News & Comment

A flurry of recent papers report refinements to the activity and the assembly of engineered nucleases.

With the help of engineered polymerases and reverse transcriptases, synthetic nucleic acids can encode and pass on genetic information.

Recombineering between two linear molecules enables long sequences to be efficiently cloned from a genomic mixture.

Radio waves and iron nanoparticles could hold the key to targeted perturbation of cells deep inside living tissue.

Bisulfite sequencing of chromatin-immunoprecipitated material allows a direct assessment of cytosine methylation in histone-modified regions of DNA.

Bioinformatic discrimination of siRNAs that perturb cells via direct versus indirect effects can improve data quality and change hit lists in image-based screens.

Fly rhythms under natural light and temperature differ from those in the lab.

Downregulation of natural antisense transcripts enhances expression of their sense counterparts.

Proteomics analysis of polyclonal antibodies guides monoclonal production.

A dimerization-dependent red fluorescent protein provides a new strategy for biosensor design.

A milling technique affords researchers a high-resolution glimpse deep into the cell using cryoelectron tomography.

A simple microfluidic device allows long-term imaging of single budding yeast cells.

Tools to study stem cell function in planarians continue to accumulate. Researchers now image growing stem cell clones in these animals and make quantitative phenotypic measurements in vivo.

Two methodological approaches allow researchers to manipulate the formation and reactivation of memories in mice.

Voltage-driven and enzyme-regulated control allows precise ratcheting of a DNA strand in and out of a nanopore.

Statistical methods vary widely in the power to predict which rare genetic sequence variants are functional.

A small chemical probe allows detailed spatial imaging of the temperature in single cells.

Massively parallel reporter assays enable the functional dissection of enhancer sequences in cells and in vivo.

New nanostructure delivers potent dose of short interfering RNA

Manipulating either culture conditions or genes can precipitate iron particles in yeast cells and render them magnetic.