●Knockout malaria vaccine? Ménard, R. Nature 13 January (2005) The discovery that immunization with a genetically manipulated parasite can protect against infection in a rodent model has inspired fresh efforts to develop vaccines for malaria that involve live attenuated parasites.

●A new school for screening. Jhoti, H. Nature Biotechnology February (2005) This News and Views article reports on recent research into a family of phosphodiesterase inhibitors that were discovered by co-crystallography and scaffold-based drug design.

●Pandemic fears hatch new methods in flu vaccine industry. Singer, E. Nature Medicine January (2005) This News article reports on the race to develop more rapid ways to make flu vaccines following warnings of an impending worldwide influenza epidemic.

●Nuclear RNA export unwound. Cullen, B. R. Nature 6 January (2005) A cellular enzyme that helps to export HIV RNA from the nucleus has recently been discovered, and, as discussed in this News and Views article, might represent a possible new drug target.

●Immunology of Chlamydia infection: implications for a Chlamydia trachomatis vaccine. Brunham, R. C. & Rey-Ladino, J. Nature Reviews Immunology February (2005)

●Bacteria spurned by self-absorbed cells. Gorvel, J.-P. & de Chastellier, C. Nature Medicine January (2005) This News and Views piece describes recent work showing that autophagy protects cells against intracellular pathogens, and discusses implications for the development of vaccines against pathogens such as Mycobacterium tuberculosis, Streptococcus pyogenes and Shigella flexneri.

●Bleomycins: towards better therapeutics. Chen, J. & Stubbe, J. Nature Reviews Cancer February (2005)

●New patent rules drive Indian drug firms to research. Jayaraman, K. S. Nature Medicine February (2005)

●Insight on Chemical space.Nature 15 December (2004) This Insight considers how best to direct our efforts towards regions of chemical space that are most likely to contain molecules with useful biological activity. Articles include:

●Navigating chemical space for biology and medicine. Lipinski, C. & Hopkins, A.

●Lessons from natural molecules. Clardy, J. & Walsh, C.

●Exploring biology with small organic molecules. Stockwell, B. R.