#Biology/Neuro/Neuroimmunology - Anna molofsky mmp14 paper - brevican, an ECM component, is important for stabilizing short-lived, newborn synapses in developing zebrafish brain, which are important for maintaining plasticity (ability to adapt to environmental stimuli). Enzymatically digesting ECM or doing genetic brevican knockout both led to destabilization of those newborn, short-lived synapses and behavioral defects. - IL-1B sickness social withdrawal https://www.cell.com/cell/abstract/S0092-8674(25)01245-0 Gloria Choi, Jun Huh - Brain signals cause heart-attack damage: during a heart attack, a set of neurons in the vagus nerve relay signals between heart and brain, activating immune and inflammatory responses which damages the heart. Causal - blocking the signals yielded improved outcomes after heart attacks. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0092867425015065?via%3Dihub (Yadav et al. 2026 *Cell*. A triple-node heart-brain neuroimmune loop underlying myocardial infarction.) - Peripheral cancer attenuates amyloid pathology in Alzheimer's disease via cystatin-c activation of TREM2 ([Li et al.](https://www.cell.com/cell/fulltext/S0092-8674(25)01433-3?_returnURL=https%3A%2F%2Flinkinghub.elsevier.com%2Fretrieve%2Fpii%2FS0092867425014333%3Fshowall%3Dtrue) *Cell* 2026) #Neurodegeneration/Alzheimers #Cancer #sleep-circadian - Jellyfish sleep, DNA damage https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-67400-5 - https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adp3065 - diet differences (eg rich in PUFA) affect how easily mouse entrains circadian rhythm to summer longer days vs winter. The pattern is foods easier to find in summer days help entrain to summer easier and same logic for winter. From Ying Hui Fu lab. What does this mean tho bc mice in winter experience longer day time shorter night, opposite to us. Wonder if mice experience seasons opposite to what we experience. Next time someone asks you what the point of eating food in season is, you can cite this paper lol ## Not super relevant atm - genetic basis for reduced leukemia risk. exciting! Vijay Sankaran, MD PhD @ Boston Children's / Harvard Med - [[1. Literature Notes/Papers/Inherited resilience to clonal hematopoiesis by modifying stem cell RNA regulation|Inherited resilience to clonal hematopoiesis by modifying stem cell RNA regulation]] - how the longest-living vertebrate, the greenland shark, keeps its eyesight. likely due to some DNA repair mechanism. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-67429-6 irrelevant but always interesting to learn from outliers #DNA-repair - [Kang et al. Jan 2026](https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.ads9175) *Science*. Cellular survivorship bias as a mechanistic driver of muscle stem cell (MuSC) aging. As we age, we get worse at tissue repair and regeneration after injury. In skeletal muscle, muscle stem cells lose their regenerative capacities with age. Authors identify *NDRG1* (N-myc downregulated gene 1, tumor suppressor gene, inhibits mTOR pathway) expression as higher in old mice's muscle cells, whereas genetically depleting the gene enhanced muscle regeneration. "Cellular survivorship bias" refers to this trade-off, where MuSC have to choose between two competing goals - Long-term survival: High *NDRG1* expression -> suppressed mTOR pathway -> MuSCs live longer and resist dying off but are "sleepy" aka quiescent - Immediate regeneration: Low *NDRG1* expression -> more active mTOR pathway -> MuSCs can activate quickly to fix injuries but burn out/die faster - [Amrute et al. Jan 2026](https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adx1736) *Science*. Targeting modulated vascular smooth muscle cells in atherosclerosis via FAP-directed #Immunotherapy @ Kory Lavine, MD PhD lab at WashU. A bispecific T-cell antibody that reduces plaque in mouse arteries by eliminating FAP+ cells in blood vessel walls that drive inflammation and plaque formation in coronary arteries. Lowkey though if Verve's *PCSK9* drug works out, this would be less exciting. Although this drug could fill a niche the *PCSK9* drug can't, which is patients who already have plaque in their coronary arteries and would still have a high risk of heart attack even if they achieve low blood cholesterol. - TIL: Vascular smooth muscle cell (VSMC) diversification drives atherosclerotic coronary artery disease (CAD). ## Other Not an individual paper, but a type of article in *Nature Medicine* called "Turning Points," a series feature where leading researchers and clinicians (often physician-scientists) reflect on pivotal, career-defining moments or breakthroughs in their fields (hence the name) that transformed scientific understanding or patient care.