News Feature |
Featured
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News Feature |
Food: Inside the hothouses of industry
Feeding the world is going to require the scientific and financial muscle of agricultural biotechnology companies. Natasha Gilbert asks whether they're up to the task.
- Natasha Gilbert
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News |
DNA factory builds up steam
First reliable components for synthetic biology could be available by the end of the year.
- Alla Katsnelson
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Editorial |
Brazil's biotech boom
Ten years ago, Brazilian bioscience was transformed by a bold initiative. Scientists and the government must develop and extend the progress that has resulted.
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News |
DNA patent ruling hinders Monsanto
Lawyers debate a European court decision on patents involving genetic material.
- Richard Van Noorden
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Letter |
Measuring mechanical tension across vinculin reveals regulation of focal adhesion dynamics
The ability of cells to respond to physical forces is central to development and physiology, but until now it has been difficult to directly measure forces across proteins in vivo. Here, however, a calibrated biosensor is described that can measure forces with high sensitivity across specific proteins in cells. This is applied to the vinculin protein, and a regulatory mechanism is revealed in which the force applied to vinculin determines whether focal adhesions assemble or disassemble.
- Carsten Grashoff
- , Brenton D. Hoffman
- & Martin A. Schwartz
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News |
Bioethics gets an airing
Amy Gutmann, chair of the US presidential bioethics commission, discusses the challenges of bringing synthetic biology to the public arena.
- Meredith Wadman
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News |
Russia pushes for domestic drug development
But building a complex industry from scratch won't be easy.
- Alla Katsnelson
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News |
US Supreme Court avoids clarifying patent stance
A highly anticipated case yields disappointingly vague results.
- Heidi Ledford
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News |
Making lungs in the lab
Implanted tissue and microchip mimic both perform functions of lung.
- Alla Katsnelson
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News |
US biotech firms line up for tax credits
Application process begins for cash to beat the downturn.
- Heidi Ledford
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Column |
World view: Talking the talk
Without effective public engagement, there will be no synthetic biology in Europe, says Colin Macilwain.
- Colin Macilwain
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Research Highlights |
Biomaterials: Surgical solution
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Career Brief |
Biotech tax credit
Companies will be eligible for cash if they create or sustain jobs.
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News |
Synthetic genome resets biotech goals
The assembly of a genome that can 'reboot' cells of a closely related species is one step in a much longer path.
- Alla Katsnelson
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Opinion |
Life after the synthetic cell
Nature asked eight synthetic-biology experts about the implications for science and society of the “synthetic cell” made by the J. Craig Venter Institute (JCVI). The institute's team assembled, modified and implanted a synthesized genome into a DNA-free bacterial shell to make a self-replicating Mycoplasma mycoides.
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News |
Mouse project to find each gene's role
International Mouse Phenotyping Consortium launches with a massive funding commitment.
- Alison Abbott
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News |
Sizing up the 'synthetic cell'
Nature asked eight experts about the implications of the J. Craig Venter Institute's latest creation.
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Spotlight |
Spotlight on Biotech / Pharma
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Books & Arts |
Building life from the bottom up
Engineering biological systems and organisms is a costly team effort and may be incompatible with an open-source regulatory environment, finds Michael A. Goldman.
- Michael A. Goldman
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News & Views |
Lessons in complexity from yeast
A challenge in biology is to understand complex traits, which are influenced by many genetic variants. Studies in yeast provide the prospect of analysing such genetic variation in detail in other organisms, including humans.
- David B. Goldstein
- & Mohamed A. F. Noor
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Careers and Recruitment |
Getting better at biotech
Researchers seeking the latest biotechnology expertise have several options. Paul Smaglik reports.
- Paul Smaglik
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Books & Arts |
A reality check for personalized medicine
Bringing genetic information into health care is welcome but its utility in the clinic needs to be rigorously reviewed, caution Muin J. Khoury, James Evans and Wylie Burke.
- Muin J. Khoury
- , James Evans
- & Wylie Burke
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Opinion |
Multiple personal genomes await
Genomic data will soon become a commodity; the next challenge — linking human genetic variation with physiology and disease — will be as great as the one genomicists faced a decade ago, says J. Craig Venter.
- J. Craig Venter
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Opinion |
Point: Hypotheses first
There is little to show for all the time and money invested in genomic studies of cancer, says Robert Weinberg — and the approach is undermining tried-and-tested ways of doing, and of building, science. This Opinion piece is part of a linked pair; see also Counterpoint: Data First by Todd Golub.
- Robert Weinberg
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Opinion |
Has the revolution arrived?
Looking back over the past decade of human genomics, Francis Collins finds five key lessons for the future of personalized medicine — for technology, policy, partnerships and pharmacogenomics.
- Francis Collins
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News Feature |
Human genome at ten: The human race
What was it like to participate in the fastest, fiercest research race in biology? Alison Abbott talks to some of the genome competitors about the rivalries and obstacles they faced then — and now.
- Alison Abbott
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News |
Cancer genes silenced in humans
Tiny particles carrying short strands of RNA can interfere with protein production in tumours.
- Janet Fang
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Letter |
Evidence of RNAi in humans from systemically administered siRNA via targeted nanoparticles
It has previously been shown in mice and non-human primates that systemically delivered short RNA molecules can inhibit gene expression. Here it is shown that a short interfering RNA (siRNA) can be systemically delivered, using nanoparticles, to a solid tumour in humans. The siRNA mediates cleavage of its target mRNA, thereby also reducing levels of the encoded protein. This proof-of-principle study confirms the potential of this technology for treating human disease.
- Mark E. Davis
- , Jonathan E. Zuckerman
- & Antoni Ribas
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News |
Genomes for the whole family
Sequencing of families' genomes offers insights into rare genetic diseases.
- Janelle Weaver
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News |
Soil bacteria could yield drug to treat roundworm
The natural insecticide Bt treats infections in mice.
- Janet Fang
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News |
Ancient polar-bear fossil yields genome
Oldest mammalian DNA sequence reveals link to brown bears.
- Matt Kaplan
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Editorial |
An absurd law
Turkey's government is about to pass legislation that could cripple the country's biological research.
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Research Highlights |
Developmental biology: Heads or tails
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News & Views |
Cell reprogramming gets direct
In a feat of biological wizardry, one type of differentiated cell has been directly converted into another, completely distinct type. Notably, the approach does not require a stem-cell intermediate stage.
- Cory R. Nicholas
- & Arnold R. Kriegstein
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News |
Beetle-based bonding
Device inspired by nature clings to surfaces using 'liquid bridges'.
- Daniel Cressey
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Research Highlights |
Biomaterials: Super snail shells
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News |
Altered microbe makes biofuel
Bacterium could work directly on grass or crop waste.
- Jeff Tollefson
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News & Views |
Synchronized bacterial clocks
By synchronizing clocks, humans make more efficient use of their time and orchestrate their activities in different places. Bacteria have now been engineered that similarly coordinate their molecular timepieces.
- Martin Fussenegger
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News Feature |
Five hard truths for synthetic biology
Can engineering approaches tame the complexity of living systems? Roberta Kwok explores five challenges for the field and how they might be resolved.
- Roberta Kwok
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News & Views |
Model offers intermediate insight
Chemical models of enzymes' active sites aid our understanding of biological reactions. Such a model of a reaction intermediate promises to advance our knowledge of the biochemistry of iron-containing haem enzymes.
- Kenneth D. Karlin
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