Latest spotLight
spotLights is an interview series dedicated to highlighting exciting new preprints in the biological sciences and the early-career researchers driving the work.
Preprint highlights, selected by the biological community
Ribosome Molecular Aging Shapes Translation Dynamics
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Inhibition of the gut ceramidase Asah2 decelerates the vertebrate ageing rate
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A Cell Size-Dependent Competition Between Geometry and Polarity Governs Nuclear and Spindle positioning in Early Embryos
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Evolutionary landscapes of zygotic genome activation across animals
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Mechanically-induced Septin Networks Protect Nuclear Integrity
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Feeding and reproduction of a tropical coastal copepod across warming and copper gradients
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EBV reprograms autoreactive anti-CNS B cells as antigen presenting cells in multiple sclerosis
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04 June 2026
Léa Bastien et al.
The Endocannabinoid System’s Contribution to Placebo Analgesia
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04 June 2026
Thomas Nicodemo Arrieta et al.
Clinically reported covert cerebrovascular disease and risk of neurological disease: a whole-population cohort of 367,988 people using natural language processing
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04 June 2026
Rafidah Mumtahinah Chowdhury et al.
CENP-B binds hairpin motifs in chromosome arms influencing gene expression
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04 June 2026
Pierre Caron
Dual inhibition of GTP-bound (ON) and GDP-bound (OFF) KRASG12C suppresses PI3Kα and leads to potent tumor inhibition
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03 June 2026
Luis Luna Ramírez
Deep Invaginations of Nuclear Envelope Coordinate Spatial Organization of Chromatin in Epithelium
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02 June 2026
Abby Hein
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‘Goodreads for Science’: How Paperstars reimagines the way science should be judged
Paperstars was developed to help refocus research culture on doing good science, rather than on where papers are published. Founded by Danny Schnitzler and Jenna Stephen, the platform aims to decouple research quality from journal prestige and give scientists a quick, constructive way to signal which papers really matter. Here,…
| Posted on | 23 April 2026 |
Can we spot scientific breakthroughs before they happen?
How do funding decisions shape the direction of biomedical research? Can we spot transformative discoveries years before they are recognised by prizes, policies, or the wider community? And what can patterns of scientific communication tell us about how breakthroughs actually emerge? In a new spotLights episode, preLighter Jonathan Townson speaks…
| Posted on | 15 April 2026 |
New ‘spotLights’ Short: Anubhav takes the stage
After launching our very first YouTube Short with Teodora Piskova two weeks ago, we’re back with another video highlighting excellent (preprinted) work from within the preLights community. This time, in Episode 18 of spotLights, we hear from Anubhav Prakash, a postdoctoral researcher in the Wickström lab at the Max Planck…
| Posted on | 18 March 2026 |
preLighters’ choice – Handpicked DevBio preprints
preLighters with expertise across developmental and stem cell biology have nominated a few developmental biology (and related) preprints they’re excited about and explain in a few paragraph why. Concise preprint highlights, prepared by the preLighter community – a quick way to spot upcoming trends, new methods and fresh ideas.
| List by | Theodora Stougiannou et al. |
BSDB Spring Meeting: Molecules to Morphogenesis
The British Society for Developmental Biology (BSDB) Spring Meeting Molecules to Morphogenesis was held from 23–26 March 2026 at the University of Warwick (UK). This meeting brought together a vibrant community of researchers to discuss how molecular mechanisms are integrated across scales to drive morphogenesis, spanning diverse model systems and approaches. This preList contains preprints by presenters from the talk and poster sessions at the meeting. Please do get in touch at preLights@biologists.com if you notice any relevant preprints that we may have missed.
| List by | Ingrid Tsang |
Keystone Symposium on Stem Cell Models in Embryology 2026
The Keystone Symposium on Stem Cell Models in Embryology, 2026, was organised by Jun Wu (UT Southwestern), Jianping Fu (University of Michigan) and Miki Ebisuya (TU Dresden) and held at Asilomar Conference Grounds in California (US). The meeting discussed recent advances made in establishing stem-cell-based embryo models, what fundamental insights into developmental processes have been gleaned from them, as well as how they are beginning to be applied more widely. This prelist contains preprints by presenters at the talk and poster sessions at the conference, which our Reviews Editor in attendance spotted. Please do reach out to preLights@biologists.com if you notice any that we’ve missed.
| List by | Ingrid Tsang |
SciELO preprints – From 2025 onwards
SciELO has become a cornerstone of open, multilingual scholarly communication across Latin America. Its preprint server, SciELO preprints, is expanding the global reach of preprinted research from the region (for more information, see our interview with Carolina Tanigushi). This preList brings together biological, English language SciELO preprints to help readers discover emerging work from the Global South. By highlighting these preprints in one place, we aim to support visibility, encourage early feedback, and showcase the vibrant research communities contributing to SciELO’s open science ecosystem.
| List by | Carolina Tanigushi |
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