A Web Focus is a selection of articles on a related theme drawn from the entire Nature Publishing Group family of journals. With content ranging from research highlights, reviews and perspectives through to primary research papers, a Web Focus provides a panoramic view of a key area of biology.

Focus

Mechanotransduction

January

Cellular responses to mechanical forces drive morphogenesis, regulate normal physiology and contribute to pathogenesis of diverse diseases, from loss of hearing to muscular dystrophy and cancer.

Focus

Cell polarity

November

Cell polarity is crucial for the development of unicellular and multicellular organisms and is achieved through the coordinated actions of signalling pathways, membrane trafficking mechanisms and cytoskeletal dynamics.

Focus

Lipids

February

Accompanying poster produced with support from Merck Serono International S.A.

There is an increasing appreciation of the versatility of lipids — from their role as essential membrane components to functions in membrane trafficking and signal transduction.

Focus

Ageing

September

Accompanying podcast produced with support from Sirtris Pharmaceuticals

Recent breakthroughs in ageing research have shown that it is possible to slow ageing and extend the healthy lifespan of laboratory animals. Understanding the mechanisms that underlie the ageing process and ageing-related diseases will help us to develop approaches to delay their onset and progression and therefore improve the quality of human life.

Collection

Fluorescence imaging

April

Produced with support from Olympus

This Collection on fluorescence imaging illustrates the versatility of fluorescence imaging technologies in studying basic cell-biological processes, disease aetiology and therapeutics.

Focus

Systems Biology: A User's Guide

November

Produced with support from Pfizer, The Mathworks, Novartis, Merrimack and Entelos, in association with the US National Centers for Systems Biology and Molecular Systems Biology

This joint Focus with Nature Cell Biology is designed as a collection of highly accessible and practical guides to some of the most important approaches and challenges in systems biology.

Focus

Modelling Cellular Systems

March

Produced with support from Keio University, the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology and the Systems Biology Institute (SBI).

This special Focus issue describes how diverse cellular systems can be modelled through a combination of high-throughput experimental data and mathematical and computational approaches.

Milestones

Gene Expression

December

Produced with support from Applied Biosystems, Agendia, March of Dimes and the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation

Nature Milestones in Gene Expression celebrates almost 50 years of discoveries in the field of transcription and chromatin. The accompanying library contains a selection of research articles, reviews and other relevant content on the topics of prokaryotic and eukaryotic transcription, epigenetics, chromatin and large-scale gene expression.

Collection

RNA Interference

October

Produced with support from Sigma

When talking about RNAi, it is difficult to separate biology from technology. And so this Collection on RNA interference includes reviews and research highlights on both aspects of this topic.

Collection

Systems Biology

May

Produced with support from Sigma

This Collection on systems biology, which contains a selection of recent reviews, perspectives and research highlights, is designed to provide an introduction to this emerging cross-disciplinary field.

Focus

RNA

May

The field of RNA is defined by the many different RNA species that exist in nature. The most well-known and most diverse species — messenger RNA — carry the genetic code, which is to be translated into proteins.

Collection

Proteomics

March

Produced with support from Sigma

The availability of whole genome sequences for many organisms has resulted in a rush to elucidate the function of the products of these genomes and their role in health and disease. But deciphering the complexity of the proteome is a daunting task, and the application of proteomics is still very much in its infancy.

Focus

Plant Cell Biology

September

Historically, plant cell biology has been studied using more traditional genetic approaches, but more recently, biochemistry, and state-of-the-art imaging and other cell biology techniques have contributed to the wealth of exciting data in this broad field.

Focus

Cytoskeletal Dynamics

August

Cytoskeletal elements are essential mediators of signalling and can influence many cellular processes through this capacity. Accordingly, there has been a huge drive to understand the intricacies of cytoskeletal dynamics — from what regulates cytoskeletal elements to their effects on cells — and the rapid advances being made in cell and molecular biology approaches, and, in particular, in imaging techniques, are allowing us to scrutinize these processes.

Collection

Microscopy

July

Produced with support from Richardson Technologies

Since the early studies of the 17th century, microscopy has played a vital role in biological discovery. In this Collection, we provides a snapshot of the many recent advances in microscopy, among which is in vivo imaging as well as electron microscopy and atomic force microscopy.

Milestones

Development

July

Produced with support from March of Dimes, National Institute of Child Health and Human Development and the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation

The Milestones are a series of specially written articles, which highlight the most influential discoveries in the field of developmental biology over the past 100 years. The accompanying library contains a selection of research articles, reviews and other relevant content in the development field.

Supplement

Imaging in Cell Biology

September

Produced with support from Carl Zeiss

The specially commissioned articles in the Supplement focus on key advances in imaging techniques, which allow us to follow cell-biological events ranging from the dynamics of single molecules in living cells to the development of whole organisms. The accompanying library contains a collection of relevant articles from Nature Publishing Group journals.

Focus

Calcium

July

Calcium is a crucial intracellular signal that is responsible for regulating many cellular processes, including embryonic development, cell proliferation, apoptosis, cardiac contractility, and learning and memory. This Focus brings together a selection of relevant articles from across Nature Publishing Group journals.

Focus

Signalling

September

In this Focus, we look at several well-established signalling pathways as well as those that have recently emerged or recently been proposed. It is not surprising, therefore, that the signalling field often seems overwhelming, and our aim is to make it accessible to everyone.

Focus

Stem Cells

June

This Focus contains a selection of review, perspective and research highlight articles on stem cells from the Nature Reviews journals.

Focus

Apoptosis

June

In this Focus, we look at the various mechanisms behind cell death in general, and apoptosis in particular.

Focus

Transcription

January

As the mechanisms behind processes of gene expression and chromatin remodelling are unravelled, the aim of this Focus is to provide a beginner's guide to some of the molecules involved.

Focus

Ubiquitylation and Proteasomes

March

We hope this Focus will provide both a welcome introduction to the uninitiated and a wealth of new ideas for those already familiar with the functionally diverse ubiquitin and proteasome families.

Focus

Cell Division

January

Cell division is one of the most visually stunning processes in the cell. It's also one of the most diverse, encompassing the mechanisms of DNA replication and checkpoint control, and the exquisite choreography behind mitosis, meiosis and cytokinesis. Ample reason, then, to highlight this exciting area in a special Focus.