Feed aggregator

Directly evolved biovesicles are developed as biological clock-modulated nanovaccines (Clock-NVs) to augment circadian gene expression in tumors, enhance mitochondrial metabolism and antigen processing in dendritic cells for amplified antitumor immune responses, and potentiate the antitumor efficiency of anti-PD-L1 and adoptive T cells in multiple cancer mice models.

Abstract

The circadian rhythm, as a crucial endogenous biological oscillator, often undergoes disruptions, thus fostering severe immunosuppression within tumors. Here, this work develops directly evolved biovesicles as biological clock-modulated nanovaccines (Clock-NVs) to augment circadian clock gene expression and enhance cancer immunotherapy. These biovesicles act as bioreactors, transforming an unfavorable factor, ROS, into a beneficial circadian clock enhancer, oxygen. By targeting HIF-1α-BMAL1 axis, Clock-NVs restore the disrupted circadian rhythm within tumors. Upregulation of the core clock gene, BMAL1, initiates tumor cell death, enhances mitochondrial metabolism and antigen processing in dendritic cells to amplify antitumor immune responses. Clock-NVs effectively inhibit tumor growth, diminish metastasis, and demonstrate robust antitumor activity in a model of chemotherapy-resistant senescent tumors. Notably, Clock-NVs combined with adoptive T cell-based therapies achieve a 60% regression of primary tumors, while their use with anti-PD-L1 results in 100% inhibition of tumor recurrence. This strategy introduces nanovaccines designed to enhance temporal immunotherapy by precisely restoring the suppressed rhythm gene expression within tumors.

Assigning unforgeable “fingerprints” to manufactured goods is a key strategy to fight global counterfeiting. Optical physical unclonable functions (PUFs) are chemically generated random patterns of optically active materials serving as unique authenticators. Here, recent advances in optical PUF devices are presented for anticounterfeiting via an overview of available optical taggants and compatible fabrication techniques.

Abstract

Physical unclonable functions (PUFs) are artificial “fingerprints” provided by physical devices to authenticate manufactured goods. Their inherent unclonable nature positions them as one of the most promising tools to tackle global counterfeiting challenges. Leveraging the large parameter space in solution chemistry, chemically generated PUFs can achieve excellent device performance. Particularly, optically active materials have become valuable security inks thanks to their versatile, non-invasive, and non-destructive readouts, and PUF devices generated from stochastic nano-/micro-patterns of optical inks hold great potential. This review highlights recent advances in the design of optical PUF devices. A range of resonant and non-resonant optical materials used as security taggants are presented and their incorporation in state-of-the-art PUF devices is examined using non-deterministic fabrication techniques. By outlining design criteria, challenges, and opportunities, a roadmap is provided for developing next-generation PUFs using established and emerging optical probes and help advance security and reliability in anticounterfeiting technologies.

The enigmatic long-period radio transients

The long-period radio transients are a newly-discovered class of Galactic radio sources that produce pulsed emission lasting tens of seconds to several minutes, repeating on timescales of tens of minutes to hours. Such cadence is unprecedented, and there is currently no clear emission mechanism or progenitor that can explain the observations, which include complex polarisation behaviour, pulse microstructure, and activity windows that range from hours to decades.

Could they be ultra-long period magnetars, and connected to the phenomenon of Fast Radio Bursts? Could they be white dwarf pulsars, defying the expectations of the magnetic field evolution of these stellar remnants? In this talk I will describe the ten discoveries made so far, informative simulations of their evolution, the potential physical explanations, and the prospects for detecting more of these sources in ongoing and upcoming radio surveys, that will help uncover their true nature.

• Speaker: Prof. Natasha Hurley-Walker (Curtin University)
• Thursday 12 June 2025, 11:15-12:00
• Venue: Martin Ryle Seminar Room, Kavli Institute.
• Series: Hills Coffee Talks; organiser: Charles Walker.

