Technology Features in 2010

Advances in microfluidics and imaging, combined with some high-profile studies, are increasing interest in whole-organism screening.

Quantum dots, nanodiamonds and other nanomaterials broaden researchers' tools for watching biology.

Combinations of electrophysiology, two-photon microscopy and new tools for detecting neural activity show how neurons function in circuits.

Creating effective screens requires time, skepticism and astute trade-offs.

Various platforms for measuring microRNAs can provide different answers.

Overall safety is increasing, but new safety hazards, such as repetitive stress injuries and potential toxicities from nanoparticles, are coming under closer scrutiny.

To keep pace with accelerating sequencing machines, genomics researchers clean house and move toward the cloud.

Researchers try multiple means to get high-quality membrane proteins for X-ray crystallography and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy studies.

With microfluidics and multiplexing, researchers can get more information from PCR products in less time and with fewer reagents.

Nonlinear optical microscopy lets researchers see chemical composition in living cells and organisms.

As high-throughput techniques accelerate mapping of epigenetic marks, researchers are racing to find the biological meaning of these marks.

Mass spectrometry–based proteomics is still rapidly expanding, not just in terms of the methods and instruments but also the biological questions.

Rapid progress with induced pluripotent stem cells is bringing scientists closer to understanding their strengths and weaknesses as embryonic stem cell stand-ins.