Endogenous AICAR (Acadesine) demonstrates significant therapeutic potential as a phase III clinical agent for the treatment of adverse cardiovascular reactions to coronary artery bypass grafting and as a phase I/II clinical agent for chronic lymphocytic leukemia. However, its biosynthetic mechanism remains poorly defined. Previous study demonstrated that AICAR was significantly enriched in the Fusarium solani mutant veA^OE14, which overexpressed the global regulator VeA. In May 2025, the research team led by Professor Jichuan Kang from the Engineering and Research Center for Southwest Biopharmaceutical Resource of National Education Ministry of China, Guizhou University, published a research paper titled “MtfA, a C2H2 transcriptional regulator, negatively regulates PRPS2-mediated biosynthesis of the adenosine analogue Acadesine in Fusarium solani” in the journal Mycology.

This study elucidated, at the molecular level, the regulatory mechanism by which VeA overexpression enhances AICAR production in Fusarium solani. The team established a three-tier regulatory network model (VeA-MtfA-PRPS2) (Figure 1), laying an important foundation for the engineering of filamentous fungal strains for AICAR biosynthesis.

In joint research with The University of Tokyo (UTokyo) and Nagoya University, National Institute for Materials Science (NIMS) developed a new material "thermoelectric permanent magnet" exhibiting extremely high transverse thermoelectric conversion performance, and achieved transverse thermoelectric generation with a power density of 56.7 mW/cm² around room temperature in a thermoelectric-permanent-magnet-based module. When converted into a value per applied temperature gradient, this is not only the world’s highest power density among transverse thermoelectric modules, but a performance even comparable to commercial longitudinal thermoelectric modules. This achievement is expected to lead to thermal energy harvesting and management technologies that can be utilized everywhere magnets are used. This research result was published in Energy & Environmental Science on March 18, 2025.

BingoCGN, a scalable and efficient graph neural network accelerator that enables inference of real-time, large-scale graphs through graph partitioning, has been developed by researchers at Institute of Science Tokyo, Japan. This breakthrough framework utilizes an innovative cross-partition message quantization technique and a novel training algorithm to significantly reduce memory demands and increase computational and energy efficiency. 

Remote-controlled microflow using light-controlled state transitions within DNA condensates has been reported by scientists from Institute of Science Tokyo, Japan. By switching between ultraviolet light (UV) and visible light irradiation, the researchers demonstrated that the novel DNA motifs containing azobenzene can dissociate or reassemble.  Furthermore, localized photo-switching within a DNA liquid condensate generated two distinct directional motions. This study can fuel the development of innovative fluid-based diagnostic chips and molecular computers.