The brain uses eye movements to see in 3D

Professor Greg DeAngelis (left) looks on as postdoctoral fellow Vitaly Lerner performs a virtual reality task investigating how eye movements help the brain interpret 3D space.
Photo Credit: University of Rochester / John Schlia

Scientific Frontline: "At a Glance" Summary

• Main Discovery: Visual motion patterns generated by eye movements are actively used by the brain to perceive depth and 3D space, contradicting the long-held belief that this motion is mere "noise" the brain must subtract.
• Methodology: Researchers formulated a theoretical framework predicting human perception during eye movements and validated it using 3D virtual reality tasks where participants estimated the direction and depth of moving objects while maintaining specific focal points.
• Key Data: Experimental results showed participants committed consistent, predictable patterns of errors in depth and motion estimation that aligned precisely with the researchers' theoretical model, confirming the brain processes rather than ignores this visual input.
• Significance: This finding fundamentally shifts the understanding of visual processing by demonstrating that the brain analyzes global image motion patterns to infer eye position relative to the environment and interpret spatial structure.
• Future Application: Findings could enhance Virtual Reality (VR) technology by incorporating eye-movement-relative motion calculations, potentially reducing motion sickness caused by mismatches between displayed images and the brain's expectations.
• Branch of Science: Neuroscience, Visual Science, and Biomedical Engineering.

New tissue models could help researchers develop drugs for liver disease

Researchers created a mini “liver-on-a-chip.” Tiny clusters of liver cells (shown in magenta) are embedded within a network of blood vessels (green). The vessels can carry fluid, shown here with blue dye, allowing scientists to study how liver disease develops.
Image Credit: Erin Tevonian and Ellen Kan
(CC BY-NC-ND 4.0)

Scientific Frontline: "At a Glance" Summary

• Main Discovery: Development of two advanced microfluidic liver tissue models that accurately replicate human liver architecture, including functional blood vessel networks and immune system interactions, to study metabolic diseases.
• Methodology: Researchers modified the "LiverChip" scaffold to support vascular growth and monocyte infiltration, while separately triggering disease states by exposing tissues to elevated levels of glucose, fatty acids, and insulin to mimic metabolic dysfunction.
• Key Data: The study highlighted that metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD) affects over 100 million Americans; the model demonstrated that the drug resmetirom can induce inflammation, potentially explaining its limited 30% patient efficacy.
• Significance: These platforms provide the first reliable method to observe the interplay between hepatocytes, immune cells, and vasculature in a lab setting, offering a superior alternative to animal models for predicting human drug responses.
• Future Application: Accelerating the identification and safety testing of therapeutics for fatty liver disease (MASLD) and its severe form (MASH), as well as facilitating patient-specific drug screening.
• Branch of Science: Tissue Engineering and Biomedical Engineering.
• Additional Detail: The research confirmed that insulin resistance directly leads to vascular leakiness and increased inflammation markers, key drivers in the progression from early-stage liver disease to fibrosis.

Bubble Bots: Simple Biocompatible Microrobots Autonomously Target Tumors

A scanning electron microscope image of mass-produced microbubbles produced by simply using an ultrasound probe to agitate a BSA solution.
Image Credit: Gao Lab/Caltech

Scientific Frontline: "At a Glance" Summary

• Main Discovery: Development of "bubble bots," biocompatible microrobots comprising protein-shelled gas bubbles that autonomously navigate to tumors for targeted drug delivery.
• Methodology: Scientists use ultrasound to agitate bovine serum albumin into microbubbles, modifying their surfaces with urease for urea-fueled propulsion and catalase to steer toward high hydrogen peroxide concentrations naturally found in tumors.
• Key Data: Trials in mice demonstrated a roughly 60 percent reduction in bladder tumor weight over 21 days compared to standard drug treatments alone.
• Significance: The design eliminates the need for complex fabrication or constant external magnetic guidance, offering a scalable, "smart" solution that autonomously locates pathological sites.
• Future Application: Clinical oncology treatments requiring deep tissue penetration and localized chemotherapy release to minimize systemic side effects.
• Branch of Science: Medical Engineering, Nanotechnology
• Additional Detail: Once at the target site, focused ultrasound is employed to burst the bubbles, generating force that drives the therapeutic cargo deeper into the tumor tissue than passive diffusion allows.

