This press release contains:
• Summaries of newsworthy papers:
Medicine: Mobilizing hematopoietic stem cells
Nature: Quantum computing: Silicon spintronics
Geoscience: Saudi Arabian volcano crisis
• Mention of papers to be published at the same time with the same embargo
• Geographical listing of authors
PDFs of all the papers mentioned on this release can be found in the relevant journal’s section of http://press.nature.com. Press contacts for the Nature journals are listed at the end of this release.
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NOTE: Once a paper is published, the digital object identifier (DOI) number can be used to retrieve the abstract and full text from the journal web site (abstracts are available to everyone, full text is available only to subscribers). To do this, add the DOI to the following URL: http://dx.doi.org/ (For example, http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/ng730). For more information about DOIs and Advance Online Publication, see http://www.nature.com/ng/aop/.
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PLEASE CITE THE SPECIFIC NATURE JOURNAL AND WEBSITE AS THE SOURCE OF THE FOLLOWING ITEMS. IF PUBLISHING ONLINE, PLEASE CARRY A HYPERLINK TO THE APPROPRIATE JOURNAL’S WEBSITE.
[1] Medicine: Mobilizing hematopoietic stem cells
DOI: 10.1038/nm.2217
Inhibition of the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) on cell surfaces promotes the mobilization of hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs)—which give rise to all types of blood cells. As EGFR is the target of drugs already in clinical use, this finding, reported in this week’s Nature Medicine, may have direct implications for the treatment of diseases that require HSC transplants.
Patients with a series of blood disorders, including certain cancers, often need to receive HSC transplants. Harvesting these cells in amounts sufficient for transplantation is challenging, as HSCs are rare and reside in the bone marrow. To reduce risks to donors, the common procedure for harvesting HSC is to induce the cells to mobilize from the bone marrow into the peripheral blood. A protein known as granulocyte colony–stimulating factor (G-CSF) is commonly used to induce this mobilization, but the results with this molecule are not optimal, and there is a need for more successful methods to promote HSCs mobilization.
Hartmut Geiger and his colleagues now report that EGFR acts to counter HSC mobilization by G-CSF. Working in mice, the team found that reducing EGFR expression in HSCs increased G-CSF-dependent mobilization. Crucially, the use of erlotinib, a drug that targets EGFR and is used to treat several forms of cancer, had the same mobilization-promoting activity, underscoring the clinical implications of this discovery.
Author contact:
Hartmut Geiger (Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, OH, USA)
Tel: +1 513 636 1338
E-mail: [email protected]
[2] Nature: Quantum computing: Silicon spintronics
DOI: 10.1038/nature09392
Researchers have achieved single-shot, time-resolved readout of electron spins in silicon, and their work could open the path to the development of a new generation of quantum computing and
spintronic devices in the material. Their work is reported online in Nature this week.
The size of silicon transistors in microelectronics is shrinking to the level where quantum effects influence device performance. This may be turned into an advantage by designing devices that process quantum information, and one approach is to use electron spins generated by phosphorus dopant atoms buried in silicon, as they are known to represent well-isolated quantum bits (qubits)
with long coherence times.
Andrea Morello and colleagues coupled the phosphorus donor atoms to a charge sensing device called a single-electron transistor. The team hope that this will lead to the generation of quantum computing and spintronic devices, built using the most important material in the semiconductor industry.
Author contact:
Andrea Morello (University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia)
Tel: +61 2 9385 4972
E-mail: [email protected]
[3] Geoscience: Saudi Arabian volcano crisis
DOI: 10.1038/ngeo966
Subsurface volcanic activity and more than 30,000 earthquakes struck northwest Saudi Arabia in May 2009, according to a study published online this week in Nature Geoscience. The margins of continents that neighbour active oceanic spreading centres were previously considered to be seismically and volcanically inactive. But this finding indicates that the region is at risk from significant geohazards.
John Pallister and colleagues used field, satellite and seismic data to monitor the seismic activity observed in an ancient lava field, Harrat Lunayyir, in Saudi Arabia. During the volcano crisis, the ground surface ruptured into an 8-km-long fault, while magma was emplaced beneath the surface. Harrat Lunayyir was previously thought to be inactive because it is located on the continental margin, almost 200 km away from the active oceanic spreading centre beneath the Red Sea.
The unexpected volcano and earthquake crisis resulted in the evacuation of 40,000 people from the region and calls for the re-evaluation of our understanding of continental rift margins.
