Online resource for stem cell biology.
Nature Cell Biology's May issue (9, 481; 2007) contains an editorial providing some background and more information about our new Nature Reports publication -- Nature Reports Stem Cells:
Stem cell research is only a quarter century old and it is already the most publicly visible of the biological sciences. This is not surprising, given the broad clinical potential, the ethically charged directions in which some of the research is taking us and, above all, the magic of uncovering the molecular nature of self renewal and immortality. The stem cell community has grown significantly and the field touches on most other disciplines, as stem cells have been found in a plethora of embryonic and adult tissues, and as the molecular mechanisms underlying self renewal and commitment have begun to emerge.
It is has been remarkable how proactive and successful a number of leaders in the stem cell community have been in publicly representing research interests. Nevertheless, the interdisciplinary nature of stem cell biology and the associated political and ethical complexities necessitate a dedicated international professional body to formally represent the community, as much as they require an authoritative forum to foster information exchange between researchers and to keep the public and policymakers abreast of the latest research. The foundation of the International Society for Stem Cell Research (ISSR) in 2002 was one essential step. In the meantime, many journals have been actively covering stem cell biology. However, a dedicated forum that ties together basic and medical stem cell research, and that reports on ethical, political and economical aspects of the research has been missing.
With this in mind, Nature Publishing Group is launching a gateway dedicated to stem cell research.
Nature Reports Stem Cells will be a permanent publication providing news, research, comment and analysis; it will join Nature Reports Avian Flu and, soon, Climate Change. Dedicated editors well versed with stem cell research will provide digestible summaries of selected research papers, and also report on funding, legislative, ethical and community news. Events, jobs alerts and a key-worded library of relevant news and primary research content across the Nature titles will complement the site. A timeline of the past 25 years will chronicle progress and a 'frequently asked questions' section will serve as a primer for the general reader.
The site will also experiment with publishing referees' reports on selected stem cell papers. Importantly, the community will be strongly involved in shaping the content: a changing 'featured editor' will provide the site with their view of the latest developments, a blog aims to foster active debate and users are invited to nominate, comment and vote on research papers. Later, databases will be added that will cover current stem-cell lines, reagents, clinical trials and funding.
We invite you to sign up for this free service and to actively participate in shaping its content.