A portable ultrasound sensor may enable earlier detection of breast cancer

The probe, which is a little smaller than a deck of cards, contains an ultrasound array arranged in the shape of an empty square, a configuration that allows the array to take 3D images of the tissue below.
Photo Credit: Conformable Decoders Lab at the MIT Media Lab
(CC BY-NC-ND 4.0)

Scientific Frontline: "At a Glance" Summary

• Main Discovery: MIT researchers developed a fully portable, miniaturized ultrasound system capable of generating real-time 3D images for the early detection of breast cancer.
• Methodology: The device employs a "chirped data acquisition" (cDAQ) architecture with a probe featuring an empty-square transducer array; it rests gently on the skin to capture volumetric data without the tissue compression required by traditional probes.
• Key Data: The processing motherboard costs approximately $300 to manufacture, operates on a standard 5V power supply, and enables the probe (smaller than a deck of cards) to image up to 15 centimeters deep into tissue.
• Significance: This low-power technology addresses the detection gap for "interval cancers"—which account for 20% to 30% of breast cancer cases—by enabling frequent, accessible screening in rural or low-resource settings without the need for heavy hospital equipment.
• Future Application: The team plans to miniaturize the electronics to the size of a fingernail for smartphone integration, develop AI algorithms to guide user placement, and launch a commercial wearable version for at-home monitoring.
• Branch of Science: Biomedical Engineering and Medical Imaging.
• Additional Detail: In initial tests on a 71-year-old subject, the system successfully identified cysts and reconstructed full 3D images without the geometric distortion common in conventional compression-based ultrasound.

Scientists develop first gene-editing treatment for skin conditions

Dr. Sarah Hedtrich (center) and her team examine a skin-on-a-chip model used to test the new CRISPR-based therapy on living human skin samples.
Photo Credit: UBC Faculty of Medicine.

Scientific Frontline: "At a Glance" Summary

• Main Discovery: Researchers developed the first topical CRISPR-based gene therapy capable of correcting disease-causing mutations directly within human skin tissue.
• Methodology: The treatment utilizes lipid nanoparticles (LNPs) to deliver gene-editing machinery into skin stem cells through microscopic, pain-free channels created by a clinically approved laser.
• Key Data: In living human skin models of autosomal recessive congenital ichthyosis (ARCI), the therapy restored up to 30 percent of normal skin function, a level considered clinically meaningful.
• Significance: This breakthrough overcomes the skin's protective barrier to enable localized, potentially permanent genetic correction without the safety risks of systemic off-target effects.
• Future Application: The platform is being adapted for other severe genetic skin diseases like epidermolysis bullosa, as well as common conditions like eczema and psoriasis, with plans for first-in-human clinical trials.
• Branch of Science: Biomedical Engineering, Dermatological Genetics, and Nanomedicine.

Researchers find differences between two causes of heart valve narrowing

UC Irvine’s Arash Kheradvar (left) and Gregg Pressman of Jefferson Health and their teams collaborated on a project to underscore differences in two prevalent forms of mitral valve stenosis in the heart. The research will help improve the diagnosis and treatment of the heart condition that impacts as much as 15 percent of the population.
Photo Credit: Arash Kheradvar / UC Irvine

