PLoS Biology is the premier open-access journal published by the Public Library of Science.

PLoS Biology features works of exceptional significance in all areas of biological science, from molecules to ecosystems, including works at the interface with other disciplines.

We consider ways to minimize threats from biological warfare and bioterrorism without hindering the progress of biotechnology, which is essential for the health of the nation. This task is complicated because almost all biotechnology in service of human health can be subverted for misuse by hostile individuals or nations.

The major vehicles of bioterrorism, at least in the near term, are likely to be based on materials and techniques that are available throughout the world and are easily acquired. Most importantly, a critical element of our defense against bioterrorism is the accelerated development of biotechnology to advance our ability to detect and cure disease.

Since the development of biotechnology is facilitated by the sharing of ideas and materials, open communication offers the best security against bioterrorism. The tension between the spread of technologies that protect us and the spread of technologies that threaten us is the crux of the dilemma.

The fourth bi-annual International Bioinformatics conference, to be held November 13-16, 2003, in Atlanta, GA, brings together researchers working at the cutting edge of contemporary "genome-based" biological science. Three previous conferences attracted participants from both Academia and Industry worldwide.

Dolly, the first clone from a mammal, died yesterday [2/13/2003] at the age of 6 years old.

The mission of the RODS Laboratory is to investigate methods for the real-time detection and assessment of outbreaks of disease using information technology.

Computer networks have been used for years by public health officials to monitor outbreaks of disease. Typically, reporting and compiling can take a day or more ... Public health experts recognize a need for more rapid surveillance and detection ... Systems are being developed to collect and analyze disease data immediately ... One such program, called Real-Time Outbreak and Disease Surveillance, or RODS, is being developed at the Center for Biomedical Informatics at the University of Pittsburgh.

Two significant advances in cell therapy, the notion of treating diseases with human cells instead of drugs, have been made by scientists at the National Institutes of Health and the University of Minnesota.

One advance shows how embryonic stem cells can be converted into copious quantities of the exact type of brain cell that is lost in Parkinson's disease, a technique that might have possible use in therapy.

I walk into the humid goat shed in my Tyvex suit and sterilized boots. I look around the pen. Hundreds of sly-looking, inquisitive goats are staring at me intently. They seem unexceptional enough, but ... this is a so-called "transgenic farm" owned and run by Nexia Biotechnologies.

Nexia CEO: "Oh, it's not that weird. What we're doing here is ingeniously simple. We take a single gene from a golden orb-weaving spider and put it into a goat egg. The idea is to make the goat secrete spider silk into its milk. ... We're going to make biodegradable fishing lines out of it. Or maybe tennis racket strings. We call our product BioSteel."

What's at stake in tomorrow's biotech revolution: a definitive assessment from "a superior mind at work" (Robert Kaplan, Los Angeles Times Book Review)