In modern medical diagnostics and life science research, proteins serve as key biomarkers directly linked to disease phenotypes, making their accurate and rapid detection highly important. However, conventional detection technologies face multiple limitations. For example, immunoassays such as ELISA require tedious separation and washing steps or depend on stringent conditions for antibody pairs, making it difficult to meet the needs of point-of-care testing and high-throughput analysis. Although mass spectrometry is considered the "gold standard" in proteomics research, it relies on large, expensive equipment and involves lengthy analytical procedures.

In the long-standing battle between humans and viruses, the continuous mutation of viruses resembles an arms race where “as virtue rises one foot, vice rises ten.” As the shadow of the COVID-19 pandemic gradually recedes, we are still not entirely free from the threat posed by coronaviruses. The emergence of new viral variants continues to challenge global public health security. Against this backdrop, a research team comprising multiple world-renowned institutions, including the University of Pittsburgh, has successfully screened a type of pan-sarbecovirus nanobody (psNbs) with "super immunity" from immunized alpacas using innovative technological approaches. This study, published in Cell Reports, aims to identify a universal solution capable of combating an entire virus family.

In plant biology research, deciphering protein localization, interactions, and dynamics is central to unraveling life's mechanisms. Traditional protein tagging techniques relying on fluorescent proteins or epitope tags are often hindered by large tag size, insufficient affinity, or limited applicability. This is particularly problematic for "hard-to-tag" proteins such as multi-pass transmembrane proteins (e.g., metal transporters) and functionally sensitive proteins, where traditional methods can disrupt their structure and function, bringing research to a halt. Nanobodies, with their advantages of high affinity and genetic encodability, offer a potential solution to this bottleneck. While the ALFA tag and ALFA nanobody system have previously demonstrated excellent performance in animal and yeast cells, their applicability in plants had not been systematically evaluated.

Headache is one of the most common neurological disorders worldwide. Data indicates that approximately 52% of the global population has experienced the affliction of headaches, making it one of the leading causes of disability-adjusted life years (DALYs).