Scientific Frontline: "At a Glance" Summary

• Main Discovery: Researchers identified fundamental structural and hemodynamic differences between mitral annular calcification (MAC)-related stenosis and rheumatic mitral stenosis, proving they are distinct pathological entities.
• Methodology: Investigators conducted a two-phase study involving 3D transesophageal echocardiography analysis of 70 patients and the creation of patient-specific 3D-printed silicone valve models for testing in a heart flow simulator.
• Key Data: MAC-related stenosis patients exhibited smaller valve volumes, apically displaced hinge points, and higher kinetic energy loss compared to rheumatic patients, despite often possessing a relatively larger geometric orifice area.
• Significance: The findings reveal that current diagnostic standards based on rheumatic disease frequently underestimate the severity of MAC-related obstruction, potentially leading to inadequate clinical decision-making.
• Future Application: This research facilitates the development of disease-specific diagnostic criteria and informs the design of transcatheter and surgical therapies specifically tailored for calcification-driven valve anatomy.
• Branch of Science: Cardiovascular Medicine, Biomedical Engineering, and Radiological Sciences.
• Additional Detail: Mitral annular calcification affects approximately 8 to 15 percent of the general population and serves as a significant marker for broader cardiovascular risks, including stroke and increased mortality.

Tapping the engines of cellular electrochemistry and forces of evolution

Biological condensates are clumps of molecules that condense and scatter apart based on the surrounding chemical and electrical environment in a cell. Recent work from WashU researchers shows how to design and embed these proteins into living systems to serve as electron generators.
Image Credit: AI-generated image courtesy of Dai lab

Scientific Frontline: "At a Glance" Summary

• Main Discovery: Researchers successfully engineered "intrinsically disordered proteins" into biological condensates that function as nanoscale electrochemical "battery droplets" within living cells, capable of generating voltage and driving redox reactions.
• Methodology: The team utilized "directed evolution" in E. coli bacteria, subjecting protein sequences to selective pressures to guide the self-assembly of condensates that create interfacial electric fields similar to electrode-electrolyte boundaries in traditional batteries.
• Key Data: The engineered bio-batteries successfully drove the synthesis of gold and copper nanoparticles directly inside cells and executed redox reactions capable of killing bacteria without the use of traditional antibiotics.
• Significance: This establishes a new framework for "electrogenic protein powerhouses," proving that soft biological matter can store and release electrochemical energy on demand to power synthetic biological signals and reactions.
• Future Application: Applications include sustainable bioproduction, wastewater decontamination (via pollutant degradation), and "biohybrid" medical devices designed to fight infection or reverse antibiotic resistance.
• Branch of Science: Synthetic Biology, Biomedical Engineering, and Electrochemistry.
• Additional Detail: The study overcomes a significant hurdle in evolutionary biology by successfully applying directed evolution to non-structured (disordered) proteins, enabling the programmable design of cellular function based on survival and fitness.

Exploring metabolic noise opens new paths to better biomanufacturing

WashU researchers track single cells to reveal enzyme copy number fluctuation as the main source of metabolic noise.
Image Credits: Alex Schmitz and Xinyue Mu

Scientific Frontline: "At a Glance" Summary

• Main Discovery: Identification of enzyme copy number fluctuation arising from stochastic gene expression as the primary source of metabolic noise in microbial biomanufacturing.
• Methodology: Researchers utilized microfluidic devices to track single Escherichia coli cells engineered to produce betaxanthin (a yellow pigment), measuring both the metabolite and the enzyme concurrently during growth and division, followed by computational modeling and fermentation validation.
• Key Data: Approximately 50% of the observed metabolic noise stems from fluctuations in the production enzyme, while variations in cell growth rate account for less than 10% of the variability; cells were observed switching between high- and low-production states within a few hours.
• Significance: This finding clarifies why microbial productivity often fluctuates or drops in fermentation tanks, enabling the design of gene circuits that link higher enzyme expression to faster growth for sustained high-yield production.
• Future Application: Enhanced biomanufacturing of pharmaceuticals, supplements, biodegradable plastics, and fuels by deploying engineered strains that maintain peak metabolic activity.
• Branch of Science: Bioengineering, Synthetic Biology and Chemical Engineering.
• Additional Detail: This research supports the development of a zero-waste circular economy by improving the reliability of microbial fermentation processes.

