MASH is a serious form of fatty liver disease that affects about 7% of people worldwide. It can progress to cirrhosis, liver cancer, and liver failure, yet effective treatment options remain limited.

The investigational compound, known as DT-109, is a glycine-based tripeptide. Researchers found that it reversed MASH in animal models by interrupting a harmful biological process linking the gut and liver.

“We see clear evidence that DT-109 protects the gut epithelial barrier, reducing the systemic influx of harmful microbial products that are thought to contribute to MASH development and progression,” said Eugene Chen, M.D., Ph.D., senior author of the study and Frederick G. L. Huetwell Professor of Cardiovascular Medicine at the University of Michigan Medical School.

“This compound shows benefits to the gastrointestinal system and has great potential as a treatment for MASH.”

How Gut Bacteria Can Drive Liver Disease

Earlier studies from Chen’s laboratory had already shown that DT-109 could improve MASH in animals. The new research explains how the compound produces those benefits.

The team first identified a major contributor to the disease: an overgrowth of the bacterium Clostridium perfringens, which generates ammonia inside the gut.

High ammonia levels damage the lining of the digestive tract, weakening the intestinal barrier. Once that protective barrier is compromised, harmful microbial products can enter the bloodstream, reach the liver, and trigger inflammatory immune responses, including excessive activation of CD8+ T cells.

Through a series of experiments, the researchers found that DT-109 disrupted this chain of events, helping restore the health of both the gut and the liver.

DT-109 Restores the Gut Barrier

In both mice and nonhuman primates, DT-109 reduced Clostridium perfringens levels and lowered ammonia production in the intestines. As a result, the intestinal barrier became stronger, limiting the movement of harmful substances from the gut into the body.

The results were especially encouraging in nonhuman primates, whose liver biology and gut microbiota more closely resemble those of humans. In these animals, DT-109 reduced liver inflammation and significantly improved the severity of MASH.

“DT-109 connects microbiota modulation with liver protection by restoring gut barrier integrity and limiting the systemic translocation of ammonia and other pro-inflammatory microbial products within the gut-liver axis,” said Jifeng Zhang, Ph.D., co-author and research professor of cardiovascular medicine at U-M Medical School.

“We also found that DT-109 primarily acts in the gastrointestinal tract, but its reach stretches much further.”

Potential Benefits Beyond MASH

The researchers believe DT-109 may have uses beyond treating fatty liver disease.

Previous studies have shown that the compound can reduce the formation of atherosclerosis plaques and prevent vascular calcification in nonhuman primates, suggesting it could also become a treatment for cardiovascular disease.

Because breakdown of the intestinal barrier has also been linked to several digestive disorders, the team believes DT-109 could eventually be explored as a treatment for conditions such as inflammatory bowel disease (IBD).

Future research will focus on additional testing needed to move DT-109 into clinical trials and evaluate its safety and effectiveness in people.

“This study presents novel evidence about the pathogenesis of MASH and provides excitement about a therapeutic avenue to explore for a condition that remains difficult to treat,” said Elliot Tapper, M.D., Academic Director of Hepatology at Michigan Medicine.

“What patients with MASH need is a safe and effective therapy capable of improving their liver and heart health — of course we are excited about these developments.”

Additional authors include Yang Zhao, Ph.D., Ying Zhao M.S., and Yanhong Guo, MD., Ph.D., all of the University of Michigan. Additional co-authors are listed in the published study.

Funding and Disclosures

Ying Zhao, Oren Rom, Jifeng Zhang, and Y. Eugene Chen are inventors on the patent application (Tripeptides and treatment of metabolic, cardiovascular, and inflammatory disorders).

Chen is also an inventor of DT-109. The University of Michigan has patented the compound and licensed it to Diapin Therapeutics. Chen and the university hold an ownership interest in the company. Diapin Therapeutics supplied DT-109 for the study and is continuing to develop the compound.

The study protocol involving humans, all amendments and the informed consent form were reviewed and approved by the Institutional Review Boards at each site, including the First Affiliated Hospital of Xi’an Jiaotong University (approval number: XJTU1AF2023LSK330), and the Institutional Review Board of Jinan University (approval number: 2016-017) and the University of Hong Kong/Hospital Authority Hong Kong West Cluster (approval number: UW 20-700). All experimental protocols involving non-human primates were approved by the Laboratory Animal Care Committee of Xi’an Jiaotong University (approval number: 20191278) and the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee of Spring Biological Technology Development Co., Ltd. (approval number: 201901). The study was performed in accordance with the National Institutes of Health Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals.

In an earlier study, Elseline Hoekzema and colleagues became the first to demonstrate that pregnancy changes the structure of the human brain. They also showed that pregnancy affects how the brain functions. For this latest research, the team followed 110 women over time. Some were expecting their first child, some were pregnant with their second, and others remained childless. By performing repeated brain scans, the researchers tracked how the brain changed throughout the study.

