Nature Biotechnology 26, 837 (2008). doi:10.1038/nbt0808-837

Pushing biotech as the 'solution' to the world's problems is doing more harm than good.

Nature Biotechnology 26, 849 (2008). doi:10.1038/nbt0808-849

Author: Henry Nicholls

With Beijing 2008 in full swing, the World Anti-Doping Agency's Olivier Rabin is looking for help from the biotech and pharma industry in the battle against cheaters.

Nature Biotechnology 26, 851 (2008). doi:10.1038/nbt0808-851

Author: Emily Waltz

Receiving only a fraction of the investment set aside for biofuels, biomaterials will likely have to piggyback on technological advances in energy production to compete with petroleum-based products in the marketplace. Emily Waltz reports.

Nature Biotechnology 26, 855 (2008). doi:10.1038/bioe.2008.7

Authors: Richard Mason, Nicos Savva & Stefan Scholtes

Understanding why licensing works in biotech, and why deals are structured as they are, will help the entrepreneur negotiate.

Nature Biotechnology 26, 867 (2008). doi:10.1038/nbt0808-867

Authors: Mark Ratner & Trisha Gura

Off-label prescribing is a fundamental fact of life of healthcare systems, but the promotion of off-label uses by drug sponsors is a fundamental sin. Regulators, legislators and drug makers are wrestling to find the right balance.

Nature Biotechnology 26, 877 (2008). doi:10.1038/nbt0808-877

Author: Justine Muir

Are European patents really getting cheaper, and if so, what effect will this have on parallel or so-called gray imports?

Nature Biotechnology 26, 881 (2008). doi:10.1038/nbt0808-881

Authors: Ian R Henderson & Steven E Jacobsen

Global sequencing of cleaved mRNAs enables identification of the targets of microRNA silencing.

Nature Biotechnology 26, 882 (2008). doi:10.1038/nbt0808-882

Author: James P McCarter

The genome sequence of the plant-parasitic roundworm Meloidogyne incognita opens new avenues to boosting food production.

Nature Biotechnology 26, 884 (2008). doi:10.1038/nbt0808-884

Author: Nitin K Damle

Near-uniform, low-level conjugation of cytotoxins to antitumor antibodies increases their tolerability without compromising efficacy.

Nature Biotechnology 26, 886 (2008). doi:10.1038/nbt0808-886

Authors: Michael B Zwick, Johannes S Gach & Dennis R Burton

A new method allows rapid identification of human monoclonal antibodies from immune or vaccinated individuals.

Nature Biotechnology 26, 889 (2008). doi:10.1038/nbt.1411

Authors: Chris F Taylor, Dawn Field, Susanna-Assunta Sansone, Jan Aerts, Rolf Apweiler, Michael Ashburner, Catherine A Ball, Pierre-Alain Binz, Molly Bogue, Tim Booth, Alvis Brazma, Ryan R Brinkman, Adam Michael Clark, Eric W Deutsch, Oliver Fiehn, Jennifer Fostel, Peter Ghazal, Frank Gibson, Tanya Gray, Graeme Grimes, John M Hancock, Nigel W Hardy, Henning Hermjakob, Randall K Julian, Matthew Kane, Carsten Kettner, Christopher Kinsinger, Eugene Kolker, Martin Kuiper, Nicolas Le Novère, Jim Leebens-Mack, Suzanna E Lewis, Phillip Lord, Ann-Marie Mallon, Nishanth Marthandan, Hiroshi Masuya, Ruth McNally, Alexander Mehrle, Norman Morrison, Sandra Orchard, John Quackenbush, James M Reecy, Donald G Robertson, Philippe Rocca-Serra, Henry Rodriguez, Heiko Rosenfelder, Javier Santoyo-Lopez, Richard H Scheuermann, Daniel Schober, Barry Smith, Jason Snape, Christian J Stoeckert, Keith Tipton, Peter Sterk, Andreas Untergasser, Jo Vandesompele & Stefan Wiemann

Nature Biotechnology 26, 897 (2008). doi:10.1038/nbt1406

Authors: Chuong B Do & Serafim Batzoglou

The expectation maximization algorithm arises in many computational biology applications that involve probabilistic models. What is it good for, and how does it work?