Intraoperative Tumor Histology May Enable More-Effective Cancer Surgeries

From left to right: Images of kidney tissue as detected with UV-PAM, as imaged by AI to mimic traditional H&E staining, and as they appear when directly treated with H&E staining.
Image Credit: Courtesy of California Institute of Technology

Scientific Frontline: "At a Glance" Summary

• Main Discovery: Researchers developed ultraviolet photoacoustic microscopy (UV-PAM) integrated with deep learning to perform rapid, label-free, subcellular-resolution histology on excised tumor tissue directly in the operating room.
• Mechanism: A low-energy laser excites the absorption peaks of DNA and RNA nucleic acids to generate ultrasonic vibrations; AI algorithms then process these signals to create virtual images that mimic traditional hematoxylin and eosin (H&E) staining without chemical processing.
• Key Data: The system achieves a spatial resolution of 200 to 300 nanometers and delivers diagnostic results in under 10 minutes (potentially under 5 minutes), effectively identifying the dense, enlarged nuclei characteristic of cancer cells.
• Context: Unlike standard pathology, which requires time-consuming freezing, fixation, and slicing that can damage fatty tissues like breast tissue, this method preserves sample integrity and eliminates preparation artifacts.
• Significance: This technology aims to drastically reduce re-operation rates—currently up to one-third for breast cancer lumpectomies—by allowing surgeons to confirm clean tumor margins intraoperatively across various tissue types (breast, bone, skin, organ).

X-raying auditory ossicles – a new technique reveals structures in record time

Scientists at PSI were able to observe the local collagen structures in an ossicle by scanning it with an X-ray beam. The different colours of the cylinders indicate how strongly the collagen bundles are spatially aligned in a section measuring 20 by 20 by 20 micrometres.
Image Credit: © Paul Scherrer Institute PSI/Christian Appel

Scientific Frontline: "At a Glance" Summary

• Main Discovery: Researchers refined a "tensor tomography" X-ray diffraction technique that simultaneously detects biological structures ranging from nanometers to millimeters, significantly accelerating the imaging process.
• Methodology: The team used a precisely rotated X-ray beam (approx. 20 micrometers wide) to generate millions of interference patterns around two axes, which software then reconstructed into a 3D tomogram.
• Key Statistic: The optimized process reduced the measurement time for a complete tomogram from roughly 24 hours to just over one hour.
• Context: To validate the method, the team imaged the auditory ossicle (anvil) of the ear, successfully mapping the spatial orientation of nanometer-sized collagen fibers crucial for sound transmission.
• Significance: This drastic reduction in scan time makes statistical studies involving hundreds of samples feasible, aiding biomedical research in areas like bone tissue analysis and implant development.

What Is: Organoid

Organoids: The Science and Ethics of Mini-Organs
Image Credit: Scientific Frontline / AI generated

The "At a Glance" Summary

• Defining the Architecture: Unlike traditional cell cultures, organoids are 3D structures grown from pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) or adult stem cells. They rely on the cells' intrinsic ability to self-organize, creating complex structures that mimic the lineage and spatial arrangement of an in vivo organ.
• The "Avatar" in the Lab: Organoids allow for Personalized Medicine. By growing an organoid from a specific patient's cells, researchers can test drug responses on a "digital twin" of that patient’s tumor or tissue, eliminating the guesswork of trial-and-error prescriptions.
• Bridge to Clinical Trials: Organoids serve as a critical bridge between the Petri dish and human clinical trials, potentially reducing the failure rate of new drugs and decreasing the reliance on animal testing models which often fail to predict human reactions.
• The Ethical Frontier: As cerebral organoids (mini-brains) become more complex, exhibiting brain waves similar to preterm infants, science faces a profound question: At what point does biological complexity become sentience?

