Objective: This commentary outlines how single-cell and multi-omic approaches can advance biomarker discovery and translational validation in exercise medicine.

Methods: The article synthesizes emerging evidence from human and animal exercise studies using single-cell RNA sequencing, single-nucleus RNA sequencing, single-cell ATAC sequencing, spatial transcriptomics and related multi-omic technologies. It focuses on skeletal muscle, immune regulation, ageing-related cellular states, chronic disease contexts and translational validation strategies.

Results: Single-cell approaches can resolve exercise-responsive cell types, cellular states, regulatory programmes and cell-cell communication that are masked by tissue-level or bulk measurements. The article highlights applications in muscle repair and fibre-type adaptation, immune redistribution and inflammatory regulation, vascular and metabolic adaptation, biological ageing and responder profiling. It proposes a pipeline that links discovery of cell-derived signatures to validation through accessible assays, including flow cytometry, targeted RNA panels, proteomics, methylation assays, immunoassays and routine clinical chemistry platforms.

Conclusions: Single-cell sequencing is best viewed as a discovery engine for precision exercise biomarkers rather than a near-term routine clinical test. Future work should combine well-defined exercise protocols, longitudinal sampling, spatial and tissue-specific profiling, physiological outcomes, human-animal comparisons and rigorous independent validation.

Infected wounds pose a significant medical challenge, often leading to delayed healing and complications due to bacterial biofilms and excessive inflammation. A key characteristic of these infection sites is an acidic microenvironment. Scientists have now engineered a smart nanoplatform that uses this acidity as a trigger to release a potent combination of therapeutic agents directly at the wound site.

In an article appearing in the journal Biomedical Analysis, researchers from Sun Yat-sen University describe the development of a novel nanocomposite, SH@ZIF-8/AgNPs. This platform consists of a porous carrier called a zeolitic imidazolate framework-8 (ZIF-8), which is loaded with shikonin (SH), a natural compound with anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties. The surface of this carrier is then decorated with silver nanoparticles (AgNPs), which are well-known for their broad-spectrum antibacterial activity. The design enables the encapsulation of a high concentration of shikonin within a stable structure.