The maintenance of genomic integrity requires tight control of the cell division process as well as accurate repair of damaged DNA, and failure in such mechanisms can cause developmental disorders and cancer. In the October issue of Nature Cell Biology, leading scientists highlight and discuss new developments in these areas.

The pace of stem cell research continues to accelerate, with rapid advances being made in diverse areas, from understanding the fundamentals of their biology to how these unique cells can give insights into the genetic and cellular causes of human disease. This joint Focus between Nature Cell BiologyandNature Reviews Geneticsreviews the latest developments, including the nature of pluripotency, methods for manipulating cell fate and how stem cells might be used in clinical and research applications.

Autophagy targets damaged organelles and proteins for lysosomal degradation. This potent degradation mechanism has crucial roles in development, immune defence, programmed cell death, tumour suppression, neurodegeneration and stress response. The September 2010 issue of Nature Cell Biologypresents a series of specially commissioned Reviews, Perspectives and Commentaries highlighting new insights into this process.

Gene silencing through RNA interference (RNAi) has become the tool of choice for genome-scale, high-throughput analyses of gene function and has had a tremendous impact on science and drug discovery. Now, RNAi libraries targeting whole genomes or functionally related pathways permit systematic screens for clinically relevant components of cellular networks. Advances in rational design, sequence selection strategies and delivery options have substantially improved the utility of short interfering RNA (siRNA), short hairpin RNA (shRNA) and microRNA (miRNA) tools for screening.

Nature Cell BiologyandNature Reviews Microbiologypresent a set of specially commissioned articles that highlight recent progress in our understanding of how microorganisms exploit the cell biology of their host.

To celebrate Nature Cell Biology's tenth anniversary, we have assembled a collection of papers published over the past decade, spanning the diverse subject areas covered by the journal. The papers are representative of the journal's scope and quality but the list is not intended to be comprehensive.

Light microscopy is the focus of the latest addition to our Milestone series. Light microscopy has provided the dominant data stream increasing our understanding of cell biology, and new powerful imaging tools and techniques continue to be developed. The Nature Milestones in Light Microscopy supplement contains a series of short articles presenting key developments, from the first microscope to 'super-resolution' imaging.

Milestones in Cytoskeleton, presented by Nature, Nature Cell Biology and Nature Reviews Molecular Cell Biology, celebrates ground-breaking advances in cytoskeleton research over the past 60 years — from the discovery of actomyosin filaments in muscle to the identification of molecular motors, and from fluorescence analogue cytochemistry and differential interference contrast microscopy to single-molecule assays.

With six specially-commissioned articles, the Focus on Development and Disease highlights how developmental pathways gone awry can cause disease. This focus is published in the September 2007 issue.

Nature Cell BiologyandNature Reviews Molecular Cell Biologyhave joined forces to present this collection of reviews and commentaries, designed as highly accessible and practical guides to some of the most important approaches and challenges in systems biology. This user's guide also contains lists of glossary terms, further reading and systems biology research institutions, as well as a library of related articles across the Nature titles.

Milestones in Gene Expression is a collaborative project involving six journals - Nature,Nature Cell Biology,Nature Genetics,Nature Reviews Genetics,Nature Reviews Molecular Cell BiologyandNature Structural & Molecular Biology- and celebrates almost 50 years of discoveries in the field of transcription and chromatin.

Six specially commissioned articles highlight emerging aspects of ubiquitin-proteasome biology. This focus is from the August 2005 issue.