In this month’s issue, we launch a new Series on best practices: an evolving collection of articles that will expand over time to highlight tools, frameworks and resources that push us towards better microbiology research.

Correction to: Nature Microbiology https://doi.org/10.1038/s41564-024-01805-8, published online 2 October 2024.

Correction to: Nature Microbiology https://doi.org/10.1038/s41564-024-01809-4, published online 24 September 2024.

About 50 years ago, the causality of cervical cancer was attributed to human papillomavirus (HPV) by the German virologist Harald zur Hausen. Since then, HPV has been shown to cause cancer in several anatomical sites and hundreds of HPV types have been discovered, prompting further research into the carcinogenic potential of HPVs. This virus-induced carcinogenicity has evolved and co-diverged with

We provide a brief insight into our roles as professional journal editors to facilitate mutually respectful relationships between scientists and editors.

Thomas Mettenleiter was president of the Friedrich-Loeffler-Institut for 27 years and retired in June 2023. Looking back, he reflects on events around and following the reunification of Germany that changed his career path.

Julie Chih-yu Chen is the head of Data Sciences at the National Microbiology Laboratory, Public Health Agency of Canada, and an Assistant Professor at the University of Manitoba, Canada. She develops and applies statistical and machine learning techniques to diverse omics data related to infectious disease.

Correction to: Nature Microbiology https://doi.org/10.1038/s41564-024-01802-x, published online 11 September 2024.