Add to your calendar or Include in your list

The splendours of Isfahan, Iran, enabled by Late Quaternary earthquake faulting and drainage reversal

Abstract not available

• Speaker: James Jackson
• Friday 13 June 2025, 16:00-17:00
• Venue: Tea Room, Old House.
• Series: Bullard Laboratories Tea Time Talks; organiser: David Al-Attar.

Add to your calendar or Include in your list

Title to be confirmed

Abstract not available

• Speaker: Antonio Pellegrino, Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Bath
• Thursday 06 November 2025, 15:00-16:00
• Venue: Seminar Room West, Room A0.015, Ray Dolby Centre, Cavendish Laboratory.
• Series: Physics and Chemistry of Solids Group; organiser: Stephen Walley.

Add to your calendar or Include in your list

MultiBLiMP: A Multilingual Benchmark of Linguistic Minimal Pairs

We introduce MultiBLiMP, a massively multilingual benchmark of linguistic minimal pairs, covering 101 languages, 6 linguistic phenomena and containing more than 120.000 minimal pairs. Our minimal pairs are created using a fully automated pipeline, leveraging the large-scale linguistic resources of Universal Dependencies and UniMorph. MultiBLiMP evaluates linguistic abilities of LLMs at an unprecedented multilingual scale, and highlights the shortcomings of the current state-of-the-art in modelling low-resource languages.

• Speaker: Jaap Jumelet (University of Groningen)
• Friday 13 June 2025, 12:00-13:00
• Venue: ONLINE ONLY. Here is the Zoom link: https://cam-ac-uk.zoom.us/j/4751389294?pwd=Z2ZOSDk0eG1wZldVWG1GVVhrTzFIZz09.
• Series: NLIP Seminar Series; organiser: Suchir Salhan.

Add to your calendar or Include in your list

Joint 3-flavour neutrino analysis of T2K and NOvA data

Neutrino oscillations have the potential to answer some of the highest priority open questions in particle physics, such as why is there a matter-antimatter asymmetry in the universe, and where does the flavour structure of the standard model come from. T2K and NOvA individually have the world’s leading single-experiment precision on several of the parameters of the PMNS neutrino oscillation model. Combining the data from these two experiments not only increases their statistical power, but allows degeneracies present in the individual data sets to be lifted. This talk will describe the results of the first combination of these two data sets.

• Speaker: Patrick Dunne: Imperial College London
• Tuesday 10 June 2025, 11:00-12:00
• Venue: Seminar Room -- RDC D2.002 .
• Series: Cavendish HEP Seminars; organiser: Dr Paul Swallow.

Add to your calendar or Include in your list

A near-optimal quadratic Goldreich-Levin algorithm

In this talk I will present an efficient algorithm for a central problem in quadratic Fourier analysis, and which can be seen as a quadratic generalisation of the celebrated Goildreich-Levin algorithm. More precisely, given a bounded function f on the Boolean hypercube {0, 1}n and any ε > 0, our algorithm returns a quadratic polynomial q: {0, 1}n → {0, 1} so that the correlation of f with the function (−1)q is within an additive ε of the maximum possible correlation with a quadratic phase function. This algorithm runs in O(n3) time and makes O(n2 log n) queries to f. As a corollary, we obtain an algorithmic inverse theorem for the order-3 Gowers norm with polynomial guarantees.

Our algorithm is obtained using ideas from recent work on quantum learning theory. Its construction significantly deviates from previous approaches based on algorithmic proofs of the inverse theorem for order-3 Gowers norms (and in particular does not rely on the recent resolution of the polynomial Freiman-Ruzsa conjecture).

Based on joint work with Jop Briët.

Please note that this talk will exceptionally take place in MR14 .

• Speaker: Davi de Castro Silva (University of Cambridge)
• Wednesday 11 June 2025, 13:30-15:00
• Venue: MR14, CMS.
• Series: Discrete Analysis Seminar; organiser: Julia Wolf.

