News & Views in 2005

A recent Keystone meeting highlighted the progress in generating effective anti-cancer antibodies by manipulating antibody binding affinity and their ability to support ADCC.

AAV vectors containing the combined furin-site and 2A 'self-cleaving' peptide facilitate high-level expression of monoclonal antibodies in vivo.

Transgenic cows expressing an antibacterial endopeptidase in their mammary glands show enhanced resistance to mastitis.

Genetic engineering promises to improve a technique for controlling medflies that avoids chemical insecticides.

Injured tissues in aged animals are regenerated by exposure to young serum.

A more nutritious version of Golden Rice may offer a practical solution to vitamin A deficiency.

Ligand-responsive riboregulators enable extracellular control of post-transcriptional gene expression.

The specificity of kinase inhibitors can be rapidly determined with a new in vitro competition assay.

Efficient gene delivery to muscles has been achieved with adeno-associated virus 8.

Alternatives to Agrobacterium may circumvent patents on plant transformation technologies.

Fragment-based methods for identifying lead compounds are a promising alternative to traditional drug discovery approaches.

The genome sequence of the bacterium Gluconobacter oxydans suggests new ways of harnessing this organism's unusual metabolism for biotechnology.

Two new studies describe strategies for increasing the efficiency of RNA interference.

A practical method for measuring the synthesis and decay of mRNA promises new insight into cellular regulation.

A new diarylquinoline drug promises faster treatment for tuberculosis.