Molecular medicine articles from across Nature Portfolio

By measuring protein abundance in blood using high-throughput antibody-based techniques, a genetic map of blood proteins in humans replicates findings from much larger studies, uncovers hundreds of new signals and bridges genetic variation to multiple diseases.

Metabolomics is on the precipice of transforming from a research tool into a powerful clinical platform to improve precision medicine. However, metabolomics methods need to be validated in clinical research to enable rapid translation of research results into clinical tests.

An estimated 10–15% of individuals with hypertension are resistant to available antihypertensive therapies. Findings from two new clinical trials — BrigHTN and PRECISION — that assessed the blood pressure-lowering effects of the aldosterone synthase inhibitor baxdrostat and the dual endothelin receptor antagonist aprocitentan, respectively, suggest these approaches hold promise for patients with treatment-resistant hypertension.

The gut microbiome field is shifting from association to modulation. Microbiota-based treatments come in many shapes and sizes, ranging from dietary intervention to live bacterial products. Recent methodological advances are instrumental to developing innovative new treatment strategies in microbiome-linked pathologies.

Twenty five years ago, Christopher Lipinski and colleagues published arguably the most influential sentence in small-molecule drug discovery. Their cleverly crafted ‘rule of 5’ (Ro5) mnemonic was adopted into everyday medicinal chemistry practice and has influenced a generation of small-molecule drug discovery scientists. Five times five years later, we consider the impact of the Ro5 and ask to what extent it should still guide today’s medicinal chemistry efforts.

Our genomes are highly organized spatially in three-dimensions (3D). In interphase nuclei, the genome is anchored and regulated by various nuclear scaffolds and structures, including the nuclear lamina at the nuclear edge, and nucleoli located more internally within the nucleoplasm. Recently, great effort has been made to understand the intricacies of 3D genome organization and its relevance to genomic and nuclear function. Over the years, many concepts, mathematical models, visual and biochemical methods, and analysis pipelines have been presented to study various aspects of this organization in a multidisciplinary manner, such as is also reflected within this collection.