Semua Kabar

Eating a high-fat diet containing a large amount of oleic acid – a type of fatty acid commonly found in olive oil – could drive obesity more than other types of dietary fats, according to a study published in the journalCell Reports.

The study found that oleic acid, a monounsaturated fat associated with obesity, causes the body to make more fat cells. By boosting a signaling protein called AKT2 and reducing the activity of a regulating protein called LXR, high levels of oleic acid resulted in faster growth of the precursor cells that form new fat cells.

"We know that the types of fat that people eat have changed during the obesity epidemic. We wanted to know whether simply overeating a diet rich in fat causes obesity, or whether the composition of these fatty acids that make up the oils in the diet is important. Do specific fat molecules trigger responses in the cells?" said Michael Rudolph, Ph.D., assistant professor of biochemistry and physiology at the University of Oklahoma College of Medicine and member of OU Health Harold Hamm Diabetes Center.

Rudolph and his team, including Matthew Rodeheffer, Ph.D., of Yale University School of Medicine and other collaborators at Yale and New York University School of Medicine, fed mice a variety of specialized diets enriched in specific individual fatty acids, including those found in coconut oil, peanut oil, milk, lard and soybean oil. Oleic acid was the only one that caused the precursor cells that give rise to fat cells to proliferate more than other fatty acids.

"You can think of the fat cells as an army," Rudolph said. "When you give oleic acid, it initially increases the number of 'fat cell soldiers' in the army, which creates a larger capacity to store excess dietary nutrients. Over time, if the excess nutrients overtake the number of fat cells, obesity can occur, which can then lead to cardiovascular disease or diabetes if not controlled."

Unfortunately, it's not quite so easy to isolate different fatty acids in a human diet. People generally consume a complex mixture if they have cream in their coffee, a salad for lunch and meat and pasta for dinner. However, Rudolph said, there are increasing levels of oleic acid in the food supply, particularly when access to food variety is limited and fast food is an affordable option.

"I think the take-home message is moderation and to consume fats from a variety of different sources," he said. "Relatively balanced levels of oleic acid seem to be beneficial, but higher and prolonged levels may be detrimental. If someone is at risk for heart disease, high levels of oleic acid may not be a good idea."

Materialsprovided byUniversity of Oklahoma.Note: Content may be edited for style and length.

Researchers identify "meal memory" neurons in laboratory rats that could explain why forgetting lunch leads to overeating.

Scientists have discovered a specific group of brain cells that create memories of meals, encoding not just what food was eaten but when it was eaten. The findings, published today inNature Communications, could explain why people with memory problems often overeat and why forgetting about a recent meal can trigger excessive hunger and lead to disordered eating.

During eating, neurons in the ventral hippocampus region of the brain become active and form what the team of researchers call "meal engrams" — specialized memory traces that store information about the experience of food consumption. While scientists have long studied engrams for their role in storing memories and other experiences in the brain, the new study identified engrams dedicated to meal experiences.

"An engram is the physical trace that a memory leaves behind in the brain," said Scott Kanoski, professor of biological sciences at the USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences and corresponding author of the study. "Meal engrams function like sophisticated biological databases that store multiple types of information such as where you were eating, as well as the time that you ate."

The discovery has immediate relevance for understanding human eating disorders. Patients with memory impairments, such as those with dementia or brain injuries that affect memory formation, may often consume multiple meals in quick succession because they cannot remember eating.

Furthermore, distracted eating — such as mindlessly snacking while watching television or scrolling on a phone — may impair meal memories and contribute to overconsumption.

Based on the experiment's findings, meal engrams are formed during brief pauses between bites when the brain of laboratory rats naturally survey the eating environment. These moments of awareness allow specialized hippocampal neurons to integrate multiple streams of information.

Kanoski said it can be assumed a human's brain would undergo a similar phenomenon. When someone's attention is focused elsewhere — on phone or television screens — these critical encoding moments are compromised. "The brain fails to properly catalog the meal experience," said Lea Decarie-Spain, postdoctoral scholar at USC Dornsife and the study's first author, "leading to weak or incomplete meal engrams."