Harnessing evolution: Evolved synthetic disordered proteins could address disease, antibiotic resistance

Yifan Dai and his team designed a method based on directed evolution to create synthetic intrinsically disordered proteins that can facilitate diverse phase behaviors in living cells. Intrinsically disordered proteins have different phase behaviors that take place at increasing or decreasing temperatures, as shown in the image above. The intrinsically disordered proteins on the left are cold responsive, and those on the right are hot responsive. The tree image in the center depicts the directed evolution process with the reversible intrinsically disordered proteins near the top. Feeding into the process from the bottom are soluble intrinsically disordered proteins.
Illustration Credit: Dai lab

The increased prevalence of antibiotic resistance could make common infections deadly again, which presents a threat to worldwide public health. Researchers in the McKelvey School of Engineering at Washington University in St. Louis have developed the first directed evolution-based method capable of evolving synthetic condensates and soluble disordered proteins that could eventually reverse antibiotic resistance.

Yifan Dai, assistant professor of biomedical engineering, and his team designed a method that is directed evolution-based to create synthetic intrinsically disordered proteins that can facilitate diverse phase behaviors in living cells. This allows them to build a toolbox of synthetic intrinsically disordered proteins with distinct phase behaviors and features that are responsive to temperatures in living cells, which helps them to create synthetic biomolecular condensates. In addition to reversing antibiotic resistance, the cells can regulate protein activity among cells. 

Stem cell engineering breakthrough paves way for next-generation living drugs

UBC research associate Dr. Ross Jones in the lab where they are working to develop cell-based therapies from stem cells.
Photo Credit: Phillip Chin.

For the first time, researchers at the University of British Columbia have demonstrated how to reliably produce an important type of human immune cell—known as helper T cells—from stem cells in a controlled laboratory setting.  

The findings, published today in Cell Stem Cell, overcome a major hurdle that has limited the development, affordability and large-scale manufacturing of cell therapies. The discovery could pave the way for more accessible and effective off-the-shelf treatments for a wide range of conditions like cancer, infectious diseases, autoimmune disorders and more.   

“Engineered cell therapies are transforming modern medicine,” said co-senior author Dr. Peter Zandstra, professor and director of the UBC School of Biomedical Engineering. “This study addresses one of the biggest challenges in making these lifesaving treatments accessible to more people, showing for the first time a reliable and scalable way to grow multiple immune cell types.”  

Pills that communicate from the stomach could improve medication adherence

Two photos show the gelatin-coated capsules (left) and the capsule without the coating (right). The capsule can be broken down and absorbed by the body.
Photo Credit: Courtesy of the researchers
(CC BY-NC-ND 4.0)

In an advance that could help ensure people are taking their medication on schedule, MIT engineers have designed a pill that can report when it has been swallowed.

The new reporting system, which can be incorporated into existing pill capsules, contains a biodegradable radio frequency antenna. After it sends out the signal that the pill has been consumed, most components break down in the stomach while a tiny RF chip passes out of the body through the digestive tract.

This type of system could be useful for monitoring transplant patients who need to take immunosuppressive drugs, or people with infections such as HIV or TB, who need treatment for an extended period of time, the researchers say.

Clean biogas – measurable everywhere

Ayush Agarwal worked on the analysis of biogas during his doctoral studies at the PSI Center for Energy and Environmental Sciences at PSI.
Photo Credit: © Paul Scherrer Institute PSI/Markus Fischer

Researchers at the Paul Scherrer Institute PSI have developed a new analytical method that can detect even tiny amounts of critical impurities in biogas. This procedure can be used even by small biogas plants without the need for major investment – thus facilitating the energy transition.

The market for biogas is growing. According to the Swiss Federal Office of Energy, Switzerland fed 471 gigawatt hours of this fuel into the natural gas grid last year – roughly twice the amount fed in ten years ago. This comes with an increase in the need to measure impurities in the biogas quickly and reliably, because strict quality criteria apply to this green gas.  

Researchers at PSI’s Center for Energy and Environmental Sciences have now come up with a solution to this problem. The analytical method they have developed can simultaneously detect the two most critical impurities in biogas: sulfur compounds and siloxanes. They have now presented their method in the journal Progress in Energy. 

