Biotechnology articles within Nature

Featured

  • Column |

    Without effective public engagement, there will be no synthetic biology in Europe, says Colin Macilwain.

    • Colin Macilwain

  • Career Brief |

    Companies will be eligible for cash if they create or sustain jobs.

  • Opinion |

    Nature asked eight synthetic-biology experts about the implications for science and society of the “synthetic cell” made by the J. Craig Venter Institute (JCVI). The institute's team assembled, modified and implanted a synthesized genome into a DNA-free bacterial shell to make a self-replicating Mycoplasma mycoides.

  • Books & Arts |

    Engineering biological systems and organisms is a costly team effort and may be incompatible with an open-source regulatory environment, finds Michael A. Goldman.

    • Michael A. Goldman

  • News & Views |

    A challenge in biology is to understand complex traits, which are influenced by many genetic variants. Studies in yeast provide the prospect of analysing such genetic variation in detail in other organisms, including humans.

    • David B. Goldstein
    •  & Mohamed A. F. Noor

  • Careers and Recruitment |

    Researchers seeking the latest biotechnology expertise have several options. Paul Smaglik reports.

    • Paul Smaglik

  • Opinion |

    Genomic data will soon become a commodity; the next challenge — linking human genetic variation with physiology and disease — will be as great as the one genomicists faced a decade ago, says J. Craig Venter.

    • J. Craig Venter

  • Books & Arts |

    Bringing genetic information into health care is welcome but its utility in the clinic needs to be rigorously reviewed, caution Muin J. Khoury, James Evans and Wylie Burke.

    • Muin J. Khoury
    • , James Evans
    •  & Wylie Burke

  • Opinion |

    There is little to show for all the time and money invested in genomic studies of cancer, says Robert Weinberg — and the approach is undermining tried-and-tested ways of doing, and of building, science. This Opinion piece is part of a linked pair; see also Counterpoint: Data First by Todd Golub.

    • Robert Weinberg

  • Opinion |

    Looking back over the past decade of human genomics, Francis Collins finds five key lessons for the future of personalized medicine — for technology, policy, partnerships and pharmacogenomics.

    • Francis Collins

  • News Feature |

    What was it like to participate in the fastest, fiercest research race in biology? Alison Abbott talks to some of the genome competitors about the rivalries and obstacles they faced then — and now.

    • Alison Abbott

  • News |

    Tiny particles carrying short strands of RNA can interfere with protein production in tumours.

    • Janet Fang

  • Letter |

    It has previously been shown in mice and non-human primates that systemically delivered short RNA molecules can inhibit gene expression. Here it is shown that a short interfering RNA (siRNA) can be systemically delivered, using nanoparticles, to a solid tumour in humans. The siRNA mediates cleavage of its target mRNA, thereby also reducing levels of the encoded protein. This proof-of-principle study confirms the potential of this technology for treating human disease.

    • Mark E. Davis
    • , Jonathan E. Zuckerman
    •  & Antoni Ribas

  • Editorial |

    Turkey's government is about to pass legislation that could cripple the country's biological research.

  • News & Views |

    In a feat of biological wizardry, one type of differentiated cell has been directly converted into another, completely distinct type. Notably, the approach does not require a stem-cell intermediate stage.

    • Cory R. Nicholas
    •  & Arnold R. Kriegstein

  • News |

    Device inspired by nature clings to surfaces using 'liquid bridges'.

    • Daniel Cressey

  • News & Views |

    By synchronizing clocks, humans make more efficient use of their time and orchestrate their activities in different places. Bacteria have now been engineered that similarly coordinate their molecular timepieces.

    • Martin Fussenegger

  • News Feature |

    Can engineering approaches tame the complexity of living systems? Roberta Kwok explores five challenges for the field and how they might be resolved.

    • Roberta Kwok

  • News & Views |

    Chemical models of enzymes' active sites aid our understanding of biological reactions. Such a model of a reaction intermediate promises to advance our knowledge of the biochemistry of iron-containing haem enzymes.

    • Kenneth D. Karlin

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