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 miRNAs to modulate gene expression makes them an attractive target for therapeutic development. Proof-of-concept studies in non-human primates, using ever-improved delivery vehicles, have paved the way for the first human trials involving miRNA drugs. With the ubiquitous impact of miRNAs on cell proliferation and development, these collected articles can provide only the merest hint of the miRNA landscape. As geneticists used to proclaim “the awesome power of yeast genetics”, I think many would acknowledge that we are approaching an era dominated by “the awesome power of miRNAs”. "

Request your free copy of the Nature MicroRNA collection.

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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 RNA interference.

Timeline of events provides a brief history of what made news this year, from January, when a woman gave birth to the first baby to have ever been screened before conception for the cancer-causing BRCA1 mutation, to October’s conviction of South Korean stem-cell scientist Woo Suk Hwang for embezzlement and bioethical violations.

2009 by the numbers provides a 360-degree accounting of the ’flu felt around the world.

Drugs in the headlines

This year witnessed both surprising successes and unexpected failures in basic and clinical drug development. There were also mixed results for some newly tested drugs, which will probably prompt a careful reassessment of their therapeutic value. Nature Medicine s drug watch compilation, by Victoria Aranda, summarizes the most talked about therapies of the year.

In case you missed it

A look at stories that fell under the radar in 2009.

Nature Medicine’s year in review

Nature Medicine website.

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 level, so too have molecular biologists increasingly investigated ‘where’ and ‘when’ molecular processes occur in the cell. Nature Cell Biology has vigorously kept apace with these fundamental shifts in the field. In the past decade, the rate of discovery in cell biology has been driven by technological breakthroughs on various fronts — imaging and high-throughput genomic and proteomic approaches, to name a few — and these changes too are reflected in our pages. To mark this anniversary, we have assembled a collection of papers published over the past decade, spanning the diverse subject areas covered by the journal." The papers are representative of the journal’s scope and quality, but the list is not intended to be comprehensive.

Focus: A decade of Nature Cell Biology.

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 nations prepare progress reports on their pact to reduce the rate of loss of biodiversity by 2010, the International Year of Biodiversity, Pavan Sukhdev urges governments to secure the flows of nature’s ‘public goods’. Meanwhile, William R. Turner and colleagues argue that natural ecosystems be made a bulwark against climate change, Robert J. Smith and colleagues propose that local agencies need to set the conservation research agenda and Douglas Erwin calls upon paleontologists to create models of the root causes of biodiversity. These three Opinion articles are free to read online for one month from the issue date of 19 November. In addition, News Features examine Brazil’s forests and species barcodes, and there’s a profile of ecosystem services advocate Gretchen Daily.

Free to access online is this week’s Editorial, The entangled bank unravels, examining some of the most pressing issues concerning the loss of biodiversity.

Nature‘s free podcast this week features three of the authors of the Opinion articles in this week’s issue, discussing the influence of Darwin on their work and disciplines.

Nature‘s Darwin special, from which the journal’s three special issues during 2009, as well as a host of other related content, can be accessed.

NPG Darwin celebration: in celebration of Darwin 200, NPG journals have commissioned and collected content showcasing how Darwin’s seminal work and ideas have enriched and transformed diverse disciplines.