● Genetics of susceptibility to human infectious disease Cooke, G. S. & Hill, A. V. S. Nature Reviews Genetics December (2001) Nature Reviews Genetics

● Goliath befriends David Clarke, T. & Pearson, H. Nature 15 November (2001) Nature Increasingly, large pharmaceutical companies are outsourcing research in drug discovery to start-up companies. Tom Clarke and Helen Pearson analyse this emerging trend, and ask what both sides expect to gain.

●Histone deacetylases and cancer: causes and therapies Marks, P. A. et al. Nature Reviews Cancer December (2001) Nature Reviews Cancer The acetylation status of histones can regulate gene expression. Could this be exploited to create new anticancer therapeutics?

●Special issue and web focus on multifactorial genetics Nature Reviews Genetics January (2002) Nature Reviews Genetics Technological advances in genomics have opened the door to the identification of genes involved in multifactorial traits. These articles provide a thorough view of the state of multifactorial genetics research in both model systems and in humans.

Of particular interest to researchers in drug discovery is the following review: Rat genetics: attaching physiology and pharmacology to the genome  Jacob, H. J. & Kwitek, A. E.

● The promise and peril of surrogate end points in cancer research Schatzkin, A. & Gail, M. Nature Reviews Cancer January (2002) Nature Reviews Cancer Most investigations that use the occurrence or recurrence of cancer as an end point must be large and lengthy — and thus costly — to be meaningful. So, studies that use surrogate end points are an attractive alternative. But how can we be sure that a study with a surrogate outcome gives us the right answer about the true end point?

● Cytokines and autoimmunity O'Shea, J. J., Ma, A. & Lipsky, P. Nature Reviews Immunology January (2002) Nature Reviews Immunology This review focuses on the complex pro-inflammatory and immunosuppressive functions of interleukin-2, interferons and tumor-necrosis factor, and their role in the pathogenesis of autoimmunity.

● Milestones in cell division. Nature Milestones (Suppl.) December (2001) Nature Milestones. A joint project between Nature Cell Biology, Nature Reviews Molecular Cell Biology, Nature and Nature Reviews Cancer to highlight many of the most important discoveries in cell division. This supplement, which contains highlight articles, original research papers and relevant reviews, is also accompanied by a special web focus with additional material.