When a heart attack strikes, the body’s attempt to heal leaves behind scar tissue that weakens the heart’s pumping power. Now, scientists from Würzburg and Freiburg have mapped the heart at unprecedented molecular detail, showing how immune and connective tissue cells orchestrate this scarring process. Their findings could lay the foundation for therapies that support heart repair and improve recovery after a heart attack.

BUFFALO, NY — November 3, 2025 — A new research paper featured on the cover of Volume 17, Issue 10 of Aging-US was published on October 20, 2025, titled “Brain region-specific and systemic transcriptomic alterations in a human alpha-synuclein overexpressing rat model.”

Researchers at Helmholtz Munich and the Technical University of Munich (TUM) have developed Nicheformer, the first large-scale foundation model that integrates single-cell analysis with spatial transcriptomics. Trained on more than 110 million cells, it offers a new way to study how cells are organized and interact in tissues – knowledge that is crucial for understanding health and disease.

Researchers open up plant chloroplasts for high-throughput screening for the first time, enabling faster development of more robust crops

Scientists at UC San Diego’s Scripps Institution of Oceanography have described a new way to produce large amounts of xanthommatin, a natural pigment, in a bacterium for the first time. Xanthommatin is the natural chemical compound used by octopus, squid and other cephalopods to change the color of their skin. Researchers in the Moore Lab at Scripps have found their nature-based approach to produce up to 1,000 times more xanthommatin material than traditional methods. This breakthrough opens new possibilities for the pigment’s use in a wide range of materials and cosmetics — from photoelectronic devices and thermal coatings to dyes and UV protectants.