By now you have probably checked out our most recent selection of Research Highlights in our November issue. Here are some other interesting methods papers up for consideration that we weren't able to feature in the journal.

Visualization of ATP levels inside single living cells with fluorescence resonance energy transfer-based genetically encoded indicators
PNAS 106, 15651 - 15656 (2009)

The yeast Wsc1 cell surface sensor behaves like a nanospring in vivo
Nature Chemical Biology 5, 857 - 862 (2009)

Genetic address book for retinal cell types
Nature Neuroscience 12, 1197 - 1204 (2009)

Protein quantification across hundreds of experimental conditions
PNAS 106, 15544 - 15548 (2009)

Biocompatible Functionalized Polyglycerol Microgels with Cell Penetrating Properties
Angewandte Chemie International Edition 48, 7540 - 7545 (2009)

Single-molecule sequencing of an individual human genome
Nature Biotechnology 27, 847 - 850 (2009)

Cell-selective metabolic labeling of proteins
Nature Chemical Biology 5, 715 - 717 (2009)

Generation of Functional Eyes from Pluripotent Cells
PLoS Biology 7, e1000174 (2009)

RNA-MATE: a recursive mapping strategy for high-throughput RNA-sequencing data
Bioinformatics 25, 2615 - 2616 (2009)

Targeted capture and massively parallel sequencing of 12 human exomes
Nature 461, 272 - 276 (2009)

Sensitive digital quantification of DNA methylation in clinical samples
Nature Biotechnology 27, 858 - 863 (2009)

Posted by Allison Doerr at 02:49 PM | Permalink

How to regulate direct-to-consumer genetic tests?

Is knowledge about ones genome power or is it toxic information we need to be protected from?

The recent rise in companies providing direct to consumer (DTC) genetic tests has prompted a closer look at the potential societal impact of these services. Responses in different countries vary from restrictive to liberal.

Are specific laws regulating DTC genetic test needed? Should all DTC tests be treated equally before the law of should there be a distinction between tests that screen for a particular variant or mutation with a proven association to disease and tests that do genome wide screens? Should a distinction be made between tests with proven clinical utility that could lead to medical intervention vs tests that provide non-actionable information.

In the editorial in the November issue of Nature Methods we look at this topic and put forth the idea that the onus is also on the consumer to educate themselves about the kind of information these tests offer.

Ideally consumers who receive test information will have access to professionals to discuss these data. However, a shortage of genetic counselors and physicians trained in genomic medicine may make this difficult at present. Should medical schools rethink their curricula?

Is privacy of genetic information sufficiently safeguarded?

Not all DTC genetic tests are done for medical reasons, should ancestry testing be exempt from any regulation?

We are interested to hear the views of our readers on this topic.

Posted by Nicole Rusk at 11:58 AM | Permalink

It's hard to believe that five years have gone by since Veronique Kiermer, Nicole Rusk and myself saw the first issue of Nature Methods go out the door. In some ways it doesn't feel like it was that long ago while in others it feels like much, much longer. But it has certainly been a rewarding and stimulating five years and we are thrilled with the success that Nature Methods has enjoyed.

To help celebrate, Veronique asked a local pastry shop run her friend called "How Sweet It Is" to bake a cake using the cover image of our inaugural issue. It turned out spectacularly and tasted just as good. I'm hoping to convince Veronique to post a blog entry describing the undertaking with accompanying pictures.

While our readers won't be able to taste the cake, they can see a picture of it in its full glory (minus a slice) on the cover of the October issue. Below, I have pasted an image of the October 2009 cover next to an image of our October 2004 cover so you can see how well the artisans recreated our first cover.

Our readers can however, enjoy a special selection of content in our special anniversary issue. Science Historians Angela Creager and Hannah Landecker provide fascinating Historical Commentaries on the roles methods have played in 20th Century biological science. We are also indebted to Steven Shapin for his help in pointing us to these two people, without whom the issue wouldn't be as special as it is.

Of course we must also thank the practicing scientists who wrote the scientific commentaries on a selection of methodological topics that have appeared in Nature Methods over its first five years. While we would have liked to include more topics, this limited selection illustrates quite well how Nature Methods has participated in conveying important methodological developments to our readers. For a full description of the special commentaries in the issue please see the editorial.

Finally, we would like to thank all our authors, reviewers and readers for their support over the years. We hope everyone enjoys this special issue and we look forward to another five years of communicating methodological advances.

Posted by Daniel Evanko at 10:30 AM | Permalink

To help prevent automated spamming of the Method of the Year voting we require that anyone wishing to vote be a registered user of nature.com . Unfortunately, the regular nature.com registration required answering quite a few questions and it is quite likely that some people would rather not bother.

We have now done away with all the questions. All you need to do is provide a username and password and you can immediately log in and begin voting. We hope this will encourage more people to participate and vote for their choice of Method of the Year.

Posted by Daniel Evanko at 02:55 PM | Permalink

We hope you've had a chance to check out our selection of Research Highlights in the September issue. In addition, you might find the following list of methods papers from the last few months to be intriguing.

Noninvasive optical imaging of apoptosis by caspase-targeted activity-based probes
Nature Medicine 15, 967 - 973 (2009)

Determination of protein structural flexibility by microsecond force spectroscopy
Nature Nanotechnology 4, 514 - 517 (2009)

Development of GFP-based biosensors possessing the binding properties of antibodies
PNAS 106, 11895 - 11900 (2009)

Quantification of the yeast transcriptome by single-molecule sequencing
Nature Biotechnology 27, 652 - 658 (2009)

Partial sequencing of a single DNA molecule with a scanning tunnelling microscope
Nature Nanotechnology 4, 518 - 522 (2009)

Virtual taphonomy using synchrotron tomographic microscopy reveals cryptic features and internal structure of modern and fossil plants
PNAS 106, 12013 - 12018 (2009)

Posted by Allison Doerr at 04:42 PM | Permalink