Nasal drops fight brain tumors noninvasively

Researchers at WashU Medicine have developed a noninvasive medicine delivered through the nose that successfully eliminated deadly brain tumors in mice. The medicine is based on a spherical nucleic acid, a nanomaterial (labeled red) that travels along a nerve (green) from the nose to the brain, where it triggers an immune response to eliminate the tumor.
Image Credit: Courtesy of Alexander Stegh

Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, along with collaborators at Northwestern University, have developed a noninvasive approach to treat one of the most aggressive and deadly brain cancers. Their technology uses precisely engineered structures assembled from nano-size materials to deliver potent tumor-fighting medicine to the brain through nasal drops. The novel delivery method is less invasive than similar treatments in development and was shown in mice to effectively treat glioblastoma by boosting the brain’s immune response.

Glioblastoma tumors form from brain cells called astrocytes and are the most common kind of brain cancer, affecting roughly three in 100,000 people in the U.S. Glioblastoma generally progresses very quickly and is almost always fatal. There are no curative treatments for the disease, in part because delivering medicines to the brain remains extremely challenging.

Focused Ultrasound Passes First Test in Treatment of Brain Cancer in Children

Pediatric oncologist Stergios Zacharoulis and biomedical engineer Elisa Konofagou are pioneering the use of focused ultrasound to treat brain cancer in children and dozens of other brain diseases
Photo Credit: Rudy Diaz / Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons.

Columbia University researchers are the first to show that focused ultrasound—a non-invasive technique that uses sound waves to enhance the delivery of drugs into the brain—can be safely used in children being treated for brain cancer.

The focused ultrasound technique, developed by Columbia engineers, was tested in combination with chemotherapy in three children with diffuse midline glioma, a rare and aggressive brain cancer that is universally fatal.

The study found that focused ultrasound successfully opened the blood-brain barrier in all three patients, allowing the chemotherapy drug to reach the tumors and leading to some improvement in patient mobility, though all three patients eventually died from their disease or complications of COVID.

Seeing infrared with organic electrodes

Organic electrodes
Electrophysiological recording of retinal activity on a precision setup using controlled red-light conditions that do not alter the retina’s response. The experiment captures how the retina reacts to infrared photovoltaic stimulation
Photo Credit: Technische Universität Wien

In some people, the light receptors on the retina are damaged, but the underlying nerve structure is still intact. In this case, a visual implant could potentially help in the future: Biocompatible, thin photovoltaic films register radiation, convert it into electrical signals, and use these to stimulate living nerve tissue. This has now been achieved for the first time in laboratory tests at TU Wien. 

Bioengineering: In-Depth Description

Bioengineering is an interdisciplinary field that applies engineering principles, design concepts, and quantitative methods to biological systems. It bridges the gap between engineering and the life sciences to create solutions for problems in biology, medicine, agriculture, and environmental science. Its primary goals are to analyze and understand complex biological systems and to develop new technologies, materials, and therapies to improve human health, quality of life, and sustainability.

New ultrasound technique could help aging and injured brains

Raag Airan, Matine Azadian, Payton Martinez, and Yun Xiang in the lab. Azadian is holding a version of their ultrasound apparatus designed for humans.
Photo Credit: Andrew Brodhead

Just like your body needs a bath now and then, so too does your brain – but instead of a tub filled with hot water, your brain has cerebrospinal fluid, which flows around inside the brain and helps clear away waste products, misplaced blood cells, and other sometimes-toxic debris.

The trouble is, that natural brain-bathing system can break down as people age or after a brain injury, such as a stroke – and there aren’t any particularly good ways to help the brain out in those situations. Indeed, current ideas to promote cerebrospinal fluid cleaning are either rather invasive or require drugs that may not be safe or effective in people.

Fortunately, a team of Stanford researchers has found a radically simple tool that may help the brain wash itself out without the need for drugs or invasive procedures: ultrasound, the same tool obstetricians regularly use at prenatal checkups.