The research team used advanced neuroscience techniques to observe the brain activity of laboratory rats as they ate, providing the first real-time view of how meal memories form.

The meal memory neurons are distinct from brain cells involved in other types of memory formation. When researchers selectively destroyed these neurons, lab rats showed impaired memory for food locations but retained normal spatial memory for non-food-related tasks, indicating a specialized system dedicated to meal-related information processing. The study revealed that meal memory neurons communicate with the lateral hypothalamus, a brain region long known to control hunger and eating behavior. When this hippocampus-hypothalamus connection was blocked, the lab rats overate and could not remember where meals were consumed.

Kanoski said the findings could eventually inform new clinical approaches for treating obesity and weight management. Current weight management strategies often focus on restricting food intake or increasing exercise, but the new research suggests that enhancing meal memory formation could be equally important.

"We're finally beginning to understand that remembering what and when you ate is just as crucial for healthy eating as the food choices themselves," Kanoski said.

In addition to Kanoski, other study authors include Lea Decarie-Spain, Cindy Gu, Logan Tierno Lauer, Alicia E. Kao, Iris Deng, Molly E. Klug, Alice I. Waldow, Ashyah Hewage Galbokke, Olivia Moody, Kristen N. Donohue, Keshav S. Subramanian, Serena X. Gao, Alexander G. Bashaw and Jessica J. Rea of USC; and Samar N. Chehimi, Richard C. Crist, Benjamin C. Reiner and Matthew R. Hayes from the University of Pennsylvania's Perelman School of Medicine; and Mingxin Yang and Guillaume de Lartigue from the Monell Chemical Senses Center; and Kevin P. Myers from the Department of Psychology at Bucknell University.

The study was supported by a Quebec Research Funds Postdoctoral Fellowship (315201), an Alzheimer's Association Research Fellowship (AARFD-22-972811), a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship (DK105155), and a National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases grant (K104897).

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Star TOI-6894 is just like many in our galaxy, a small red dwarf, and only ~20% of the mass of our Sun. Like many small stars, it is not expected to provide suitable conditions for the formation and hosting of a large planet.

However, as published today inNature Astronomy,an international team of astronomers have found the unmistakable signature of a giant planet, called TOI-6894b, orbiting this tiny star.

This system has been discovered as part of a large-scale investigation of TESS (Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite) data, looking for giant planets around low-mass stars, led by Dr. Edward Bryant, who completed this work at The University of Warwick and at UCL's Mullard Space Science Laboratory.

Dr. Edward Bryant, Warwick Astrophysics Prize Fellow and first author said: "I was very excited by this discovery. I originally searched through TESS observations of more than 91,000 low-mass red-dwarf stars looking for giant planets.

"Then, using observations taken with one of the world's largest telescopes, ESO's VLT, I discovered TOI-6894b, a giant planet transiting the lowest mass star known to date to host such a planet. We did not expect planets like TOI-6894b to be able to form around stars this low-mass. This discovery will be a cornerstone for understanding the extremes of giant planet formation."

The planet (TOI-6894b) is a low-density gas giant with a radius a little larger than Saturn's but with only ~50% of Saturn's mass. The star (TOI-6894) is the lowest mass star to have a transiting giant planet discovered to date and is just 60% the size of the next smallest star to host such a planet.

Dr. Daniel Bayliss, Associate Professor at The University of Warwick said: "Most stars in our Galaxy are actually small stars exactly like this, with low masses and previously thought to not be able to host gas giant planets. So, the fact that this star hosts a giant planet has big implications for the total number of giant planets we estimate exist in our Galaxy."

A Challenge to the Leading Theory

Dr Vincent Van Eylen, from UCL's Mullard Space Science Laboratory, said: "It's an intriguing discovery. We don't really understand how a star with so little mass can form such a massive planet! This is one of the goals of the search for more exoplanets. By finding planetary systems different from our solar system, we can test our models and better understand how our own solar system formed."

The most widely held theory of planet formation is called the core accretion theory. A planetary core forms first through accretion (gradual accumulation of material) and as the core becomes more massive, it eventually attracts gases that form an atmosphere. It then gets massive enough to enter a runaway gas accretion process to become a gas giant.