Author contact:
John Pallister (US Geological Survey, Cascades Volcano Observatory, Vancouver, WA, USA)
Tel: +1 360 993 8964
E-mail: [email protected]
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Items from other Nature journals to be published online at the same time and with the same embargo:
NATURE
[4] Structure of the E. coli fucose transporter in an outward-open conformation
DOI: 10.1038/nature09406
[5] Structural basis of semaphorin–plexin signalling
DOI: 10.1038/nature09468
NATURE CELL BIOLOGY
[6] Endothelial cells dynamically compete for the tip cell position during angiogenic sprouting
DOI: 10.1038/ncb2103
NATURE CHEMICAL BIOLOGY
[7] Rational assignment of key motifs for function guide in silico enzyme identification
DOI: 10.1038/nchembio.447
[8] Phosphate-release in F1-ATPase catalytic cycle follows ADP release
DOI: 10.1038/nchembio.443
NATURE CHEMISTRY
[9] The maximum pentagon separation rule provides a guideline for the structures of endohedral metallofullerenes
DOI: 10.1038/nchem.837
[10] A bidentate Lewis acid with a telluronium ion as an anion-binding site
DOI: 10.1038/nchem.838
NATURE GENETICS
[11] Keratin 17 promotes epithelial proliferation and tumor growth by polarizing the immune response in skin
DOI: 10.1038/ng.665
[12] Variation in TP63 is associated with lung adenocarcinoma susceptibility in Japanese and Korean populations
DOI: 10.1038/ng.667
NATURE GEOSCIENCE
[13] Holocene changes in the position and intensity of the southern westerly wind belt
DOI: 10.1038/ngeo959
[14] Glacier advance in southern middle-latitudes during the Antarctic Cold Reversal
DOI: 10.1038/ngeo962
[15] Stress transfer between thirteen successive dyke intrusions in Ethiopia
DOI: 10.1038/ngeo967
[16] Seismic evidence for a global low-velocity layer within the Earth’s upper mantle
DOI: 10.1038/ngeo969
NATURE IMMUNOLOGY
[17] The cytosolic exonuclease TREX1 inhibits the innate immune response to human immunodeficiency virus type 1
DOI: 10.1038/ni.1941
NATURE MATERIALS
[18] Spin Seebeck insulator
DOI: 10.1038/nmat2856
[19] Observation of the Spin-Seebeck Effect in a Ferromagnetic Semiconductor
DOI: 10.1038/nmat2860
[20] Measuring fundamental properties in operating solid oxide electrochemical cells by using in situ X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy
DOI: 10.1038/nmat2851
NATURE MEDICINE
[21] A dominant-negative mutation in the TRESK potassium channel is linked to familial migraine with aura
DOI: 10.1038/nm.2216
[22] miR-380-5p represses p53 to control cellular survival and is associated with poor outcome in MYCN-amplified neuroblastoma
DOI: 10.1038/nm.2227
[23] Orderly recruitment of motor units under optical control in vivo
DOI: 10.1038/nm.2228
NATURE METHODS
[24] Quantitative dynamic footprinting microscopy reveals mechanisms of neutrophil rolling
DOI: 10.1038/nmeth.1508
NATURE NANOTECHNOLOGY
[25] Direct nanoprinting by liquid-bridge-mediated nanotransfer moulding
DOI: 10.1038/nnano.2010.175
[26] Replication of individual DNA molecules under electronic control using a protein nanopore
DOI: 10.1038/nnano.2010.177
NATURE NEUROSCIENCE
[27] SOX9 induces and maintains neural stem cells
DOI: 10.1038/nn.2646
[28] Emergence of cortical inhibition by coordinated sensory-driven plasticity at distinct synaptic loci
DOI: 10.1038/nn.2639
NATURE PHOTONICS
[29] 100 mW deep-ultraviolet emission from aluminium-nitride-based quantum wells pumped by an electron beam
DOI: 10.1038/nphoton.2010.220
NATURE PHYSICS
[30] Near-deterministic preparation of a single atom in an optical micro-trap
DOI: 10.1038/nphys1778
[31] Experimental multiparticle entanglement dynamics induced by decoherence
DOI: 10.1038/nphys1781
[32] A quantum memory with telecom wavelength conversion
DOI: 10.1038/nphys1773
[33] Trionic optical potential for electrons in semiconductors
DOI: 10.1038/nphys1775
NATURE STRUCTURAL & MOLECULAR BIOLOGY
[34] Cooperation of breast cancer proteins PALB2 and piccolo BRCA2 in stimulating homologous recombination
DOI: 10.1038/nsmb.1915
[35] Enhancement of the RAD51 recombinase activity by the tumor suppressor PALB2
DOI: 10.1038/nsmb.1916
***************************************************
GEOGRAPHICAL LISTING OF AUTHORS
The following list of places refers to the whereabouts of authors on the papers numbered in this release. The listing may be for an author's main affiliation, or for a place where they are working
temporarily. Please see the PDF of the paper for full details.
