Featured
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News & Views |
Base editor repairs mutation found in the premature-ageing syndrome progeria
No cure exists for the lethal premature-ageing condition Hutchinson–Gilford progeria. A gene-editing tool — adenine base editors — offers a way to treat the condition in mice. Could this approach lead to an effective therapy?
- Wilbert P. Vermeij
- & Jan H. J. Hoeijmakers
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News & Views |
A screen of brain organoids to study neurodevelopmental disease
A high-throughput technique has been developed to screen genes implicated in neurodevelopmental diseases in 3D cell cultures. It reveals a mechanism that might be involved in a rare disorder called microcephaly.
- Adriana Cherskov
- & Nenad Sestan
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Outlook |
Research round-up: reproductive health
Sperm communication, surprises in abortion statistics and other highlights from clinical trials and laboratory studies.
- Claire Ainsworth
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Outlook |
Why is long-lasting birth control struggling to catch on?
‘Set and forget’ devices are the most effective forms of birth control available. But few people choose to use them.
- Bianca Nogrady
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Outlook |
Stopping sperm at the source
The development of male contraceptives has slowed in the past decade, but some preliminary studies are showing promise.
- Michael Eisenstein
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Outlook |
Better birth control
Innovative forms of contraception could offer more choice for controlling fertility.
- Elizabeth Svoboda
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Outlook |
The race to deliver the hypoallergenic cat
Researchers are looking beyond allergen immunotherapy to help people whose pets make them sneeze.
- Amber Dance
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Outlook |
The peanut snack that triggered a fresh approach to allergy prevention
Early oral exposure to some allergenic foods is now seen as a key prevention strategy, but tackling inhalant allergies remains a challenge.
- Sarah DeWeerdt
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Obituary |
Arthur Ashkin (1922–2020)
Physicist who won Nobel for optical tweezers that trap atoms and proteins.
- Steven Chu
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Article |
Spin-enhanced nanodiamond biosensing for ultrasensitive diagnostics
Lateral-flow in vitro diagnostic assays based on fluorescent nanodiamonds, in which microwave-based spin manipulation is used to increase sensitivity, are demonstrated using the biotin–avidin model and by the single-copy detection of HIV-1 RNA.
- Benjamin S. Miller
- , Léonard Bezinge
- & Rachel A. McKendry
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Research Highlight |
The crystalline armour that protects ants in battle
A species of leaf-cutter ant is the first known example of an insect with mineralized armour, which shields them during combat.
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Outlook |
How liquid biopsies allow smarter lung-cancer treatment
Technologies that count tumour cells in the blood promise to improve survival times.
- Benjamin Plackett
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Outlook |
Lung-cancer researchers and clinicians must pay more attention to women
It is not a disease just for old men any more.
- Narjust Duma
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Outlook |
New lung-cancer drugs extend survival times
The disease remains highly lethal but advances in immunotherapy and targeted drugs bring a flicker of hope.
- Michael Eisenstein
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Technology Feature |
How DIY technologies are democratizing science
Open science and 3D printing are making it easier than ever for researchers to embrace do-it-yourself lab tools.
- Sandeep Ravindran
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Book Review |
Timely book tells the CRISPR story so far
A gene-editing primer maps the solid ground better than the quagmires. By Natalie Kofler
- Natalie Kofler
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Book Review |
Racism is baked into patent systems
Intellectual-property laws imagine creatorship as white, a book argues. By Shobita Parthasarathy
- Shobita Parthasarathy
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Article |
The landscape of RNA Pol II binding reveals a stepwise transition during ZGA
Binding of RNA polymerase II during zygotic genome activation in mouse embryos is determined using the newly developed method Stacc–seq.
- Bofeng Liu
- , Qianhua Xu
- & Wei Xie
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Article |
Single-cell mutation analysis of clonal evolution in myeloid malignancies
The evolution of myeloid malignancies is investigated using combined single-cell sequencing and immunophenotypic analysis.
- Linde A. Miles
- , Robert L. Bowman
- & Ross L. Levine
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Book Review |
How precision medicine paved the way to the first cystic fibrosis drug
Heartbreak, sacrifice, genetics and venture philanthropy — this book has it all.
- Heidi Ledford
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News |
The race to make COVID antibody therapies cheaper and more potent
Injections of antibodies might prevent mild COVID-19 from becoming severe, but the treatments are expensive and difficult to make.
- Heidi Ledford
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News |
This beetle’s stab-proof exoskeleton makes it almost indestructible
Jigsaw-puzzle-shaped seams that hold a notoriously tough insect’s wing cases together could inspire engineers.
- Davide Castelvecchi
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Research Highlight |
The timestamp that can tell an RNA molecule’s age — to the hour
Technique allows scientists to complete a timeline for gene activity in a single cell.
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Article |
Dense and pleiotropic regulatory information in a developmental enhancer
A robotic pipeline is used to survey a library of mutations in a Drosphila gene enhancer, showing that most mutations altered gene expression and had widespread pleiotropic effects that are likely to constrain regulatory evolution.
- Timothy Fuqua
- , Jeff Jordan
- & Justin Crocker
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Article |
COVID-19 vaccine BNT162b1 elicits human antibody and TH1 T cell responses
In a phase I/II dose-escalation clinical trial, the mRNA COVID-19 vaccine BNT162b1 elicits specific T cell and antibody responses that suggest it has protective potential.
- Ugur Sahin
- , Alexander Muik
- & Özlem Türeci
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Outlook |
Precision oncology
Cancer treatments that target the characteristics of an individual's tumour could have a wider impact.