In this theory, the formation of gas giants is harder around low-mass stars because the amount of gas and dust in a protoplanetary disc around the star (the raw material of planet formation) is too limited to allow a massive enough core to form, and the runaway process to occur.

Yet the existence of TOI-6894b (a giant planet orbiting an extremely low-mass star) suggests this model cannot be completely accurate and alternative theories are needed.

Edward added: "Given the mass of the planet, TOI-6894b could have formed through an intermediate core-accretion process, in which a protoplanet forms and steadily accretes gas without the core becoming massive enough for runaway gas accretion.

"Alternatively, it could have formed because of a gravitationally unstable disc. In some cases, the disc surrounding the star will become unstable due to the gravitational force it exerts on itself. These discs can then fragment, with the gas and dust collapsing to form a planet."

But the team found that neither theory could completely explain the formation of TOI-6894b from the available data, which leaves the origin of this giant planet as an open question for now.

One avenue to shed light on the mystery of TOI-6894b's formation is a detailed atmospheric analysis. By measuring the distribution of material within the planet, astronomers can determine the size and structure of the planet's core, which can tell us whether TOI-6894b formed via accretion or via an unstable disc.

This is not the only interesting feature of TOI-6894b's atmosphere; it is unusually cold for a gas giant. Most of the gas giants found by exoplanet hunters are hot Jupiters, massive gas giants with temperatures of ~1000-2000 Kelvin. TOI-6894b, by comparison, is just 420 Kelvin. The cool temperature alongside other features of this planet, such as the very deep transits, makes it one of the most promising giant planets for astronomers to characterise with a cool atmosphere.

Professor Amaury Triaud, University of Birmingham, co-author, and member of the SPECULOOS collaboration said: "Based on the stellar irradiation of TOI-6894b, we expect the atmosphere is dominated by methane chemistry, which is exceedingly rare to identify. Temperatures are low enough that atmospheric observations could even show us ammonia, which would be the first time it is found in an exoplanet atmosphere.

"TOI-6894b likely presents a benchmark exoplanet for the study of methane-dominated atmospheres and the best 'laboratory' to study a planetary atmosphere containing carbon, nitrogen, and oxygen outside the Solar System."

The atmosphere of TOI-6894b is already scheduled to be observed by the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) within the next 12 months. This should allow astronomers to determine which, if either, of the possible theories can explain the formation of this unexpected planet.

Co-author Dr. Andrés Jordán, researcher at the Millennium Institute of Astrophysics and professor at Adolfo Ibáñez University, said: "This system provides a new challenge for models of planet formation, and it offers a very interesting target for follow-up observations to characterize its atmosphere.

"This discovery is the result of a systematic program we have been carrying out for several years from Chile and the UK. Our efforts have allowed us to contribute significantly to a better understanding of how often small stars can form giant planets, and we are providing prime targets for follow-up with space-based platforms."

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A new study from Toho University reveals that female earwigs exhibit a similar pattern of exaggerated forceps growth as males, suggesting that both sexes may have evolved these traits through sexual selection.

Do larger male elk have proportionally larger antlers? The answer is no. In fact, larger individuals tend to have disproportionately larger antlers — a phenomenon known as positive allometry. This pattern, where certain body parts grow disproportionately large relative to body size, is observed not only in mammals but also in animals such as beetles and fiddler crabs. Evolutionary biologists interpret such traits as evidence of sexual selection — a process in which physical features evolve because they offer an advantage in competing for mates.

Male earwigs are known to show positive allometry in their forceps — pincer-like appendages at the tip of the abdomen — which are believed to have evolved as weapons in battles with rivals. But what about females? Female earwigs also have forceps — so what purpose do they serve?

Tomoki Matsuzawa (then an undergraduate) and Associate Professor Junji Konuma from Toho University's Department of Biology conducted the first quantitative study of female earwig forceps. Using morphometric analysis on the maritime earwigsAnisolabis maritima, they found that female forceps also display positive allometry — suggesting that they, too, may have evolved through sexual selection.