AUSTRALIA
Brisbane: 22
Canberra: 2
Gold Coast: 21
Melbourne: 2
Sydney: 2, 22
AUSTRIA
Innsbruck: 31
BELGIUM
Leuven: 6
CANADA:
London: 27
Montreal: 21
Quebec: 34
Vancouver: 3
CHINA
Beijing: 4
Shanghai: 18
ETHIOPIA
Addis Ababa: 15
FRANCE
Aix-en-Provence: 14
Paris: 13
Strasbourg: 16
Villeurbanne: 16
GERMANY
Bremen: 13
Bremerhaven: 13
Dresden: 17
Garching: 2
Greifswald: 7
Koln: 13
Magdeburg: 1
Rostock-Wamermuende: 13
Siegen: 31
Trier: 13
Ulm: 1
HONG KONG
Hong Kong: 27, 35
IRELAND
Dublin: 5
ITALY
Trieste: 15
JAPAN
Hiroshima: 12
Hyogo: 28
Kyoto: 28
Nagoya: 12
Osaka: 8
Otsu: 12
Sendai: 18
Shizuoka: 18
Tokai: 18
Tokyo: 8, 12, 18
Yokohama: 12
KOREA
Gyeonggi: 12
Seoul: 25
NETHERLANDS
Delft: 18
Utrecht: 6, 16
NEW ZEALAND
Dunedin: 14, 30
Wellington: 14
NORWAY
Oslo: 14
PORTUGAL
Porto: 21
SPAIN
Tarragona: 9
SAUDI ARABIA
Jeddah: 3
Thuwal:3
SWEDEN
Gothenburg: 20
Stockholm: 6
SWITZERLAND
Bern: 14
Lausanne: 34
Visp: 7
UNITED KINGDOM
Edinburgh: 6
Hertfordshire: 6
Leeds: 15
London: 6
Oxford: 5, 21
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
California
Berkeley: 14, 20, 35
Davis: 9, 22
La Jolla: 24
Livermore: 20
Pasadena: 3
San Diego: 22
San Francisco: 22
Santa Barbara: 19
Santa Cruz: 26
Stanford: 23
Connecticut
New Haven: 35
Georgia
Atlanta: 32
Illinois
Urbana: 2
Indiana
Bloomington: 15
Kentucky
Lexington: 1
Richmond: 1
Maine
Orono: 14
Maryland
Baltimore: 11
Bethesda: 28
College Park: 20
Massachusetts
Boston: 17
Michigan
Ann Arbor: 11
East Lansing: 33
New Jersey
New Brunswick: 34
New York
New York: 14
Tarrytown: 6
Ohio
Cincinnati: 1
Columbus: 19
Texas
Austin: 22
College Station: 10
Houston: 35
Virginia
Charlottesville: 35
PRESS CONTACTS…
For media inquiries relating to embargo policy for all the Nature Research Journals:
Rachel Twinn (Nature London)
Tel: +44 20 7843 4658
E-mail: [email protected]
Neda Afsarmanesh (Nature New York)
Tel: +1 212 726 9231
E-mail: [email protected]
Ruth Francis (Head of Press, Nature, London)
Tel: +44 20 7843 4562
E-mail: [email protected]
For media inquiries relating to editorial content/policy for the Nature Research Journals, please contact the journals individually:
Nature Biotechnology (New York)
Michael Francisco
Tel: +1 212 726 9288
E-mail: [email protected]
Nature Cell Biology (London)
Sowmya Swaminathan
Tel: +44 20 7843 4656
E-mail: [email protected]
Nature Chemical Biology (Boston)
Carrie Meggs
Tel: +1 617 475 9241
E-mail: [email protected]
Nature Chemistry (London)
Stuart Cantrill
Tel: +44 20 7014 4018
E-mail: [email protected]
Nature Genetics (New York)
Myles Axton
Tel: +1 212 726 9324
E-mail: [email protected]
Nature Immunology (New York)
Laurie Dempsey
Tel: +1 212 726 9372
E-mail: [email protected]
Nature Materials (London)
Vincent Dusastre
Tel: +44 20 7843 4531
E-mail: [email protected]
Nature Medicine (New York)
Juan Carlos Lopez
Tel: +1 212 726 9325
E-mail: [email protected]
Nature Methods (New York)
Hugh Ash
Tel: +1 212 726 9627
E-mail: [email protected]
Nature Nanotechnology (London)
Peter Rodgers
Tel: +44 20 7014 4019
Email: [email protected]
Nature Neuroscience (New York)
Kalyani Narasimhan
Tel: +1 212 726 9319
E-mail: [email protected]
Nature Physics (London)
Alison Wright
Tel: +44 20 7843 4555
E-mail: [email protected]
Nature Structural & Molecular Biology (New York)
Sabbi Lall
Tel: +1 212 726 9326
E-mail: [email protected]
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