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Automating cryo-EM sample preparation

SPT Labtech has today announced the introduction of chameleon, an industry-enabling sample-preparation system for cryo-EM.

From SPT Labtech 6 Aug 2019

Scientists redesign chemotaxis by creating artificial nanoswimmers from gold nanoparticles

Bacteria can actively move towards a nutrient source—a phenomenon known as chemotaxis—and they can move collectively in a process known as swarming.

1 Aug 2019

Simple, accurate, and fast: the new "sniff-cam" disease detector

It’s not just about garlic on the breath any more; your breath could now help reveal a variety of diseases. The science behind it is that the human body excretes a number of volatile compounds through the breath, and the type and proportion of these vary with the kind of disease.

1 Aug 2019

Preventing parasites from adhering to mosquito guts could stop disease transmission

A group of microorganisms known as kinetoplastids includes the parasites that cause devastating diseases such as African sleeping sickness, Chagas disease, and leishmaniasis.

31 Jul 2019

Study proposes new way of concentrating radiotherapy dose in tumors

A new way of concentrating radiotherapy dose in tumours, while minimising damage to healthy cells, has been proposed in research led by scientists at the University of Strathclyde.

26 Jul 2019

Weak electron attraction helps hold together amyloid beta sheets found in Alzheimer's

The chemical interactions that give proteins their shape may be weaker and more numerous than previously recognized. These weak connections provide a new way for researchers to understand proteins that cause disease and help them gain insights into the fundamentals of chemistry.

24 Jul 2019

Scientists find surprising insight into Legionnaires’ disease

The incidence of Legionnaires' disease has increased in the past two decades. The natural habitat of Legionella is freshwater biotopes, where they mainly reproduce in amoebae.

24 Jul 2019

NIH contract awarded to UAB for acute flaccid myelitis natural history study

The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, part of the National Institutes of Health, has awarded the University of Alabama at Birmingham approximately $10 million over 5 years to study acute flaccid myelitis, a rare but serious condition which causes muscle weakness and paralysis.

23 Jul 2019

Study finds hidden dynamics in neuronal networks

Neuronal networks in the brain can process information particularly well when they are close to a critical point - or so brain researchers had assumed based on theoretical considerations.

23 Jul 2019

High-resolution images offer clues to improve design of anti-nausea drugs

A new study using a special type of electron microscope using samples cooled to extremely cold temperatures provides critical information for drug developers seeking to reduce nausea and vomiting side effects of cancer treatments.

23 Jul 2019

Researchers identify toxin responsible for Legionella growth

A team of scientists led by EMBL group leader Sagar Bhogaraju and Ivan Dikic of Goethe University, Frankfurt, discovered that the toxin SidJ in Legionella bacteria enforces a unique modification on human proteins and helps legionella grow inside human cells.

22 Jul 2019

Researchers publish review on serial femtosecond crystallography

Researchers from the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology have published a review on serial femtosecond crystallography, one of the most promising methods for analyzing the tertiary structure of proteins.

22 Jul 2019

Chemists discover a whole new class of microbial recipes

Microbes are master chefs of the biomolecular world; collectively, they harbor the ability to produce a vast array of unknown substances, some of which may have therapeutic or other useful properties.

22 Jul 2019

Nanotechnology-based compound used to deliver hepatitis B vaccine

Nanotechnology-based compounds are now being tested as a possible delivery vehicle for vaccines. A team of researchers demonstrated how the oral delivery vehicle SBA-15, one such nanotechnology-based compound can deliver an oral vaccine against hepatitis B to the immune system.

11 Jul 2019

Structure of bacteria responsible for traveler's diarrhea deciphered

For the first time researchers have deciphered the near-atomic structure of filaments, called 'pili', that extend from the surface of bacteria that cause traveler's diarrhea.

10 Jul 2019

Hinge-like protein may unlock new pathways for cystic fibrosis treatment

In recent decades, treatment options for people with cystic fibrosis have improved dramatically. The newest drugs, known as potentiators, target a protein called cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator, which is mutated in people with the disease.

10 Jul 2019

Researchers capture high-resolution, 3D images of gene-editing enzymes

For the first time, scientists have captured high-resolution, three-dimensional images of an enzyme in the process of precisely cutting DNA strands.

9 Jul 2019

Researchers study energy efficiency of desert-dwelling horned lizards

EU-funded LINABIOFLUID researchers used electron microscopes to study desert-dwelling horned lizards, which survive in arid conditions by collecting dew through their skin, and flat bark bugs, which change color to camouflage themselves from predators when they get wet.

8 Jul 2019

Using NMR to Study Protein Structure, Dynamics and Mechanisms

Fábio Almeida describes how NMR can be used to elucidate protein structure and how this data can be applied to human disease.

From Bruker BioSpin - NMR, EPR and Imaging 4 Jul 2019

Study reveals first complete wiring diagram of an animal's nervous system

In a study published online today in Nature, researchers at Albert Einstein College of Medicine describe the first complete wiring diagram of the nervous system of an animal, the roundworm Caenorhabditis elegans, used by scientists worldwide as a model organism.

4 Jul 2019