Targeted drug delivery to tumors is crucial for effective and safe treatment of cancer. In a recent breakthrough, researchers from Okayama University have developed a pH-responsive nanomaterial using graphene oxide and polyglycerol for cancer drug delivery. The surface of the developed nanomaterial changes its charge in an acidic tumor environment and enables uptake of drugs by cancer cells while avoiding immune clearance. This innovative approach opens doors to precision-driven and more efficient cancer therapies.

A machine learning method developed by researchers from Institute of Science Tokyo, the Institute of Statistical Mathematics, and other institutions accurately predicts liquid crystallinity of polymers with 96% accuracy. They screened over 115,000 polyimides and selected six candidates with a high probability of exhibiting liquid crystallinity. Upon successful synthesis and experimental analyses, these liquid crystalline polyimides demonstrated thermal conductivities up to 1.26 W m⁻¹ K⁻¹, accelerating the discovery of efficient thermal materials for next-generation electronics.

Recently, Professor Yanyan Jiang's research team at Shandong University has developed an innovative "carbon precursor pre-coordination" strategy for precisely regulate the single-atom coordination environments in carbon-supported nanozymes. By using carbon dots as carriers and mimicking the active sites of natural CuZn-SOD and Mn-SOD enzymes, they successfully synthesized highly antioxidative CuMn-CDs using only a household microwave oven. The team conducted a systematic investigation into the antioxidant mechanisms of CuMn-CDs, demonstrating their capability to effectively scavenge free radicals present in cigarette smoke and alleviate lung tissue damage in smoking mouse models. Furthermore, the successful syntheis of various other bimetallic single-atom nanozymes confirmed the universal applicability of this strategy. 

A piece of GSI/FAIR’s cutting-edge research is scheduled to be launched into space next year: the Biophysics department will be involved in one of the next scientific missions on the International Space Station (ISS) with a highly innovative research project. The “HippoBox” project was successfully reviewed by the German Space Agency at DLR and recently selected for participation in the CELLBOX-4 mission on the ISS. The aim of the project is to use brain organoids (“mini-brains”) to investigate neuroplastic changes in a specific area of the brain, the hippocampus – a question that is highly relevant for the medical preparation of future long-term missions in space.