“With this, we have shown for the first time that the brain not only changes during the first pregnancy, but also during a second,” says Hoekzema, head of the Pregnancy Brain Lab at Amsterdam UMC. “During a first and second pregnancy, the brain changes in both similar and unique ways. Each pregnancy leaves a unique mark on the female brain.”

Brain Networks Shift in Different Ways

The researchers found that a first pregnancy produced the largest changes in the structure and activity of the brain’s Default Mode Network, a system involved in self reflection, social thinking, and other important mental functions.

During a second pregnancy, this same network changed again, although to a lesser degree. Instead, the most noticeable changes occurred in brain networks responsible for directing attention and responding to sensory information.

“It appears that during a second pregnancy, the brain is more strongly altered in networks involved in reacting to sensory cues and in controlling your attention,” explains researcher Milou Straathof, who analyzed the data. “These processes may be beneficial when caring for multiple children.”

Brain Changes Linked to Maternal Bonding and Mental Health

The study also uncovered a relationship between pregnancy related brain changes and the emotional bond between mother and child. This connection was stronger after a first pregnancy than after a second.

Researchers also identified links between structural changes in the brain and peripartum depression during both first and second pregnancies. According to the team, this is the first evidence that changes occurring in the brain’s cortex during pregnancy are associated with maternal depression.

The timing of these associations differed depending on pregnancy history. Among first time mothers, they were most apparent after childbirth. For women expecting a second child, they were more noticeable during pregnancy.

“This knowledge can help to better understand and recognize mental health problems in mothers. It is important that we understand how the brain adapts to motherhood.”

Understanding the Maternal Brain

The findings offer new insight into the remarkable adaptability of the maternal brain. Although most women experience one or more pregnancies during their lifetime, scientists are only beginning to understand how pregnancy influences the brain over the long term.

The researchers say these discoveries help fill an important gap in knowledge about women’s biology and could eventually improve care for mothers, including efforts to prevent and treat postpartum depression. The study also highlights the brain’s remarkable ability to continually adapt to major life experiences such as pregnancy and motherhood.

The breakthrough was led by Associate Professor Kezilbeiek Shawulienu in collaboration with Aalto University researchers, including Professor Peter Liljeroth and Professor Jose Lado. The team fabricated the material by growing an atomically thin film consisting of just two layers of tin telluride (SnTe) on top of a niobium diselenide (NbSe₂) substrate.

Atomically Thin Crystal Reveals Unique Quantum States

To examine the material’s properties, the researchers used molecular beam epitaxy together with low temperature scanning tunneling microscopy, allowing them to probe its electronic behavior with atomic level precision.

Their measurements revealed pairs of conducting edge states, a defining feature of topological crystalline insulators. These special pathways allow electrons to travel along the edges of the material and are protected by the symmetry of the crystal lattice.

Strain Controls the Material’s Quantum Properties

The conducting edge states appear within a large electronic band gap of more than 0.2 electron volts (eV). The team found that the tin telluride film is compressed by the underlying substrate, creating strain that is essential for stabilizing the material’s topological state.

Even more importantly, the researchers demonstrated that these edge states can be adjusted by changing the strain, offering a practical way to tune the material’s electronic behavior for future technologies.

Potential for Future Quantum Electronics

First principles quantum mechanical calculations confirmed that the observed edge states have a topological origin. The team also examined how neighboring edge states interact, finding that their energy levels shift because of a combination of electrostatic interactions and quantum tunneling.

Because the material has a relatively large band gap, its topological properties are expected to remain stable even at room temperature. That makes it a promising platform for exploring strain tunable two dimensional topological states and could support future advances in spin based electronics and nanoscale devices.

The findings were published in the journal Nature Communications.

Unlike conventional lithium-ion batteries, which use a liquid electrolyte between two solid electrodes, solid-state batteries replace the liquid with a solid electrolyte. This design offers several potential advantages, including higher energy density, improved safety, and longer battery life. But one stubborn problem has slowed commercial adoption. During charging, tiny tree-like structures called dendrites can grow from the lithium anode, pierce the solid electrolyte, and create internal short circuits.

Now, an interdisciplinary team at the Max Planck Institute for Sustainable Materials (MPI-SusMat) has identified exactly how these dendrites trigger fractures that ultimately lead to battery failure. Their findings were published in the journal Nature.

How Dendrites Crack Solid-State Batteries

Exactly how soft lithium dendrites manage to break through a hard ceramic electrolyte has long puzzled researchers.

“Although the electrodes and the forming dendrites consist of lithium metal, which is soft like a gummy bear, the dendrites are able to penetrate the ceramic electrolyte and lead to a short circuit,” says Dr. Yuwei Zhang, first author of the new publication and head of the group “Chemo-Mechanics of Battery Materials” at MPI-SusMat. “How can soft dendrites fracture the stiff solid ceramic? There are two hypotheses: either internal stress is built up inside the dendrites and induces mechanical fracture of the solid electrolyte. Or, electrons leak along the grain boundaries of the solid electrolyte promoting the formation of lithium nuclei that interconnect later.”

