Molecular & Structural Biology

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Study opens up new possible treatment methods for patients with urinary tract infections

Patients who have indwelling urinary catheters often suffer from urinary tract infections, which can be difficult to treat.

22 Jul 2022

How the Omicron variant shifted the biology of SARS-CoV-2

Researchers discuss significant antigenic changes within the spike protein of new SARS-CoV-2 VOCs like the Omicron variant.

20 Jul 2022

Stopping 'budding' viruses in their tracks

Paramyxoviruses have the potential to trigger a devastating pandemic. This family of viruses includes measles, Nipah virus, mumps, Newcastle disease and canine distemper.

20 Jul 2022

Simple, effective method can detect protein misfolding at an early stage of neurodegenerative disease

Neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer's disease or Parkinson's disease are caused by folding errors (misfolding) in proteins or peptides, i.e. by changes in their spatial structure.

20 Jul 2022

Genes underlying cigarette smoking linked to the perception of pain and response to food

Have you ever wondered why one person can smoke cigarettes for a year and easily quit, while another person will become addicted for life? Why can't some people help themselves from abusing alcohol and others can take it or leave it?

20 Jul 2022

New microbiome-based predictive models to forecast human health outcomes

A new approach that uses artificial intelligence (AI) shows how to use microorganisms in the body and molecules in cells to predict human health outcomes, according to Penn State College of Medicine and University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center researchers.

19 Jul 2022

Unique tool helps to study how the mechanical forces behind protein folding affect cancer spread

Talin is a protein that controls cellular attachment and movement, but its malfunctioning also allows cancer cells to spread. DCL1 is a tumor-suppressing protein. But scientists don't fully understand how either protein works – or what happens when they don't work the way they should.

15 Jul 2022

Proteins' wobbles, shakes and quivers play a key role in their ability to function

Johns Hopkins Medicine scientists report they have probed the atomic structure of proteins to add to evidence that the wobbles, shakes and quivers of proteins play a critical role in their ability to function.

15 Jul 2022

Pox viruses deliver proteins that directly interfere with the body's innate immune system

Pox viruses are able to get a head start on infecting a host by delivering a package of proteins that directly interferes with the body's innate immune system.

15 Jul 2022

Brain encodes the structure of sentences and phrases into different neural firing patterns, study finds

Our brain links incoming speech sounds to knowledge of grammar, which is abstract in nature. But how does the brain encode abstract sentence structure?

15 Jul 2022

New transport system exemplifies the potential of a de novo design of peptides and proteins

A novel peptide developed at the Universities of Bayreuth and Bristol is eminently suited for the targeted transport of molecules, for example of active substances and dyes, into the cells of mammals.

14 Jul 2022

Study discovers the most complex knotted protein to date

The question of how the chemical composition of a protein, the amino acid sequence, determines its 3D structure has been one of the biggest challenges in biophysics for more than half a century.

14 Jul 2022

SARS-Arena reveals conserved parts of viral proteins that cause COVID-19

Vaccines may need to dig a little deeper to stop SARS-CoV-2. Rice University researchers are providing a new shovel.

14 Jul 2022

Prion imaging could lead to better understanding of what causes fatal neurological disorders

Prion diseases are incurable, deadly neurological disorders that can affect both humans and animals–including Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease (CJD) in people, Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (also known as Mad Cow Disease) and Chronic Wasting Disease found in deer.

13 Jul 2022

Study identifies a protein that plays key role in protecting the gastrointestinal tract from inflammation

A protein called Zbtb46, expressed by specialized immune cells, has a major role in protecting the gastrointestinal tract from excessive inflammation, according to a study from researchers at Weill Cornell Medicine.

13 Jul 2022

Study reveals a specific metabolic adaptation in some patients with acute myeloid leukemia

An article published in the journal Nature Communications describes a specific metabolic adaptation in some patients with acute myeloid leukemia affected by tandem mutations in the FLT3 gene.

13 Jul 2022

New regulatory code of protein glycosylation

Many proteins in nature exist as glycoproteins, which consist of protein (polypeptide chain) and glycan (sugar chain).

13 Jul 2022

Researchers gain unexpected insights into activation mechanism of flaviviruses

A collaboration between researchers at the Center for Virology of the Medical University of Vienna and the Pasteur Institute in Paris has provided unexpected insights into the atomic interactions of the tick-borne encephalitis (TBE) virus in infected cells.

13 Jul 2022

Ancestral molecule from bacteria-like cells may offer evolutionary insight on sexual reproduction

A study from Karolinska Institutet in Sweden, among others, presents the theory that egg-sperm fusion, a crucial feature of sexual reproduction in plants and animals, may have originated from an ancient form of genetic exchange that involved the fusion of bacteria-like microorganisms called archaea.

12 Jul 2022

Stinging nettle extract inhibits SARS-CoV-2 cell fusion

In a recent study posted to the bioRxiv* preprint server, researchers at Ghent University and KU Leuven, Belgium, demonstrated that Urtica dioica agglutinin (UDA), a monomeric lectin extracted from stinging nettle rhizomes, inhibited severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) variants of concern (VOCs) cell to cell fusion.

12 Jul 2022

Molecular & Structural Biology

Study opens up new possible treatment methods for patients with urinary tract infections

How the Omicron variant shifted the biology of SARS-CoV-2

Stopping 'budding' viruses in their tracks

Simple, effective method can detect protein misfolding at an early stage of neurodegenerative disease

Genes underlying cigarette smoking linked to the perception of pain and response to food

New microbiome-based predictive models to forecast human health outcomes

Unique tool helps to study how the mechanical forces behind protein folding affect cancer spread

Proteins' wobbles, shakes and quivers play a key role in their ability to function

Pox viruses deliver proteins that directly interfere with the body's innate immune system

Brain encodes the structure of sentences and phrases into different neural firing patterns, study finds

New transport system exemplifies the potential of a de novo design of peptides and proteins

Study discovers the most complex knotted protein to date

SARS-Arena reveals conserved parts of viral proteins that cause COVID-19

Prion imaging could lead to better understanding of what causes fatal neurological disorders

Study identifies a protein that plays key role in protecting the gastrointestinal tract from inflammation

Study reveals a specific metabolic adaptation in some patients with acute myeloid leukemia

New regulatory code of protein glycosylation

Researchers gain unexpected insights into activation mechanism of flaviviruses

Ancestral molecule from bacteria-like cells may offer evolutionary insight on sexual reproduction

Stinging nettle extract inhibits SARS-CoV-2 cell fusion

Small solutions for big problems in drug discovery and delivery

Professor Nancy Ip: Pioneering New Paths in Neurodegenerative Therapy

Utilizing process Raman in optimizing cultivated meat production

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