Researchers at ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø have created new chiral nanocarbons with unusual shapes and properties, including a double helix and molecules that emit spiraling light. 

Nanocarbons are molecular-scale carbon structures considered to be the building blocks for next-generation materials. Until now, scientists have built them by fusing small, flat carbon molecules together at their edges. Modifying the inside of a molecule was considered challenging because inner bonds are locked into flat, rigid structures that resist change.?

Researchers at ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø in Japan have shown that a chemical process focused on the interior of a molecular structure can create chiral nanocarbons. Like our hands, these molecules exist in mirror-image left- and right-handed forms. The method, known as skeletal editing, allowed the research team to cut and reform bonds inside common flat carbon molecules, such as small pieces of graphene. They could then build new chiral nanocarbons in various shapes, including molecules with 10-carbon rings and a double helix.  

These new molecules do surprising things. They all glow with light that spirals as it travels. Two can hold multiple electrical charges without breaking. One of them also keeps its handed shape even at 280 degrees Celsius. Another assembles into a porous crystal that can trap and release carbon dioxide, a property that could be useful for gas storage materials. 

Skeletal editing has mainly been used by chemists to manufacture pharmaceuticals. This is the first time it has been applied to nanocarbon synthesis. The approach solved two persistent challenges. First, the researchers built a 10-carbon ring into large chiral nanocarbons, a combination not achieved before. Second, they showed that both left- and right-handed forms of complex nanocarbons can be produced (asymmetric synthesis), a feat only accomplished twice before with nanocarbons of this size. The findings were published in . 

¡°If you alter the inside of a molecule, it causes significant strain, so most reactions proceed around the molecule instead. Over time, this led to the assumption that the interior could not be modified,¡± said senior author Norihito Fukui, Associate Professor at the , ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø. ¡°However, with the right method and the right starting molecule, we can change the inside and create molecular shapes and structures that could not be made before.”  

Most nanocarbons are built from flat structures consisting of six-sidedrings, like small pieces cut from graphene. Carbon atoms naturally prefer to form these shapes because of the angles their bonds make. Chemists have recently found ways to include seven- and eight-sided rings. However, ten-sided rings and non-flat arrangements of six-sided rings have remained very difficult to build.

The double-helix molecule is made by cutting and reforming a bond. It self-assembles into crystals with spiral-shaped pores that trap and release carbon dioxide. This chiral porous material is the first of its kind. It is a cousin of the metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) that won the 2025 Nobel Prize in Chemistry.

Molecules of a new twisted double-helical nanocarbon stack together into spirals that form chiral pores. The pores can trap and release carbon dioxide. Red and blue mark neighboring spirals of stacked molecules. Credit: Hirano et al., Nature Communications 2026 

The unique properties of these chiral molecules are what scientists look for when they design advanced materials for gas storage, ultra-low-power electronics, and next-generation encryption.

The findings extend skeletal editing beyond its traditional territory in pharmaceuticals. ¡°We hope the approach will inspire other researchers to investigate what else can be built by editing the interior of molecules,¡± Fukui said.  

Publication information:

Junichiro Hirano, Tomoyuki Ikai, Shinpei Kusaka, Ryotaro Matsuda, Hiroshi Shinokubo, Norihito Fukui, 2026. Skeletal transformation to chiral nanocarbon molecules, Nature Communications, 17: 6052. DOI:

Funding information: 

This work was supported by JSPS KAKENHI grants JP20H05862, JP20H05863, JP20H05867, JP23H03947, JP24K01467, JP24K21766, JP25H01265, and JP26H00381, as well as JST PRESTO grant JPMJPR21Q7 and JST FOREST grant JPMJFR232G. 

Expert contact: 

Norihito Fukui 
Graduate School of Engineering 
ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø 
E-mail: fukui@chembio.nagoya-u.ac.jp 

Media contact: 

Merle Naidoo
International Communications Office
ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø
Email: icomm_research@t.mail.nagoya-u.ac.jp 

Top image:

A new family of chiral nanocarbons shaped like a figure-eight (top middle), a bathtub (bottom left) and double helix (bottom right). Chiral molecules exist in left- and right-handed forms, like a pair of hands. Researchers used skeletal editing to build these complex carbon molecules. The double-helix molecule also self-assembles into crystals with chiral pores that trap and release carbon dioxide. Credit: Graduate School of Engineering, ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø 
 
 
 
 

With this technology, computers can manipulate nanostructures within 10 seconds, offering potential applications in cell movement and nanorobot power systems.

Researchers at ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø in Japan have developed a method to form dome-shaped bumps on nanofilms in water using a computer-guided electron beam. The bumps form within 10 seconds and can be flattened, reshaped, or repositioned as needed.

This method may enable computer-guided manipulation of nanomachines for uses such as microscale touch sensing, guiding cellular growth, and direct assembly of colloidal particles. The findings were published in the journal .

Existing approaches each have drawbacks: light-based techniques typically take 60 seconds or more per shape change, while electrical methods rely on fixed electrodes that restrict where reshaping can occur and limit the size of the change.

To overcome these limits, the first author, Ken Sasaki, and Associate Professor , along with Professor of ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø’s , combined two innovative technologies. The first is a “virtual cathode” display, in which an electron beam is scanned across a silicon nitride (SiN) membrane along a computer-defined path, generating a localized electric field with nanoscale precision. Because the pattern is set by the scan path rather than a physical electrode, its shape and position can change instantly.

The second is a multilayer film of pyrene-linked graphene oxide, about 45 nanometers thick and made of roughly 29 stack layers, anchored to the SiN membrane. Because the film carries a negative surface charge in water, exposure to the beam’s charged region induces electrostatic repulsion against the SiN layer. This slides the stacked layers apart slightly, then peels the bottom layer away from the membrane, bulging the film into a dome.

Observing nanoscale changes

Graphene oxide normally does not fluoresce, because tightly stacked sheets quench each other’s fluorescence. As the beam was applied, the film’s fluorescence switched on and intensified ¡ª a sign that the layers were separating and the quenching was being relieved. As the film bulged, the changing water-layer thickness beneath it produced interference patterns resembling contour lines, allowing the team to measure otherwise invisible height changes in real time.