To determine which explanation was correct, the researchers used an advanced combination of sample preparation and materials characterization techniques. Every step was performed under vacuum and at cryogenic temperatures to eliminate interference from oxygen, water, or even the microscopes’ electron beams.

The team examined both the internal stress and the plastic deformation of lithium dendrites trapped inside cracks. Their analysis found no buildup of lithium ahead of the dendrite tip, ruling out one proposed mechanism.

“The soft lithium metal is able to penetrate the stiff ceramic electrolyte, like a continuous waterjet that penetrates a rock. We calculated that hydrostatic stress in the dendrite leads to brittle fracture of the solid electrolyte in the end,” says Zhang.

The researchers also confirmed their conclusions using phase field simulations and electron backscatter diffraction measurements.

New Strategies to Prevent Battery Failure

With a better understanding of how dendrites fracture solid electrolytes, the team is now investigating ways to stop or delay the process.

Potential solutions include making the solid electrolyte tougher so it resists cracking for longer, introducing microscopic voids that redirect dendrite growth and steer cracks away from vulnerable areas, or adding protective coatings to lithium electrodes to reduce dendrite formation in the first place.

The researchers say their work demonstrates the importance of understanding how materials behave at the microscopic level. Those insights could help transform solid-state batteries from a promising concept into a practical technology for future smartphones, electric vehicles, and other electronic devices.

While the concept has long been discussed in theory, an important question remains: if one actually existed, what would astronomers see? A new study by Amirnezam Amiri of the University of Arkansas, currently available as a pre-print on arXiv and scheduled for publication in Universe, explores exactly how these enormous structures might appear through modern telescopes. The research also identifies the types of stars most likely to host them.

Red Dwarfs and White Dwarfs Are Prime Targets

One of the strongest candidates is the red dwarf. These small, cool stars are the most common type in the Milky Way and consume their nuclear fuel so slowly that they can survive for trillions of years, far longer than the universe has existed so far.

Their relatively small size also makes them attractive from an engineering perspective. According to the study, a Dyson swarm could orbit a red dwarf at a distance of roughly 0.05 to 0.3 AU, requiring far less construction material than one built around a larger star like the Sun.

White dwarfs may be even more appealing. These dense stellar remnants are the leftover cores of Sun like stars that have exhausted their fuel and collapsed to only about 1% of their original size.

Because they are so compact, a Dyson swarm could orbit just a few million kilometers above the star’s surface, dramatically reducing the scale of the structure needed. White dwarfs also release energy at a steady rate for billions of years, making them reliable long term power sources.

How a Dyson Sphere Would Change a Star’s Appearance

Astronomers classify stars using the Hertzsprung-Russell (H-R) diagram, which plots stellar temperature against luminosity. A Dyson sphere would dramatically alter where a star appears on that chart.

Instead of allowing visible light to escape, the structure would absorb virtually all of the star’s radiation. Since energy cannot simply disappear, the same amount of energy would have to be emitted back into space, but as heat in the infrared portion of the spectrum. In effect, the megastructure would absorb starlight, use that energy for whatever purpose its builders intended, and then radiate the excess as infrared heat.

Although the star’s total energy output would remain unchanged, its apparent temperature would be much lower. Because H-R diagrams use bolometric luminosity (i.e. the luminosity over all of the spectra), the object would remain at the same luminosity but shift dramatically toward the cooler side of the diagram.

A Unique Infrared Signature

That temperature shift is one of the study’s most striking predictions. A typical red dwarf has a surface temperature of about 3000K. A surrounding Dyson sphere, however, could have an effective temperature as low as 50K, around two orders of magnitude colder.

No known natural stars occupy that region of the H-R diagram. Any object found there would immediately become an intriguing candidate for further investigation.

Another possible clue would be the absence of dust. Ordinary stars often display silicate emission associated with dusty disks. A Dyson swarm, by contrast, would consist of radiator panels rather than dust, giving it an unusually “clean” spectrum.

Looking for Strange Light Curves

The study also emphasizes that a true solid Dyson sphere is almost certainly impossible to build. Modern calculations indicate that even around relatively small stars, the amount of material required would be unrealistic.

Instead, an advanced civilization would likely construct a swarm of many independent solar collectors, leaving gaps between them or varying their density throughout the structure. As those components orbited the star, they could produce highly unusual, non natural variations in brightness that would stand out from the behavior of ordinary stars.

James Webb and the Hunt for Alien Megastructures

The James Webb Space Telescope is especially well suited to search for these hypothetical structures because it specializes in infrared observations. Older missions such as WISE are also contributing to the effort.

In May 2024, researchers from Project Hephaistos reported seven promising Dyson sphere candidates, all associated with red dwarfs, after examining a catalog of roughly 5 million stars. One candidate was later ruled out because a perfectly aligned supermassive black hole in the background explained the unusual signal.

That still leaves five candidates deserving closer study. While none have been confirmed as alien megastructures, Amiri’s work provides astronomers with another set of observational clues that could help distinguish genuine technosignatures from natural cosmic phenomena. If Dyson swarms do exist somewhere in the Milky Way, future infrared observations may finally reveal where they have been hiding.