Add to your calendar or Include in your list

Applying simple mathematical models in the mining and energy industries

In this talk I hope to show how I applied what I learned at the IEEF in my career as a consulting engineer. Of particular utility to me has been the idea of breaking a complex engineering problem into small tractable pieces. I am obliged to briefly introduce my company, Itasca International, and the type of work we do. I will show three examples: Potash is a water soluble rock made of potassium salts, it is economically important because its use as a fertilizer. In North America, potash is solution mined by circulating water that dissolves the rock. This is a rich problem that involves chemistry, fluid flow, heat transfer, and geomechanics. I will demonstrate some models that are used to help design solution mines, forecast production, and diagnose operational problems. Explosives are an inexpensive means to break and move rock for civil purposes like tunneling, road cut development, and open pit mine excavation. Rock blasting is a complex set of processes that span several orders of magnitude in time-scale, length-scale, and stress magnitude. I will describe some simple mathematical and numerical models that have helped understand blasting. Onshore wind energy is rapidly growing in the United States, partially as a consequence of the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022. During construction, the world’s largest mobile cranes are used to lift the nacelle and blades of turbines. There have been several high profile cases of these large cranes tipping over and being destroyed during construction. It is 2025, so every talk has to have something about machine learning now: I will describe the technical problem of soil bearing capacity failure and show how machine learning, via the concept of a surrogate model, has helped make wind turbine installation faster, safer, and less expensive.

Bio: Jason Furtney was a student at the IEEF from 2002 to 2006 after studying Geology at Edinburgh University. Since leaving the institute, Jason has been working as a consulting engineer for Itasca International, a geomechanics consulting and software company in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

• Speaker: Jason Furtney, Itasca International
• Thursday 03 July 2025, 11:30-12:30
• Venue: Open Plan Area, Institute for Energy and Environmental Flows, Madingley Rise CB3 0EZ.
• Series: Institute for Energy and Environmental Flows (IEEF); organiser: Catherine Pearson.

Add to your calendar or Include in your list

Hope in Hard Places: Bridging the Cancer Care Gap in Resource Limited Settings: Lessons and Innovations from the Uganda Cancer Institute

Initial support by the British Empire Cancer Campaign in Uganda led to the description of Burkitt Lymphoma and subsequently to the establishment of the Uganda Cancer Institute (UCI). The Uganda Cancer Institute was established in 1967 as a result of a collaboration between Makerere University, the Ministry of Health and the US National Cancer Institute. It was established as a treatment centre for the then recently discovered Burkitt Lymphoma, and was expanded in 1969 to cater for all cancer. The Institute participated in the seminal initial studies on combination chemotherapy. However, years of political turmoil led to a steady decline in care, research and training. Over the past ten years, the UCI has been building capacity to address the cancer care gap and here we describe some of the steps taken towards this effort. The Institute has expanded clinical care capacity, increased human resource capacity and is currently building a cancer research and innovation facility. The Institute is undertaking high quality research and here we describe how our model could also serve other developing countries in building capacity for cancer care and research to address the growing burden of cancer in LMI Cs.

• Speaker: Dr Nixon Niyonzima, Uganda Cancer Institute
• Thursday 19 June 2025, 13:00-14:00
• Venue: CRUK CI Lecture Theatre.
• Series: Cancer Research UK Cambridge Institute (CRUK CI) Seminars in Cancer; organiser: .

Add to your calendar or Include in your list

Spatial mapping of breast cancer tumour microenvironment in Black British and White British women

Women of Afro-Caribbean descent confront more aggressive breast cancer subtypes at a younger age than their Caucasian counterparts. Yet, breast cancer research and treatment development have predominantly focused on Caucasian populations, neglecting potential biological drivers of these disparities. Our study addresses this gap by in-depth characterising the breast tumour microenvironment (TME) in an ethnically diverse cohort. We analysed treatment-naïve breast cancer samples from 45 Black British and 45 White British women, matched by age, tumour subtype, and stage by employing spatial transcriptomics (NanoString GeoMx) and hyper-plex protein profiling (Leica Microsytems Cell DIVE ). We captured whole-transcriptome data from cancer (PanCK+), immune (CD45+), and stromal (aSMA+) compartments from both tumour centre and tumour edge. The most striking differences emerged within the immune and stromal compartments, not in the cancer cells, underscoring metabolic, adhesion, and extracellular matrix rewiring in Black British tumours. Complementary spatial protein profiling further revealed changes in tissue architecture with distinct recurrent patterns of cellular organisation and cell-cell interactions, involving endothelial and B-cells. Our findings suggest that the TME plays a pivotal role in driving ethnic disparities in breast cancer, highlighting the urgent need for ethnically tailored therapies and more inclusive clinical trials to advance precision cancer care. This breakthrough offers new avenues for improving overall outcomes in breast cancer.

