Acetylcholine, dopamine, noradrenaline, and γ-aminobutyric acid have long been considered exclusive messengers of the nervous system. But a growing number of evidence challenges this traditional view, revealing that immune cells also speak this neural language. A comprehensive review published by the team of Professor Liwei Lu and Dr. Fan Xiao at the University of Hong Kong systematically summarizes the emerging field of immune cell-derived neurotransmitters, illuminating their roles in immunity and disease.

The 6^th generation (6G) communication technology aims to transmit data through an enhanced wireless connectivity infrastructure at higher speeds and with greater capacity than current 5G.

One major challenge is the detection of data signals, which requires receivers that operate in the sub-terahertz regime in a simple, compact, and energy-efficient manner so that they can be implemented in everyday devices. Recently, ICFO researchers and collaborators have demonstrated in Nature Communications that graphene receivers meet all these requirements, marking an important step toward energy-efficient 6G hardware.

MIT engineers designed an ultrasound wristband that precisely tracks a wearer’s hand movements in real time and communicates the information to a robot or a virtual environment. 

Researchers from the Keck School of Medicine of USC are receiving up to $6.8 million for a two-year research project to develop new computational models and support tools that could accelerate access to cell and gene therapies for children with rare diseases. The team will develop a new framework that combines detailed data about the biological features of each therapy and how patients respond to them. By using artificial intelligence (AI) to study these connections, the project aims to better understand how specific features of a therapy relate to patient outcomes. The research is funded by the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H) UNIfying Cell Therapy Outcome prediction and Regulatory Navigation (UNICORN) project, led by ARPA-H Program Manager Daria Fedyukina, Ph.D. UNICORN combines advanced cell analysis technology developed by the team with machine learning tools to identify biological patterns and therapy product features linked to treatment response. This approach aims to enable the development of a regulatory decision-support tool that guides interpretation of product-related evidence when limited data makes conventional measures difficult to establish, enabling patients and families to access new treatments sooner.

Biodiesel is a renewable fuel and could offer a sustainable, carbon-neutral alternative to petroleum products. Yet production costs remain a hurdle to its widespread use. Now, researchers have developed an inexpensive way to make biodiesel from materials found along the banks of their Louisiana bayou: algae and oyster shells. The researchers will present their results at ACS Spring 2026.