Helix News and Research

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New way to target and potentially treat tumors

Research teams at Yale University and the University of Rhode Island have demonstrated a new way to target and potentially treat tumors using a short piece of protein that acts like a nanosyringe to deliver tags or therapy to cells, according to a report in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

2 May 2007

Relationship found between DNA nanomechanics and damage

It has long been known that UV light can damage DNA, reducing its ability to replicate and interact with proteins, and often resulting in the development of skin cancers.

25 Apr 2007

Unusual protein helps cell bypass damage when making new DNA

Scientists have discovered how an unusual protein helps a cell bypass damage when making new DNA, thereby averting the cell's self-destruction.

3 Apr 2007

Penn State scientists reveal structure of gateways to gene control

Scientists at Penn State University will reveal in the 29 March 2007 issue of the journal Nature the first complete high-resolution map of important structures that control how genes are packaged and regulated throughout an entire genome.

31 Mar 2007

Dark state and DNA

Chemists at Ohio State University have probed an unusual high-energy state produced in single nucleotides - the building blocks of DNA and RNA - when they absorb ultraviolet (UV) light.

9 Jan 2007

New protein structure found - important for drug discovery

Understanding and replicating the diverse ways in which cellular proteins fold and interconnect is key to understanding life processes and major disorders, such as Parkinson's disease.

15 Nov 2006

Weill Cornell findings could foil two potential bioterror agents - viral peptide prevents deadly Hendra, Nipah viruses from infecting cells

Two lethal and easily transmitted viruses -- both potential bioterror agents -- may soon be much less dangerous, thanks to research led by scientists at Weill Cornell Medical College in New York City.

31 Oct 2006

Twisted molecule, large and folded like a protein - but completely synthetic

The physiological functions of proteins depend on their folding into a particular spatial structure (tertiary structure): enzymes and their substrates must fit together like the proverbial lock and key.

26 Oct 2006

Flexible interface between DNA ligase and a heterotrimeric sliding clamp supports conformational switching and efficient ligation of DNA

Scientists investigating an important DNA-repair enzyme now have a better picture of the final steps of a process that glues together, or ligates, the ends of DNA strands to restore the double helix.

20 Oct 2006

Fluid forces within the body help invasive bacteria

Bacteria have hair-like protrusions with a sticky protein on the tip that lets them cling to surfaces.

30 Aug 2006

DNA overwinds when stretched

Most of us are familiar with the winding staircase image of DNA, the repository of a biological cell's genetic information. But few of us realize just how tightly that famous double helix is wound.

8 Aug 2006

Stem cells contain immortal DNA

EuroStemCell scientists at the Pasteur Institute in Paris have demonstrated one of the body's most sophisticated ways of regulating the genetic material of stem cells.

26 Jun 2006

From DNA to RNA to protein

Of the thousands of proteins produced in our cells, few are as important as the enzyme RNA polymerase (RNAP), which has the unique ability to faithfully copy genetic information from DNA.

18 Jun 2006

Scientists describe elaborate system of gene control triggered by chemical damage to DNA

Scientists describe for the first time a web of inter-related responses that cells use to avoid becoming diseased or cancerous after being exposed to a powerful mutagen.

7 Jun 2006

Better understanding of DNA damage

Researchers have known for years that damaged DNA can lead to human diseases such as cancer, but how damage occurs - and what causes it - has remained less clear.

6 Jun 2006

Discovery brings embryonic stem cell medicine a step closer

A team of scientists announced a critical step on the path of realizing the promise of embryonic stem (ES) cells for medicine. The researchers have discovered unique molecular imprints coupled to DNA in mouse ES cells that help explain the cells' rare ability to form almost any body cell type. These imprints, or "signatures," appear near the master genes that control embryonic development and probably coordinate their activity in the early stages of cell differentiation. Not only do these findings help to unlock the basis for ES cells' seemingly unlimited potential, they also suggest ways to understand why ordinary cells are so limited in their abilities to repair or replace damaged cells.

26 Apr 2006

WRN exonuclease structure and molecular mechanism imply an editing role in DNA end processing

A team of scientists from Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and the Scripps Research Institute has determined the crystal structure and molecular mechanisms of a key part of WRN, a protein that protects humans from premature aging and cancer.

23 Apr 2006

Colorimetric screening detects DNA, small molecules and proteins

Using the unusual color properties of gold at the nanoscale, scientists at Northwestern University have developed a "litmus test" for DNA and small molecule binding that eventually could be used by pharmaceutical companies to rapidly identify promising candidates for new anti-cancer drugs.

11 Apr 2006

New discovery could help improve some forms of chemotherapy

The research looked at XPB helicase from an archaea, a single cell organism similar to bacteria. Helicases are enzymes that unwind or separate the strands of the nucleic acid double helix, an action that is critical to transcription and nucleotide excision repair (NER), as well as other cell processes.

11 Apr 2006

Important advance in understanding the complex interactions between proteins

Interactions between proteins are the engines that drive the lives of cells, and a better understanding of these relationships -- and the structures that enable them -- are the next great frontier in the biological sciences.

10 Apr 2006