Nature Podcast |
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Article
| Open AccessEarly prediction of preeclampsia in pregnancy with cell-free RNA
Analyses of circulating cell-free RNA (cfRNA) in blood samples from pregnant mothers identify changes in gene expression that could be used in liquid biopsy tests to identify and monitor individuals who are at risk of preeclampsia.
- Mira N. Moufarrej
- , Sevahn K. Vorperian
- & Stephen R. Quake
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Article |
Genome-edited powdery mildew resistance in wheat without growth penalties
Tamlo-R32, an engineered wheat mutant allele of the Mildew resistance locus O (MLO) gene, confers resistance to powdery mildew, retains robust wheat growth, and can be transferred to other agriculturally important wheat varieties.
- Shengnan Li
- , Dexing Lin
- & Caixia Gao
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Career Feature |
Start-ups create career opportunities for scientists
As companies compete for talent, a candidate’s attitude can matter more than their credentials.
- Chris Woolston
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Correspondence |
Theranos’s lesson for investors: speak to lab workers
- Richard D. Unwin
- , Daniela S. Couto
- & Simon J. Clark
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Outlook |
The biological clean-ups that could combat age-related disease
Could targeting autophagy — often likened to a cellular trash management system — extend life? Some researchers are unconvinced.
- Elie Dolgin
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Research Highlight |
Slime moulds souped up with plant genes churn out drugs
The amoeba life stage of a common slime mould outshines workhorse microbes at producing certain medicinal compounds.
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Nature Podcast |
Webb Space Telescope makes history after tense launch
We highlight some recent stories from the Nature Briefing, including the latest on the James Webb Space Telescope, an ichthyosaur fossil find, and more.
- Benjamin Thompson
- , Noah Baker
- & Flora Graham
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News |
Elizabeth Holmes verdict: researchers share lessons for science
Theranos case highlights the importance of peer review for biotech entrepreneurs, scientists say.
- Emily Waltz
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Obituary |
Ned Seeman (1945–2021)
Nanotechnologist who built the first self-assembling DNA structures.
- Philip Ball
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Article |
Spatial genomics enables multi-modal study of clonal heterogeneity in tissues
A technique using barcoded beads for DNA sequencing within tissue sections enables spatial resolution of tumour clonal heterogeneity and can be multiplexed with other analytical techniques for analysis of complex cellular phenotypes.
- Tongtong Zhao
- , Zachary D. Chiang
- & Fei Chen
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Correspondence |
Remembering a pioneer in biotechnology
- Tzvi Aviv
- , Frank Sicheri
- & Robert A. Weinberg
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News & Views |
A heritable, non-genetic road to cancer evolution
Treatment for leukaemia can fail for reasons that are not fully clear. Tracking the progress of individual cellular lineages for this type of cancer offers a way to investigate this phenomenon.
- Tamara Prieto
- & Dan A. Landau
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Research Highlight |
It’s alive! Bio-bricks can signal to others of their kind
Large structures can be built from a microbial material with self-healing properties.
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Research Highlight |
High-speed spinning yields some of the toughest spider silk ever found
The silk that whizzes out of jumping spiders mid-bound is of superior quality.
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Book Review |
The vaccine shots that rang around the world
Two books follow key runners in the historic race to immunize the world against COVID.
- Natasha Loder
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Article |
Human neural tube morphogenesis in vitro by geometric constraints
Stem cells cultured in a micropattern-constrained platform form a quantitative and robust model of human neural tube morphogenesis.
- Eyal Karzbrun
- , Aimal H. Khankhel
- & Sebastian J. Streichan
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Book Review |
Inside the lawsuit that ended US gene patenting
How a win in the Supreme Court challenged a linchpin of the genetic-testing industry.
- Heidi Ledford
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Research Highlight |
Moulded or folded, this wood stays strong
By tinkering with the structure of wood fibres, scientists have boosted the material’s flexibility and strength.
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Article |
Metabolic modulation of tumours with engineered bacteria for immunotherapy
Injection of engineered bacteria that convert ammonia to l-arginine into tumours enhance the anti-tumour response in a mouse model and synergize with anti-PD-L1 treatment to clear tumours.
- Fernando P. Canale
- , Camilla Basso
- & Roger Geiger
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Article
| Open AccessA transcriptomic atlas of mouse cerebellar cortex comprehensively defines cell types
A comprehensive atlas of cell types and regional specializations in the mouse cerebellar cortex.
- Velina Kozareva
- , Caroline Martin
- & Evan Macosko
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Article
| Open AccessDNA methylation atlas of the mouse brain at single-cell resolution
A comprehensive survey of the epigenome from 45 regions of the mouse cortex, hippocampus, striatum, pallidum and olfactory areas using single-nucleus DNA methylation sequencing enables identification of 161 cell clusters with distinct locations and projection targets and provides insights into the regulatory landscape underlying neuronal diversity and spatial regulation.
- Hanqing Liu
- , Jingtian Zhou
- & Joseph R. Ecker
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Outlook |
Stem cells
The vast potential of these building blocks of regenerative medicine is coming closer to being realized.
- Richard Hodson
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Outlook |
The rise of the assembloid
3D models of biological tissue that incorporate multiple cell types are the latest tools for understanding human development and disease.
- Charlie Schmidt
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Outlook |
Stem cells: highlights from research
Self-organizing models of the early heart, why dead cells can be therapeutic, and other studies.
- Anthony King
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Outlook |
The chimaera challenge
The ability to develop animals that have human organs could save the lives of people waiting for transplants, but ethical issues still need to be faced.
