asian countries have launched an ambitious 10-year effort to build synthetic cells from non-living molecules, marking the region's first coordinated push to create an artificial single-celled biological system. The roadmap, published on May 26 in Nature Biotechnology and led by the Shenzhen Institute of Advanced Technology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, was developed through the SynCell Asia Initiative, which comprises more than 100 scientists from China, Japan, South Korea, Singapore, Thailand, and Malaysia.

Cells are typically studied outside the body under controlled laboratory conditions. However, conventional flat cell culture methods do not fully reproduce the complex three-dimensional environments that cells experience in living tissues. Tiny hydrogel capsules offer one way to culture cells in a confined three-dimensional space, allowing researchers to study how cells grow, organize and interact under more tissue-like conditions. Current methods to do this come with a high cost and a set of requirements that put such research out of reach to many.

What if a process we associate with aging actually helps the body heal? A study led by Mikolaj Ogrodnik, LBI Trauma, published in Nature Cell Biology, shows that cells enter a state of senescence within minutes to hours after an injury—and that this rapid response not only plays a key role in wound healing, but also changes the paradigm of how slowly senescence was expected to arise.

Decades of reliance on the antibiotic rifampicin have fueled the rise of drug-resistant Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb). But as the bacterium mutates to protect itself from the drug, it also creates new weak points that other therapies could exploit. Now, a new study published in Nature Microbiology shows that the most common rifampicin-resistance mutation slows bacterial RNA polymerase, creating vulnerabilities that future combination therapies may be able to target.