Crystallography News and Research

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Research opens new potential target against enterics

In research published in Nature Chemical Biology, scientists from RIKEN in Japan have discovered a surprisingly simple mechanism through which enterics can adjust to the very different oxygen environments inside the human gut and outside.

12 Nov 2014

Johns Hopkins researchers capture images of protein complex that keeps hearts beating

For years, a multidisciplinary team of Johns Hopkins researchers has tracked an elusive creature, a complex of proteins thought to be at fault in some cases of sudden cardiac death. As they report Nov. 5 in the online edition of Nature Communications, they have finally captured images of the complex.

6 Nov 2014

Landmark study provides new insight into function of enzyme related to BRCA1 protein

A landmark study to be published in the October 30, 2014 print edition of the journal Nature provides new insight into the function of an enzyme related to the BRCA1 breast-cancer protein. The study by a team at Penn State University is the first to produce a detailed working image of an enzyme in the Polycomb Repressive Complex 1 (PRC1) -- a group that regulates cell development and is associated with many types of cancer.

30 Oct 2014

Case Western Reserve University’s synchrotron facility to become No. 1 beamline facility for biology

Case Western Reserve University’s synchrotron facility at Brookhaven National Laboratory is on its way to becoming the No. 1 beamline facility for biology in the world by early 2016, thanks to a jumpstart grant of $4.6 million from the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering, a component of the National Institutes of Health.

24 Sep 2014

Researchers develop protein therapy that may stop cancer growth

A team of Stanford researchers has developed a protein therapy that disrupts the process that causes cancer cells to break away from original tumor sites, travel through the blood stream and start aggressive new growths elsewhere in the body.

22 Sep 2014

Zebrafish may hold key to unlocking a leading cause of respiratory diseases

A small freshwater fish found in many tropical aquariums may hold the key to unlocking one of the leading causes of respiratory diseases in humans.

17 Sep 2014

Researchers find new method to measure modified protein structures in biological sample

Cells regulate protein functions in a wide variety of ways, including by modifying the protein structure. In an instant, a protein can take on another form and perform no or even the "wrong" function: in humans, proteins that fold wrongly can cause serious diseases such as Alzheimer's, Parkinson's or cystic fibrosis.

16 Sep 2014

Researchers pave way for development of new generation of chemotherapy drugs

A new mechanism to inhibit proteasomes, protein complexes that are a target for cancer therapy, is the topic of an article published in the journal Chemistry & Biology.

10 Sep 2014

Internal water channels can pave way for novel approaches in drug development

G protein-coupled receptors are the largest class of cell surface receptors in our cells, involved in signal transmission across the cell membrane.

9 Sep 2014

Researchers unravel molecular mechanism of mRNA recognition

The information encoded in our genes is translated into proteins, which ultimately mediate biological functions in an organism.

9 Sep 2014

Scientists identify developmental on-off switch for Streptomyces

Scientists have identified the developmental on-off switch for Streptomyces, a group of soil microbes that produce more than two-thirds of the world's naturally derived antibiotic medicines.

30 Aug 2014

Researchers now have a clear picture of bacterial immune system

Bacteria's ability to destroy viruses has long puzzled scientists, but researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health say they now have a clear picture of the bacterial immune system and say its unique shape is likely why bacteria can so quickly recognize and destroy their assailants.

15 Aug 2014

Laboratories at TSRI investigate antibodies to fight Ebola virus

Laboratories at The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) are investigating antibodies to fight Ebola virus, including the three antibodies recently used to treat two American health care workers infected with the Ebola virus.

5 Aug 2014

Researchers uncover 3D structure of neuroreceptor

Neurons are the cells of our brain, spinal cord, and overall nervous system. They form complex networks to communicate with each other through electrical signals that are carried by chemicals.

4 Aug 2014

Rice, Baylor scientists analyze how influenza-related proteins help infect cells

A flu virus acts like a Trojan horse as it attacks and infects host cells. Scientists at Rice University and Baylor College of Medicine have acquired a clearer view of the well-hidden mechanism involved.

1 Aug 2014

Researchers find molecule that irreversibly interferes with activity of mutated cancer gene

UT Southwestern Medical Center cancer researchers have found a molecule that selectively and irreversibly interferes with the activity of a mutated cancer gene common in 30 percent of tumors.

29 Jul 2014

Cancer researchers find molecule that irreversibly interferes with KRAS gene

UT Southwestern Medical Center cancer researchers have found a molecule that selectively and irreversibly interferes with the activity of a mutated cancer gene common in 30 percent of tumors.

29 Jul 2014

Researchers prove that CD27 drug is true alternative against malaria

Researchers from the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya · BarcelonaTech (UPC), the Instituto de Química Mèdica (IQM-CSIC) and the University of Glasgow have proved that the CD27 drug is a true alternative against malaria.

22 Jul 2014

Scientists reveal secrets of cell membrane proteins

Rice University scientists have succeeded in analyzing transmembrane protein folding in the same way they study the proteins' free-floating, globular cousins.

17 Jul 2014

Researchers reveal molecular interplay between Roquin and RNA

The Roquin protein, discovered in 2005, controls T-cell activation and differentiation by regulating the expression of certain mRNAs. In doing so, it helps to guarantee immunological tolerance and prevents immune responses against the body's own structures that can lead to autoimmune disease.

16 Jul 2014