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Tech & Engineering

Updates every hour. Last Updated: 21-Aug-2025 11:11 ET (21-Aug-2025 15:11 GMT/UTC)

TOAnnoPriDB: an integrative database for trans-omic annotation and prioritization of non-coding variants across human genome

Science China Press

In a paper published in Science Bulletin, the research teams led by Professor Shunmin He, Professor Runsheng Chen, and Professor Tao Xu from the Institute of Biophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, introduced TOAnnoPriDB—a comprehensive resource for annotating and prioritizing non-coding variants across the human genome. This represents the seventh publication from the NyuWa genome project. TOAnnoPriDB integrates trans-omic data from 147 public resources, including six databases previously developed by the team: NyuWa, NONCODE, NPInter, piRBase, SmProt, and LncVar. It features a framework for assessing the functional impact of variants and offers a user-friendly web interface. The database empowers researchers to prioritize and analyze variants, advancing studies on variant functions and disease-related research in humans.

Journal: Science Bulletin

Mushroom study expands knowledge of natural bitter compounds – new highly effective bitter compound identified

Leibniz-Institut für Lebensmittel-Systembiologie an der TU München
Peer-Reviewed Publication

The molecular world of bitter compounds has so far only been partially explored. Researchers at the Leibniz Institute for Food Systems Biology at the Technical University of Munich in Freising and the Leibniz Institute of Plant Biochemistry in Halle (Saale) have now isolated three new bitter compounds from the mushroom Amaropostia stiptica and investigated their effect on human bitter taste receptors. In doing so, they discovered one of the potentially most bitter substances known to date. The study results expand our knowledge of natural bitter compounds and their receptors, thus making an important contribution to food and health research.

Journal: Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry
Funder: Leibniz Research Alliance “Bioactive Compounds and Biotechnology”

AI tool can track effectiveness of multiple sclerosis treatments

University College London
Peer-Reviewed Publication

A new artificial intelligence (AI) tool that can help interpret and assess how well treatments are working for patients with multiple sclerosis (MS) has been developed by UCL researchers.

Journal: Nature Communications

Building material for an ancient metropolis

Goethe University Frankfurt
Business Announcement

Trier developed into a major economic and political center in the Roman Empire’s northern provinces, which as a result saw extensive construction activity, including the widespread use of fired bricks. By analyzing stamps on preserved bricks, researchers from Rheinisches Landesmuseum Trier, Goethe University Frankfurt, and the Leibniz-Zentrum für Archäologie (LEIZA) are investigating how the production and distribution of ancient building materials were organized in northern Gaul. The interdisciplinary project, funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG) with a grant of €340,000, will run for two years.

New insights into the risk of developing dementia: Economists contribute to medical research

Johannes Gutenberg Universitaet Mainz
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Vaccination to prevent shingles also reduces the risk of developing dementia in later life, according to a research paper published recently in Nature. This conclusion is based on the analysis of data collected in connection with the introduction of a shingles immunization program launched in Wales in 2013. Economists with their special expertise in statistical analyses have made a significant contribution to the corresponding study.

Journal: Nature

Multiple proteins viewed as never before

Weizmann Institute of Science
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Article about Dr. Leeat Keren’s research, Dept. of Molecular Cell Biology, on CombPlex—an AI-assisted method that enables imaging dozens of proteins in tissue samples at once, offering a new, scalable tool for biomedical research and clinical diagnostics

Journal: Nature Biotechnology

The lush past of the world’s largest desert

Université de Genève
Peer-Reviewed Publication

The Empty Quarter (Rub’ al-Khali), the vast desert of the Arabian Peninsula, was not always an arid landscape. A recent study by the University of Geneva (UNIGE), King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) in Saudi Arabia, Griffith University in Australia, California Institute of Technology, University of Texas and University of the Fraser Valley in Canada reveals that this region was once home to a vast lake and river system. These favorable conditions fostered grasslands and savannahs, enabling human migration — until drought returned, forcing populations to move. Published in Communications Earth & Environment, this research highlights the impact of climate cycles on landscapes and human societies.

Journal: Communications Earth & Environment