{"title":"Five questions with Jie Sun","authors":"Michael Francisco","doi":"10.1038/s41587-025-02631-x","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1038/s41587-025-02631-x","url":null,"abstract":"This developer of cancer immunotherapies discusses her early fascination with cellular behavior, perseverance and deep desire to directly impact patient care.","PeriodicalId":19084,"journal":{"name":"Nature biotechnology","volume":"40 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":46.9,"publicationDate":"2025-04-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143831828","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Wildflowers soak up nickel from toxic soil","authors":"","doi":"10.1038/s41587-025-02647-3","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1038/s41587-025-02647-3","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Some plants from the family Asteraceae, which includes daisies, belong to an unusual group known as hyperaccumulators. These species soak up metals from their roots and store them at exceptionally high concentrations in their tissues, a capacity that probably evolved as a defense mechanism against herbivores and pathogens. Of the 750 known hyperaccumulator species, most can thrive in fields with otherwise toxic levels of copper, cobalt, lithium, nickel and rare earth elements. The plants store the metals in vacuoles in the leaf cells. To ramp up their phytomining capacity, GenoMines boosted the plant’s height and the size of its leaves. The biotech also developed a targeted soil microbiome to enhance nickel absorption.</p><p>The GenoMines team grows the hyperaccumulator plants in nickel-rich fields and harvests them after six months. The company then recovers the metal from the biomass by a combination of techniques that include bioleaching, extracting up to 2.5 tonnes of nickel per hectare per year. Not only does this process yield nickel, but by extracting the metal, the plants also remediate the land.</p>","PeriodicalId":19084,"journal":{"name":"Nature biotechnology","volume":"26 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":46.9,"publicationDate":"2025-04-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143831826","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"USDA conditionally approves H5N1 poultry vaccine","authors":"","doi":"10.1038/s41587-025-02658-0","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1038/s41587-025-02658-0","url":null,"abstract":"<p>The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) has given a conditional approval to animal healthcare company Zoetis for an updated vaccine to protect poultry against the H5N1 bird flu strain. The Zoetis vaccine contains a killed version of an H5N2 variant that the company designed to work against currently circulating variants of the H5N1 virus.</p><p>The avian influenza has been spreading in dairy cow and poultry farms in the United States, causing at least several dozen infections in humans and one death. Although vaccination can help control the virus spread, the US government has long resisted its use, unlike those of China, Mexico, Egypt and France, where poultry are vaccinated against avian flu. So far, highly pathogenic influenza viruses have been eliminated from affected flocks by euthanasia. But this strategy has failed to eradicate the H5N1 viruses of the clade 2.3.4.4b that has been circulating in the country since February 2022.</p>","PeriodicalId":19084,"journal":{"name":"Nature biotechnology","volume":"60 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":46.9,"publicationDate":"2025-04-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143831823","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Ting-Fang Lo, Yi-Chih Huang, Nai-Yu Cho, Yufeng Jane Tseng
{"title":"SPARK Taiwan: a decade of insights in adapting US translational medicine and commercialization methods","authors":"Ting-Fang Lo, Yi-Chih Huang, Nai-Yu Cho, Yufeng Jane Tseng","doi":"10.1038/s41587-025-02630-y","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1038/s41587-025-02630-y","url":null,"abstract":"SPARK Taiwan has strengthened the country’s biotech sector, encouraged scientists to start businesses and fostered cross-disciplinary collaboration.","PeriodicalId":19084,"journal":{"name":"Nature biotechnology","volume":"90 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":46.9,"publicationDate":"2025-04-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143831832","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Michael Casasanta, Nicholas Frame, Oded Ben-Joseph
{"title":"A shifting market environment and strategies fueling innovation in prostate cancer treatment","authors":"Michael Casasanta, Nicholas Frame, Oded Ben-Joseph","doi":"10.1038/s41587-025-02617-9","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1038/s41587-025-02617-9","url":null,"abstract":"Blockbuster drug patent expiration, advances in enabling technology, and the emergence of personalized medicine for prostate cancer treatment create a landscape worth examining.","PeriodicalId":19084,"journal":{"name":"Nature biotechnology","volume":"108 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":46.9,"publicationDate":"2025-04-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143831845","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Roche strikes $5.3 billion amylin deal","authors":"","doi":"10.1038/s41587-025-02657-1","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1038/s41587-025-02657-1","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Roche is gaining access to petrelintide, a potentially best-in-class amylin analog, paying Copenhagen-based Zealand Pharma $1.65 billion up front and up to $5.3 billion in total to co-develop the weight-loss molecule. Petrelintide is a long-acting acylated version of the pancreatic peptide amylin. Several companies are pursuing amylin analogs as antiobesity agents because they work by increasing satiety. Their advantage over glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) agonists such as Wegovy (semaglutide) is that they cause less nausea and vomiting, and may lead to less muscle loss, according to rodent studies. Amylin analogs mimic the natural pancreatic peptide amylin, which is secreted with insulin by the pancreas, whereas GLP-1 agonists mimic incretin hormones, produced in the gut to suppress appetite.