The team measured the head, thorax, abdomen, and bilateral forceps dimensions and analyzed shape differences in both sexes. They found that males have thick, short, and curved forceps, while females have thin, long, and straight ones — indicating clear sexual dimorphism. When they plotted body size against forceps width and length on a log-log scale, the results revealed a pattern of positive allometry in males: forceps width increased disproportionately with body size. Surprisingly, positive allometry was also found in females — in the length of the forceps. These results suggest that while the sexes differ in forceps shape, both may have evolved them as weapons — albeit in different ways.

Associate Professor Konuma explains:"A previous behavioral study has shown that female earwigs compete for small, non-aggressive males. Our findings suggest that female forceps may have evolved as effective weapons in such competition. While most earlier research focused only on males, our study highlights the importance of considering female traits as well when studying the evolution of insect morphologies."

These findings were published on June 12, 2025, in theBiological Journal of the Linnean Society.

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Scientists analyzing data from NASA's CODEX (Coronal Diagnostic Experiment) investigation have successfully evaluated the instrument's first images, revealing the speed and temperature of material flowing out from the Sun. These images, shared at a press event Tuesday at the American Astronomical Society meeting in Anchorage, Alaska, illustrate the Sun's outer atmosphere, or corona, is not a homogenous, steady flow of material, but an area with sputtering gusts of hot plasma. These images will help scientists improve their understanding of how the Sun impacts Earth and our technology in space.

"We really never had the ability to do this kind of science before," said Jeffrey Newmark, a heliophysicist at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, and the principal investigator for CODEX. "The right kind of filters, the right size instrumentation — all the right things fell into place. These are brand new observations that have never been seen before, and we think there's a lot of really interesting science to be done with it."

NASA's CODEX is a solar coronagraph, an instrument often employed to study the Sun's faint corona, or outer atmosphere, by blocking the bright face of the Sun. The instrument, which is installed on the International Space Station, creates artificial eclipses using a series of circular pieces of material called occulting disks at the end of a long telescope-like tube. The occulting disks are about the size of a tennis ball and are held in place by three metal arms.

Scientists often use coronagraphs to study visible light from the corona, revealing dynamic features, such as solar storms, that shape the weather in space, potentially impacting Earth and beyond.

"The CODEX instrument is doing something new," said Newmark. "Previous coronagraph experiments have measured the density of material in the corona, but CODEX is measuring the temperature and speed of material in the slowly varying solar wind flowing out from the Sun."

These new measurements allow scientists to better characterize the energy at the source of the solar wind.

The CODEX instrument uses four narrow-band filters — two for temperature and two for speed — to capture solar wind data. "By comparing the brightness of the images in each of these filters, we can tell the temperature and speed of the coronal solar wind," said Newmark.

Understanding the speed and temperature of the solar wind helps scientists build a more accurate picture of the Sun, which is necessary for modeling and predicting the Sun's behaviors.

"The CODEX instrument will impact space weather modeling by providing constraints for modelers to use in the future," said Newmark. "We're excited for what's to come."

CODEX is a collaboration between NASA Goddard Space Flight Center and the Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute (KASI) with additional contribution from Italy's National Institute for Astrophysics (INAF).

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A Danish-German research collaboration with participation of the Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf (HZDR) aims to develop new quantum light sources and technology for scalable quantum networks based on the rare-earth element erbium. The project EQUAL (Erbium-based silicon quantum light sources) is funded by the Innovation Fund Denmark with 40 million Danish crowns (about 5.3 million euros). It started in May of 2025 and will run for five years.

Quantum technology enables unbreakable encryption and entirely new types of computers, which in the future are expected to be connected through optical quantum networks. However, this requires quantum light sources that do not exist today. The new project aims to change that.

"It is a really difficult task, but we have also set a really strong team. One of the toughest goals is to integrate quantum light sources with quantum memories. This seemed unrealistic just a few years ago, but now we see a path forward," says the project coordinator Søren Stobbe, professor at the Technical University of Denmark (DTU).

The technological vision is based on combining nanophotonic chips from DTU with unique technologies in materials, nanoelectromechanics, nanolithography, and quantum systems. There are many different types of quantum light sources today, but either they do not work with quantum memories, or they are incompatible with optical fibers.

