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Defects in cilia function can lead to an inherited form of renal disease. In this issue, Germino and his colleagues (p. 1490) explore how cilia help guide the kidney into the right shape. Image courtesy of Klaus Piontek and Gregory Germino.
A vaccine has the potential to substantially reduce the AIDS death toll. In the wake of the recent halting of phase 2b trials of Merck's HIV vaccine candidate, a hard look at the field's expectations and strategies is in order.
By designing a new generation of prosthetic limbs that rely on electronic sensing, Hugh Herr has proven that he can put good ideas into motion. But he aims to go beyond simply restoring lost limb function.
On 26 July, The New England Journal of Medicine published a curious article suggesting that obesity spreads though social ties: if your spouse, sibling or friend has gained weight, chances are you also need to buy larger shirts. Unfortunately, the popular media decided to interpret this quite literally as obesity being contagious...
It was a busy year—the genomes of some celebrities were sequenced, vaccine clinical trials were halted and, at long last, embryonic stem cells from primates were created.
An inherited form of kidney disease results from defects in the cilium. Mouse knockout experiments now explore how cilia help guide the organ into the right shape—and hint that these tiny antennae may also help regulate food intake (pages 1490–1495).
Adoptive T cell transfer studies in mice and in cancer patients have shown substantial potential, but also major barriers, for successful therapeutic outcomes. A new strategy may overcome some of these barriers. T cells can now be engineered with 'autocostimulation' properties along with chimeric receptors specific for tumor antigens (pages 1440–1449).
During HIV-1 infection, there are many ways for CD4+ T cells to die. New findings suggest that an autoimmune mechanism may come into play (pages 1431–1439).
Phagocytes swarm to the lung in individuals with cystic fibrosis but are unable to clear infection. A close examination of neutrophil biology reveals that Pseudomonas aeruginosa in the lung disables these phagocytes, which then turn on each other (pages 1423–1430).
Two studies examine why community-acquired strains of Staphylococcus aureus are so good at burrowing into flesh and wreaking havoc on the body (pages 1405–1406 and 1510–1514).
