Pause et al. studied nanoplastic uptake in farm animal cells and its influence on cellular behavior. This pilot study highlights the importance of further research into nanoplastic exposure in livestock, both to understand risks to animal health and to assess potential implications for food safety and human health.

ECP is established as a light based blood cell therapy for T-cell lymphoma and organ transplant rejection, while the full picture of how it works is still unclear. Hagn et al. identified effects of ECP on lipid mediators playing a central role in inflammation, supported by proliferation analysis of lung fibroblasts.

Reynders et al. present photoswitchable azobenzene compounds that can inhibit tubulin polymerization, allowing precise control of cell division with light. This research identifies a general method for near-quantitative photocontrol, offering potential for new anticancer therapies.

Steffens et al. present advanced nucleic acid carriers with disulfide or hydrophobic spacers. The inclusion of these spacers improved the carriers’ stability, reduced membrane damage and enhanced cell growth, meaning enhanced biocompatibility and efficacy, and proving their potential in gene therapy applications.

Mohamed et al. exploit metabolites from the soil bacterium Streptomyces mirabilis to find potential cancer drug candidates. Here they report the structure elucidation of three new peptides and their biological activities. A PHIO Cellwatcher M was used to study cancer cell growth dynamics under the influence of the compounds.

Yi Lin et al. developed folate receptor–mediated Cas9 RNP nanocarriers, for the purpose of achieving efficient and specific immune checkpoint disruption in cancer cells. They used a Cellwatcher system to monitor tumor cell growth dynamics and succeeded in strongly inhibiting proliferation through dual PD-L1/PVR gene knockout.

The resistance formation of cancer cells to chemotherapeutic drugs is one of the main reasons for the failure of cancer therapy. Bianca Köhler et al. identified microRNA-200c as an important player in sensitizing cells to chemotherapeutics and reverse drug resistance. PHIO’s technology allowed for the analysis of long term effects in vitro.

Paul Stolz et al. found that stem cells are impaired in pluripotency when Tet1 is knocked out, but unaffected when only the catalytic abilities of Tet1 are suppressed. The PHIO Cellwatcher proliferation and morphology analysis showed how these genetic modifications are also reflected at the macroscopic level.