Nature Milestones in Antibodies, presented by Nature Immunology, Nature Reviews Immunology, Nature Structural & Molecular Biology and Nature Communications, highlights some of the most influential developments in the history of antibody research.

Daily rhythms are an integral part of life. This special Focus on 'Cycles and Rhythms' features Reviews and a Perspective that explore the molecular mechanisms that drive oscillatory behaviour and that underlie the generation of metabolic and circadian dynamics.

Membrane proteins are central to many physiological processes and are targeted by ~50% of marketed pharmaceutical drugs. Determining the structures of membrane proteins is essential for understanding their function and for drug design. This Focus highlights the latest breakthroughs in elucidating the structure and mechanisms of ABC transporters and neurotransmitter-gated ion channels; it also explores recent technical and methodological advances in X-ray crystallography, cryo-EM, NMR and computational approaches to investigate membrane proteins.

Welcome to 'The Epitranscriptome', an article collection from various Nature journals highlighting the role of mRNA modifications in RNA fate and gene expression.

The progressive shortening of telomeres with each cell division determines cellular replicative capacity and ultimately induces cellular senescence. This Focus brings to light the complex interactions of telomerase and shelterin components in telomere length maintenance, the role of DNA damage-response factors in telomere replication and processing, and the consequences of telomere dysfunction in human disease and cancer cell proliferation.

Immunomodulatory drugs (IMiDs), including thalidomide and its derivatives lenalidomide and pomalidomide, are currently used to treat multiple myeloma, myelodysplastic syndrome and complications from leprosy. The molecular bases for these clinical properties of IMiDs have been uncovered in research articles presented in this collection, along with related reviews and commentaries from Nature journals.Articles in this Nature collection are freely available for the next 6 months, thanks to support from Celgene Corporation. As always, Nature Research retains sole responsibility for all editorial content.

Noncoding RNAs are remarkably versatile molecules that accomplish a wide range of biological functions. This Focus highlights the roles of noncoding RNAs in biological processes ranging from translation to cellular reprogramming and reviews recent insights into the molecular mechanisms of different RNA-interference pathways. It also explores the potential of noncoding RNAs in synthetic biology and discusses challenges in the annotation and functional characterization of lncRNAs.

Ubiquitin and ubiquitin-like proteins are protein modifiers that play key roles in a variety of cellular processes. This Focus highlights the recent major breakthroughs in understanding how these modifications are regulated and targeted to protein substrates. Recent insights in the role of ubiquitin-like proteins in autophagy, DNA targeting and ER-associated degradation will also be covered. Produced with support from Takeda.

A web focus from Cell Death & Differentiation, Cell Death & Disease, Nature Reviews Cancer, Nature Cell Biology, Nature Reviews Molecular Cell Biology and Nature Structural & Molecular Biology. We hope you enjoy this focus including work from the world's most recognized experts in the field of autophagy.

The dynamic nature of functional information present in the genome, such as DNA methylation, histone modifications and chromatin organization, is only beginning to be uncovered, along with the relationship between epigenomic patterning and developmental decisions or disease. This Focus, which comprises six Reviews written by leaders in the field, explores emerging themes and functional implications of epigenetic dynamics. The Review articles are freely available online for 3 months thanks to support from Active Motif

Translational control has become a major focus of attention and research activity in the field of gene expression, and it is intricately linked to other mechanisms of gene regulation. Translation can be modulated by a myriad of factors and control mechanisms that target either the initiation step or a post-initiation event. Protein synthesis is of course mediated by the ribosome, so structural, functional and mechanistic insights into the translation machinery will help our understanding of how translation can be controlled. The latest developments will be covered in four Reviews and one Perspective, written by leaders in the field.

The infectious agent in mammalian prion diseases is the misfolded form of the prion protein (PrPSc), which forms amyloid aggregates and can template the conversion of the native conformation (PrPC), causing neuronal dysfunction and brain damage. Amyloid aggregates are also associated with other neurodegenerative conditions, but whether amyloid fibrils or oligomers are the toxic species remains unclear. The Web Focus on Prions and Amyloids highlights recent NSMB papers in these areas, and features a review by Diaz-Espinosa and Soto, who discuss recent progress and existing models for the structure of PrPSc. Image shows prion protein immunostaining, from Wikipedia (author Sbrandner).