Design and characterization of HIV-1 vaccine candidates to elicit antibodies targeting multiple epitopes.

A primary goal in the development of an AIDS vaccine is the elicitation of broadly neutralizing antibodies (bNAbs) that protect against diverse HIV-1 strains. To this aim, germline-targeting immunogens have been developed to activate bNAb precursors and initiate the induction of bNAbs. While most preclinical germline-targeting HIV-1 vaccine candidates only include a single bNAb precursor epitope, an effective HIV-1 vaccine will likely require bNAbs that target multiple epitopes on Env.

An ultra-long heavy chain bovine antibody neutralizes SARS-CoV-2 and reacts broadly with sarbecoviruses.

The ongoing threat of new SARS-CoV-2 variants and other sarbecoviruses has driven efforts to develop broadly neutralizing monoclonal antibodies (mAbs). This study used immunized cattle, known for producing antibodies with ultra-long CDRH3 domains, to generate 33 mAbs, ten of which had ultra-long CDRH3s (>50 amino acids). Of these, mAbs P7 and 99, demonstrated broad and potent neutralization.

The 2025 M7.7 Mandalay, Myanmar, earthquake reveals a complex earthquake cycle with clustering and variable segmentation on the Sagaing Fault.

We use remote sensing observations to document surface deformation caused by the 2025 M7.7 Mandalay earthquake. This event is a unique case of an extremely long (~510 km) and sustained supershear rupture probably favored by the rather smooth and continuous geometry of this section of the structurally mature Sagaing Fault.

genes affect neuronal differentiation in the developing zebrafish enteric nervous system.

The vertebrate enteric nervous system (ENS) is derived from vagal neural crest cells, which enter the foregut as progenitors that migrate from rostral to caudal to populate the entire length of the gut. Here, we show that transcription factors and , zebrafish orthologs of the human gene, are highly expressed in neural crest cells transitioning from progenitors to differentiating neuronal subtypes. Accordingly, CRISPR-Cas9 depletion shows that loss of paralogs reduces the number of neurons that express the inhibitory motor neuron marker without affecting cell proliferation or death.

The Water-Mediated Reaction Pathway for Catalytic Opening of the Furanic Ring on Platinum Catalysts.

The fundamental understanding of C-O bond activation in bioheterogeneous catalysts is essential for the lignocellulosic upgrading reaction in the liquid phase. Yet, multifaceted solvent effects complicate the analysis of the atomistic reaction mechanism. The use of protic solvents in the conversion of biomass-derived furanics into chain alcohols, carboxylic acids, and amines can lead to high rates, but the origin of the solvent-mediated rate enhancements remains largely unknown.

Metatranscriptomics Uncover Diurnal Functional Shifts in Bacterial Transgenes with Profound Metabolic Effects.

Diurnal rhythmicity in the gut maintains gut integrity, circadian rhythms, and metabolic homeostasis. However, existing studies focus on microbial composition rather than transcriptional activity. To understand microbial functional dynamics, we characterize diurnal fluctuations in the mouse cecal metatranscriptome and metagenome under high-fat diet and time-restricted feeding (TRF).

Growth Cost and Transport Efficiency Tradeoffs Define Root System Optimization Across Varying Developmental Stages and Environments in Arabidopsis.

Root system architecture (RSA) is central to plant adaptation and fitness, yet the design principles and regulatory mechanisms connecting RSA to environmental adaptation are not well understood. We developed Ariadne, a semi-automated software for quantifying cost-efficiency tradeoffs of RSA by mapping root networks onto a Pareto-optimality framework, which describes the balance between resource transport efficiency and construction cost. Applying Ariadne to , we found that root architectures consistently assume Pareto-optimal forms across developmental stages, genotypes, and environmental conditions.

A comprehensive mapping of zeolite-template chemical space.

Zeolites are industrially important catalysts and adsorbents, typically synthesized using specific molecules known as organic structure-directing agents (OSDAs). The templating effect of the OSDAs is pivotal in determining the zeolite polymorph formed and its physicochemical properties. However, de novo design of selective OSDAs is challenging because of the diversity and size of the zeolite-OSDA chemical space.

Time-resolved chemically-selective spectroscopic investigation of the redox reaction between hematite and aluminium.

