Method of the year and methods to watch
Owing to my end-of-year holiday, I am a little late bringing you news of the Nature Methods' Method of the Year 2007, which is next-generation sequencing. The journal is publishing in its January 2008 issue a series of free articles showcasing how these novel sequencing methods came into their own in 2007 and the incredible impact they promise to have in a variety of research applications.
From the Nature Methods editorial announcing the winner:
"If the choice of next-generation sequencing as Method of the Year was uncontroversial among our team, we did have other ideas and enthusiastic discussions. To share that excitement, we included a shortlist of Methods to Watch. It is an incomplete and subjective selection, established by Nature Methods with the input of other editors at Nature, Nature Reviews and Nature research journals. Some of these Methods to Watch are, thanks to recent developments, on the cusp of turning around fields of research. Others, by contrast, do not yet have a technical solution but rather represent areas in which methodological developments are sorely needed.
We welcome your comments on our choices as well as your suggestions of other methods to keep an eye on. (To share your thoughts please visit methagora.) We firmly intend this event to become an end-of-the-year tradition, and we hope for your participation in next year's nominations!"
You can add your comments and, as the year progresses, 2008 nominiations at this methagora post.
The announcement and features about the Method of 2007 are at this Nature Methods web focus, including the Methods to Watch articles.