The origin of chirality in asymmetric autocatalysis is due to carbon isotope substitution.

Recent changes in Genentech’s scientific organization, occurring as the company makes artificial intelligence (AI) increasingly central to its research strategy, highlight a broader question facing bi...

Job #AJO32602, WDR-00061091 Assistant Professor/Open Rank Professor - Chemistry and Chemical Biology, Cornell University (Ithaca, NY), Chemistry and Chemical Biology, Cornell University, Ithaca, New Y...

Nature Chemistry, Published online: 02 September 2026; doi:10.1038/s41557-026-02226-2Chemically manipulating phenylalanine’s purely hydrocarbon side chain in living systems is challenging. Now this has been achieved through biocompatible, palladium-triggered decaging of iodine-caged phenylalanine. This enables on-demand control of live-cell hydrophobic interactions as well as π interactions, which spans from fluorophore activation and peptide disassembly to protein binding and tumour–immune cell recognition.

Sodium-glucose cotransporter 2 inhibitors (SGLT2i) reduce mortality in heart failure, but their pharmacological target remains unclear. In this study, we showed that SGLT2i directly activate pantothen...

Nature Chemistry, Published online: 28 August 2026; doi:10.1038/s41557-026-02227-1Spatiotemporal control over bioorthogonal reactions remains challenging. Now cyclopropanol has been shown to act as a functional moity that is inert under physiological conditions but can be selectively activated by mild electrochemical stimuli to preferentially modify acidic amino acids, such as glutamate and aspartate, within hydrophobic regions of proteins.

A photoproximity-labeling approach maps cancer-specific partners of the c-Myc oncoprotein, revealing that the kinase SLK binds and stabilizes c-Myc, drives tumor growth and offers a new strategy to ta...

Electronic circuit boards carry out different operations on the basis of the configuration of their components. Now, equivalent biological circuits are engineered that compute functions on the basis o...

A chemical screen identified a PRC2–AR–ETV1–PPP axis that regulates β cell identity features in α cells. An intermediate PPP metabolite, methyl esterified 6-phosphogluconate, induced metabolic reprogr...

Through chemical complementation, Brønsted-basic small molecules rescue the loss of the catalytic glutamine side chain in KRAS-Q61X mutants, accelerating GTP hydrolysis up to 20-fold.

Glucocerebrosidase (GCase) has been implicated in Parkinson’s disease, but unraveling its role is hampered by a lack of selective chemical tools. Wang et al. develop chemical tools that enable selective inactivation and monitoring of GCase in vitro and in vivo, facilitating studies of disease mechanisms and efficacy of GCase-targeting therapies.

The developing human cortex is composed of diverse cell types, but how nutrient metabolism shapes their fate has remained unclear. This study maps the metabolic landscape of the developing human corte...

Naked mole-rat (Heterocephalus glaber) queens produce isopropyl myristate, a low-volatility ester that high-ranking animals detect and avoid, which alters prolactin and progesterone in other females t...

X-chromosome inactivation (XCI) enables gene dosage compensation in XX eutherians. Long interspersed element-1 (LINE-1 or L1) retrotransposons are unusually abundant on the human X chromosome and are ...

Trogocytosis enables the transfer of membrane-bound antigens during pathogenic B-T cell interactions. Here, the authors utilize mouse and human cell models and demonstrate that the B cell marker CD19 ...

Biochemical, structural and cell biological analyses reveal that UAP56 (DDX39B) assembles with a TREX-2–like module that redirects non-functional polyadenylated RNAs from export to degradati...

Purines can act as endogenous molecular glues in human cells by anchoring a rate-limiting enzyme in purine biosynthesis to its inhibitor, and modifying this mechanism could provide a way to improve th...

Phages often degrade the genome of their bacterial host to individual nucleotides. Here we describe Metis, a bacterial defense system that directly senses phage-mediated host genome degradation. Metis...

Nature Chemistry, Published online: 08 July 2026; doi:10.1038/s41557-026-02195-6Adapting abiotic catalysis to living cells broadens the scope of in situ non-natural synthesis, but it is challenging to achieve synthetic versatility at cellular-level spatiotemporal organization. Now organic dyes have been shown to perform light- and genetically patternable photocatalytic synthesis, enabling in situ C–H functionalization and the construction of ligands for protein translocation.

NAD+ depletion triggers a countdown to birth in mice

Therapeutic delivery of LEAF, a chloroplast-derived nanoscale thylakoid supercomplex system, enables mammalian corneal cells to generate photosynthetic NADPH and ATP that suppress oxidative stress and...

Move comes after Roger Innes complained about the government’s prosecution of Chinese postdocs

Historically, many compelling therapeutic targets have been accessible only by injectable biologic drugs. Macrocyclic peptides, such as the proprotein convertase subtilisin/kexin type 9 inhibitor enli...

A large-scale proteomics analysis of the dark proteome by the TransCODE Consortium reveals many translated non-canonical open reading frames to encode microproteins and peptideins.

High-density single-neuron recordings in patients with epilepsy revealed interictal discharges are generated by structured laminar circuits. These circuits overlapped with cognitive circuits and could...

Macrophages can sample antigens from living cells through a trogocytosis-like mechanism that routes ingested material away from degradation, a finding that delineates a previously unknown pathway...