There is actually only one viable option: the element erbium. However, erbium interacts too weakly with light. The interaction needs to be significantly enhanced, and this is now possible thanks to new nanophotonic technology developed at DTU. But the project requires not only advanced nanophotonics, but also quantum technology, integrated photonics with extremely low power consumption, and new nanofabrication methods – all of which hold great potential.

HZDR will help develop new sources of quantum light using silicon, the very same material found in everyday electronics. These light sources will work at the same wavelengths used in fiber-optic communication, making them ideal for future quantum technologies like secure communication and powerful computing. "We intend to use advanced ion beam techniques to implant erbium atoms into tiny silicon structures and study how using ultra-pure silicon can improve their performance. This research will lay the foundation for building quantum devices that can be integrated into today's technology," explains Dr. Yonder Berencén, the project's principal investigator from the Institute of Ion Beam Physics and Materials Research at HZDR.

The EQUAL team has access to further technological input from partnering institutions: quantum networks from Humboldt University in Berlin, nanotechnology from Beamfox Technologies ApS, and integrated photonics from Lizard Photonics ApS.

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No more hunger after cooking? A newly identified network of nerve cells is responsible, a research group at the Max Planck Institute for Metabolism Research has discovered in mice. They discovered a direct connection from the nose to a group of nerve cells in the brain that are activated by the smell of food and, when activated, trigger a feeling of fullness. This was not the case in obese mice. This discovery suggests that treating obesity might require different advice about smelling food before a meal based on a person's weight.

The researchers used brain scans to investigate which regions of the mice's brains respond to food odours, and were able to identify a new group of nerve cells in the medial septum of the brain. These nerve cells respond to food in two steps: When the mouse smells food, the nerve cells fire and create a sensation of fullness. This happens within a few seconds because the nerve cells are directly connected to the olfactory bulb. The nerve cells react to different food smells, but not to other smells. When the mice started to eat, the nerve cells were inhibited. Overall, the mice ate less when these nerve cells are active before eating.

"We think this mechanism helps mice in the wild protect themselves from predators. By eating for shorter periods, they reduce their chances of being caught.," explains Janice Bulk, the first author of the study.

Excess weight disturbs perception

In obese mice, the same group of nerve cells was not activated when the mice could smell food. The mice did not feel fuller and did not eat less overall. The authors point out that it is already known that obesity disrupts the olfactory system, including neuronal activity in the olfactory bulb. The newly identified group of nerve cells could also be affected by obesity.

The human brain contains the same group of nerve cells as the mouse, but it is not yet known whether they also respond to food odours. Studies by other research groups have shown that smelling some specific odors before a meal can reduce people's appetite. In contrast, other studies have shown that overweight persons eat significantly more in the same situation.

"Our findings highlight how crucial it is to consider the sense of smell in appetite regulation and in the development of obesity. Our study shows how much our daily-lives' eating habits are influenced by the smell of food. Since we discovered that the pathway only reduces appetite in lean mice, but not in obese mice, our study opens up a new way to help prevent overeating in obesity," says Sophie Steculorum, the head of the study and research group leader at the Max Planck Institute for Metabolism Research.

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New research from the University of Georgia's Odum School of Ecology and Marine Extension and Georgia Sea Grant suggests there may be elevated levels of mercury in Georgia and South Carolina waters.

In studying alligators from the Okefenokee Swamp, Jekyll Island and Yawkey Wildlife Center, UGA researchers found high levels of mercury, prompting concerns about the levels of the heavy metal in the environment.

"Alligators are very ancient creatures, and we can look at them in these areas as an indicator of what else might be happening in the ecosystem. Studying them can relate to many different things in the food web," said Kristen Zemaitis, lead author of the study and a graduate of the Odum School.

The presence of mercury in these waters not only impacts the health of the alligator but could have dangerous health effects on the other creatures relying on these waterways for food, including humans.

