A recent study from the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bangalore, has identified a new key player among brain regions, the superior colliculus (SC), in guiding skilled forelimb movements.

This article is the second in a two-part series reporting on the proceedings of the 17th Young Investigators’ Meeting (YIM 2025), held in Agra, Uttar Pradesh, from 3 to 7 March 2025. In the second part of this report, we discuss the takeaways from interactive ​‘Ask Us Anything’ open discussions, the ice-breaker session, and the proceedings from the PDF satellite meeting that followed the YIM 2025 from 6 and 7 March 2025.

The 17th edition of the annual Young Investigators’ Meeting(YIM 2025) took place in the historical city of Agra, Uttar Pradesh, from 3 to 7 March 2025. Around 80 young investigators, postdoctoral fellows, and representatives from funding agencies, mentors, and institutional representatives attended the meeting for mentor talks, special talks, networking sessions, panel discussion, and poster presentations.

A collaborative research by scientists from the National Centre for Biological Sciences (NCBS), Bangalore, and the Institute of Functional Genomics, University of Montpellier, INSERM, CNRS, France, has recently solved the structures of the complex brain receptor—metabotropic glutamate receptor 5 (mGlu5). They describe the binding mode of small molecules known to increase receptor activity, paving the way for new avenues in drug design.

The third Regional Young Investigators’ Meeting (RYIM) of the 2024 – 2025 took place in Chennai on 22-24 January 2025. Hosted by the Indian Institute of Technology Madras and Sri Ramachandra Institute of Higher Education and Research (SRIHER), the meeting featured insightful panel discussions, networking sessions, and discussions on the future of medicine and allied health sciences.

Researchers from CSIR-Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology have combined Optical Genome Mapping (OGM) with the telomere-to-telomere (T2T) reference genome, offering a complete, gap-free view of the genome. This innovative approach resolves structural variations in repetitive regions, revolutionising genetic diagnostics and research.

Researchers from the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bengaluru, have built organs on chips to simulate cancer metastasis. They examined how cancer cells respond under conditions of ageing and diabetes, finding that stress enhanced metastatic potential.