05/14/2026
Research Article
How do cellular properties influence information coding among cortical populations? Omer Revah, Fred Wolf, Michael Gutnick and Andreas Neef show that cell number, cell size, the correlation time of the background noise and the neurophysiological properties determine how accurately inputs are encoded in barrel cortex excitatory neurons.
Image credit: pbio.3003789
Current Issue April 2026
05/13/2026
Research Article
Photothermal therapy is a rapidly evolving cancer treatment modality, but further clinical applications are hindered by the short in vivo half-life of photothermal agents. Jiaqi Zhang, Licong Huang, Shuhui Wang and co-workers use biosynthetic gas vesicles coated with the FDA-approved photothermal agent Indocyanine green to enhance its acoustic delivery and anti-tumor efficacy.
Image credit: pbio.3003786
05/13/2026
Short Reports
How do frontal brain regions guide decision-making in the context of perceptual and non-perceptual factors? This study in ferrets, by Jeff Boucher, Shihab Shamma and Yves Boubenec, reveals through functional ultrasound imaging that activity in the brain's premotor cortex tracks the perceived stimulus, not the one reported by behavior.
Image credit: Elmina Lebeurier & Jeffrey Boucher
05/11/2026
Research Article
RIG-I and STING drive antiviral defense, but how their pathways are coordinated remains unclear. Jiazheng Quan, Xibao Zhao, Weilin Chen and colleagues show that USP39 enhances antiviral immunity by promoting RIG-I mRNA maturation and stabilizing STING via deubiquitination, revealing a target to boost antiviral responses.
Image credit: pbio.3003796
05/07/2026
Research Article
The GPR174 receptor modulates immune homeostasis by engaging distinct G protein pathways, but how hydration-mediated interactions influence its activation remain unclear. Ying-Jun Dong, Kun Xi, Ya-Zhi Zhang, Jian-Heng Xue, Dan-Dan Shen, and co-workers show that these networks stabilize the active-state conformation of GPR174 and reshape its intracellular cavity by enabling selectivity.
Image credit: pbio.3003447
05/05/2026
Research Article
Pavlovian approach–avoidance tendencies can disrupt flexible action control, but the causal contributions of specific neural regions remain unclear. Nomiki Koutsoumpari, Johannes Algermissen, Nadege Bault, Elsa Fouragnan and co-authors find that anterior insula stimulation reduces learning bias, while dorsal ACC stimulation increases perseveration bias, revealing distinct mechanisms through which these regions shape Pavlovian biases.
Image credit: Nomiki Koutsoumpari
05/14/2026
Perspective
Modern medicine has transformed how long we live, with more people surviving to old age with chronic disease. This Perspective examines how aging, health and care should be redefined to reflect these increasingly complex later lives.
Image credit: pbio.3003784
05/11/2026
Essay
Aging has effects that reshape the immune system in unique, sex-specific ways, but these differences are rarely taken into consideration. This Essay argues that accounting for both sex and age is essential to advance personalized medicine.
Image credit: pbio.3003763
04/22/2026
Community Page
Cilia dysfunction is implicated in a range of disorders. This Community Page presents CiliaKB, a knowledge base that serves as a one-stop platform for researchers to rapidly access mechanistic data and mine for translational clues about cilia.
Image credit: Donghui Zhang
04/21/2026
Essay
In this Essay, the evolution of life is construed as a ribosomal takeover, whereby the ribosome evolved to consume most of the cell’s resources, while other cellular componentry ensured the propagation of the ribosome, the ultimate biological selfish element.
Image credit: pbio.3003780
This PLOS Biology collection aims to shine a light on the many facets of immunometabolism, highlighting how molecular and cellular mechanisms impact diverse tissue and organismal functions and the exciting potential for leveraging immunometabolism for therapeutic interventions.
Recent technological advancements in omics have unveiled the mechanisms governing tumor progression across spatial and temporal scales. This collection reveals the complexities of the crosstalk between cancer cells and the tumor microenvironment.
Neurotechnology offers unprecedented opportunities to treat neural disorders, restore brain function and enhance cognitive abilities. This collection explores the present and possible futures of neurotechnology to improve human health and cognition.
Translating conservation and biodiversity research from the field into the real world is a complex problem. This collection discusses issues around economics, policy, and how to do research that answers questions that decision makers have.
Symbiosis research has become a holistic and pervasive field with a mature theoretical basis. This collection showcases symbiotic relationships across the tree of life, exploring their evolutionary basis and underlying mechanisms.
May 18 - 22
Meet Senior Editor Ines Alvarez-Garcia (ialvarez-garcia@plos.org)
June 3 - 5
Meet Editor in Chief Nonia Pariente (npariente@plos.org)
June 8 - 11
Meet Magazine Senior Editor Joanna Clarke (jclarke@plos.org)
June 8 - 11
Meet Senior Editor Richard Hodge (rhodge@plos.org)
June 15 - 18
Meet Editor in Chief Nonia Pariente (npariente@plos.org)
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