Shabnam Sigman's blog

Last week, co-authors Jürgen Richt and S. Mark Hall published a groundbreaking article in PLoS Pathogens related to mad cow disease.

Did Christopher Columbus and his men introduce syphilis into Renaissance Europe, after contracting it during their voyage to the New World? Or does this pathogen have a much older history? A study by Kristin Harper and colleagues published last week in PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases lends support to what’s known as the Columbian theory of syphilis’s origin while suggesting that the non-sexually-transmitted subspecies arose earlier in the Old World.

The study spread throughout both mainstream press and science blogosphere alike, as did a related Expert Commentary, written by Connie Mulligan and colleagues, that challenged the methods and findings of the syphilis study.

Today PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases is thrilled to publish its very first set of what we like to call "sneak-preview" articles — articles that are published before the journal officially launches later this year. These two articles showcase the broad-reaching content that will be featured in PLoS' newest journal.

A meeting next week here in San Francisco will feature leading researchers discussing "open" modes of collaborative discovery with a special emphasis on infectious diseases of the developing world.