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During long-term culture, human embryonic stem (hES) cells may acquire chromosomal abnormalities that compromise their potential clinical utility. A study of 17 hES cell lines reveals various genomic changes, including trisomies and monosomies, an amplification at 20q11.21 and a derivative chromosome 18.
During long-term culture, human embryonic stem (hES) cells may acquire chromosomal abnormalities that compromise their potential clinical utility. Lefort et al. show that an amplification at 20q11.21 arose at relatively late passage number in three of five hES cell lines.
Gene silencing by siRNA generally relies on short RNA duplexes containing two strands of the same length. Sun et al. show that an asymmetric duplex with a shortened passenger strand silences its target gene effectively while reducing off-target effects mediated by this strand.
Critical considerations in the design and analysis of ChIP-seq experiments include how to align sequenced tags to the genome, how to detect binding sites and how to estimate the number of tags needed to confidently determine where a protein binds DNA. Using data set for three transcription factors, Kharchenko et al. address these considerations by comparing three novel algorithms with published computational methods.
Fan et al. describe a microfluidic chip for multiplexed analysis of proteins in a finger prick of blood. The chip separates plasma from diluted whole blood and quantifies panels of serum proteins in about 10 minutes, minimizing protein degradation.
Analyzing the massive and heterogenous datasets from genome-wide chromatin immunoprecipitation (ChIP) datasets presents several computational and statistical challenges. Ji et al. present a software suite that integrates all steps in ChIP-chip and ChIP-seq data analyses and illustrate the use of these tools by comparing the ability of the two platforms to identify transcription factor binding sites.
In under three years, Deborah Dunsire transformed Millennium Pharmaceuticals from an unprofitable company to Takeda's oncology centerpiece. What's next?