Method of the Year 2009

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• • Biotechnology
  • Cell biology
  • Chemical biology
  • Genetics and genomics
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  • Protein biochemistry
  • Proteomics
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In 2007 we chose Next Generation Sequencing.
In 2008 we chose Super-resolution Imaging.

Now it is time for you, our readers, to help us choose the Method of the Year 2009. Just sign in using your free nature.com registration and vote on our Methods to Watch from previous years or a paper that a visitor has recommended.

Alternatively, you can recommend a paper that represents a method you believe came into its own in 2009 and will have a wide-ranging impact on biology. This paper can be any recently published paper from this year or past years published in any journal. Just provide a link to the paper or other online description of the method and vote away!

Want more information or want to comment? Read the editorial or go to our blog methagora and comment.

• Biotechnology

  • • 4+ votes

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  • Preparative gel electrophoresis of native metalloproteins

    • Bernd Kastenholz
      Original article citation: The American Electrophoresis Society Newsletter 14," 2 - 3, (2009).

    • Categories: Proteomics, Biotechnology, and Neuroscience
    • Recommended by : Bernd Kastenholz on 10/24/2009 10:59AM GMT
      
      Preparative gel electrophoresis of native metalloproteins is an essential method for elucidating the structures of misfolded metalloproteins in complex protein mixtures. Thus, this method may contribute to an early diagnosis and therapy of protein-misfolding diseases (e.g., Alzheimer's disease) and help to develop new medications from medicinal plants.
    • Comment on this subject: 0 comments made

  • • 9+ votes

      6- votes

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  • Global identification of yeast chromosome interactions using Genome conformation capture

    • 
      Original article citation: Fungal Genetics and Biology 46," 879 - 886, (2009).

    • Categories: Cell biology, Biotechnology, Genetics and genomics, and Systems biology
    • Recommended by : Cliff Dawson on 10/23/2009 01:06AM GMT
      
      Genome conformation capture (GCC) is a powerful method to uncover inter- and intra- chromosomal interactions that underlie genome architecture, in any cell, under any condition. This method utilises next-generation sequencing, and is the first described method of its type, with the Hi-C (Lieberman-Aiden et al) method following shortly after. Analyses reveal exciting prospects for cell biology.
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  • • 13+ votes

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  • A 3D digital atlas of C. elegans and its application to single-cell analyses

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      Original article citation: Nat Meth 6," 667 - 672, (2009).

    • Categories: Biotechnology, Genetics and genomics, Systems biology, and Cell biology
    • Recommended by : Hanchuan Peng on 09/09/2009 02:45AM GMT
      
      Isn't it a cool thing to be able to target individual cells uniquely and unambiguously?
    • Comment on this subject: 2 comments made

  • • 2+ votes

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  • Universal sample preparation method for proteome analysis

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      Original article citation: Nat Meth 6," 359 - 362, (2009).

    • Categories: Proteomics, Biotechnology, Protein biochemistry, and Systems biology
    • Recommended by : Peter Nollert on 08/24/2009 11:54PM GMT
      
      1. the filter-aided sample preparation method impacts the 'forgotten half' of proteomics: membrane proteins & their complexes 2. the method described is *very* simple: SDS & urea reagent and a MWCO filter; no new tools required at all
    • Comment on this subject: 1 comment made

  • • 2+ votes

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  • Peptide Microarrays

    • Ramars Amanchy
      Original article citation: Journal of Proteome research 7," 3900 - 3910, (2008).

    • Categories: Proteomics, Biotechnology, Protein biochemistry, and Chemical biology
    • Recommended by : Ramars Amanchy on 08/24/2009 09:09PM GMT
      
      1. Peptide microarrays is a new technology with tremendous potential 2. Tremendous impact 3. Multitude of applications 4. Complements tradional kinase motif finding algorithms and techniques. 5. cancer/Kinase profiling
    • Comment on this subject: 1 comment made

  • • 36+ votes

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  • Development of an Inhibitor Screening Platform via Mass Spectrometry

    • 
      Original article citation: Journal of Biomolecular Screening 13," 1007 - 1013, (2008).

