In this week's Nature Genetics, researchers from the University of California, San Francisco, and Invitae describe a new computational method to reconstruct regulatory landscapes from diverse features along the genome. Called TargetFinder, the tool aims to address the challenge of distinguishing gene targets of distal regulatory elements from nearby transcribed genes. With the method, the team was able to create models that "accurately predict individual enhancer-promoter interactions across multiple cell lines with a false discovery rate up to 5 times smaller than that obtained using the closest gene."
And in Nature Nanotechnology, a University of Cambridge team describes the use of digitally encoded DNA nanostructures for multiplexed, single-protein nanopore sensing. Using the principles of DNA origami, the scientists designed a library of DNA nanostructures in which each member contains a unique barcode, with each bit in the barcode signaled by the presence or absence of multiple DNA dumbbell hairpins. They show that a three-bit barcode can be assigned with 94 percent accuracy by electrophoretically driving the DNA structures through a solid-state nanopore. Specific library members were also functionalized to detect a single antibody through antigen presentation at designed positions on the DNA, enabling the detection of four different antibodies of the same isotype at low concentrations. GenomeWeb has more on this here.