Key experimental findings

A dome-shaped bump roughly 1,200 nanometers high and 37 micrometers across formed within 10 seconds, which is significantly faster than light-based methods and matches the speed of the fastest electrical systems reported, but with a much larger height change.

The deformation was reversible but asymmetric: the film swelled at 100¨C200 nanometers per second but subsided at only 40¨C55 nanometers per second once the beam was off, so full recovery took 20 seconds or more. The team attributes this to the SiN membrane’s dielectric polarization building up quickly under the beam, while the residual surface charge dissipates far more slowly.

By adjusting beam exposure time and current, and by moving the beam to merge adjacent deformed regions, the researchers reshaped domes into larger domes or valley-like depressions, and the film retained its structure after repeated reconfiguration at the same spot.

As a proof of concept, the bulge pushed a single 10-micrometer polystyrene bead through water in a controllable direction, with an estimated mechanical pushing force of 0.05 piconewtons and a separate electrostatic repulsion of 0.11 piconewtons ¡ª suggesting, but not yet demonstrating, potential for moving cells or powering microscopic robots.

Outlook

“We believe this technology will facilitate integration between nanomachines and computers,” Hoshino said. “Nano- and micro-scale irregularities at interfaces are crucial for friction and adhesion between objects. This display technology can generate these irregularities on demand, which we hope will eventually enable control over the adhesion and assembly of microscopic cells and objects.”

The researchers note that precisely controlling where the film delaminates, and demonstrating stable operation in physiological electrolyte rather than pure water, remain open challenges before living cells can be manipulated this way.

Paper information

Ken Sasaki, Hisataka Maruyama, and Takayuki Hoshino, 2026. Electric Field-Driven Dynamic Surface Topography of Pyrene-Linked Graphene Oxide Multilayer Film, ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces

?

Funding information

This work was supported by research grants from JSPS KAKENHI (grant numbers 22K18775 and 23KJ0078) and the JKA Foundation (grant number 2024M-563).
 

Expert contact

Takayuki Hoshino
ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø Graduate School of Engineering
Email: hoshino.takayuki.v7@f.mail.nagoya-u.ac.jp

Media contact

Naomi Inoue
ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø International Communications Office
Email: icomm_research@t.mail.nagoya-u.ac.jp

Top image

An electron beam creates a “virtual cathode” that reshapes a graphene oxide nanofilm into on-demand 3D surface features, capable of pushing microscopic beads in a controlled direction.
(Credit: Ken Sasaki)

Gallium-doped zinc oxide nanosheets enable a single pixel to detect red, green and blue light.

Researchers at ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø in Japan have developed gallium-doped zinc oxide (GZO) nanosheets that may enhance camera resolution in compact devices, including smartphones and medical endoscopes.

These nanosheets enable a single pixel to detect the intensity of red, green, and blue (RGB) light while remaining nearly transparent, unlike conventional sensors. They are ultrathin, lightweight, and can withstand temperatures up to 400 degrees Celsius, making them suitable for extreme environments such as space hardware and automotive systems. The findings were published in the journal .

Why a single pixel matters

Most commercial cameras use a Bayer array, arranging RGB color filters in a checkerboard pattern across millions of pixels. Since each pixel senses only one color, full-color images are reconstructed from neighboring pixels. If a single pixel could detect all three colors, the total pixel count could be cut by up to 75%, thereby shrinking the sensor while maintaining image resolution.

Transparent nanosheets are ideal for this approach because they allow light to pass through, enabling multiple layers to be stacked vertically, with each layer detecting a different color. Nanosheet sensors also eliminate the complex semiconductor processes required by conventional RGB sensors, simplifying production and reducing costs.

Improving the nanosheets’ weak point

A research team led by Professor , along with researchers Ruben Canton-Vitoria, and Vivid Meelab at ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø’s focused on zinc oxide nanosheets, which are highly transparent and chemically stable. However, their initial experiments revealed that these nanosheets responded weakly to visible light, limiting their suitability for camera sensors.

To address this limitation, the team customized the electronic structure of zinc oxide by adding gallium, creating trap states that capture electrons and convert light into electrical signals. This modification enabled the nanosheets to respond strongly to visible light while maintaining their transparency.

Outperforming commercial sensors

Analysis showed that gallium-doped zinc oxide nanosheets convert only 0.005% of absorbed light energy into photocurrent, while each layer transmits 99.995% of visible light.

Despite minimal energy use, the modified nanosheets achieved a sensitivity of 800 amperes per watt (A/W), far exceeding the typical 10 A/W of commercial sensors. The trap states enable a strong response to small amounts of absorbed light, while most light passes through to subsequent layers.

This property enables color-selective stacking. The team developed an ultrathin sensor where the first GZO layer uses photoactive trap states to detect the full visible spectrum. After filtering out red light, a second GZO layer detects the green and blue components. A final green-cut filter isolates the last layer for blue detection. Experiments confirmed that the device successfully reproduces full-color images with half the error of conventional cameras.

“This optical sensor closely resembles how the human retina discriminates RGB colors,” said lead author Osada. “The brain reconstructs color by combining the responses of three types of visual cells, each sensitive to different wavelengths.”

Future perspectives

In addition to strong optical performance, the device maintained a stable light response up to 400 degrees Celsius in air and consistent performance in both vacuum and humid conditions. These thermal and chemical properties make it suitable for demanding environments, including space hardware and automotive systems.

The sensor can also be manufactured using a room-temperature solution process, eliminating the need for high-temperature processing and complex microfabrication required by conventional sensors.

By integrating multiple light-detection functions into a single device, the team has demonstrated a path toward smaller, more integrated, and higher-performing optoelectronic devices at lower cost than current cameras.

Paper information:

Vivid Meelab, Ruben Canton-Vitoria, Mohammad Furqan, Yoshinori Morita, Shu Morita, Eisuke Yamamoto, Makoto Kobayashi, Raul Arenal, and Minoru Osada (2026). Highly Transparent Gallium-Doped Zinc Oxide Nanosheets Enabling Stable All-in-One Red-Green-Blue Photodetectors with High Responsivity, ACS Nano, .

