Spatial Transcriptomic Clocks Reveal Cell Proximity Effects in Brain Aging Academic Background With aging, cognitive function declines, and the risk of neurodegenerative diseases significantly increases. Brain aging is a complex process accompanied by numerous cellular changes. However, how aging cells affect neighboring cells and how this contribu...

Academic Background RNA (ribonucleic acid) is a crucial molecule in living organisms, involved in various biological processes such as gene expression, regulation, and catalysis. Although a significant portion of the human genome is transcribed into RNA, the structural study of RNA molecules remains a major challenge. RNA molecules typically exhibi...

The Impact of Atmospheric Rivers on Warm Winters and Extreme Heat Events Academic Background Atmospheric Rivers (ARs) are narrow regions of intense water vapor transport in the Earth’s atmosphere, typically carrying large amounts of moisture from the subtropics to mid-latitudes and polar regions. These transient phenomena dominate global moisture t...

Academic Background and Problem Statement In cancer research, gene amplification is a common form of mutation, particularly in the activation of oncogenes. However, despite the widely recognized importance of gene amplification in cancer, precisely modeling these amplifications in primary cells and model organisms remains a challenge. Specifically,...

In Vitro Model of Vertebrate Trunk Development Academic Background The development of the vertebrate trunk is a highly coordinated process involving the generation and organization of multiple cell types. At the core of this process are progenitor cells located in the posterior of the embryo, which differentiate into tissues such as the neural tube...

Academic Background and Problem Statement In recent years, immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) have made significant progress in cancer treatment, particularly anti-PD-1 and anti-PD-L1 antibodies, which have become the standard of care for first-line treatment in various cancers. However, despite the notable clinical activity of these therapies in ...

Academic Background Protein self-assembly is a ubiquitous phenomenon in biological systems, performing a wide range of functions from structural support to biochemical regulation. Despite significant progress in protein design in recent years, existing self-assembling protein structures typically rely on strict symmetry, which limits their size and...

Synaptic Basis of Feature Selectivity in Hippocampal Neurons Academic Background A central question in neuroscience is how synaptic plasticity shapes the feature selectivity of neurons in behaving animals. Hippocampal CA1 pyramidal neurons (CA1PNs) exhibit one of the most striking forms of feature selectivity by forming spatially and contextually s...

Record-Low Antarctic Sea Ice in 2023: Increased Ocean Heat Loss and Storms Academic Background The recent decline in Antarctic sea ice has raised significant concerns within the scientific community, particularly the record-low sea ice extent observed in 2023. While progress has been made in identifying the drivers of ice loss, the consequences for...

Academic Background Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy (DMD) is a severe X-linked recessive disorder characterized by progressive muscle wasting, leading to premature mortality. The cause of DMD is mutations in the gene encoding dystrophin, a protein that, along with other proteins at the muscle cell membrane, forms the Dystrophin-Glycoprotein Complex (DG...