Nature Biotechnology, Published online: 26 May 2026; doi:10.1038/s41587-026-03153-w

Building a living cell from scratch requires overcoming a bottleneck that has remained unresolved despite decades of progress: orchestrating the spatiotemporal integration of core functional modules. To tackle this barrier, the SynCell Asia Initiative outlines a strategy for developing core functional modules followed by their systems-level integration through the establishment of a centralized, artificial intelligence (AI)-driven biofoundry.

Oncogene, Published online: 07 April 2026; doi:10.1038/s41388-026-03760-6

Hypoxia-induced XBP1s-MYDGF axis suppresses ferroptosis through UBQLN1-mediated stabilization of LCN2 in gastric cancer

Xiao et al. identify α-KG as a rosacea-associated metabolite that activates the OXGR1-Gq-MYL9 axis in the vascular smooth muscle cells to boost contractility and suppress pathological vasodilation underlying erythema. Cryo-EM reveals a bipartite-acid pocket of OXGR1 that enables structure-guided development of A-1, a selective agonist that alleviates erythema in rosacea-like models.

SPYTAC is a synthetic peptide-programmed targeted protein degradation platform harnessing LRP1 to drive lysosomal degradation of extracellular amyloid-β in the brain and periphery. In 5×FAD mice, SPYTAC treatment efficiently degrades amyloid-β, preserves neurons, and improves cognition with reduced neuroinflammation and microhemorrhage when compared with antibody therapy.