Expert contact:

Ruben Canton-Vitoria
Institute of Materials and Systems for Sustainability, ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø
Email: rcanton@imass.nagoya-u.ac.jp

Minoru Osada
Institute of Materials and Systems for Sustainability, ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø
Email: mosada@imass.nagoya-u.ac.jp

Media contact:

Naomi Inoue
International Communications Office, ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø
Email: icomm_research@t.mail.nagoya-u.ac.jp

Top image:

Gallium-doped ZnO (GZO) nanosheets combine >97% optical transparency with strong visible-light photoresponse, enabling an all-in-one RGB photodetector that simultaneously resolves red, green, and blue signals within a single pixel. The stacked devices retain stable operation up to 400 ¡ãC, making them promising for next-generation image sensors used in space, automotive, and high-radiation environments.
(Credit: Minoru Osada & Ruben Canton-Vitoria)

Despite the dense solar wind, solar wind ion contributions to the ring current during the May 2024 superstorm were minimal ¡ª the first simultaneous observation of ring current ions and solar wind during a storm this large.

?In May 2024, auroras were observed at unusually low latitudes across the globe, lighting up skies that rarely see such displays. Inside Earth¡¯s magnetosphere, the region of space surrounding our planet and dominated by its intrinsic magnetic field, something significant was finally being observed.

It started with a large sunspot firing a rapid series of powerful solar eruptions. Clouds of magnetized plasma merged as they traveled through space and impacted Earth’s magnetosphere. No geomagnetic storm this powerful had ever been measured in the Earth¡¯s ring current region, a belt of charged particles in space near our planet. 

Two sources of ring current ions are known: solar wind and Earth’s ionosphere, the electrically charged upper layer of the atmosphere. For decades, scientists have debated how much each source contributes to the ring current. During most storms, both contribute. However, during a storm driven by a dense solar wind, some scientists expected solar wind ions to continue to play a notable role. Yet the first direct measurements of ring current composition from a super geomagnetic storm revealed that solar wind ion contributions were minimal, and the level of Earth-origin ion dominance had never been observed before. 
 
The findings, published in , suggest that understanding how much Earth’s ionosphere contributes to the ring current may be essential to accurately predict the severity of super geomagnetic storms. The dominance of ionospheric ions, which are far heavier than solar wind particles, may have intensified the magnetic disturbance and concentrated the ring current peak unusually close to Earth. The researchers also make a case for a proposed Japanese multi-satellite mission to understand exactly how ion supply processes work. ? 

Earth¡¯s ring current 

On May 10 and 11, 2024, giant clouds of charged particles from the Sun struck Earth’s magnetosphere. The resulting May 2024 super geomagnetic storm, also referred to as the ¡°Gannon storm¡± or ¡°Mother’s Day storm,¡± reached a minimum SYM-H index of ?518 nanotesla, the second-largest value recorded since 1981. The last comparable geomagnetic storm was the November 2004 superstorm. 

¡°Some super or extreme geomagnetic storms are not just impressive light shows¡ªthey pose radiation risks to spacecraft, disturb GPS signals and communications, and cause power outages. Understanding how a geomagnetic storm develops is not only a scientific question, but also one with real-world consequences,¡± said Naritoshi Kitamura, lead author and designated assistant professor from the at ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø.?

The magnetic disturbance of a geomagnetic storm is caused by the ring current. This is a huge belt of energized ions, mostly oxygen and hydrogen, that drift slowly around Earth thousands of kilometers above the equator. The energized ions carry current, and that current generates a magnetic field that partially cancels Earth’s own on the ground. This causes the disturbance that is observed by ground-based instruments. ? 

Arase was ready: rare event, first of its kind observation 

Japan’s Arase satellite was launched in 2016 and has been operated by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA). The ERG (Arase) science center is jointly operated by the Institute of Space and Astronautical Science (ISAS)/JAXA and Institute for Space-Earth Environmental Research/ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø. 

Arase orbits the region where the ring current develops. The satellite carries specialized instruments to identify mass and energy of detected ions. It crossed through the ring current just after the storm began, and again near its peak. 

¡°This is the first simultaneous observation of ring current ions and solar wind during a storm this large, and the data was clear¡ªapproximately 85% of ions were oxygen from Earth’s own ionosphere,¡± Kitamura explained. 

¡°Near the peak of the storm, Arase detected a 40% decrease in magnetic field intensity at roughly 16,000 kilometers above Earth, and much closer to Earth than similar large decreases previously documented.¡± 

The same region also showed a simultaneous drop in high-energy electrons that normally orbit Earth in that zone. When a magnetic field weakens this severely, electrons drift out from their normal paths. Whether the magnetic field deformation caused the electron loss warrants further investigation. 

The findings deepen our understanding of how super geomagnetic storms develop. Space weather forecasting models rely on solar wind conditions to predict storm severity, but this study suggests Earth’s atmospheric state, and not just conditions at the Sun, may partly determine how severe a storm becomes.  

The study also supports FACTORS, a two-satellite mission concept being prepared for JAXA¡¯s upcoming proposal opportunity, which would directly address this gap. FACTORS aims to improve our understanding of how Earth’s atmospheric ions escape into the magnetosphere and contribute to geomagnetic storm development. It may ultimately help scientists more accurately predict how severe these storms will get. 

Paper information: 

Naritoshi Kitamura, Kazuhiro Yamamoto, Shoichiro Yokota, Satoshi Kasahara, Ayako Matsuoka, Kazushi Asamura, Yusuke Ebihara, Lynn M. Kistler, Kunihiro Keika, Atsuki Shinbori, Tomoaki Hori, Yoshizumi Miyoshi, Akimasa Ieda, Chae-Woo Jun, Mariko Teramoto, Masahito Nos¨¦, Masafumi Hirahara, Kanako Seki, Nana Higashio, Iku Shinohara. 2026. Extreme dominance of Earth-origin heavy ions in the intense ring current near the Earth during the May 2024 super geomagnetic storm,? Science Advances. DOI:?  

Funding information:?

This work was supported by the Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research of the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (20H01957 and 25H00684). 

Expert contact: 

Naritoshi Kitamura 
Institute for Space-Earth Environmental Research (ISEE) 
ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø 
Email: naritoshi.kitamura@nagoya-u.jp 

Media contact:? 

