Research Articles

Research Articles published by eLife are full-length studies that present important breakthroughs across the life sciences and biomedicine. There is no maximum length and no limits on the number of display items.

Latest articles

    1. Neuroscience

    The effect of physical activity on brain structure and cognitive function in the population-based cohort of LIFE-Adult Study

    Polona Kalc, Robert Dahnke ... Christian Gaser
    Although physical exercise could be a beneficial protective factor for brain health in later life, older adults tend to overestimate their actual levels of activity.
    1. Chromosomes and Gene Expression

    Linking germline telomere removal to global programmed DNA elimination in Tetrahymena genome differentiation

    Kohei Nagao, Alix Lemoine ... Kazufumi Mochizuki
    Tetrahymena germline chromosome ends contain germline-limited sequences that are removed by chromosome breakage, a critical step for programmed DNA elimination of other germline-limited sequences and successful sexual reproduction.
    1. Structural Biology and Molecular Biophysics

    In silico design and validation of high-affinity RNA aptamers for SARS-CoV-2 comparable to neutralizing antibodies

    Yanqing Yang, Lulu Qiao ... Ruhong Zhou
    Computer-Aided Aptamer Modeling and Optimization (CAAMO) enables structure-guided RNA aptamer affinity maturation, producing a SARS-CoV-2 RBD (receptor binding domain) binder that rivals neutralizing antibodies and retains predicted activity across variants.
    1. Epidemiology and Global Health

    A natural experiment in Kenya reveals durable immunosuppressive effects of early childhood malaria: a longitudinal cohort study

    Mercy S Safari, Timothy O Makori ... Charles J Sande
    Early-life malaria exposure leaves a durable immunological imprint associated with reduced antibody responses to unrelated infections and vaccines.
    1. Cell Biology

    Cytoplasmic circular dsDNA is a key constituent of stress granules

    Natalia A Demeshkina, Adrian R Ferré-D'Amaré
    Extrachromosomal circular DNA has been identified as a novel component of stress granule cores, indicating its essential involvement in eukaryotic stress response pathways at the level of protein synthesis.
    1. Neuroscience

    Human cerebellum and ventral tegmental area interact during extinction of learned fear

    Enzo Nio, Patrick Pais Pereira ... Dagmar Timmann
    The cerebellum and ventral tegmental area interact during unexpected omissions of aversive outcomes in humans, supporting a role for reward-like prediction error signaling in fear extinction learning.
    1. Biochemistry and Chemical Biology
    2. Computational and Systems Biology

    Experimental verification of the error minimization theory using non-standard genetic codes constructed in vitro

    Ryota Miyachi, Norikazu Ichihashi
    The in vitro experiments that used the artificial genetic codes tested here did not provide support for the error minimization theory.
    1. Neuroscience

    Anterior cingulate cortex monitors action state and action content in complex associative learning

    Wenqiang Huang, Arron F Hall ... Dong V Wang
    ACC contains specialized neurons that sustain rich action-relevant information after action execution, enabling prolonged action monitoring, and supporting complex associative linking across events.
    1. Neuroscience

    Kinematic signatures in reaching movements during spaceflight provide evidence that humans underestimate body mass in microgravity

    Zhaoran Zhang, Yu Tian ... Kunlin Wei
    Model-based kinematic analyses link the movement slowing in spaceflight to body mass underestimation.
    1. Epidemiology and Global Health
    2. Microbiology and Infectious Disease

    Inferring variant-specific effective reproduction numbers from combined case and sequencing data

    Marlin D Figgins, Trevor Bedford
    Integrating case counts with genomic sequences quantifies real-time transmission advantages of viral variants.