Genomes provide a fundamental basis for understanding biological systems. Rapid advances in sequencing technologies and assembly algorithms have moved genome research from chromosome-level references toward telomere-to-telomere (T2T) and haplotype-resolved assemblies. Yet a fundamental question remains: What makes a genome truly high quality?

Everleap Fertility, a leader in fertility care and assisted reproduction, delivers 19 scientific presentations at the American Society for Reproductive Medicine (ASRM) Annual Scientific Congress & Expo on topics ranging from endometrial thickness and cycle cancellation, to the impact of maternal obesity on embryonic aneuploidy, third-party reproductive services, predictive modeling, fertility insurance mandates, access disparities, and more.

Why does the chromosome machinery that makes eggs and sperm look so similar across hundreds of millions of years of evolution, yet work by different rules? Stowers Institute scientists found that the sea anemone Nematostella carries many of the same synaptonemal-complex proteins used by vertebrates to pair chromosomes during meiosis. But when researchers disabled key components, the effects were unexpectedly sex-specific: mutations that caused female sterility could leave males fertile. The work challenges the assumption that similar-looking cellular machines necessarily function the same way and establishes transparent Nematostella as a promising system for watching meiosis in living tissue, with relevance to the basic biology underlying infertility, miscarriage and chromosome errors.

Researchers have transformed biological light from a qualitative signal into a quantitative measurement tool. The new dual-colour luminescence system enables more accurate tracking of gene activity and molecular processes in living organisms, opening new possibilities for research spanning plant biology, physiology and future disease models.

The Regenerative Medicine Project at our institute is advancing therapeutic strategis for various diseases by introducing a range of modifications to human induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells.

We are pleased to announce that we have successfully established iPS cells with doubled chromosomes (tetraploid iPS cells) via cell fusion. By differentiating these tetraploid iPS cells into cardiomyocytes, we succeeded in developing a technology that replicates the chromosome doubling that occurs naturally in vivo during cardiomyocyte maturation, thereby enhancing cardiac function.

The research findings were published online in the British scientific journal Communications Biology on Monday, August 17, 2026.