Merle Naidoo
International Communications Office
ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø
Email: icomm_research@t.mail.nagoya-u.ac.jp

Top image:?

An image of the Arase satellite observing ring current ions during the super geomagnetic storm. Credit: ERG Science Team

Their SMART method accelerates enzyme evolution by reducing the selection period for superior variants from several weeks to a few days, and decreases overall enzyme engineering campaign costs by eliminating the need for specialized equipment.

Enzymes are proteins that catalyze chemical reactions in living organisms. They are widely applied in industries such as food production, detergents, pharmaceuticals, and chemicals. However, for commercial use, natural enzymes often need improved stability, substrate specificity, or catalytic efficiency.

Directed evolution is a Nobel Prize-winning strategy for improving proteins. It introduces artificial mutations into their genes and then selects superior variants. This approach mimics natural evolution over several weeks instead of millions of years.

A significant challenge of this approach is that artificially induced mutations can generate up to 100 trillion candidate variants, which renders the screening process extremely time-consuming and expensive.

To address this challenge, researchers at ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø and their colleagues have developed SMART (Single-Molecule Assay on Ribonucleic acid by Translated product), an in vitro selection platform.

Their study demonstrated that SMART identifies improved enzyme variants much more rapidly and cost-effectively than conventional methods. The findings were published in the journal .

The SMART system was developed by a research group led by Associate Professor and Professor of the , in collaboration with researchers from the Institute of Science Tokyo and Saitama University. This approach successfully combines mRNA display, next-generation sequencing, and bioinformatics.

Key features of the SMART system

Typically, proteins and genes are physically separate, making it difficult and time-consuming to identify which gene encodes a discovered enzyme.

In the SMART system, puromycin acts as a chemical bridge, linking the enzyme protein to its corresponding blueprint, messenger RNA (mRNA). This mRNA display technique enables precise tracking of the relationship between individual proteins and their encoding genes at the single-molecule level.

Nakano emphasized, “In principle, there is no method for enzyme screening that is more efficient than this system. Screening enzymes at the single-molecule level has rarely been attempted before.”

SMART also incorporates an auxiliary unit for detecting enzyme activity. This study used engineered ascorbate peroxidase 2 (APEX2) as the auxiliary enzyme for oxidase screening. When the target oxidase is active and releases hydrogen peroxide (H?O?), APEX2 attaches a biotin marker to nearby molecules, enabling their isolation and capture.

Enzyme screening experiments using SMART

The researchers chose a yeast oxidase, SpDAAO, as a model enzyme because it has great potential for drug synthesis and diagnostics. The selection prioritized D-amino acids as enzyme substrates due to their growing relevance in medical applications.

The SMART method consists of several steps¡ªcreating a DNA library of enzyme variants, synthesizing enzymes in vitro, forming an mRNA display library, labeling catalytically active enzymes, isolating them with magnetic beads, and using sequencing data to guide subsequent rounds.

To assess the method, the team tested it on a simulated library with different ratios of active and inactive variants. After a single selection round, active variants were highly enriched, confirming SMART’s effectiveness.

In practical experiments, the team generated a mutant library by substituting the essential 232nd amino acid with each of the 20 other amino acids. Next-generation sequencing analysis showed that the wild-type (original form) Y232 was clearly selected (p < 0.001), reinforcing the method’s selectivity.

Initially, genetic analysis indicated selection of several variants, in addition to the original form. However, further statistical analysis identified these as experimental noise with minimal practical significance, supporting the method’s specificity.

Conclusion and future perspectives

The experiments showed that SMART selection is highly effective. At the same time, the team recognized the need for rigorous statistical analysis and careful experimentation, rather than relying solely on initial results.

The researchers expect SMART to be applicable beyond oxidases. They aim to facilitate the integration of novel enzymes into industry, establishing the system as a foundation for future enzyme development and practical biocatalytic solutions.

Publication

Kalhari Munaweera, Nana Odake, Hannah Patricia Halim, Kakeru Ikeda, Bo Zhu, Maurizio Camagna, Tomokazu Ito, Tetsuya Kitaguchi, Naoto Nemoto, Hideo Nakano, and Jasmina Damnjanovi? (2026). Harnessing the Power of SMART Single-Molecule Display for Enzyme Evolution: A Focus on Oxidase, ACS Synthetic Biology. DOI:

Funding

This work was supported by Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) Grant-in-Aid for Early-Career scientists [grant number JP18K14387 and JP22K14828] and Grant-in-Aid for Transformative Research Areas (A) (Publicly Offered Research) [grant number JP25H02263], the Collaborative Research Program by Network Joint Research Center for Materials and Devices (Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology -Japan: MEXT), and Retention, Development, and Promotion Program Program Aiming at Maximizing the Career Potential of Female Researchers, ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø, (MEXT’s Initiative for Realizing Diversity in the Research Environment, Leadership training type for women) awarded to Jasmina Damnjanovi?, and in part by Pre-Research Unit System of the Institute of Integrated Research, Institute of Science Tokyo and JSPS Grant-in-Aid for Transformative Research Areas (A) (Publicly Offered Research) [grant number JP24H01123] awarded to Bo Zhu.

Expert contact

Jasmina Damnjanovi?
Graduate School of Bioagricultural Sciences, ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø
Email: jasmina@agr.nagoya-u.ac.jp

Media contact

Naomi Inoue
International Communications Office, ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø
Email: icomm_research@t.mail.nagoya-u.ac.jp

Top image

The SMART single-molecule display model, predicted by Alphafold3, shows SpDAAO (red) linked to a puromycin linker (magenta) through puromycin incorporation into the growing polypeptide. The mRNA (gray) is hybridized and chemically joined to the linker, connecting it to its protein, SpDAAO. An auxiliary unit is added using ORC hairpin DNA (blue) with APEX2-scCro fusion protein (green).
Credit: Hideo Nakano and Jasmina Damnjanovi?

Scientists applied advanced mirror-making technology, originally developed for synchrotron radiation research at a Japanese X-ray facility, to build high-resolution X-ray optics 

Scientists in Japan have developed a high-resolution X-ray telescope sharp enough to distinguish an object just 3.5 mm wide from one kilometer away, by combining precision mirror-making technology with space astronomy. To test its performance, they built a first-of-its-kind evaluation system, capable of simulating starlight on the ground to measure the telescope’s sharpness before its launch on the US-Japan FOXSI sounding rocket mission. The findings, published in , represent a landmark achievement for Japanese X-ray astronomy and pave the way for high-resolution X-ray observations on future smaller satellites. ? 

