Biotech

In this issue Nature Biotechnology 30, vii (2012). doi:10.1038/nbt.2132

Why genies don't go back into bottles Nature Biotechnology 30, 117 (2012). doi:10.1038/nbt.2133

Big pharma upheavals cast shadow across biotech sector Nature Biotechnology 30, 119 (2012). doi:10.1038/nbt0212-119 Author: Mark Ratner

Amyloid disease drug approved Nature Biotechnology 30, 121 (2012). doi:10.1038/nbt0212-121b Author: Ken Garber

Sangamo's lead zinc-finger therapy flops in diabetic neuropathy Nature Biotechnology 30, 121 (2012). doi:10.1038/nbt0212-121a Author: Michael Eisenstein

Gilead's $11 billion HCV bet Nature Biotechnology 30, 122 (2012). doi:10.1038/nbt0212-122a Author: Karen Carey

Affymetrix sued for fraud Nature Biotechnology 30, 122 (2012). doi:10.1038/nbt0212-122b Author: Jennifer Rohn

Enbrel patent surfaces Nature Biotechnology 30, 123 (2012). doi:10.1038/nbt0212-123 Author: Charlotte Harrison

Ablynx drops lead nanobody Nature Biotechnology 30, 124 (2012). doi:10.1038/nbt0212-124a Author: Gunjan Sinha

India's innovation czar Nature Biotechnology 30, 124 (2012). doi:10.1038/nbt0212-124b Author: Killugudi Jayaraman

Toll-like receptor blocker slows beta cell death in type 1 diabetes Nature Biotechnology 30, 124 (2012). doi:10.1038/nbt0212-124c Author: Susan Aldridge

UK government unveils innovation booster Nature Biotechnology 30, 125 (2012). doi:10.1038/nbt0212-125 Author: Nuala Moran

Life Technologies promises $1,000 genome Nature Biotechnology 30, 126 (2012). doi:10.1038/nbt0212-126a Author: Laura DeFrancesco

Around the world in a month Nature Biotechnology 30, 126 (2012). doi:10.1038/nbt0212-126b

2011—Big biotechs gorge on debt Nature Biotechnology 30, 127 (2012). doi:10.1038/nbt.2119 Author: Walter Yang

Fresh from the pipeline 2011 Nature Biotechnology 30, 128 (2012). doi:10.1038/nbt.2111 Author: Jim Kling

Planning for the exit Nature Biotechnology 30, 132 (2012). doi:10.1038/nbt.2093 Author: Kenneth E Eheman

The blinded buyer Nature Biotechnology 30, 139 (2012). doi:10.1038/nbt.2094 Author: Brady Huggett

Personal medicine—the new banking crisis Nature Biotechnology 30, 141 (2012). doi:10.1038/nbt.2116 Authors: Christopher Thomas Scott, Timothy Caulfield, Emily Borgelt & Judy Illes

Funding and performance at the US Patent and Trademark Office Nature Biotechnology 30, 148 (2012). doi:10.1038/nbt.2110 Author: Deepak Hegde

Recent patent applications related to stem cells Nature Biotechnology 30, 151 (2012). doi:10.1038/nbt.2125

A method for differentiating human pluripotent stem cells into several subtypes of smooth muscle cell should aid the study and treatment of vascular disease.

A new computational strategy facilitates de novo design of discontinuous epitopes on protein scaffolds.

Optimized AAV vectors encoding broadly neutralizing antibodies against HIV show promise in mice.

TAL effector–DNA structure Nature Biotechnology 30, 158 (2012). doi:10.1038/nbt.2127 Author: Laura DeFrancesco

True colors of genome variation Nature Biotechnology 30, 158 (2012). doi:10.1038/nbt.2128 Author: Susan Jones

Improving glycoconjugate vaccines Nature Biotechnology 30, 158 (2012). doi:10.1038/nbt.2129 Author: Susan Jones

Mapping chromatin regulators Nature Biotechnology 30, 158 (2012). doi:10.1038/nbt.2130 Author: Markus Elsner

Drug partners for antibiotics Nature Biotechnology 30, 158 (2012). doi:10.1038/nbt.2131 Author: Jason Kreisberg

Large-scale structural genomics and genome-wide association studies generate a wealth of data relevant to human disease. Wang et al. interpret these data in the context of a protein interaction network, showing that systematic analyses of the structural interfaces hit by mutations yield insights into pathogenesis.