- Richard Hodson
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Outlook |
Making radiation oncology more personal
The technology to fine-tune radiotherapy to an individual is here, but a lack of research is holding back its use.
- Amanda B. Keener
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Outlook |
Building better CAR-T therapies
The current technique requires a person’s own cells, but using the cells of healthy donors could allow more people to benefit.
- Anthony King
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Outlook |
Health-care inequality could deepen with precision oncology
Failure to address systemic bias in health-care provision and genetic databases will make existing disparities worse.
- Jyoti Madhusoodanan
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Outlook |
The potential of real-world data
Janssen’s Craig Tendler talks to Nature about how data collected by the company after a drug is approved can be used to improve treatment.
- Julian Nowogrodzki
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Outlook |
The RNA and protein landscape that could bring precision medicine to more people
The limitations of genomic data have led to a deeper exploration of transcriptomic and proteomic data in cancer.
- Simon Makin
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Outlook |
Research round-up: Precision oncology
Targeted treatments for children, a fresh approach to protein analysis and other highlights from clinical trials and laboratory studies.
- Laura Vargas-Parada
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Outlook |
The future of tissue-agnostic drugs
Some people with cancer are already benefiting from drugs that target genetic features regardless of the tissue involved. But these early successes could be the exceptions.
- Julianna Photopoulos
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News & Views |
Genetically engineered yeast makes medicinal plant products
Yeast has been engineered to convert simple sugars and amino acids into drugs that inhibit a neurotransmitter molecule. The work marks a step towards making the production of these drugs more reliable and sustainable.
- José Montaño López
- & José L. Avalos
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Article |
Biosynthesis of medicinal tropane alkaloids in yeast
The alkaloid drugs hyoscyamine and scopolamine are synthesized from sugars and amino acids in yeast, using 26 genes from yeast, plants, bacteria and animals, protein engineering and a vacuole transporter to enable functional expression of a key acyltransferase.
- Prashanth Srinivasan
- & Christina D. Smolke
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Nature Podcast |
Revealed: A clearer view of how general anaesthetics actually work
Engineering yeast to produce medicines, and the mechanism of anaesthetic action.
- Shamini Bundell
- & Nick Howe
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Article |
Computational design of transmembrane pores
An approach for the design of protein pores is demonstrated by the computational design and subsequent experimental expression of both an ion-selective and a large transmembrane pore.
- Chunfu Xu
- , Peilong Lu
- & David Baker
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Career Column |
The four pillars of a successful science spin-off company
Want to get ahead in business? Entrepreneurs need to be resilient, patient and strong team players, says Barbara Domayne-Hayman.
- Barbara Domayne-Hayman
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News & Views |
Mitochondrial genome editing gets precise
A bacterial toxin has been found that allows DNA in a cellular organelle called the mitochondrion to be precisely altered. This development could help to combat diseases caused by mutations in mitochondrial DNA.
- Magomet Aushev
- & Mary Herbert
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Article |
A bacterial cytidine deaminase toxin enables CRISPR-free mitochondrial base editing
An interbacterial toxin that catalyses the deamination of cytidines within double-stranded DNA forms part of a CRISPR-free, RNA-free base editing system that enables manipulation of human mitochondrial DNA.
- Beverly Y. Mok
- , Marcos H. de Moraes
- & David R. Liu
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Outlook |
PredictImmune: a blood test to tailor treatment for bowel condition
A biomarker for inflammatory bowel disease leads firm to the shortlist for The Spinoff Prize.
- Elie Dolgin
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Outlook |
MiWEndo Solutions: using microwave technology to improve colonoscopies
An innovative medical device for spotting colorectal cancer sees company shortlisted for The Spinoff Prize.
- Charles Schmidt
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Outlook |
Softsonics: a device to take blood-pressure readings continuously
The flexible sensors have been developed by one of the finalists for The Spinoff Prize.
- Neil Savage
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Outlook |
Caristo Diagnostics: taking a fresh look at CT scans
A different approach that could predict the risk of having a heart attack puts company on the shortlist for The Spinoff Prize.
- Benjamin Plackett
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Outlook |
Temprian Therapeutics: developing a gene-based treatment for vitiligo
A modified protein to disrupt the autoimmune cascade that can lead to the skin-pigment condition makes the company a finalist for The Spinoff Prize.
- Charles Schmidt
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Outlook |
Forkhead BioTherapeutics: developing a diabetes pill
The drug, which could restart insulin production in people with the disease, is made by one of the finalists of The Spinoff Prize.
- Eric Bender
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Outlook |
Sibel Health: designing vital-sign sensors for delicate skin
A start-up that makes flexible devices to monitor heart rate and blood pressure in premature babies wins The Spinoff Prize.
- Neil Savage
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Article |
The proteome landscape of the kingdoms of life
An advanced proteomics workflow is used to identify 340,000 proteins from 100 taxonomically diverse species, providing a comparative view of proteomes across the evolutionary range.
- Johannes B. Müller
- , Philipp E. Geyer
- & Matthias Mann
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Article |
Hair-bearing human skin generated entirely from pluripotent stem cells
Skin organoids generated in vitro from human pluripotent stem cells form complex, multilayered skin tissue with hair follicles, sebaceous glands and neural circuitry, and integrate with endogenous skin when grafted onto immunocompromised mice.
- Jiyoon Lee
- , Cyrus C. Rabbani
- & Karl R. Koehler
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