The courage to venture: Revealing the effect of social trust on corporate venture capital.

In an uncertain and risky business environment, the decision for corporate venture capital (CVC) often requires courage and determination. This article empirically examines the relationship between social trust and corporate venture capital based on CVC data from Chinese companies spanning from 2006 to 2018. The findings reveal that social trust significantly positively influences a company's willingness and scale of involvement in venture capital. Further analysis highlights the variations in social trust effects under diverse governance environments, particularly in non-state-owned firms and firms with separate CEO and chairman roles. Meanwhile, in regions characterized by a more developed market environment and a robust legal framework, social trust demonstrates a more pronounced motivating effect. Moreover, social trust fosters innovation within CVC deals. Focused on emerging markets, this research delves into the significance of informal institutions in incentivizing corporate innovation and venture capital, offering a fresh perspective on the driving forces behind CVC.

Digital-scRRBS: A Cost-Effective, Highly Sensitive, and Automated Single-Cell Methylome Analysis Platform via Digital Microfluidics.

Single-cell DNA methylation sequencing is highly effective for identifying cell subpopulations and constructing epigenetic regulatory networks. Existing methylome analyses require extensive starting materials and are costly, complex, and susceptible to contamination, thereby impeding the development of single-cell methylome technology. In this work, we report digital microfluidics-based single-cell reduced representation bisulfite sequencing (digital-scRRBS), the first microfluidics-based single-cell methylome library construction platform, which is an automatic, effective, reproducible, and reagent-efficient technique to dissect the single-cell methylome. Using our digital microfluidic chip, we isolated single cells in 15 s and successfully constructed single-cell methylation sequencing libraries with a unique genome mapping rate of up to 53.6%, covering up to 2.26 million CpG sites. Digital-scRRBS demonstrates a high capacity for distinguishing cell identity and tracking DNA methylation during drug administration. Digital-scRRBS expands the applicability of single-cell methylation methods as a versatile tool for epigenetic analysis of rare cells and populations with high levels of heterogeneity.