Controlling the state of a cell in a desired direction is one of the central challenges in life sciences, including drug development, cancer treatment, and regenerative medicine. However, identifying the right drug or genetic target for that purpose is extremely difficult. To address this, researchers at KAIST have mathematically modeled the interaction between cells and drugs in a modular “Lego block” manner—breaking them down and recombining them—to develop a new AI technology that can predict not only new cell–drug reactions never before tested but also the effects of arbitrary genetic perturbations.

POSTECH-UCLA Collaborative Team Develops Novel ‘Univody’ Platform for Antigen-Independent Cancer Immunotherapy.

July 10, 2025 - A research team led by Professor Yiwei Li and Professor Bi-Feng Liu from the College of Life Science and Technology at Huazhong University of Science and Technology (HUST) published an important research article titled "Mechanical Cell Reprogramming on Tissue-Mimicking Hydrogel for Cancer Cell Transdifferentiation" in the journal Research. The paper can be accessed through this link: https://spj.science.org/doi/10.34133/research.0810.

Professor Yiwei Li and Professor Bi-Feng Liu serve as corresponding authors, with doctoral students Xueqing Ren and Research Scientist Dr. Yachao Wang as co-first authors.

This study developed an innovative tissue-mimicking hydrogel system that achieves cell reprogramming through purely mechanical signals for the first time. The technology not only enhances the stemness and bidirectional differentiation potential of fibroblasts but also promotes cancer cell transdifferentiation into adipocytes, providing novel therapeutic strategies for regenerative medicine and cancer treatment.

Researchers at Huntsman Cancer Institute found that lipids fuel growth in triple-negative breast cancer cells. High-fat diets like keto could unintentionally worsen outcomes for breast cancer patients with obesity.

For children and young adults diagnosed with osteosarcoma, a common type of bone cancer for that age group, the odds of survival can be devastatingly low (20-30%) when the disease spreads to the lungs. In an effort to improve the outcomes for these young patients, the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas (CPRIT) recently awarded a two-year, $198,822 grant to Balakrishna Koneru, Ph.D., from TTUHSC’s School of Medicine and Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences. 

Powered by Singapore’s first next-generation total-body PET/CT system, the new facility aims to transform diagnostics, treatment and research in cancer and beyond.

In a study published in MedComm - Oncology, researchers report that the enzyme O-GlcNAc Transferase (OGT) plays a key role in driving liver cancer linked to Metabolic Dysfunction-Associated Steatotic Liver Disease (MASLD-HCC). The team found that OGT levels increase as the disease progresses. They also discovered that OGT modifies the tumor suppressor protein PTEN in a way that disrupts its normal function, this modification leads to PTEN degradation and reduced phospholipase activity, triggering a cancer-promoting signaling pathway and accelerating tumor growth. The findings suggest that targeting OGT could offer a new therapeutic approach for treating MASLD-related liver cancer.