Why do we need X-ray telescopes in space? 

Enormous amounts of X-rays are released by solar flares, exploding stars, and matter around black holes. These X-rays hold clues about some of the highest-temperature and most violent processes in the universe, but Earth’s atmosphere absorbs them before they reach the ground. Because scientists cannot study them from the surface, instruments must travel into space on balloons, sounding rockets, or satellites.

X-ray astronomers do it with high precision mirrors 

Achieving a high-resolution X-ray space telescope has been a challenge in Japanese X-ray astronomy. Two technical obstacles stood in the way: first was the telescope¡¯s mirror. X-rays do not reflect off ordinary surfaces. They can only be reflected at extremely small angles, and the mirror surface must be shaped to nanometer-level precision. Second was integration. Even a perfectly fabricated mirror can lose its precision during the process of mounting it into a telescope assembly. ? 
 
¡°The mirror is like a very precise funnel for X-rays. If any part of the funnel is even slightly out of place, the X-rays miss their target and the image blurs,¡± said Ikuyuki Mitsuishi, senior author and project leader from the at ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø. ¡°It must also survive the intense vibrations of a sounding rocket launch while retaining its optical precision.¡± 

From a synchrotron radiation facility to a space telescope 

SPring-8 is one of the world¡¯s most powerful X-ray research facilities, located in Hyogo Prefecture, Japan. Its particle accelerator produces very bright X-ray beams, known as synchrotron radiation, for scientific research. Scientists there had developed extremely precise mirror-making techniques to focus those X-ray beams. Those same techniques were used by the research team to build a high-resolution space telescope mirror. 

The researchers used a precision electroforming technique from SPring-8 to produce a nickel mirror, 60 mm in diameter and 200 mm tall. Unlike mirrors built from multiple pieces, this mirror was cast as a single seamless shell, so there were no joints or seams that could deflect the X-rays away from the focal point, and nothing could move out of place. 

The project brought together two very different areas of expertise: the astronomy team, led by researchers from ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø, worked on the optical design and the challenge of integrating the mirror into a space-ready telescope assembly. A team from the synchrotron radiation community, including members from SPring-8 as well as researchers from universities and industry, was responsible for precision mirror fabrication and building the ground-based testing system. ? 

Before launch, the researchers had to prove that the telescope worked on the ground, but this created a problem: to test a space telescope properly, you need to simulate starlight, and starlight arrives from so far away that its rays are almost perfectly parallel by the time they reach Earth. Recreating that on the ground is extremely difficult.  
 
The research team solved this by building a testing system at SPring-8. A very small X-ray source, just 10 micrometers across, was placed 900 meters away from the mirror. At that distance, the X-rays stayed parallel and closely mimicked the rays arriving from a real star.

¡°It¡¯s the first ground-based system capable of accurately evaluating the performance of high-resolution X-ray space telescopes at hard X-ray energies, and it is available to researchers worldwide who want to develop and test similar technology,¡± said Ryuto Fujii, first author and former master¡¯s student.

Launched into space with FOXSI-4 (and soon FOXSI-5) 

FOXSI is a collaborative sounding rocket experiment¡ªa small sounding rocket that carries instruments briefly into space. It is designed to capture X-ray images of the Sun¡¯s corona and flare. The program first launched in 2012 and its fifth flight is scheduled for 2026.???

The telescope was one of seven X-ray telescopes aboard FOXSI-4, which launched from Alaska on April 17, 2024, and successfully observed a solar flare in progress. Dr. Mitsuishi and his students were present at the launch. For the research team, this was a historic moment, the first time a domestically developed Japanese high-resolution X-ray telescope had flown as part of an international sounding rocket mission.?
?
The researchers also identified the main factor that limits further improvements in sharpness: tiny imperfections along the length of the mirror surface. This gives them a clear target for improvement in future mirrors.

A foundation for future space research 

This research shows that combining space astronomy and synchrotron radiation science can produce results that neither field could achieve alone. An improved version of the telescope is set to fly on the FOXSI-5 mission. 
 
The long-term goal is miniaturization. The research team aims to scale the mirror technology down to fit inside CubeSats, satellites about the size of a shoebox. High-resolution X-ray optics have not yet flown on CubeSats. If successful, this technology could make X-ray space observations much more accessible and open a new chapter in compact X-ray astronomy. 

Paper information:

Ryuto Fujii, Koki Sakuta, Kazuki Ampuku, Yusuke Yoshida, Makoto Yoshihara, Ayumu Takigawa, Keitoku Yoshihira, Tetsuo Kano, Naoki Ishida, Noriyuki Narukage, Keisuke Tamura, Kikuko Miyata, Gota Yamaguchi, Hidekazu Takano, Yoshiki Kohmura, Shutaro Mohri, Takehiro Kume, Yusuke Matsuzawa, Yoichi Imamura, Takahiro Saito, Kentaro Hiraguri, Hirokazu Hashizume, Hidekazu Mimura, and Ikuyuki Mitsuishi (2026). Development of Electroformed X-ray Optics Bridging Synchrotron Technology and Space Astronomy, Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific, 138(4). DOI:  

Funding information: 

This work was supported by the Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research (KAKENHI) from the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) under grant numbers JP22K18274, JP20K20920, JP23H00156, JP22H00134, and JP21KK0052, and JST SPRING (grant number JPMJSP2125). Additional support was received from the ISAS program for small-scale projects, Iwadare Scholarship Foundation, Yokoyama Scholarship Foundation, Hattori International Scholarship Foundation (HISF), and the THERS Make New Standards Program for the Next Generation Researchers. 

