July 10, 2025 - A research team led by Professor Yiwei Li and Professor Bi-Feng Liu from the College of Life Science and Technology at Huazhong University of Science and Technology (HUST) published an important research article titled "Mechanical Cell Reprogramming on Tissue-Mimicking Hydrogel for Cancer Cell Transdifferentiation" in the journal Research. The paper can be accessed through this link: https://spj.science.org/doi/10.34133/research.0810.

Professor Yiwei Li and Professor Bi-Feng Liu serve as corresponding authors, with doctoral students Xueqing Ren and Research Scientist Dr. Yachao Wang as co-first authors.

This study developed an innovative tissue-mimicking hydrogel system that achieves cell reprogramming through purely mechanical signals for the first time. The technology not only enhances the stemness and bidirectional differentiation potential of fibroblasts but also promotes cancer cell transdifferentiation into adipocytes, providing novel therapeutic strategies for regenerative medicine and cancer treatment.

Ants make a series of clever architectural adjustments to their nests to prevent the spread of disease, University of Bristol research has uncovered. 

At least eight bat species commute or forage over pig farms in Northern Italy, and the frequent absence of physical barriers and biosafety measures preventing contact between bats or bat feces and pigs could increase exposure risks to the diverse coronaviruses that circulate in these species

Understanding how species survive environmental upheavals is central to evolutionary and conservation science. Southeast Asia, one of the world’s most biodiverse regions, has repeatedly swung between forests and grasslands over the last 150,000 years. Until now, however, little was known about how ancient mammals in these tropical landscapes adapted—or failed to adapt—to these dramatic shifts.

Hominids experienced lead exposure as far back as 2-million years ago, new research finds, challenging the theory that the neurotoxicant is an exclusively modern health hazard. The work also suggests that Homo sapiens, both ancient and modern, possess a gene variant that protects them against neurological damage from lead.

Two new research papers from the landmark Living Brain Project at Mount Sinai present what is, by several metrics, the largest investigation ever performed of the biology of the living human brain. The papers present unequivocal evidence that brain tissue from living people has a distinct molecular character, an observation that until now was missed because brain tissue from living people is rarely studied.