Editorials in 2020

Emergency Use Authorizations for two mRNA COVID-19 vaccines represent a turning point in the pandemic. They also herald a new era for vaccinology.

Rapid progress is being made in our understanding of RNA–protein interactions, their role in disease and their influence on the action of oligonucleotide drugs.

Clear and consistent messaging on COVID-19 vaccine rollout will be key to building public trust and managing expectations.

The scientific integrity of US government agencies is under attack from the Trump administration. Agency senior executives and industry leaders need to continue pushing back.

The pandemic has highlighted long-standing, deep-rooted challenges to the sharing of biological samples. Greater attention is needed to mechanisms for incentivizing materials transfer.

As preliminary research findings are shared more widely and at an increasing pace, action is needed to counter the spread of misinformation.

As CRISPR–Cas9 enters human testing, the blistering pace of progress in preclinical research is offering a bewildering array of options for therapeutic gene editing.

A slew of national COVID-19 exposure apps have failed because of poor public engagement and acceptance. Apps from the workplace may offer a partial solution if privacy can be guaranteed.

Insufficient SARS-CoV-2 testing has left many nations flying blind as they reopen their economies. Without adequate testing, new infections could outrun control measures.

COVID-19 has reinforced the importance of preprints as an indispensable means for rapid research dissemination.

In the onslaught of the COVID-19 pandemic, the open sharing of materials, information and data is gaining increasing importance in biotech.

In the post-Brexit era, Britain must rapidly harmonize national and European law, secure unfettered access to global talent and address funding shortfalls to ensure continued leadership in the life sciences.

The US Food and Drug Administration is sticking to its plan to carry out mandatory premarket review of all gene-edited livestock, irrespective of trait risk. It should rethink.

Was the public re-release of data excerpts from an unpublished manuscript on human germline gene editing ethically justified?