• Speaker: Professor Kairbaan Hodivala-Dilke, Centre for Tumour Microenvironment, 2 Barts Cancer Institute, a Cancer Research UK of Excellence, Queen Mary University of London, Charterhouse Square, London, EC1M 6BQ, UK
• Thursday 10 July 2025, 13:00-14:00
• Venue: CRUK CI Lecture Theatre.
• Series: Cancer Research UK Cambridge Institute (CRUK CI) Seminars in Cancer; organiser: Kate Davenport.

Add to your calendar or Include in your list

This study elucidates the evolution of ferroelectric skyrmion-bubbles with thickness, revealing pure Néel-type ferroelectric skyrmions in ultrathin bilayer oxide films. The stability of these pure Néel-type skyrmions is primarily governed by electric and gradient energy variations, establishing them as the electrical counterparts of magnetic skyrmions and pushing the size limits of topological phases.

Abstract

Skyrmions in ferromagnetic materials exhibit either Néel or Bloch characteristics. Although skyrmions in ferromagnetic materials can be readily obtained via inter-spin interactions, a skyrmion in ferroelectric materials exhibiting solely Néel or Bloch characteristics has not yet been discovered. Here, by modulating the formation of skyrmion-bubbles in [(PbTiO3) n /(SrTiO3) n ]1 [(PTO n /STO n )1] bilayers grown on STO substrates, the atomic morphology of pure Néel-skyrmion is observed with a topological charge of ± 1 in the ultrathin bilayered films with the thickness of 2 unit cells (u.c.). Such a pure Néel-skyrmion is confirmed by a combination of atomic mappings, geometric phase analysis, and X-ray 3D reciprocal space mapping (RSM). It is found that decreasing the thickness of bilayered films from 50 to 2 u.c., the characteristics of skyrmion-bubbles exhibiting both Néel and Bloch features disappear along with the Bloch features. The formation mechanism of the Néel-skyrmions is unveiled using Phase-field simulations, showing the critical role of electric and gradient energy variation in the stable phase of Néel-skyrmions. These nanoscale pure Néel-skyrmions represent the electrical equivalents of their magnetic counterparts, extending the size limits of topological phases and offering potential advancements in the field of ferroelectric physics.

The study introduces a transformative strategy of mechanical cutting water by magnetically manipulating a hydrophobic sphere moving across hydrophobic particles-encapsulated water (HPEW). The patterned HPEWs manufactured by mechanical cutting are designed as open millifluidic chips with various interdisciplinary applications in biochemical assays, chemical synthesis, and 3D cell culture.

Abstract

Precisely controlling the cutting of water using mechanical forces remains challenging due to water's inherent surface tension and rapid self-healing properties. Inspired by the effortless movement of water striders, a strategy is developed involving magnetic manipulation of a hydrophobic sphere across hydrophobic particle-encapsulated water (HPEW). Stable mechanical cutting of water is first demonstrated by coating its surface with hydrophobic particles (silica nanoparticles, paraffin, and polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE)) and maintaining the water thickness below 1 mm. Through systematic theoretical and numerical analyses, it is clarified how water thickness and particle distribution influence cutting performance and accuracy. Moreover, a magnetically controlled approach is established for precise cutting, creating versatile open millifluidic chips suitable for diverse applications such as biochemical assays, chemical synthesis, and 3D cell culture. The approach thus offers a robust platform with wide-ranging implications in materials science, chemistry, physics, biomedical engineering, and microfluidics.

