Structural Biology News and Research

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Study suggests ZCB11 as a promising antibody drug against all SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern

Researchers at the AIDS Institute, The University of Hong Kong, Department of Microbiology, School of Clinical Medicine, the LKS Faculty of Medicine of The University of Hong Kong and the State Key Laboratory of Emerging Infectious Diseases, HKU, together with structural biologists at The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, have demonstrated that ZCB11, a broadly neutralizing antibody derived from a local mRNA-vaccinee against the spreading Omicron variants of SARS-CoV-2, displays potent antiviral activities against all variants of concern (VOCs), including the dominantly spreading Omicron BA.1, BA1.1 and BA.2.

13 Jul 2022

Scientists gain unprecedented insight into the key properties of antibody needed to combat cancer

Researchers at the University of Southampton have gained unprecedented new insight into the key properties of an antibody needed to fight off cancer.

8 Jul 2022

Crystal structure of a human endogenous reverse transcriptase revealed

The crystal structure of a human endogenous reverse transcriptase has similarities to HIV reverse transcriptase, a well-known tractable drug target, which will help design drugs to treat cancer and other diseases, according to a study co-authored by a Rutgers researcher.

30 Jun 2022

Immune particles from llama blood could offer protection against several COVID-19 variants

Mount Sinai-led researchers have shown that tiny, robust immune particles derived from the blood of a llama could provide strong protection against every COVID-19 variant, including Omicron, and 18 similar viruses including SARS-CoV-2 and SARS-CoV-1, which was responsible for the 2003 SARS outbreak.

29 Jun 2022

Using artificial intelligence to discover new antivirals against COVID-19 and future pandemics

Research into drugs to treat mosquito-borne flaviviruses such as Zika and dengue as well as COVID-19will benefit from a major funding boost, says a group of international scientists using artificial intelligence to discover new oral antivirals.

10 Jun 2022

Cryo-EM helps scientists to decipher the structure of a key part of RNA degradation machinery

In biology, getting rid of stuff can be just as important as making it. A buildup of cells, proteins, or other molecules that are no longer needed can cause problems, so living things have evolved several ways to clean house.

9 Jun 2022

Artificial intelligence-based computational program predicts the 3D structure of rotavirus spike protein

Of the three groups of rotavirus that cause gastroenteritis in people, called groups A, B and C, groups A and C affect mostly children and are the best characterized.

9 Jun 2022

Studies provide insight into how long COVID-19 immunity lasts and nature of immune recall

How does the immune system remember and recognize viral invaders it has encountered in the past? A trio of newly published studies of people infected with SARS-CoV-2, vaccinated against the virus or both, are providing tantalizing new clues about the factors that influence the speed and magnitude of the immune system's response to subsequent infection with variants of SARS-CoV-2.

19 May 2022

New discovery has potential to stop inflammation at the "growing end"

Redness, swelling, pain - these are signs of inflammation. It serves to protect the body from pathogens or foreign substances.

13 May 2022

Scientists discover a potential new method of active immunization to prevent Alzheimer's disease

During experiments in animal models, researchers at the University of Kansas have discovered a possible new approach to immunization against Alzheimer's disease (AD).

4 May 2022

Unraveling how strigoractone hormone regulates massive gene networks controlling plant growth

As sessile organisms, plants have to continually adapt their growth and architecture to the ever-changing environment. To do so, plants have evolved distinct molecular mechanisms to sense and respond to the environment and integrate the signals from outside with endogenous developmental programs.

28 Apr 2022

CryoEM reveals never-before-seen details of the human androgen receptor

Scientists at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSK) have glimpsed never-before-seen details of the human androgen receptor -; the protein inside of cells that responds to male-typical hormones like testosterone.

20 Apr 2022

Scientists unravel the complex workings of the circadian rhythm in cyanobacteria

Scientists want to increase their understanding of circadian rhythms, those internal 24-hour biological clock cycles of sleeping and waking that occur in organisms, ranging from humans to plants to fungi to bacteria.

18 Apr 2022

Developing and manufacturing custom recombinant antibodies for R&D

In this interview, Dr. Linlin Zhang, technical specialist for Sino Biological Europe, discusses how Sino is expanding its product offerings into the European market and outlines its process for developing and manufacturing custom recombinant antibodies for their clients.

From Sino Biological Inc. 6 Apr 2022

Groundbreaking collaborative work defines the risk of SARS-CoV-2 variants on immune protection

In a paper in the journal Nature, Los Alamos National Laboratory scientists Bette Korber, Hyejin Yoon, Will Fischer and James Theiler, among nearly 130 authors from institutions around the world, describe their groundbreaking collaborative work, "Defining the risk of SARS-CoV-2 variants on immune protection."

1 Apr 2022

NIH program provides a real-time risk assessment of variants of SARS-CoV-2

Faculty from the Departments of Microbiology, Medicine Genetics and Genomic Sciences, and Pathology and Molecular Cell-Based Medicine at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai play key roles in a National Institutes of Health (NIH) program set up to provide a real-time risk assessment of variants of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. The program, called SARS-CoV-2 Assessment of Viral Evolution (SAVE) and described in a paper published March 31 in Nature, assesses how the variants might affect transmission, virulence, and resistance to both disease-induced (convalescent) and vaccine-induced immunity.

31 Mar 2022

Groundbreaking chemical technique could reveal new treatments for cancer and other diseases

Leicester researchers have described application of a pioneering chemical technique which could unlock ground-breaking new treatments for cancer and other diseases.

23 Mar 2022

Conformational variation of the SARS-CoV-2 energy landscape

Researchers demonstrate that the energy landscape of SARS-CoV-2 exhibits significant conformational variation.

14 Mar 2022

Researchers solve the structure of large signaling protein involved in emergence of blood cancers

Researchers led by Christopher Garcia of the Ludwig Center at Stanford University have solved the long-sought structure of a large signaling protein involved in responses to infection, inflammation, the generation of immune cells and when dysregulated by mutation-; the emergence of blood cancers known as myeloproliferative neoplasms.

11 Mar 2022

Lower exosome component 2 expression protects against clinical SARS-CoV-2 infection

In a recent study posted to the bioRxiv* preprint server, researchers demonstrated that the lower expression of EXOSC2 human protein safeguards from clinical coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). This protective effect was via the reduced EXOSC2 expression-associated suppression of the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) replication.

9 Mar 2022