Vascular smooth muscle cells have multiple embryological origins. Cheung et al. present a chemically defined protocol for differentiating human pluripotent stem cells into vascular smooth muscle subtypes arising from neuroectoderm, lateral plate mesoderm and paraxial mesoderm.

Genetic analysis of agronomic traits in crops is complicated by the long generation times and challenges of growing and phenotyping plants in large field trials. Abe et al. show how whole genome resequencing can be used to identify the genetic basis of subtle phenotypic traits in rice.

Liver toxicity is one of the most common reasons for abandoning new drugs in development or withdrawing approved drugs from the market. Patel et al. show that in mice drug-induced liver injury can be limited by small-molecule inhibitor of the gap-junctional protein connexin 32.

Conjugating drugs to therapeutic antibodies is a promising strategy to increase their therapeutic efficacy. Shen et al. show that the local chemical environment of the conjugation site influences the in vivo stability and efficacy of the modified antibodies.

Baker and colleagues have already shown that protein folding can be turned into an online game played by nonscientists. Now, Foldit players tackle the problem of increasing an enzyme's catalytic activity—with promising results.

Erratum: Factors influencing agbiotech adoption and development in sub-Saharan Africa Nature Biotechnology 30, 193 (2012). doi:10.1038/nbt0212-193a Authors: Obidimma C Ezezika, Abdallah S Daar, Kathryn Barber, Justin Mabeya, Fiona Thomas, Jennifer Deadman, Debbie Wang & Peter A Singer

Erratum: Amelioration of sepsis by inhibiting sialidase-mediated disruption of the CD24-SiglecG interaction Nature Biotechnology 30, 193 (2012). doi:10.1038/nbt0212-193b Authors: Guo-Yun Chen, Xi Chen, Samantha King, Karen A Cavassani, Jiansong Cheng, Xincheng Zheng, Hongzhi Cao, Hai Yu, Jingyao Qu, Dexing Fang, Wei Wu, Xue-Feng Bai, Jin-Qing Liu, Shireen A Woodiga, Chong Chen, Lei Sun, Cory M Hogaboam, Steven L Kunkel, Pan Zheng & Yang Liu

Corrigendum: Industry continues dabbling with open innovation models Nature Biotechnology 30, 193 (2012). doi:10.1038/nbt0212-193c Author: Cormac Sheridan

Corrigendum: FDA panel votes to pull Avastin in breast cancer, again Nature Biotechnology 30, 193 (2012). doi:10.1038/nbt0212-193d Author: Mark Ratner

Corrigendum: Chinese vaccine developers gain WHO imprimatur Nature Biotechnology 30, 193 (2012). doi:10.1038/nbt0212-193e Authors: Hepeng Jia & Karen Carey

Corrigendum: Intellectual property, technology transfer and manufacture of low-cost HPV vaccines in India Nature Biotechnology 30, 193 (2012). doi:10.1038/nbt0212-193f Authors: Swathi Padmanabhan, Tahir Amin, Bhaven Sampat, Robert Cook-Deegan & Subhashini Chandrasekharan

Fourth-quarter biotech job picture Nature Biotechnology 30, 195 (2012). doi:10.1038/nbt.2123 Author: Michael Francisco

People Nature Biotechnology 30, 196 (2012). doi:10.1038/nbt.2124

A key obstacle to sequencing DNA as it passes through a nanopore is that the translocation rate is too fast to resolve individual bases. Cherf et al. solve this problem with an improved method for ratcheting DNA forward and backward through the nanopore using a DNA polymerase.

PARP inhibitors have recently entered phase 3 clinical trials as cancer therapeutics, but the specificity of many of these compounds is unknown. Wahlberg et al. used biochemical approaches to show that most PARP inhibitors target multiple PARP family members.

Sites where RNA editing occurs can be found using RNA-Seq, but false positives confound the data analysis. Peng et al. describe algorithms for accurately calling editing events, and apply them to identify ~22,600 events, mostly A→G changes, in a human transcriptome.