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The human genome ten years on, and introducing the News&Views forum

The human genome ten years on, and introducing the News&Views forum

The draft human genome sequence, announced with much fanfare in 2000, promised great insights into human biology, medicine and evolution. In a special in this week’s issue, whose content is free to read online, Nature asks whether the sequence has delivered the insights that were anticipated, and what lessons have been learned from the first post-genome decade. Human genetics in 2010 looks infinitely more complex, and questions about how to make sense of the explosion in biological data are only becoming more pressing. Read articles in Editorial, Features, Opinion (including articles by Robert Weinberg, by Craig Venter and by Francis  … Read more

Nature’s collection on biodiversity

Nature's collection on biodiversity

Nature presents a supplement on biodiversity, in this International Year of Biodiversity. As nations come together to reduce the alarming loss of species taking place worldwide, we hope that these features, opinion pieces, News & Views articles and original research papers will provide a useful snapshot of the problems faced and solutions proposed. All the articles in this supplement are free to read online for six months from the publication date, and a free print copy can be requested. From the supplement’s Editorial: “The rich variety of the natural world that Charles Darwin memorably imagined as an “entangled bank”, and  … Read more

Synthetic systems biology, ten years on

Synthetic systems biology, ten years on

Synthetic biology goes beyond classic genetic engineering as it attempts to engineer living systems to perform new functions not found in nature. Ten years ago, Nature published a pair of seminal papers that stimulated ‘systems biology’ thinking in the field. The journal has now collected these papers, together with other, more recently published articles and an accompanying free podcast and video, as a web focus on ‘Synthetic systems biology’. The collection includes a News Feature ‘Bioengineering: Five hard truths for synthetic biology’ (Nature 463, 288–290; 21 January 2010), which is free to access online. In this News Feature, Nature asks  … Read more

MicroRNA collection at Nature

MicroRNA collection at Nature

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are small, non–coding RNAs found in plants and animals. They regulate gene expression by binding to complementary sequences within target mRNAs. The mammalian genome encodes hundreds of miRNAs that collectively affect the expression of about one–third of all genes. This collection showcases the latest papers from Nature that explore the biogenesis, biological effects in both normal and diseased cells, and therapeutic potential of miRNAs. Read the collection free online for 3 months after the publication date, and request a sample copy at the Nature website. Senior Nature editor Angela Eggleston writes in the collection’s Editorial: “The ability of  … Read more

Nature Medicine’s year in review

Nature Medicine's year in review

In keeping with the journal’s annual tradition, the December issue of Nature Medicine takes a look back at the key developments in biomedicine during 2009. Yearbook 2009 p1348 Behind the news, there are always the newsmakers. Inspired by the high school yearbook tradition, we have rounded up a few such individuals worthy of notice in 2009. Some stepped into the spotlight eagerly, whereas others operated behind the scenes. Melinda Wenner reports. Notable advances Melinda Wenner highlights some of the key papers published in 2009, including topics such as lifespan, T-cell immunity, hepatitis C, HIV, microRNA, Alzheimer’s disease, tuberculosis, cardiology and  … Read more

Happy tenth birthday to Nature Cell Biology

Happy tenth birthday to Nature Cell Biology

Nature Cell Biology was launched ten years ago to provide a forum to “foster the exchange of ideas between all areas of cell biology”, and the Editorial in the current issue reflects on how cell biology has evolved during this time (11, 1389-1390; 2009). “The journal’s ”https://dx.doi.org/10.1038/8948″>first editorial noted that cell biology is a “broad discipline” that includes membrane traffic, cytoskeletal dynamics, adhesion, apoptosis, cell division, nuclear organization and signal transduction. Ten years later, these areas remain at the heart of the journal’s scope. As cell and developmental biologists have moved to dissect biological processes at the molecular and cellular  … Read more

Poster on the rise of p53 at Nature Reviews

Poster on the rise of p53 at Nature Reviews

Nature Reviews Cancer and Nature Reviews Molecular Cell Biology present a free poster on the rise of p53, by Bert Vogelstein and Carol Prives. “In 1979 the discovery of p53 was reported. The gene encoding p53 (TP53) was initially believed to be an oncogene but 10 years later it was correctly characterized as a tumour suppressor, which led to a steep rise in p53 research. We now know that the protein encoded by TP53 — one of the most commonly mutated tumour suppressor genes in human cancer — regulates many important biological activities and is itself regulated through post-translational modifications  … Read more

Nature celebrates 150 years of On The Origin of Species

Nature celebrates 150 years of On The Origin of Species

Nature‘s year-long celebration of Charles Darwin’s life and achievements continues in the current (19 November) issue, marking the anniversary of the publication of On The Origin Of Species 150 years ago, with a special issue on biodiversity, focusing on the dire challenges to Earth’s biodiversity — and finding some reason for hope. The Darwin-related content from this issue, plus further discussion on this week’s free Nature Podcast, can all be accessed within the journal’s Darwin 200 special, an extensive collection of news, research and analysis commemorating Darwin’s life, his science and his legacy. In this week’s biodiversity special issue, as  … Read more

Nature reprint collection: immuno-epigentics

Epigenetic mechanisms are increasingly appreciated to have an important role in immune cell functional diversity and adaptability, and understanding these mechanisms holds considerable potential for revealing new opportunities to therapeutically modulate the immune response in a range of diseases.  Read more

Nature Medicine classics collection

In 2010, Nature Medicine will celebrate 15 years as the leading translational-research journal. To mark this anniversary, the journal has launched the Nature Medicine Classics Collection. This collection brings together some landmark articles published in Nature Medicine over the past 15 years, making them freely available to all readers together with a series of recent articles on different fields of biomedicine to illustrate the breadth of the journal.  Read more