When a plant's immune system is triggered, its growth is stunted. Colorado State University researchers have discovered how to turn on a hormone that allows plants to keep growing as they defend against disease and pests – a breakthrough that could increase crop production.

SAN ANTONIO — February 23, 2026 — Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) continues to expand its unique drug synthesis capabilities and expertise to advance the scalable manufacturing of safer antidotes to combat exposure to organophosphorus nerve agents (OPNAs) and pesticides.

Some bacteria are miniature masters of navigation: A built-in “compass” made of magnetic nanoparticles helps them to reliably find the optimal habitat. Researchers at the University of Basel have now unlocked the magnetic properties of individual bacteria — an important step toward harnessing the potential for technology, environmental research and medical applications.

- uOttawa multidisciplinary team has built new hydrogels from synthetic peptides that can be customized as needed - a defining hallmark in the emerging era of personalized medicine. - Offers game-changing potential to impact future biomedical applications, from sealing traumatic wounds to closing surgical incisions. - Bonding strength is comparable to commercially available tissue adhesives.

The Consortium for Enhancing Resilience and Catastrophe Modeling (CERCat)—a landmark partnership between Lehigh University and Rice University—convened at Rice University between Feb. 5-6, 2026, for its semi-annual meeting. This meeting featured comprehensive mid-year updates on six projects launched at the inaugural meeting of CERCat held at Lehigh University in August 2025 and served as a critical touchpoint to ensure CERCat’s research remains aligned with the evolving catastrophe modeling and resilience assessment needs of its industry partners.

A research team led by Dr. Ji Chan Park of the Clean Fuel Research Laboratory at the Korea Institute of Energy Research (KIER; President Yi, Chang-Keun) has developed a system that fully automates complex and repetitive catalyst performance evaluation experiments.

Los Angeles, CA –February 23, 2026 – Dr. Vadim Jucaud, Principal Investigator and Assistant Professor at the Terasaki Institute, with Co-Principal Investigator Angeles Baquerizo, MD, PhD, FACS, FAASLD have been awarded an NIH R21 research grant to develop a first-of-its-kind organ-on-a-chip platform to study immune rejection in pig-to-human liver transplantation. The project tackles one of the most pressing challenges in modern transplantation medicine: advancing xenotransplantation toward safe and effective clinical use.