The recent availability of high-density human genome tiling arrays enables biologists to conduct ChIP–chip experiments to locate the in vivo-binding sites of transcription factors in the human genome and explore the regulatory mechanisms. Once genomic regions enriched by transcription factor ChIP–chip are located, genome-scale downstream analyses are crucial but difficult for biologists without strong bioinformatics support. We designed and implemented the first web server to streamline the ChIP–chip downstream analyses. Given genome-scale ChIP regions, the cis-regulatory element annotation system (CEAS) retrieves repeat-masked genomic sequences, calculates GC content, plots evolutionary conservation, maps nearby genes and identifies enriched transcription factor-binding motifs. Biologists can utilize CEAS to retrieve useful information for ChIP–chip validation, assemble important knowledge to include in their publication and generate novel hypotheses (e.g. transcription factor cooperative partner) for further study. CEAS helps the adoption of ChIP–chip in mammalian systems and provides insights towards a more comprehensive understanding of transcriptional regulatory mechanisms. The URL of the server is .

Cu2ZnSnS4is considered as the ideal absorption layer material in next generation thin film solar cells due to the abundant component elements in the crust being nontoxic and environmentally friendly. This paper summerized the development situation of Cu2ZnSnS4thin film solar cells and the manufacturing technologies, as well as problems in the manufacturing process. The difficulties for the raw material’s preparation, the manufacturing process, and the manufacturing equipment were illustrated and discussed. At last, the development prospect of Cu2ZnSnS4thin film solar cells was commented.

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With the deepening of study on perovskite solar cells (PSCs) all over the world, the power conversion efficiency (PCE) has rapidly increased from 3.8% to 25% in recent years, and the perovskite material is expected to become an ideal absorption material for solar cells at low cost in the future. However, some problems are necessary to solve on the way toward practical applications of perovskite solar cells. This paper summarizes the recent research progress from the aspects of structural improvement for further PCE enhancement, material stability and life improvement, large-area preparation, replacement of toxic ingredients, and resolution of hysteresis in performance characterization. The progress in these field has been very fruitful, and will provide references for future research.

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