We are pleased to announce the winners of the 2022 Sanofi-Cell Research Outstanding Research Article Award: Drs Yu Lan, Fuchou Tang and Bing Liu for their paper entitled “Heterogeneity in endothelial cells and widespread venous arterialization during early vascular development in mammals”;1 Drs Penghui Zhou, Zhixiang Zuo, Wende Li, Zhenjiang Liu, Xiaoshi Zhang and Peirong Ding for their paper entitled “Defined tumor antigen-specific T cells potentiate personalized TCR-T cell therapy and prediction of immunotherapy response”;2 and Drs Chun-Qing Song and En-Zhi Shen for their paper entitled “CRISPR FISHer enables high-sensitivity imaging of nonrepetitive DNA in living cells through phase separation-mediated signal amplification”.3 Each award consists of a prize of ¥40,000 sponsored by Sanofi.

The developmental origin of arterial endothelial cells throughout an entire embryo was not elucidated before. In the first award-winning research article published in the April 2022 issue, by combining single-cell transcriptomic profiling and mouse lineage tracing, Drs Yu Lan, Fuchou Tang, Bing Liu and colleagues demonstrated widespread venous arterialization during mammalian early vascular development.1

In the second award-winning research article, published in the June 2022 issue, Drs Penghui Zhou, Zhixiang Zuo, Wende Li, Zhenjiang Liu, Xiaoshi Zhang, Peirong Ding and colleagues showed that naturally occurring tumor antigen-specific T (Tas) cells can be harnessed to develop personalized T-cell receptor (TCR)-T cells. Experiments with the TCR-T cells expressing TCRs from the patient’s own Tas cells have shown encouraging therapeutic effects in patient-derived xenograft models.2 These findings offer a promising agent for future cancer immunotherapy.

In the third award-winning research article, published in the November 2022 issue, Drs Chun-Qing Song, En-Zhi Shen and their colleagues introduced a novel DNA imaging strategy, termed CRISPR-mediated fluorescence in situ hybridization amplifier (CRISPR FISHer), based on engineered sgRNA and trimeric protein motif-triggered, phase separation-mediated signal amplification. With a single sgRNA, CRISPR FISHer tracks real-time dynamics of endogenous nonrepetitive DNA sequences in living cells.3

Please join us to congratulate Drs Yu Lan, Fuchou Tang, Bing Liu, Penghui Zhou, Zhixiang Zuo, Wende Li, Zhenjiang Liu, Xiaoshi Zhang, Peirong Ding, Chun-Qing Song, En-Zhi Shen and their colleagues on their winning of the 2022 Sanofi-Cell Research Outstanding Paper Award.

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