This study presents bulk heterojunction organic photosynapses (BHJ-OPS) for neuromorphic electronics, enabling ultra-broadband photodetection and low-energy near-infrared perception with bio-synaptic features. A neuromorphic visual system based on BHJ-OPS that can sense visual information and coordinate movements in response to environmental stimuli is successfully achieved.

Abstract

The emergence of electronics influenced by visual neural perception and action is increasingly crucial for enhancing interactive human-machine interfaces and advancing the capabilities of intelligent robots. There is an urgent demand for a system that incorporates neuromorphic environmental information encoding, synaptic signal processing, and motion control. Taking inspiration from the polychromatic visual system, it is initially employed bulk heterojunction organic photosynapses (BHJ-OPS) to replicate the functionalities of human-like visual nerve system. The BHJ-OPS, utilizing a two-terminal architecture, exhibits an ultra-broadband photodetection range (365–1060 nm). For near-infrared (NIR) perception, an optical energy consumption as low as 0.2 fJ per synaptic event is demonstrated, which is the lowest energy consumption achieved so far with NIR light stimulation. By combining the photovoltaic effect in heterojunctions with electron trapping in the buffer layer, BHJ-OPS displays bio-synaptic characteristics such as short-term and long-term memory, as well as experiential learning, which endows the synapse array with multispectral color-discrimination capabilities. Finally, it is implemented miniature insect robots capable of night-time foraging and predator evasion based on a simulated 26 × 26 memristor network. This demonstrates significant potential for the development of miniature insect robots with self-regulation and adaptability, particularly in exploration, monitoring, and rescue missions.

Doping Ru into the interstices of β-MnO2 significantly enhances the performance as a photocathode for photo-assisted Li-O2 batteries. In a simulated oxygen environment with 57% relative humidity, the batteries achieved an exceptional round-trip efficiency of 98.4%, a prolonged cycling lifespan exceeding 720 h, and stable operation at a high current density of 1000 mA g−1.

Abstract

Photo-assisted Li-O2 batteries, which utilize solar energy to reduce overpotentials, have attracted significant interest. However, challenges such as sluggish redox kinetics, limited photogenerated carrier availability, excessive byproduct formation, and oxygen evolution constraints persist. This study integrates computational and experimental approaches to demonstrate that Ru doping at interstitial sites in β-MnO2 induces lattice expansion, introduces additional reactive sites, enhances light absorption, and accelerates redox reaction kinetics. Under simulated conditions (57% relative humidity), the battery achieves an impressive 98.4% round-trip efficiency, excellent high-rate performance, and exceptional cycling stability over 720 h with reversible four-electron conversion to LiOH. Furthermore, stable operation under real atmospheric conditions marks the first demonstration of a photo-assisted Li-O2 battery based on a four-electron process. These findings provide new insights into advancing the practical implementation of Li-O2 batteries for efficient energy storage applications.

The carbon-supported Pt2Ln intermetallics are efficiently and rapidly synthesized using Joule heating technology, exhibiting excellent electrocatalytic performance for the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). It is demonstrated that the Ln sites, due to the high oxophilicity and strong orbital hybridization, play a key role in enhancing HER performance by regulating both the adsorption/dissociation of H2O and the desorption of H* intermediates.

Abstract

Platinum-Lanthanide (Pt-Ln) intermetallic compounds (IMCs) are a promising new class of electrocatalytic materials, yet their synthesis remains a significant challenge, and the role of ordered Ln sites in enhancing catalytic performance is not fully understood. Herein, an effective and rapid avenue for synthesizing carbon-supported C15-phase Pt2Ln IMCs (Ln: Sm, Eu, Gd, and Tb) through Joule heating technology is proposed. The JH-Pt2Ln/C IMCs exhibit excellent electrocatalytic performance toward alkaline hydrogen evolution reaction (HER), in which JH-Pt2Tb/C presents the lowest overpotential of 17 mV at 10 mA cm−2. The ordered Pt2Tb structure offers favorable Pt2 dimer sites for the desorption of H* intermediates, in contrast to the Pt3 trimer sites in disordered Pt2Tb and pure Pt. The ordered Tb sites play a bifunctional role in HER: i) The oxophilic Tb atoms are in favor of the H2O adsorption and dissociation through Tb-4f-OH binding; ii) The strong Tb 4f-Pt 5d orbital hybridization leads to form negatively charged Pt sites, which promotes the desorption of H* intermediates. Furthermore, the anion exchange membrane water electrolyzer equipped with JH-Pt2Tb/C delivers a low voltage of only 1.79 Vcell to reach 1 A cm−2 and maintains the stable operation at 1 A cm−2 for over 100 h.