Mercury concentrations matter for the bigger picture

Trace amounts of mercury, a potentially harmful element, are often found in runoff and precipitation downstream from major industrial areas. Previous research has shown accumulating levels of the heavy metal in smaller animals in Georgia swamps but not as much is known about animals as high up in the food chain as the alligator.

Through studying the diet and analyzing blood samples of more than 100 alligators, across several months, the researchers found that where the alligators resided made a difference.

Alligators in the Okefenokee Swamp had mercury levels that were eight times higher than the other two research sites.

"If (mercury) builds up, it moves through the food web and creates the perfect storm. That's what we have in the Okefenokee." — Jeb Byers, Odum School of Ecology

"That's one of the results from the study that was most striking to me," said Jeb Byers, co-author of the study and UGA Athletic Association Professor in the Odum School. "Mercury is a neurotoxin that is very lethal to organisms. If it builds up, it moves through the food web and creates the perfect storm. That's what we have in the Okefenokee."

Mercury concentrations in alligators show that the toxin can easily move up the food chain.

Whether it's gators themselves or the fish they cohabitate with, this study signals caution to any humans who may fish or hunt in the area. Although the Okefenokee Swamp is a wildlife refuge, it shares waters with the Suwannee and St. Marys rivers, which means there may be a heightened risk of mercury contamination in fish and other animals residing in the waters.

"Mercury contamination can be a high concern for the people who can be consuming a lot of fish or game species from the rivers, swamps or oceans that have high mercury. In any given ecosystem, there are some organisms that can tolerate only very little amounts of mercury, which can result in neurological issues, reproductive issues and eventually death," Zemaitis said.

Alligators' age matters in mercury measurements

It wasn't just where the alligators lived — how long they'd been there mattered too.

The researchers discovered that mercury concentrations were more prominent in larger, older gators. That wasn't just from absorption over time but presumably from the alligators consuming greater amounts of creatures already contaminated with mercury.

UGA researchers examine one of the alligators in the study. (Photo by Jeb Byers)

"Organisms can accumulate dangerous levels over the course of a lifespan. However, we often account for age but not diet," said Benjamin Parrott, an associate professor at UGA's Savannah River Ecology Laboratory and Odum School and co-author of the study. "What our study shows is that as alligators grow and start to eat larger animals, this increases the amount of mercury they accumulate."

As for smaller, young alligators and hatchlings, the story was surprisingly the same. Mercury levels seemed to be inherited by offspring.

"Some of the hatchlings had really high levels of mercury which we were not expecting. Mothers are passing toxins and heavy metals into the egg yolks during reproduction," Zemaitis said.

Research signals need for future studies on mercury impact

It's likely not just alligators being influenced by high levels of mercury in the environment, Zemaitis said.

"Now that we know this about one of the apex predators in these systems, we wonder what else is being affected?" she said. "I would like to investigate more about where exactly the mercury is coming from and how it's getting into the ecosystem. It would be really great to pinpoint a prominent source and also see how it's affecting other animals in the ecosystem."

The study was funded by the Jekyll Island Authority and the Okefenokee Swamp Park, and includes co-authors Thomas Rainwater, of the Tom Yawkey Wildlife Center and Clemson University; Yank Moore, of the Conservation for Jekyll Island Authority; and Kimberly Andrews, a coastal ecology specialist with UGA Marine Extension and Georgia Sea Grant.

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Scientists have made a key breakthrough for treating respiratory diseases by developing a new drug delivery system that transports genetic therapies directly to the lungs, opening promising possibilities for patients with conditions like lung cancer and cystic fibrosis.

The research, led by Gaurav Sahay of Oregon State University's College of Pharmacy, was conducted in collaboration with Oregon Health & Science University and the University of Helsinki. Findings were published in a pair of papers, inNature Communicationsand theJournal of the American Chemical Society.

Scientists created and tested more than 150 different materials and discovered a new type of nanoparticle that can safely and effectively carry messenger RNA and gene-editing tools to lung cells. In studies with mice, the treatment slowed the growth of lung cancer and helped improve lung function that had been limited by cystic fibrosis, a condition caused by one faulty gene.

