Westlake University

Astronomers observe intermediate-mass black hole feeding via wake-trailing gas in UGCA 320

A team led by Xin Li at Westlake University identified an intermediate-mass black hole, roughly 35,000 times the sun's mass, sitting outside the star-forming disk of the dwarf galaxy UGCA 320, about 20 million light-years away. Hubble imaging and MUSE spectroscopy showing broad Balmer emission confirmed the object is actively accreting material as it drifts through the galaxy, dragging surrounding gas behind it.

phys.org · 2026-09-13

Westlake University AI virtual-cell model predicts drug response in triple-negative breast cancer

Researchers at Westlake University built an AI-based 'virtual cell model' trained on over 38 million protein measurements from breast cancer cell lines, most of them triple-negative. Tested on real patient biopsies, the model successfully identified which drugs would be effective against individual tumours, matching actual clinical outcomes. The findings, published in Nature, mark the first time such a virtual cell model has moved from lab experiments to clinical testing.

nature.com · 2026-09-09