Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain
the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in
Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles
and JavaScript.
Antibodies, the molecular workhorses of protein research, have traditionally been one of the most difficult reagents to procure. Using innovative new technologies, though, a burgeoning antibody production industry is turning these molecules into commodities.
The development of leader sequences that stimulate mRNA translation in a species-independent manner could offer new possibilities for eukaryotic protein production and proteomic research.
Visualization of choline-containing phospholipids in cells and in vivo is made possible by the metabolic incorporation of a choline analog with an alkyne handle for click chemistry–based labeling.
From histology to microcinematography, from cytochemistry to live cell imaging, the history of visualization technology in the life sciences may be understood as a series of cycles of action and reaction between static and dynamic modes of representing life.
Sequencing-based technologies for RNA discovery are playing a key role in deciphering the transcriptome and hold the potential to provide us with a census of RNAs and their functions.
The potential of mass spectrometry–based proteomics to advance biology and biomedicine is nearly unlimited but so is its potential for generating bad data. Apart from the pursuit of technological progress in protocols and instruments, stringent comparative analyses of different approaches are critical for fully developing the discipline.
As evidenced by the cake adorning the cover, Nature Methods is five years old. To celebrate this anniversary, we look at methodological development and its role in scientific inquiry.