Researchers also developed a chemical strategy to build a broad library of lung-targeting lipids used in the nanocarriers. These materials form the foundation for the new drug delivery system and could be customized to reach different organs in the body, Sahay said.

"The streamlined synthesis method makes it easier to design future therapies for a wide range of diseases," he said. "These results demonstrate the power of targeted delivery for genetic medicines. We were able to both activate the immune system to fight cancer and restore function in a genetic lung disease, without harmful side effects."

Oregon State's K. Yu Vlasova, D.K. Sahel, Namratha Turuvekere Vittala Murthy, Milan Gautam and Antony Jozic were co-authors of the Nature Communications paper, which also included scientists from OHSU and the University of Helsinki. OSU's Murthy, Jonas Renner, Milan Gautam, Emily Bodi and Antony Jozic teamed with Sahay on the other study.

"Our long-term goal is to create safer, more effective treatments by delivering the right genetic tools to the right place," said Sahay. "This is a major step in that direction."

These studies were funded by the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, the National Cancer Institute and the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute.

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Where do you go when you're a fish and you need a skincare treatment? Coral reefs contain natural "beauty salons," lively social hubs of activity where fish "clients" swim up and wait to be serviced by smaller fish cleaners. The little cleaners dart under and around their much bigger clients — even entering their mouths — cleaning their scales of bacteria and parasites like a team of car washers servicing a Buick. Sometimes cleaners even rub against their clients, providing a soothing massage.

But aside from skincare benefits, what role might busy cleaner fish stations play in spreading microbes and bacteria — for good or ill — throughout the reef?

A study published in the journalMarine Ecology Progress Seriesis the first to investigate the influence of cleaner fish stations on reef microbial diversity. It is led by scientists from the University of California, Davis, and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute (WHOI) in collaboration with the University of Miami Rosenstiel School of Marine, Atmospheric, and Earth Science.

Could busy cleaning stations, like some medical clinics, be hotspots for spreading bacteria and pathogens? Conversely, could they help spread beneficial microbes among reef communities? Such questions carry important implications for protecting and restoring coral reefs.

"How pathogens or microbes are moving around a reef could be critically important to understanding how individuals will be affected," said lead author Anya Brown, an assistant professor with the UC Davis Bodega Marine Laboratory and a National Geographic Explorer who conducted the study while at WHOI. "We know microbes play a role in coral bleaching, for example. This study really lays a foundation for using cleaner fish stations as a way to study movement of microbes around the reef environment."

One hardworking fish is the cleaning goby, a pinky-sized fish with a boldly colored stripe running along its length. To understand how the presence of cleaner fish stations influence microbial diversity, the researchers experimentally removed cleaning gobies from cleaner stations on two Caribbean reefs in Puerto Rico and St. Croix in June 2021. They compared water nutrients and microbial communities of the surrounding reef area with and without gobies. This also included resident damselfish, frequent clients of cleaner gobies.

They found that more fish visited sites where cleaner fish were present compared to where they were removed in both Puerto Rico and St. Croix. They also found that cleaner fish do influence damselfish and reef microbial diversity, but the extent of their role depends on substrate type and the specific reef environment, as each reef carries a unique microbial signature. In the study, client fish, nutrient concentrations and water bacterial cell densities varied throughout the sites.

The authors say the results highlight yet another potential impact of cleaner fish and the need to further demystify their role in shaping reef microbial diversity and transmission.

"While larger organisms on coral reefs attract the most attention, the study underscores the huge impact tiny organisms such as these fish can have and how important they are to helping healthy reef ecosystems function," said coauthor Paul Sikkel, a research professor at the Rosenstiel School's Department of Marine Biology and Ecology. "While cleaner fish are well-known for their role in consuming parasites and reducing stress in other fish, this is the first field study to quantify their effects on microbes of other fish and the surrounding coral reef environment."

Additional coauthors include Amy Apprill and Jeanne Bloomberg of Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI), Gina Hendrick and Matthew Nicholson of the University of Miami Rosenstiel School, and Marta Soares and Raquel Xavier of the University of Porto in Portugal.

The study was funded by the National Science Foundation, WHOI, and The Foundation for Science and Technology in Portugal.

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