A programmable microfluidic device developed at Institute of Science Tokyo, Japan, combines deterministic lateral displacement, a microfluidic technique that is used to separate particles according to their size, with temperature-responsive polymer micropillars to dynamically change the separation conditions along a single channel. Using this device, the researchers successfully separated multiple particle populations. Additionally, they efficiently isolated viable cancer cells, white blood cells, and red blood cells from diluted whole blood.

A simple ball-milling process dramatically enhanced the antiviral activity of manganese-based oxides, as reported by researchers from Science Tokyo. The team treated four manganese-containing materials with ball milling in ethanol, which altered their surface chemistry and greatly improved their ability to inactivate an enveloped virus similar to SARS-CoV-2. The findings reveal a promising strategy for designing low-cost, high-performance antiviral materials for coatings and other self-disinfecting surfaces.

Laparoscopic gastrectomy is a well-established but technically demanding treatment against gastric cancer. Robotic gastrectomy, developed to overcome these limitations, has gained popularity in Japan since national health insurance coverage began in 2018. This study comparing matched patient pairs treated between 2023–2024 found that robotic gastrectomy reduced blood loss, conversions to open surgery, and hospital stays. Robotic distal gastrectomy also lowered complications and infections, supporting adoption to improve outcomes with minimally invasive surgery in Japan.

Cancer is the second leading cause of death in Germany. In the search for new therapeutic approaches that target the uncontrolled growth of tumor cells, a class of enzymes known as cyclin-dependent kinases (CDKs) has come into focus. This is because this family of enzymes plays a fundamental role in gene expression and cell division. An overview of the current state of research on the transcriptional regulation of CDKs and the prospects for cancer treatment was compiled by Prof. Matthias Geyer of the University Hospital Bonn and the University of Bonn in collaboration with Prof. Robert P. Fisher of the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, and has now been published in Nature Reviews Drug Discovery.

Researchers have developed a process to manufacture flu vaccines in baker’s yeast that is fast, inexpensive, and safe. The approach could even make the yearly flu shot obsolete by providing long‑lasting protection against multiple influenza strains. They will present their results at ACS Fall 2026.