Thermite reactions -highly energetic redox processes between a metal and an oxide-are used in welding, propulsion, and the fabrication of advanced materials. When reduced to the nanoscale, these reactions exhibit enhanced energetic performance, but their ultrafast dynamics remain poorly understood. Gaining insight into charge transfer during these processes is essential for advancing applications in energy conversion and materials design.

Atmospheric Evolution of Brown Carbon from Wildfires in North America.

Atmospheric brown carbon (BrC) from wildfires is a key component of light-absorbing carbon that significantly contributes to global radiative forcing, but its atmospheric evolution and lifetime remain poorly understood. In this study, we investigate BrC evolution by synthesizing data from one laboratory campaign and four aircraft campaigns spanning diverse spatial scales across North America. To estimate initial conditions for evaluating plume evolution, we develop a method to parametrize the emission ratios of BrC and other species using commonly measured inert tracers, acetonitrile and hydrogen cyanide.

Acquisition of neural crest promoted thyroid evolution from chordate endostyle.

The endostyle is an endodermal organ unique to nonvertebrate chordates except for lamprey larvae, where it serves as forerunner to the adult thyroid. Here, we examine whether the acquisition of neural crest in the vertebrate lineage played a role in the elaboration of the endostyle. CM-DiI lineage tracing reveals a neural crest contribution to the endostyle, and CRISPR-Cas9 mutagenesis of key neural crest genes causes endostyle defects including formation of a single rather than bilobed structure.

Stressomic: A wearable microfluidic biosensor for dynamic profiling of multiple stress hormones in sweat.

Managing stress is essential for mental and physical health, yet current methods rely on subjective self-assessments or indirect physiological measurements, often lacking accuracy. Existing wearable sensors primarily target a single stress hormone, cortisol, using single-point measurements that fail to capture real-time changes and distinguish between acute and chronic stress. To address this, we present Stressomic, a wearable multiplexed microfluidic biosensor for noninvasive monitoring of cortisol, epinephrine, and norepinephrine in sweat.

Stable Isotope Abundance Patterns as Potential Biosignatures.

The abundance and distribution of stable isotopes of an element in a substance can provide insights regarding the source, synthesis, and environmental history of that substance. Because isotopic discrimination during chemical reactions can be unique to specific chemical pathways or environmental conditions, isotopic patterns within a substance or between related substances may provide insights into their formation. Biosynthetic pathways can create isotopic patterns that differ from patterns that arise from abiotic processes, but this is not universally true.

Exploiting Large Language Models for Diagnosing Autism Associated Language Disorders and Identifying Distinct Features.

Diagnosing language disorders associated with autism is a complex challenge, often hampered by the subjective nature and variability of traditional assessment methods. In this study, we explored Large Language Models (LLMs) to overcome the speed and precision obstacles by enhancing sensitivity and profiling linguistic features for autism diagnosis. This research utilizes natural language understanding capabilities of LLMs to simplify and improve the diagnostic process, focusing on identifying autism-related language patterns.

CSLD5-mediated cell wall remodelling regulates tissue mechanics and shoot meristem growth.

New tissues and organs in plants develop from stem cells located in meristematic tissues. Cell wall-mediated mechanics has been proposed to play crucial roles in controlling stem cell activity. Here, we show that in Arabidopsis shoot apical meristems (SAMs) Cellulose Synthase Like-D5 (CSLD5)-mediated cell wall synthesis modulates tissue mechanics.

Charge Regulation Effects in Weak Polyelectrolyte Complexation.

We use coarse-grained simulations to study the impact of charge regulation on the complexation of a weak polyacid and a strong polycation. Comparing an isolated polyacid with the polyelectrolyte pair, we demonstrate that charge regulation leads to a significant enhancement of the ionization. Furthermore, our simulations unveil that the condensation of isolated chains into a tightly bound complex happens in a discontinuous, first-order like transition as the pH value is varied.

A diagonal volatility basis set to assess the condensation of organic vapors onto particles.

We present a "diagonal" Volatility Basis Set (dVBS) comparing gas-phase concentrations of oxygenated organic molecules (OOM) to their condensed-phase mass fractions. This permits closure of vapor concentrations with particle composition constrained by particle growth rates, allowing the contributions of quasi non-volatile condensation, equilibrium partitioning, and reactive uptake to be separated. The dVBS accommodates both equilibrium and dynamical (growth) conditions.

Sea temperature shapes differences in European sardine (Sardina pilchardus) growth in two adjacent areas in the NW Mediterranean Sea.

Sardina pilchardus population in the NW Mediterranean Sea has experienced an important decline in biomass in the last decades. In the Gulf of Lions, a shift in growth performance in 2008 led to the collapse of the sardine fishery that persists today. While several hypotheses have been proposed, their basis remain unclear.

Introducing Nitramide Group into High Energy Density Material Molecule Leads to Enhanced Performance.

Although it has been verified by many experimental studies that the design of introducing nitrogen-rich groups into current molecular backbones is a practical method to increase the detonation properties, there is no clear understanding of how energetic explosophores would affect the energy storage density and energy release degree of high energy density materials (HEDMs). The BCHMX (cis-1,3,4,6-tetranitrooctahydroimidazo-[4,5-]-imidazole) molecule was designed based on the HMX (1,3,5,7-tetranitro-1,3,5,7-tetrazocane) molecule by introducing intramolecular carbon-carbon linkages, which provides an excellent spot to introduce a nitramide group. Thus, we designed the BCHMX-ENO (2,4,6,8,9-pentanitro-2,4,6,8,9-pentaazabicyclo[3.

Continuum limit of dendritic deposition.

Continuum models are commonly used to study dendritic deposition in fields ranging from nonequilibrium statistical mechanics to battery research. However, the continuum approximation underlying these models is poorly understood, even in the simplified case of Brownian particles depositing onto a small, reactive cluster. Specifically, this system transitions from a compact to a dendritic morphology at a critical radius that depends on the particle size.

Purcell-Enhanced Emissions from Diamond Color Centers in Slow Light Photonic Crystal Waveguides.

Diamond color centers are promising candidates for optically addressable quantum memories, which motivates the development of efficient photonic interfaces, often using nanophotonic cavities with narrow spectral line widths and small mode volumes. However, they require perfect spectral and spatial overlap between the cavity mode and quantum emitter, which is challenging. This is especially true for solid-state quantum emitters that are often randomly positioned and suffer from inhomogeneous broadening.

Internal Entropy of Non-Abelian Anyons from Heat Current through a Tunneling Barrier.

We demonstrate that the effective internal entropy of quasiparticles within the non-Abelian fractional quantum Hall effect manifests in the heat current through a tunneling barrier. We derive the electric current and heat current resulting from voltage and heat biases of the junction, taking into account the quasiparticles' internal entropy. We find that when the tunneling processes are dominated by quasiparticle tunneling of one type of charge, the effective internal entropy can be inferred from the measurement of the heat current and the charge current.

Accurate Simulation of the Hubbard Model with Finite Fermionic Projected Entangled Pair States.

We demonstrate the use of finite-size fermionic projected entangled pair states, in conjunction with variational Monte Carlo, to perform accurate simulations of the ground state of the 2D Hubbard model. Using bond dimensions of up to D=28, we show that we can surpass state-of-the-art density matrix renormalization group energies that use up to m=32 000 SU(2) multiplets on eight-leg ladders. We further apply our methodology to 10×16, 12×16, and 16×16 lattices at 1/8 hole doping and observe the dimensional crossover between stripe orientations.

Stability and Loop Models from Decohering Non-Abelian Topological Order.

Decohering topological order (TO) is central to the many-body physics of open quantum matter and decoding transitions. We identify statistical mechanical models for decohering non-Abelian TOs, which have been crucial for understanding the error threshold of Abelian stabilizer codes. The decohered density matrix can be described by loop models, whose topological loop weight N is the quantum dimension of the decohering anyon-reducing to the Ising model if N=1.

Relieving Scale Disparity in Binary Black Hole Simulations.

Worldtube excision is a method of reducing computational burden in numerical relativity simulations of binary black holes in situations where there is a good analytical model of the geometry around (one or both of) the objects. Two such scenarios of relevance in gravitational-wave astronomy are (1) the case of mass-disparate systems, and (2) the early inspiral when the separation is still large. Here we illustrate the utility and flexibility of this technique with simulations of the fully self-consistent radiative evolution in the model problem of a scalar charge orbiting a Schwarzschild black hole under the effect of scalar-field radiation reaction.