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Cambridge Pharmaceutical Cryo-EM Consortium formed by FEI, five pharmaceutical companies, the Medical Research Council and the University of Cambridge

FEI (NASDAQ: FEIC) has partnered with five pharmaceutical companies: Astex Pharmaceuticals, AstraZeneca, GlaxoSmithKline, Heptares Therapeutics, and UCB; the Medical Research Council Laboratory of Molecular Biology (MRC-LMB); and the University of Cambridge’s Nanoscience Centre, to form the “Cambridge Pharmaceutical Cryo-EM Consortium,” which is the first of its kind worldwide.

From Thermo Fisher Scientific – Electron Microscopy Solutions 4 Apr 2016

Purdue University-led researchers determine structure of Zika virus

A team led by Purdue University researchers is the first to determine the structure of the Zika virus, which reveals insights critical to the development of effective antiviral treatments and vaccines.

1 Apr 2016

Researchers demonstrate novel method for imaging engineered nanoparticles in tissues

As a testament to Governor Andrew Cuomo’s leadership in developing an unparalleled research and development ecosystem in New York State, Sara Brenner, MD, MPH and her colleagues at SUNY Polytechnic Institute (SUNY Poly), the George Washington School of Medicine and Health Sciences, and Stony Brook University have demonstrated a novel method for the rapid visualization and identification of engineered nanoparticles in tissues.

28 Mar 2016

FEI, NovAliX to jointly provide cryo-EM-based structural analysis services for pharmaceutical and biotech industry

FEI and NovAliX, a contract research organization (CRO), announced today a strategic partnership to enable NovAliX to provide commercial cryo-electron microscopy (EM)-based structural analysis services to its customers in the pharmaceutical and biotech industry.

From Thermo Fisher Scientific – Electron Microscopy Solutions 23 Mar 2016

Liverpool researchers use JPK's NanoWizard AFM system to study biological membrane structures, protein dynamics

JPK Instruments, a world-leading manufacturer of nanoanalytic instrumentation for research in life sciences and soft matter, reports on the use of their NanoWizard ULTRA Speed AFM system at the University of Liverpool in the group of Dr Luning Liu of the Institute of Integrative Biology to study biological membrane structures and protein dynamics.

From Bruker BioAFM 23 Mar 2016

Study provides better picture of molecular basis for antibiotic resistance

Scientists from the University of Leeds have solved a 25-year-old question about how a family of proteins allow bacteria to resist the effects of certain antibiotics.

23 Mar 2016

ORNL-NIST researchers reveal nondestructive way to observe nanoscale objects and processes

When lots of energy hits an atom, it can knock off electrons, making the atom extremely chemically reactive and initiating further destruction. That's why radiation is so dangerous. It's also why high-resolution imaging techniques that use energetic electron beams and X-rays can alter, even obliterate, the samples they explore. For example, monitoring battery dynamics using electron microscopy can introduce artifacts that interfere with electrochemical processes.

22 Mar 2016

Scientists find evidence that amyloid fibrils adopt several distinct architectures in human, animal tissues

Formation of amyloid fibrils is a characteristic feature of neurogenerative diseases like Alzheimer's. As published in the journal Angewandte Chemie, German and American scientists have found evidence that these fibrils adopt several distinct three-dimensional architectures in real patient and animal tissues.

16 Mar 2016

Theoretical modelling helps to understand interior structures of cubosomes

Under certain conditions appropriately selected particles can form closed surfaces in liquids with surprisingly complex shapes, cutting through space by a regular network of channels. So far, we have looked at cubosomes - for this is what these spectacular three-dimensional nanostructures are called - only from the outside.

16 Mar 2016

NIH-funded investigators develop therapeutic compound effective against malaria

An international team that includes NIH-funded researchers at Stanford University has developed a therapeutic compound that is effective in inhibiting Plasmodium falciparum, one of five species of parasite that infects people with malaria, and the strain which causes the highest number of malaria deaths.

13 Mar 2016

Novel nanoparticle technology can decipher protein structures and help access drug targets

Researchers at Karolinska Institutet, Sweden, have developed a nanoparticle technology that can be used to stabilise membrane proteins so that their structure can be studied in a lipid environment. The method, described in Nature Methods, makes it possible to access drug targets that previously could not be investigated and therefore potentially allows for the development of novel drugs, therapeutic antibodies and vaccines.

9 Mar 2016

Researchers solve structure of key protein in coronaviruses, like MERS and SARS

When the respiratory illness SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome) emerged in 2003, it killed at least 775 people before it was contained. Nine years later, MERS (Middle East Respiratory Syndrome) began circulating in the human population—and has gone on to have a 36 percent case fatality rate.

7 Mar 2016

Scientists track rare potent antibodies in HIV-infected individual

One of the most crucial and elusive goals of an effective HIV vaccine is to stimulate antibodies that can attack the virus even as it relentlessly mutates.

4 Mar 2016

New collaborative project aims to develop novel imaging technology for cancer treatments

Engineers are to develop new imaging technology that could provide more accurate cancer treatments.

2 Mar 2016

Cryo-electron microscopy helps analyze infection mechanisms of coronaviruses in detail

High-resolution cryo-electron microscopy and supercomputing have now made it possible to analyze in detail the infection mechanisms of coronaviruses. These viruses are notorious for attacking the respiratory tract of humans and animals.

27 Feb 2016

Over-expression of heme oxygenase-1 enzyme protects the heart from doxorubicin damage

Life-threatening heart damage is an adverse side effect of the cancer drug doxorubicin, damage that also limits the use of newer chemotherapeutic agents such as trastuzumab and imatinib. The ability to protect the heart from these side effects would benefit patients, including cancer survivors who are at risk of developing heart damage years later, and it also could allow safer use of these drugs at higher doses.

26 Feb 2016

UAB researchers use Malvern’s NanoSight NS300 system to figure out role of exosomes in disease transmission

Data measured using the NanoSight NS300 from Malvern Instruments is providing new insights into the role of exosomes in diseases such as cancer, arthritis, Alzheimer’s disease and cystic fibrosis, in pioneering research at the University of Alabama - Birmingham (UAB).

23 Feb 2016

Researchers identify new group of powerful Ebola-fighting antibodies

A research team that included scientists from The Scripps Research Institute has identified a new group of powerful antibodies to fight Ebola virus.

22 Feb 2016

Revealing dynamic protein complexes with NMR: an interview with Elisar Barbar

Most proteins are involved in interactions with one or a few functional ligands, but some proteins, like light chain 8 (LC8), have numerous binding partners. LC8 interacts with more than 100 functionally different proteins, from viral proteins to motor proteins to proteins involved in cell division.

From Bruker BioSpin - NMR, EPR and Imaging 18 Feb 2016

Pioneering technique shows promise for new medical diagnostics, targeted drug delivery

Living systems rely on a dizzying variety of chemical reactions essential to development and survival. Most of these involve a specialized class of protein molecules--the enzymes.

12 Feb 2016