Papers from the literature selected by the Nature Biotechnology editors. (Follow us on Twitter, @NatureBiotech #nbtHighlight)

Intraoperative tissue identification using rapid evaporative ionization mass spectrometry

Balog, J. et al. Sci. Transl. Med. 194, 194ra93 (2013)

A microscale human liver platform that supports the hepatic stages of Plasmodium falciparum and vivax

March, S. et al. Cell Host Microbe 1, 104–115 (2013)

Optical control of mammalian endogenous transcription and epigenetic states

Konermann, S. et al. Nature doi:10.1038/nature12466 (23 July 2013)

Control of root system architecture by DEEPER ROOTING 1 increases rice yield under drought conditions

Uga, Y. et al. Nat. Genet. doi:10.1038/ng.2725 (4 August 2013)

From structure to systems: high-resolution, quantitative genetic analysis of RNA polymerase II

Braberg, H. et al. Cell 4, 775–788 (2013)