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  • Four papers in Nature describe how ancient European migration patterns have shaped the modern human genome.

    • Michael Attwaters
    Research Highlight
  • The Farm Animal GTEx project introduces a new resource for pigs, in which they map genetic variation to differences in gene expression across thousands of samples.

    • Henry Ertl
    Research Highlight
  • A study in Nature Biotechnology reports a platform that combines lentivirus capabilities with antibody recognition for targeted cell delivery and genome editing.

    • Linda Koch
    Research Highlight
  • Mashaal Sohail reflects on a 2011 Nature study by Smillie et al., which analysed human microbiome data to show that microbial ecology, rather than phylogeny or geography, is a key driver of horizontal gene transfer.

    • Mashaal Sohail
    Journal Club
  • Two papers in Nature Biotechnology report spatial transcriptomic methods for the simultaneous capture of host and microbial genes to study host–microorganism interactions.

    • Kirsty Minton
    Research Highlight
  • Aashiq Kachroo highlights a recent paper by van Loggerenberg et al. that demonstrates the experimental power of ‘humanized yeast’ to gain insight into the genetic variants underlying disease.

    • Aashiq H. Kachroo
    Journal Club
  • Geopolitical instability has prompted renewed discussions on the risks of DNA technology being weaponized in international conflict. With today’s changing security environment, the authors argue that risk assessments must be broadened from genetically targeted weapons to a series of new domains.

    • Subhayan Chattopadhyay
    • Tony Ingesson
    • David Gisselsson
    Comment
  • Johnson et al. identify a WNT regulator that underlies the development and evolution of distinct colour patterning in the African striped mouse.

    • Henry Ertl
    Research Highlight
  • Three papers in Nature report on the largest open-access plasma proteomics dataset to date, a valuable resource for understanding human disease and the identification of drug targets.

    • Michael Attwaters
    Research Highlight
  • Li Zhao recalls a 2006 paper by Levine et al. that, by identifying a handful of de novo genes, outlined a potentially universal process of de novo gene birth and propelled forward this field of research.

    • Li Zhao
    Journal Club
  • Legnini et al. report in Nature Methods their new optogenetic method for controlling gene expression in organoids that can be coupled with single-cell and spatial transcriptomics.

    • Henry Ertl
    Research Highlight