Crystallography News and Research

RSS

Understanding structure of HIV-1 protease vital to development of next-generation HIV drugs

HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, has become one of the world’s most serious health and development challenges.

24 May 2016

Cryo-EM technique allows researchers to visualize large transcription PICs at near-atomic resolution

An unprecedented molecular view of the critical early events in gene expression, a process essential for all life, has been provided by researchers at Georgia State University, the University of California at Berkeley and Northwestern University.

12 May 2016

Study opens door for new opportunities in finding antidotes to nerve agent sarin

The nerve agent sarin causes a deadly overstimulation of the nervous system that can be stopped if treated with an antidote within minutes of poisoning. Today, a ground-breaking study has been published in PNAS, which in detail describes how such a drug works. Researchers at the Swedish Defence Research Agency, Umea University and in Germany are behind the study.

3 May 2016

Snapshots of NMDA receptor activation may help in novel drug design

Structural biologists at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory and Janelia Research Campus/HHMI, have obtained snapshots of the activation of an important type of brain-cell receptor. Dysfunction of the receptor has been implicated in a range of neurological illnesses, including Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, depression, seizure, schizophrenia, autism, and injuries related to stroke.

3 May 2016

TSRI study reveals important traits in LCMV, Lassa virus

For the first time, scientists at The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) have solved the structure of the biological machinery used by a common virus to recognize and attack human host cells.

27 Apr 2016

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

TSRI study shows hollowed-out version of CPMV could be effective in human therapies

Viruses aren't always bad. In fact, scientists can harness the capabilities of some viruses for good—modifying the viruses to carry drug molecules, for example.

29 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

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

UCSF study marks important step toward finding cure for Ebola

In experiments carried out partly at the Department of Energy's SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, scientists have determined in atomic detail how a potential drug molecule fits into and blocks a channel in cell membranes that Ebola and related "filoviruses" need to infect victims' cells.

15 Mar 2016

Researchers aim to design a better male contraceptive pill

Women can choose from a wide selection of birth control methods, including numerous oral contraceptives, but there's never been an analogous pill for men. That's not for lack of trying: For many years, scientists have attempted to formulate a male pill. Finally, a group of researchers has taken a step toward that goal by tweaking some experimental compounds that show promise.

14 Mar 2016

First atomic-scale view of interaction between HIV capsid and host protein cyclophilin A

A new study offers the first atomic-scale view of an interaction between the HIV capsid - the protein coat that shepherds HIV into the nucleus of human cells - and a host protein known as cyclophilin A. This interaction is key to HIV infection, researchers say.

7 Mar 2016

Unlocking H5N1 virus replication: an interview with Martin Blackledge

We were able to show that one small domain of the polymerase, the part that is essential for entry of a piece of the polymerase into the cell nucleus, changes its conformation to allow it to interact with the transporter protein than takes it into the nucleus.

3 Mar 2016

Scientists reveal how the brain processes information with lightning speed

Surprisingly complex interactions between neurotransmitter receptors and other key proteins help explain the brain's ability to process information with lightning speed, according to a new study.

27 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 Division 18 Feb 2016

Unlocking intrinsically disordered proteins: an interview with Peter Wright

I'm a professor in the Department of Integrative Structural and Computational Biology at The Scripps Research Institute. I have been performing NMR research on proteins for nearly 40 years.

From Bruker BioSpin Division 11 Feb 2016

Structural movie reveals step-by-step creation of chemical that plays important role in some cancers

An international team of scientists led by the University of Liverpool has produced a 'structural movie' revealing the step-by-step creation of an important naturally occurring chemical in the body that plays a role in some cancers.

10 Feb 2016

Screening of protein-based pharmaceuticals, free webinar

PANalytical, the world’s leading supplier of analytical instrumentation and software for X-ray and related techniques, announces their free webinar on The power of powder - Screening of protein-based pharmaceuticals on 18 February 2016, presented by Irene Margiolaki, assistant professor at the Department of Biology of the University of Patras, Greece and Detlef Beckers, Lead Scientist XRD, PANalytical B.V., The Netherlands

3 Feb 2016

Researchers suggest ways to make TB drugs more efficacious against mutations

Biophysicists have discovered why the bacteria that cause tuberculosis (TB) are naturally somewhat resistant to antibiotics known as fluoroquinolones. Their findings, based on mapping the detailed three-dimensional structure of the drugs interacting with an essential enzyme in the TB germ, also reveal why some TB drugs are more potent than others and suggest how drug developers can make fluoroquinolones more efficacious against mutations that make the lung disease drug resistant.

19 Jan 2016