Expert contact:

Ikuyuki Mitsuishi 
Graduate School of Science   
ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø   
E-mail: mitsuisi@u.phys.nagoya-u.ac.jp 

Media contact: 

Merle Naidoo   
International Communications Office   
ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø   
Email: icomm_research@t.mail.nagoya-u.ac.jp 

Top image:

A color-coded X-ray image from ground-based testing at SPring-8 shows the X-ray optics successfully focusing X-rays onto a sharp central point. Yellow-green indicates the highest X-ray concentration, while blue represents lower intensity. Credit: Fujii et al., 2026

The origins of a debilitating muscle-wasting disease begin at birth, not in adulthood, ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø researchers have shown. A single treatment at this early stage significantly reduced nerve cell breakdown in adult mice. ? 

Spinal and Bulbar Muscular Atrophy (SBMA) is a rare inherited disease that causes progressive muscle weakness and wasting in men. Patients typically develop early symptoms such as hand tremors in their thirties, but diagnosis usually occurs around age 40 when muscle weakness becomes more evident. Because the disease is triggered by high levels of testosterone, only males are affected.  
 
Researchers at ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø have found that a natural burst of testosterone right after birth causes a mutant protein to overactivate the nerve cells that control muscles (motor neurons) in newborn mice carrying the SBMA mutation. This ongoing overactivation eventually causes those nerve cells to break down in adulthood. The findings, published in , showed that treatment given at birth significantly reduced this breakdown. 

While it is well established that abnormal protein accumulation in neurodegenerative diseases begins years or decades before symptoms appear, what actually happens in the body during this period remains poorly understood. This study focused on the earliest stage of SBMA, the first days after birth.  
 
A brief natural spike in testosterone known as the neonatal testosterone surge or ¡°mini-puberty¡± occurs in all newborn males and lasts approximately 10 days in mice and around 6 months in humans. Because the defective protein produced by the SBMA mutation¡ªmutant androgen receptor protein¡ªrequires testosterone to move into the nucleus of motor neurons and cause damage, the team suspected that this surge represented the earliest moment at which the disease could be triggered. 
 
¡°We confirmed that mutant protein accumulates in the nuclei of motor neurons in male SBMA mice within the first day of life, driven by the neonatal testosterone surge. Female mice with the same mutation showed no such effects, confirming that testosterone is the key trigger,¡± said lead author and assistant professor Tomoki Hirunagi from ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø¡¯s .

Additionally, genes responsible for activating nerve cells, especially glutamate receptors, were abnormally overactive in SBMA mice in the first week of life and caused motor neurons to become overactive. Importantly, the same abnormal overactivity was also observed in motor neurons grown in the laboratory from the cells of actual SBMA patients. This suggests that the disease process in humans may follow the same pattern.

?To test whether treating the disease at birth could help, the researchers administered two gene-silencing drugs to newborn mice with the SBMA mutation, one targeting the mutant protein directly, and one targeting REST4, a protein found to drive the abnormal nerve cell overactivity.  
 
The drug targeting the mutant protein temporarily reduced mutant protein levels and the drug targeting REST4 corrected abnormal gene activity in motor neurons. Both treatments improved survival and motor performance, and decreased motor neuron degeneration in mice assessed at 13 weeks of age.  

¡°Perhaps the most remarkable finding was that a drug given at birth to target the mutant protein continued to protect motor neurons months later, even though the drug effects  had worn off within two weeks. This suggests that intervening at the right moment early in life can have lasting consequences, long after the treatment is gone,¡± Dr. Hirunagi said. 
 
REST4, the protein found to drive the abnormal nerve cell overactivity in SBMA, represents a potential new target for future therapies. 

ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø has previously developed leuprorelin acetate, the only drug approved in Japan for SBMA treatment, making these discoveries part of a broader research legacy in tackling the disease. 
 
The research team identified the next priority as determining whether the same abnormal nerve cell overactivity occurs in human SBMA patients. ¡°This is currently very difficult to study directly, because examining newborn nervous system activity in living patients is not feasible. Our goal is to translate these findings into patient care,¡± Dr. Hirunagi said. The team also intends to evaluate the safety of gene-silencing drugs and the efficacy of repeated treatment. 

Paper information:  

Tomoki Hirunagi, Kentaro Sahashi, Madoka Iida, Kazunari Onodera, Satoshi Yokoi, Yosuke Ogura, Genki Tohnai, Kenji Sakakibara, Kentaro Maeda, C. Frank Bennett, Yohei Okada, Masahisa Katsuno (2026). Restoring early postnatal synaptic dysregulation rescues motor neuron degeneration in a mouse model of Spinal and Bulbar Muscular Atrophy, Nature Communications, 17: 2412. DOI: .??

Funding information: 

This study was supported by the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) KAKENHI (Grant numbers: JP20H00527, JP23H00420, JP24K18683, JP23K24249, JP24K18712, JP25K02585) and the Japan Agency for Medical Research and Development (AMED) (Grant numbers: JP22nk0101575, JP22am0401007, JP22bm0804020, JP25bm1423003).

Expert contact:  

Tomoki Hirunagi   
Graduate School of Medicine  
ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø  
E-mail: hirunagi.tomoki.k3@f.mail.nagoya-u.ac.jp 

Masahisa Katsuno 
Graduate School of Medicine  
ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø 
E-mail: katsuno.masahisa.i1@f.mail.nagoya-u.ac.jp

Media contact:  

Merle Naidoo?
International Communications Office?
ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø?
Email: icomm_research@t.mail.nagoya-u.ac.jp

Top image:

Microscopy images of spinal cord tissue from male (left) and female (right) SBMA model mice on the first day after birth. Brown staining indicates accumulation of the mutant androgen receptor protein in motor neuron nuclei. The protein accumulates extensively in male mice but shows little to no accumulation in female mice, confirming that testosterone drives the early accumulation of the mutant protein in motor neurons. Credit: Hirunagi et al., 2026 

Fumagillin has been investigated as a drug lead for more than 70 years, but its more potent relative ovalicin was never developed. Now, scientists have identified metabolic instability as the key barrier and have overcome it through chem-bio hybrid synthesis, yielding drug candidates for amebiasis, a parasitic infection affecting 50 million people annually. 