- Liam Drew
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Outlook |
Reversing blindness with stem cells
Regenerative therapies for the eyes could help to save vision in people with glaucoma, macular degeneration and damaged corneas.
- Neil Savage
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Outlook |
Stem-cell start-ups seek to crack the mass-production problem
Commercial outfits are building the tools and know-how to manufacture treatments using induced pluripotent stem cells in the quantities required for clinical use.
- Eric Bender
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Outlook |
The next frontier for human embryo research
Keeping human embryos alive in a dish is getting easier. How are researchers and ethicists responding?
- Elizabeth Svoboda
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Research Highlight |
An easily swallowed capsule injects drugs straight into the gut
Exposure to digestive fluids triggers the deployment of a needle through which medication flows into the stomach tissue.
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Article |
Programmable RNA targeting with the single-protein CRISPR effector Cas7-11
Cas7-11—the fusion of a putative Cas11 domain and four Cas7 subunits—cleaves RNA without detectable non-specific activity and, when optimized for RNA knockdown and editing in mammalian cells, has no effects on cell viability.
- Ahsen Özcan
- , Rohan Krajeski
- & Jonathan S. Gootenberg
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News |
India’s DNA COVID vaccine is a world first – more are coming
The ZyCoV-D vaccine heralds a wave of DNA vaccines for various diseases that are undergoing clinical trials around the world.
- Smriti Mallapaty
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Technology Feature |
The hunt for red fluorescent proteins
By pushing fluorescent proteins further into the red, bioengineers are expanding the palette and penetration depth of biological imaging.
- Amber Dance
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Article |
Regulated control of gene therapies by drug-induced splicing
A switch system is developed to control the expression of therapeutic genes, involving the administration of a small-molecule drug to induce splicing-mediated control of mRNA translation.
- Alex Mas Monteys
- , Amiel A. Hundley
- & Beverly L. Davidson
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News |
Massive DNA ‘Borg’ structures perplex scientists
Researchers say they have discovered unique and exciting DNA strands in the mud — others aren’t sure of their novelty.
- Amber Dance
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Outlook |
Creating T cells to guard against autoimmune disease
Biotechnology companies are engineering regulatory T cells to help protect the body from friendly fire.
- Eric Bender
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Research Highlight |
Beetles make ‘Teflon’ to grease their knees
The protein-based substance found in the leg joints of beetles and at least one other insect is a superb lubricant.
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Nature Index |
Birds of paradise reveal a dark secret
Super-black feathers at the interface of biology, photonics and materials science.
- Katharine Sanderson
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Outlook |
A sensitive strategy for tumour surveillance
The start-up C2i Genomics is hoping to improve liquid biopsies with its platform for detecting rare tumour DNA in blood samples.
- Michael Eisenstein
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Outlook |
Miniature organs to heal damaged livers
The start-up Bilitech hopes organoids could be used as an alternative to liver transplants, to save lives and money.
- Benjamin Plackett
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News & Views |
A base-pair view of interactions between genes and their enhancers
A technique reveals how folded chromosomal DNA interacts in the nucleus, providing information at the level of single base pairs. The achievement offers an unprecedented level of detail about how gene activity is regulated.
- Anne van Schoonhoven
- & Ralph Stadhouders
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News |
A complete human genome sequence is close: how scientists filled in the gaps
Researchers added 200 million DNA base pairs and 115 protein-coding genes — but they’ve yet to entirely sequence the Y chromosome.
- Sara Reardon
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Research Highlight |
The surprise hidden in the teeth of the ‘wandering meatloaf’
The teeth of a marine mollusc hold the mineral santabarbaraite, which has been found in no other living thing.
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Article |
BNT162b2 vaccine induces neutralizing antibodies and poly-specific T cells in humans
In a phase-I/II trial in healthy adults, the BNT162b2 vaccine induces neutralizing antibodies and poly-specific T cells against SARS-CoV-2 epitopes that are conserved in a wide range of currently circulating variants.
- Ugur Sahin
- , Alexander Muik
- & Özlem Türeci
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Article |
In vivo CRISPR base editing of PCSK9 durably lowers cholesterol in primates
In a cynomolgus macaque model, CRISPR base editors delivered in lipid nanoparticles are shown to efficiently and stably knock down PCSK9 in the liver to reduce levels of PCSK9 and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol in the blood.
- Kiran Musunuru
- , Alexandra C. Chadwick
- & Sekar Kathiresan
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Article |
Diverse functional autoantibodies in patients with COVID-19
Rapid extracellular antigen profiling of a cohort of 194 individuals infected with SARS-CoV-2 uncovers diverse autoantibody responses that affect COVID-19 disease severity, progression and clinical and immunological characteristics.
- Eric Y. Wang
- , Tianyang Mao
- & Aaron M. Ring
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News |
China’s COVID vaccines are going global — but questions remain
The WHO has approved one of China’s COVID-19 vaccines for use worldwide and another is under review. But published trial data remain scarce.
- Smriti Mallapaty
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News |
First genetically modified mosquitoes released in the United States
Biotech firm Oxitec launches controversial field test of its insects in Florida after years of push-back from residents and regulatory complications.
- Emily Waltz
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Article
| Open AccessTowards complete and error-free genome assemblies of all vertebrate species
The Vertebrate Genome Project has used an optimized pipeline to generate high-quality genome assemblies for sixteen species (representing all major vertebrate classes), which have led to new biological insights.
- Arang Rhie
- , Shane A. McCarthy
- & Erich D. Jarvis
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Research Highlight |
Material mimicking lobster belly cracks the code for toughness
Who needs a shell? Crustacean’s lower surface spawns a synthetic substance that could lead to flexible armour.
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