The maintenance of genomic stability is crucial to prevent human diseases such as cancer. This month, we are pleased to launch our Series on Genomic Instability featuring Reviews covering key aspects of mechanisms causing failure in genome duplication, segregation and repair. We begin in this issue with a Review by Zeman and Cimprich highlighting current knowledge of the causes and consequences of DNA replication stress. They discuss how aberrant DNA structures may form, how the cell responds to these challenges and how defects in the replication stress response can result in disease.

A subsequent Review, to be published in the coming months, will discuss mechanisms generating multipolar spindles, a feature linked to aneuploidy and cancer. It will be followed by a Review presenting recent insights into how stem cells cope with DNA damage to preserve genome integrity and stem cell function. The final Review will focus on how the genome is spatially reorganized and how translocations form as a consequence of DNA breaks. This series does not aim to provide a comprehensive overview of the field, but to highlight some interesting aspects that are currently under intense investigation. In the spring, the Reviews will be hosted on a dedicated section of the Nature Cell Biology website and will be accompanied by a collection of relevant articles published in Nature Cell Biology and other Nature journals. We thank our authors for their contributions and hope that our readers find the Reviews stimulating and enjoyable.