Amebiasis is a parasitic disease caused by the microscopic protozoan Entamoeba histolytica. Infection occurs through the ingestion of cysts from contaminated water or food. Worldwide, approximately 50 million symptomatic cases are estimated annually, mainly in tropical and subtropical regions.??
?
Fumagillin, a fungal natural product, has been studied for decades as a potential antiparasitic drug, but its more potent relative ovalicin was never developed. Now, a study published in the reveals why: although ovalicin is highly active against amebiasis, liver enzymes rapidly break it down in the body. Researchers ?used a chem-bio hybrid approach to turn that insight into metabolically stable drug candidates that worked in animal models of amebiasis, including liver infection with abscess formation.?
?
The research team, led by scientists from the at ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø, ?identified the liver cytochrome P450 enzymes responsible for ovalicin breakdown, with CYP 2B1 and CYP 2C6 emerging as the main drivers. Blocking these enzymes with a chemical inhibitor significantly prolonged ovalicin survival, providing strong evidence that rapid liver metabolism limits its effectiveness.?

Successfully curing infections in animals 

¡°We engineered fungi to build modified ovalicin molecules with a special attachment point that we could customize. We then clipped different molecular groups onto that point to create versions that the liver could not destroy,¡± explained senior author and associate professor Yuta Tsunematsu.  
 
Using genetically engineered filamentous fungi, the team produced gram-scale quantities of a non-natural ovalicin molecule. They then created about 30 derivatives and tested each one to find versions that killed parasites, survived liver breakdown, and were not toxic. 
 
The protozoan parasite depends on an enzyme called MetAP2 for its proteins to work properly and survive. Blocking MetAP2 kills it but does not harm humans because we have a backup enzyme that can perform the same function. 
 
Two of the new compounds, YOK24 and NS-181, blocked the parasite¡¯s MetAP2 enzyme and eliminated the parasitic infection in hamsters, causing liver abscesses to disappear entirely. 
 
These results are an important step toward testing these drug candidates in humans. Importantly, the compounds were effective after both injection and oral administration. Oral treatment would be especially valuable in low-resource settings, where amebiasis is most prevalent. 

A new drug development method 

Current amebiasis treatments, such as metronidazole, can cause side effects and face growing concerns about drug resistance. 
 
This study introduces Chem-Bio Hybrid Synthesis, a new method that combines genetic engineering of microbes and chemistry to transform natural compounds that worked in lab tests but failed in patients due to rapid breakdown or toxicity. The approach could address these challenges for amebiasis and be applied to develop treatments for other parasitic diseases, cancer, and obesity. 

Paper information:  

Yuki Okura, Yumiko Saito-Nakano, Andrii Balia, Nurul Syahmin Binti Suhaimi, Chika Ando, Namiko Ogata, Tomona Ikeda, Takumi Sato, Keiko Kano, Emi Mishiro-Sato, Masaki Kita, Noriyuki Miyoshi, Kenji Watanabe, Kouichi Yoshinari, Norio Shibata, Mihoko Mori, Seiki Kobayashi, Yuji Sumii, Ryota Shizu, Tomoyoshi Nozaki, Yuta Tsunematsu (2026). Chem¨CBio Hybrid Synthesis Enables Reengineering of Natural Product-Based Methionine Aminopeptidase 2 Inhibitors for Treating Amebiasis, Journal of the American Chemical Society, 148(7), 7189¨C7201. DOI: . 

Funding information:

This work was financially supported by the Japan Agency for Medical Research and Development (AMED) (Grant numbers: JP22wm0325020, JP23wm0325070, JP25jm0110022) and the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) (Grant number 24K02190). 

Expert contact: 

Yuta Tsunematsu 
Graduate School of Bioagricultural Sciences 
ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø 
E-mail: tsunematsu.yuta.p4@f.mail.nagoya-u.ac.jp 

Media contact:

Merle Naidoo?
International Communications Office?
ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø?
Email: icomm_research@t.mail.nagoya-u.ac.jp 

Top image:

Scientists genetically engineered the fungus Aspergillus nidulans to produce a modified ovalicin molecule. Although this molecule itself was still susceptible to liver breakdown, it provided a chemical handle that enabled the synthesis of metabolically stable drug candidates for amebiasis. Credit: Yuta Tsunematu, ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø?

ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø researchers used iron and blue LEDs to synthesize natural molecules, cutting the need for expensive chiral components by two-thirds.

Photocatalysts facilitate chemical reactions by absorbing light. Metal-based photocatalysts are widely used in organic synthesis due to their durability and the ability to tune their function by modifying the ligands attached to the central metal atom.

Most metals used in photocatalysts, such as ruthenium and iridium, are rare and expensive. Researchers at ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø, Japan, previously developed an iron-based alternative, but it required large amounts of costly chiral ligands, which act as spatial templates to determine the three-dimensional structure of chemical products.

In a recent study published in the, the researchers developed an iron catalyst that reduces the use of chiral ligands by two-thirds and enables photocatalytic reactions under energy-efficient blue LED light.

Using this new catalyst, they completed the asymmetric total synthesis of (+)-heitziamide A, a natural compound from medicinal plants that suppresses respiratory bursts.

Professor , Assistant Professor , and graduate student Hayato Akao at ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø’s Graduate School of Engineering developed this technology.

Redefining the design of iron catalysts

In , the researchers developed an iron photocatalyst that used three chiral ligands per iron atom, but only one-third of these ligands contributed to enantioselectivity, making the process inefficient.

Meanwhile, the newly developed iron photocatalyst combines cost-effective achiral bidentate ligands with chiral ligands to target a specific iron(III) salt structure. The chiral ligand controls the three-dimensional configuration, while the achiral bidentate ligand tunes the catalytic activity.

Using this catalyst, researchers achieved a precise radical cation (4 + 2) cyclization, joining two molecules to form a hexagonal ring. This method enables the synthesis of 1,2,3,5-substituted adducts, structures common in natural products such as heitziamide A.

“The new catalyst design represents the definitive form of chiral iron(III) photoredox catalysts,” stated Ohmura, one of the study’s corresponding authors. “We believe this achievement marks a significant milestone in advancing iron-based photocatalysis.”

Advancing artificial synthesis of (+)-heitziamide A

While artificial synthesis of heitziamide A has been previously reported, the total asymmetric synthesis of its natural enantiomer has not yet been achieved.