Nature Biotechnology 26, 909 (2008). doi:10.1038/nbt.1482

Authors: Pierre Abad, Jérôme Gouzy, Jean-Marc Aury, Philippe Castagnone-Sereno, Etienne G J Danchin, Emeline Deleury, Laetitia Perfus-Barbeoch, Véronique Anthouard, François Artiguenave, Vivian C Blok, Marie-Cécile Caillaud, Pedro M Coutinho, Corinne Dasilva, Francesca De Luca, Florence Deau, Magali Esquibet, Timothé Flutre, Jared V Goldstone, Noureddine Hamamouch, Tarek Hewezi, Olivier Jaillon, Claire Jubin, Paola Leonetti, Marc Magliano, Tom R Maier, Gabriel V Markov, Paul McVeigh, Graziano Pesole, Julie Poulain, Marc Robinson-Rechavi, Erika Sallet, Béatrice Ségurens, Delphine Steinbach, Tom Tytgat, Edgardo Ugarte, Cyril van Ghelder, Pasqua Veronico, Thomas J Baum, Mark Blaxter, Teresa Bleve-Zacheo, Eric L Davis, Jonathan J Ewbank, Bruno Favery, Eric Grenier, Bernard Henrissat, John T Jones, Vincent Laudet, Aaron G Maule, Hadi Quesneville, Marie-Noëlle Rosso, Thomas Schiex, Geert Smant, Jean Weissenbach & Patrick Wincker

Nature Biotechnology 26, 916 (2008). doi:10.1038/nbt1483

Authors: Marius Wernig, Christopher J Lengner, Jacob Hanna, Michael A Lodato, Eveline Steine, Ruth Foreman, Judith Staerk, Styliani Markoulaki & Rudolf Jaenisch

Nature Biotechnology 26, 925 (2008). doi:10.1038/nbt.1480

Authors: Jagath R Junutula, Helga Raab, Suzanna Clark, Sunil Bhakta, Douglas D Leipold, Sylvia Weir, Yvonne Chen, Michelle Simpson, Siao Ping Tsai, Mark S Dennis, Yanmei Lu, Y Gloria Meng, Carl Ng, Jihong Yang, Chien C Lee, Eileen Duenas, Jeffrey Gorrell, Viswanatham Katta, Amy Kim, Kevin McDorman, Kelly Flagella, Rayna Venook, Sarajane Ross, Susan D Spencer, Wai Lee Wong, Henry B Lowman, Richard Vandlen, Mark X Sliwkowski, Richard H Scheller, Paul Polakis & William Mallet

Nature Biotechnology 26, 933 (2008). doi:10.1038/nbt.1481

Authors: Ge Shan, Yujing Li, Junliang Zhang, Wendi Li, Keith E Szulwach, Ranhui Duan, Mohammad A Faghihi, Ahmad M Khalil, Lianghua Lu, Zain Paroo, Anthony W S Chan, Zhangjie Shi, Qinghua Liu, Claes Wahlestedt, Chuan He & Peng Jin

Nature Biotechnology 26, 941 (2008). doi:10.1038/nbt1417

Authors: Marcelo A German, Manoj Pillay, Dong-Hoon Jeong, Amit Hetawal, Shujun Luo, Prakash Janardhanan, Vimal Kannan, Linda A Rymarquis, Kan Nobuta, Rana German, Emanuele De Paoli, Cheng Lu, Gary Schroth, Blake C Meyers & Pamela J Green

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are important regulatory molecules in most eukaryotes and identification of their target mRNAs is essential for their functional analysis. Whereas conventional methods rely on computational prediction and subsequent experimental validation of target RNAs, we directly sequenced >28,000,000 signatures from the 5′ ends of polyadenylated products of miRNA-mediated mRNA decay, isolated from inflorescence tissue of Arabidopsis thaliana, to discover novel miRNA–target RNA pairs. Within the set of ∼27,000 transcripts included in the 8,000,000 nonredundant signatures, several previously predicted but nonvalidated targets of miRNAs were found. Like validated targets, most showed a single abundant signature at the miRNA cleavage site, particularly in libraries from a mutant deficient in the 5′-to-3′ exonuclease AtXRN4. Although miRNAs in Arabidopsis have been extensively investigated, working in reverse from the cleaved targets resulted in the identification and validation of novel miRNAs. This versatile approach will affect the study of other aspects of RNA processing beyond miRNA–target RNA pairs.

Nature Biotechnology 26, 949 (2008). doi:10.1038/nbt0808-949

Author: Quirin Schiermeier

Scientists in newer member countries are learning how to use what the European Union offers.