Infertility is a major healthcare concern. Understanding the molecular regulators governing fertilization, early embryonic development, and implantation is crucial for the success of assisted reproductive technologies. Now, researchers from Kanazawa Medical University integrated one-cell embryo cryopreservation technology, inhibitor library screening, RNA-seq analysis, and CRISPR-Cas9-mediated gene editing to identify eleven novel factors essential for the development of fertilized eggs. The study contributes towards a better understanding of the underlying mechanisms.

Fluorescent dyes enable the visualization of biomolecular localization and dynamics in living systems. To date, no single benzene-based fluorophores with absorption and emission at wavelengths above 600 nm, the ideal wavelength for bioimaging, have been developed. To address this challenge, researchers from Japan have developed bis-pseudoindoxyls. Owing to its unique red-shifted absorption and fluorescence properties, this dye holds promise for applications in red-light-based bioimaging studies.

A new study offers a solution to infections with the pathogenic fungus Candida auris by taking a new precision diagnostic approach that for the first time enables fast and accurate quantification of C. auris strains from easily obtained swab samples, as well as the quantification of AMR-causing mutations in fungal populations with mixed antifungal susceptibility. The next-generation test builds on previous diagnostic accomplishments of the groups of Wyss Institute Core Faculty members David Walt, Ph.D. and James Collins, Ph.D., who led the effort, and was greatly facilitated by the team’s collaboration with the Wadsworth Center Mycology Lab at New York State Department of Health, which provided a first cohort of patient samples (surveillance swabs) for the team’s initial technology validation.