    • Categories: Biotechnology, Protein biochemistry, and Proteomics
    • Recommended by : Rakesh Rathore on 08/20/2009 05:19PM GMT
      
      -MALDI-QqQMS readout is a direct measurement of the substrate and the product, this readout eliminates false positive and false negative inhibitor in HTS. -Provides comparable speeds, with superior signal-to-background, better reproducibility and a reagent cost of about 3 cents per well versus 60 cents per well for the fluorescent readout. -Have a real potential of opening an entirely new service application to the Drug Discovery research.
    • Comment on this subject: 3 comments made

  • • 7+ votes

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  • PreTect method: Multiplex real-time mRNA detection

    • Tor Molden
      Original article citation: Journal of Virological Methods 142," 204 , (2007).

    • Categories: Biotechnology, Cell biology, Others, and Microbiology
    • Recommended by : Frank Karlsen on 08/12/2009 10:54AM GMT
      
      This method can amplify and detect up to 6 mRNA hotspots selected by microarray or other methods in any routine diagnostic setting. The method has been demonstrated to find cervical pre-cancer directly with very high clinical sensitivity and specificity by amplification and detection of 6 different oncogene markers at the same time. The method has been demonstrated in 18 international per-review articles. The method is in use in 20 countries around the world. The method was already demonstrated to be used for cervical cancer screening in 2003. Since than it has been demonstrated to be functional i more than 200 000 clinical samples. The method is ideal for routine diagnostics of 6 different mRNA from any bacteria, virus, parasite or cell in the same sample. The PreTect method can be used on any fluorescence reader only including adaptable software. The PreTect method has been demonstrated to work in sample that is collected in methanol based media for up to one month in room temperature. The PreTect method is independent of the length of the mRNA and can only amplify mRNA and not double stranded DNA. The PreTect method has bee demonstrated to only amplify mRNA in a mixture of purified RNA and DNA.
    • Comment on this subject: 0 comments made

  • • 37+ votes

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  • Label-Free Biomedical Imaging with High Sensitivity by Stimulated Raman Scattering Microscopy

    • 
      Original article citation: Science 322," 1857 - 1861, (2008).

    • Categories: Imaging and Biotechnology
    • Recommended by the Editor: Daniel Evanko on 08/10/2009 10:44PM GMT
      
      Label-free microscopy using various signal mechanisms not based on florescence has been around for years but has seen comparatively little uptake by users. Sunney Xie's report of Stimulated Raman Scattering (SRS) microscopy in Science last year looks like it has the potential to greatly increase the impact of this methodology.
    • Comment on this subject: 0 comments made

  • • 9+ votes

      7- votes

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  • Top-down mass spectrometry

    • 
      Original article citation: Nat Meth 5," 24 - 24, (2008).

    • Categories: Proteomics, Biotechnology, Protein biochemistry, and Cell biology
    • Recommended by the Editor: Allison Doerr on 07/27/2009 01:57PM GMT
      
      Top-down mass spectrometry was selected as a Method to Watch at the end of 2007. This tool is particularly useful for analyzing protein post-translational modifications, but it is not yet a high-throughput method. Have we seen the developments needed to drive its limits?
    • Comment on this subject: 0 comments made

  • • 9+ votes

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  • Membrane protein structures

    • 
      Original article citation: Nat Meth 6," 35 - 35, (2009).

    • Categories: Protein biochemistry, Biotechnology, and Cell biology
    • Recommended by the Editor: Allison Doerr on 07/27/2009 01:49PM GMT
      
      In 2008, we selected membrane protein structure determination as a Method to Watch. Membrane protein structures are still highly underrepresented in the Protein Data Bank, but thanks to increased efforts to improve expression and crystallization approaches, their numbers are growing. But is it still too soon to consider these efforts for Method of the Year?
    • Comment on this subject: 0 comments made

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