Nanyang Technological University, Singapore (NTU Singapore) is leading 24 clinicians from the region and beyond to set up Southeast Asia’s first consortium dedicated to tackling dementia.

The Southeast Asian Consortium on Neurocognition, Neuroimaging and Biomarker Research Plus (SEACURE+) will pool resources and data representative of the region’s 700 million people to better understand the unique traits of the Southeast Asian brain and develop a harmonised approach to prevent and manage dementia.

Acute myeloid leukemia (AML) with NUP98 fusions (NUP98-r) is an aggressive form of blood cancer. It is caused by a chromosomal rearrangement that abnormally fuses the NUP98 gene with other genes, resulting in the formation of NUP98 fusion oncoproteins. Until now, there have been no therapeutic strategies to directly inactivate NUP98 fusion oncoproteins. Researchers from the CeMM Research Center for Molecular Medicine, the University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna and the St. Anna Children's Cancer Research Institute have achieved a breakthrough: they identified the protein SPOP as a direct regulator of the stability of NUP98 fusion oncoproteins, providing a potential target for new therapies. The study was published in the prestigious scientific journal Cell Reports (DOI: 10.1016/j.celrep.2025.116602).

Scientists have succeeded in mapping a piece of brain tissue in 3D at unprecedented resolution and non-destructively using X-rays at the Swiss light source SLS. The breakthrough overcomes a long-standing technological barrier that had limited the use of X-rays for such studies. Now, the path lies open to imaging much larger samples of brain tissue at high resolution – and to gaining new understanding of its complex architecture. The study, a collaboration between Paul Scherrer Institute PSI and the Francis Crick Institute in the UK, is published in Nature Methods.

Researchers at the Nano Life Science Institute (WPI-NanoLSI), Kanazawa University, report in ACS Nano the successful creation of artificial synaptic vesicles that can be remotely controlled by near-infrared (NIR) light. By embedding a phthalocyanine dye into lipid bilayers, the team achieved local heating that modulates membrane permeability, enabling precise release of neurotransmitters such as acetylcholine. These findings demonstrate that nanoscale heating can control communication between nerve cells. The work opens new avenues for non-genetic modulation of neuronal activity, with potential applications in neuroscience, drug delivery, and bioengineering.