A “stripping-expansion-carbonization” strategy is proposed to reconstruct the cell wall architecture and fabricate a lightweight, superelastic wood carbon sponge. The core of this strategy lies in disrupting weak interlayer connections and establishing a stable wavy lamellar structure through cell wall softening and vacuum-assisted expansion. This wood carbon sponge with exceptional performance serves as a versatile platform for applications in sensing, electromagnetic interferenceshielding, oil absorption, and beyond.

Abstract

Elastic wood carbon sponges have gained increasing momentum due to their combination of compressive elasticity, wood orientation structure, and carbon nature. However, the pursuit of lightweight and superelasticity in these sponges remains a significant challenge, as their boundaries are constrained by the solidified wood cell walls. Here, an innovative “stripping-expansion-carbonization” strategy is proposed for producing wood carbon sponges with low density and superelasticity via breaking the spatial confinement of the original cell wall. This strategy integrates the removal of non-skeletal components from cell wall, the formation of bubble-assisted lamellar structure, and a high-temperature carbonization process. The resultant expanded wood carbon sponges (EWCS) demonstrate a low density of 14.18 ± 1.07 mg cm−3, temperature-insensitive superelasticity, and reliable cycling stability. Additionally, the incorporation of the lightweight, electrical conductivity, and superelasticity nature endows EWCS with remarkable versatility, enabling applications such as pressure sensor for monitoring human movement, tunable electromagnetic interference shielding, and efficient and recyclable oil-water separation. This strategy realizes the layer-wise reconfiguration of the solid wood cell structure, providing a new design route for engineering wood carbon sponges.

A tribovoltaic nanogenerator featuring a Schottky MSM architecture utilizes triboelectric potential to modulate carrier transport. The device leverages interfacial state density and surface conductance engineering to maintain a tunable Schottky barrier. This strategy enables high charge output per droplet and rapid energy storage, showing potential for scalable and practical energy harvesting applications.

Abstract

Using water droplets to generate electricity is an attractive approach for addressing the energy crisis. However, achieving high charge transfer and power output in such systems remains a major challenge. Here, a tribovoltaic nanogenerator (TVNG) is developed based on a specially designed Schottky metal-semiconductor-metal (MSM) structure. This device is capable of efficiently converting the kinetic energy of water droplets into electricity. To improve performance, a patterned interface layer between the metal and semiconductor is introduced, which helps guide charge flow and control surface conductivity. Upon droplet impact, the mechanical friction between the liquid and the surface generates a potential that activates charge transport across the Schottky barrier. This breaks the equilibrium state and enhances carrier movement. As a result, the device achieves a record-high charge output of 25500 nC from a single droplet, along with an output energy of 5.8 × 10⁻⁶ J. To showcase scalability, a TVNG module with 60 cells on a 3-inch wafer delivers milliamp-level current and charges a 220 µF capacitor to 0.6 V within 2 s. The effects of processing, materials, structure, and droplet properties are studied to guide the future design of high-efficiency Schottky MSM-based TVNG.

Nature Nanotechnology, Published online: 09 June 2025; doi:10.1038/s41565-025-01946-9

A multifunctional additive enables facet-selective crystallization and defect passivation in wide-bandgap perovskites, unlocking scalable, efficient and stable all-perovskite tandem solar cells.

Nature Nanotechnology, Published online: 09 June 2025; doi:10.1038/s41565-025-01942-z

Near-perfect shuttling of silicon spin qubits is demonstrated, closing a gap versus rival systems.