Using selective six-membered-ring formation with an iron photocatalyst activated by blue light, the researchers achieved the first total asymmetric synthesis of (+)-heitziamide A. This indicates that using the mirror-image catalyst would also allow the synthesis of (-)-heitziamide A, thereby enabling the selective production of both enantiomers.

Significance and future perspectives

The newly developed iron photocatalyst enables the precise synthesis of complex molecules, including pharmaceutical precursors, using abundant iron and blue LEDs instead of rare metals.

“Achieving the first-ever asymmetric total synthesis of (+)-heitziamide A using this catalytic reaction is a remarkable accomplishment,” stated Ishihara, the study’s other corresponding author. “Several additional bioactive substances can be accessed through total synthesis, with enantioselective radical cation (4 + 2) cycloaddition serving as a key step. We intend to publish follow-up papers on the asymmetric total synthesis of these compounds in the near future.”

Paper information:

Hayato Akao, Shuhei Ohmura, and Kazuaki Ishihara (2026). A Rational Design of Chiral Iron(III) Complexes for Photocatalytic Asymmetric Radical Cation (4 + 2) Cycloadditions and the Total Synthesis of (+)-Heitziamide A, Journal of the American Chemical Society.

Funding information:

This work was supported by JSPS KAKENHI grants 24K17677 and 23H05467.

Expert contact:

Kazuaki Ishihara
Graduate School of Engineering, ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø
ishihara.kazuaki.s7@f.mail.nagoya-u.ac.jp

Media contact:

Naomi Inoue
International Communications Office, ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø
icomm_research@t.mail.nagoya-u.ac.jp

Top image:

The newly designed iron photocatalyst (front) and the previous catalyst (back)
(Credit: Yuzuru Endo)

Two bacteria working together to break down intestinal mucus are identified as a contributing factor to chronic constipation

Scientists at ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø in Japan have found two gut bacteria working together that contribute to chronic constipation. The duo, Akkermansia muciniphila and Bacteroides thetaiotaomicron, destroy the intestinal mucus coating essential for keeping the colon lubricated and feces hydrated. Their excess degradation leaves patients with dry, immobile stool. This discovery, published in , finally explains why standard treatments often fail for millions of people with chronic constipation.

Notably, the study shows that Parkinson’s disease patients, who suffer from constipation decades before developing tremors, have higher levels of these mucus-degrading bacteria. While constipation in Parkinson¡¯s disease has traditionally been attributed to nerve degradation, these findings suggest that bacterial activity also plays a crucial role in the development of their symptoms.

Why ¡°mucin¡± matters for digestion

Constipation is a very common digestive problem. Doctors have assumed it happens because of slow gut movement when our intestines are not moving food along fast enough. However, this explanation does not work for everyone.

Some people have constipation with no identifiable cause, referred to as chronic idiopathic constipation (CIC). Parkinson’s disease patients also face severe, treatment-resistant constipation, though it is clinically categorized separately from CIC. Many struggle with severe constipation for 20 or 30 years before they develop tremors and movement problems, but researchers did not know why until now.

Instead of focusing on nerve and muscle movement in the gut, the researchers examined the protective gel-like coating called colonic mucin, a substance in the large intestine that lines the intestinal walls and is found within stool. Colonic mucin keeps stool moist, helps it move smoothly through our digestive tract, and protects the intestinal wall from bacteria.

They found that two gut bacteria work in sequence to break down this mucin. B. thetaiotaomicron uses enzymes to remove protective sulfate groups from the mucin, and A. muciniphila then breaks down and consumes the exposed mucin.

Sulfate groups attached to colonic mucin molecules normally prevent bacteria from degrading them. When too much mucin is destroyed, stool loses moisture and becomes hard and dry, causing constipation. Because the problem is mucin loss, not slow gut movement, standard laxatives and gut motility drugs are often ineffective.

A new frontier for gut health treatment

¡°We genetically modified B. thetaiotaomicron so it could no longer activate the enzyme sulfatase that removes sulfate groups from mucin,¡± Tomonari Hamaguchi, lead author and lecturer from the Academic Research & Industry-Academia-Government Collaboration Office at ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø explained.

¡°We put these modified bacteria into germ-free mice together with Akkermansia muciniphila, and surprisingly the mice did not develop constipation; the mucin stayed protected and intact.¡±

The experiment proved that blocking the sulfatase enzyme prevents the bacteria from degrading mucin. Therefore, drugs that block sulfatase could treat bacterial constipation in humans.

For millions of patients with treatment-resistant constipation, including those with Parkinson’s disease, this discovery offers hope for new therapies that address the root microbial causes of their condition.

Paper Information:

Tomonari Hamaguchi, Noriaki Gibo, Misuzu Ohara, Mikako Ito, Tomoyuki Ogura, Jun-Ichi Takeda, Hiroshi Nishiwaki, Fei Zhao, Ryo Kinoshita-Daitoku, Masashi Hattori, Koji Nonogaki, Tetsuya Maeda, Kenichi Kashihara, Yoshio Tsuboi, Masaaki Hirayama, Mitsuhiro Fujishiro, Hiroki Kawashima, Kinji Ohno (2026). Bacterial constipation: Mucin-degrading intestinal commensal bacteria cause constipation, Gut Microbes, 18(1).

Funding information:

This work was supported by Grants-in-Aids from the Japan Agency for Medical Research and Development (AMED) (JP23ek0109678) and the Japan Society of the Promotion of Science (JSPS) (JP22K15394, JP22K17343, JP23H02794, JP23K18273, and JP23K06412), and by grants from the Hori Sciences and Arts Foundation and from Yakult Bio-Science Foundation.

Expert Contact:

Tomonari Hamaguchi
Academic Research & Industry-Academia-Government Collaboration
ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø
Email: hamaguchi.tomonari.r4@f.mail.nagoya-u.ac.jp

Media contact:

Merle Naidoo
International Communications Office
ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø
Email: icomm_research@t.mail.nagoya-u.ac.jp

Top image:

The two bacteria that cause bacterial constipation, seen under an electron microscope. Left: Bacteroides thetaiotaomicron (Top: Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM) image; Bottom: Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) image; Right: Akkermansia muciniphila (Top: TEM; Bottom: SEM). They work in sequence to destroy the intestinal mucus coating that keeps stool moist. Credit: Tomonari Hamaguchi, ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø