Mutations in the ASPM gene are the most common cause of primary hereditary microcephaly in humans, a condition characterized by a severely reduced brain size. While ASPM has been studied in rodents and ferrets, these models only partially recapitulate the human condition due to significant differences in brain structure and complexity, particularly the lack of a folded cerebral cortex (gyrification). To better model human brain development, this study investigated the consequences of ASPM knockout in a non-human primate, the cynomolgus monkey.

Epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC) is an aggressive malignancy with limited therapeutic options. Poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase inhibitors (PARPi) have shown remarkable efficacy, especially in BRCA-mutant patients, and are approved as maintenance therapy to prevent recurrence after initial response to chemotherapy.

Research groups of Professors Weiqi Zhang, Haiyan Xu and Lin Wang from the Institute of Basic Medical Sciences, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College, reported a positively-charged dextran nano-photosensitizer (p-Dex PS) facilitates tumor-associated macrophage (TAM)-mediated delivery and sublethal light-induced metabolic reprogramming, which boosts the TAM polarization and subsequently the anticancer immune effects.

Harvard engineers, as part of Project CETI, have built an open-source bio-logger that adheres to sperm whales and records high-fidelity, multi-channel audio plus rich behavioral and environmental data. The data are tailored for machine learning analysis so that researchers can better understand whale communication.