</p><p>So far, in an ongoing phase 2 trial, participants receiving petrelintide, given by once-weekly injection, lost only 7% more weight than people receiving placebo. A 15–20% weight loss, similar to that of GLP-1 agonists, is the aim for future trials.</p>","PeriodicalId":19084,"journal":{"name":"Nature biotechnology","volume":"16 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":46.9,"publicationDate":"2025-04-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143831854","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Engineered E. coli creates biodegradable plastics","authors":"Iris Marchal","doi":"10.1038/s41587-025-02653-5","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1038/s41587-025-02653-5","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Replacing fossil-fuel-based plastics with bio-based polymers is crucial in tackling the environmental issues caused by our heavy reliance on these materials. Microorganisms can synthesize numerous biopolymers but have not yet been reported to produce one of the most promising polymers, known as polyester amides (PEAs). In a study published in <i>Nature Chemical Biology</i>, Chae et al. engineer a new-to-nature metabolic pathway in <i>Escherichia coli</i> to biosynthesize PEAs, which might one day be used in various industrial applications.</p><p>The production of PEAs in <i>E. coli</i> was accomplished through a two-step synthetic pathway. First, the authors selected the broad-activity β-alanine coenzyme A (CoA) transferase from <i>Clostridium propionicum</i> to activate amino acids to amino acyl-CoA. This step was followed by polymerization of amino acyl-CoA by a mutant PHA synthase from <i>Pseudomonas</i> species, which accepts various monomers as substrates. Metabolic flux optimization resulted in the biosynthesis of two PEAs from glucose as the sole carbon source. Further engineering and optimization of the culture medium was performed to enhance production titers and amino acid fractions. The engineered bacteria converted more than 50% of dry cell weight into polymers.</p>","PeriodicalId":19084,"journal":{"name":"Nature biotechnology","volume":"122 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":46.9,"publicationDate":"2025-04-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143831824","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Making cell therapy accessible: challenges and opportunities","authors":"Iris Marchal","doi":"10.1038/s41587-025-02625-9","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1038/s41587-025-02625-9","url":null,"abstract":"Despite major advances in bringing cancer cell therapies to the clinic, their widespread accessibility remains a substantial challenge. High manufacturing costs, lack of funding and varying regulatory standards have restricted patient access. As the field advances, researchers, clinicians, regulatory bodies, funding agencies and industry will need to work together to overcome these barriers. A group of experts share their insights into the most pressing challenges and promising strategies to make cell therapies more broadly accessible.","PeriodicalId":19084,"journal":{"name":"Nature biotechnology","volume":"6 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":46.9,"publicationDate":"2025-04-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143831844","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Cancer vaccines: the experts speak","authors":"Iris Marchal","doi":"10.1038/s41587-025-02606-y","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1038/s41587-025-02606-y","url":null,"abstract":"The development of therapeutic cancer vaccines has long been a promising yet challenging field of research. While early efforts were impeded by limited efficacy and immune escape, recent advances in immunotherapy, mRNA technology and tumor antigen discovery have sparked renewed interest in cancer vaccine development. What is the current state of the field, and how should we address the remaining challenges to bring therapeutic cancer vaccines to the clinic? Which modalities hold potential, and what might the future of therapeutic cancer vaccines look like?","PeriodicalId":19084,"journal":{"name":"Nature biotechnology","volume":"113 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":46.9,"publicationDate":"2025-04-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143831859","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Biotech news from around the world","authors":"","doi":"10.1038/s41587-025-02643-7","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1038/s41587-025-02643-7","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Amgen invests $200 million in a new technology center in southern India and plans to invest further in the future to strengthen its operations and R&D capabilities. The site in Hyderabad currently employs 300 people, with plans for 1,700 more recruits skilled in data analytics, AI and digital health technologies.</p><p>The Canadian government cancels a deal with US-based Novavax to buy millions of doses of a COVID-19 vaccine that was to be made in a new biologics manufacturing facility in Montreal. It would have been the first to be produced in Canada. Novavax says the cause is the company not receiving regulatory approval by the end of 2024 for its COVID-19 vaccine using bulk antigen produced at the facility.</p>","PeriodicalId":19084,"journal":{"name":"Nature biotechnology","volume":"61 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":46.9,"publicationDate":"2025-04-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143831830","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}