Protein Folding News and Research

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New research reveals key steps in HIV's assault on the brain

Scientists have unraveled in unprecedented detail the cascade of events that go wrong in brain cells affected by HIV, a virus whose assault on the nervous system continues unabated despite antiviral medications that can keep the virus at bay for years in the rest of the body.

16 Nov 2008

Aventix Pharma takes over key patents for innovative screening tool for treatments for cystic fibrosis

The rights to key patents for an innovative screening tool for treatments for cystic fibrosis were transferred today to Swiss biotech company Axentis Pharma AG.

26 Jun 2008

Intracellular antibody mops up mutant protein in Huntington's disease model

Scientists have created a tool for mopping up the clumps of mutant protein that drive neurodegeneration in Huntington's disease. Emory University researchers engineered a virus to make an intracellular antibody or "intrabody" against huntingtin, the protein whose mutant forms poison the brain cells of people with Huntington's.

26 May 2008

Discovery alters long standing concept of fixed protein structure

The thousands of proteins found in nature are simply strings of amino acids, assembled by genes, and scientists have long believed that they automatically fold themselves into uniquely fixed, 3-dimensional shapes to fire the engine of life.

19 Mar 2008

New discovery alters longstanding concept of fixed protein structure

18 Mar 2008

Discovery of key molecular mechanism associated with cystic fibrosis

Researchers from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill have identified a key molecular mechanism that may account for the development of cystic fibrosis.

4 Mar 2008

Heat shock protein 90 helps explain the speed of evolution

Heat shock protein 90 (HSP90) has a greater impact on the appearance of new traits than previously expected, according to two articles published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science (PNAS) by researchers in Whitehead Member Susan Lindquist's lab and their colleagues in Christine Queitsch's lab at Harvard University's FAS Center for Systems Biology.

20 Feb 2008

Discovery of a new anticoagulant

The discovery of a new anticoagulant with promising therapeutic value is reported on the 20th of February issue of the journal PLoS ONE1.

20 Feb 2008

Overexcited neurons not good for cell health

Neurotransmitters have consequences. They initiate events that are critical to a healthy life, giving us the ability to move, to talk, to breathe, to think. But that's if the neurotransmitters are getting it right and sending proper signals downstream to muscle cells, neurons or other cells.

18 Dec 2007

Research looks at how environment inside a living cell affects protein structure

The syrupy soup of proteins, ribosomes and membranes inside a living cell is so tightly packed it may increase the structural content of proteins by as much as 25 percent, according to new research from Rice University and the University of Houston (UH).

13 Nov 2007

Tiny fluorescent probes illuminate protein interactions in living cells

While fluorescence has long been used to tag biological molecules, a new technology developed at Yale allows researchers to use tiny fluorescent probes to rapidly detect and identify protein interactions within living cells while avoiding the biological disruption of existing methods, according to a report in Nature Chemical Biology.

13 Nov 2007

First high-res 3D structures of first mammalian GRP94 protein solved

Dr. Dan Gewirth, Hauptman-Woodward senior research scientist, has just solved the structure of the first mammalian GRP94 protein implicated in immune diseases such as sepsis, AIDS and certain cancers.

15 Oct 2007

When biological molecules kiss, a new kind of biosensor can tell

A new and deceptively simple technique has been developed by chemists at Vanderbilt University that can measure the interactions between free-floating, unlabeled biological molecules including proteins, sugars, antibodies, DNA and RNA.

21 Sep 2007

Secrets of protein folding revealed

A team led by biophysicist Jeremy Smith of the University of Tennessee and Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) has taken a significant step toward unraveling the mystery of how proteins fold into unique, three-dimensional shapes.

18 Sep 2007

New prion protein 'Shadoo' discovered - may offer insight into mad cow disease

Scientists have discovered a new protein that may offer fresh insights into brain function in mad cow disease.

17 Aug 2007

Unlocking proteins from their cellular shell

Applying physical stress to cells, researchers at the University of Pennsylvania have demonstrated that everyday forces can alter the structure of proteins tucked within cells, unfold them and expose new targets in the fight against disease.

3 Aug 2007

Protein pulling advances in protein folding science

Rice University physicists have unveiled an innovative way of finding out how proteins get their shape based on how they unfold when pulled apart.

20 Jul 2007

Scientists evolve new proteins from scratch

Nature, through the trial and error of evolution, has discovered a vast diversity of life from what can only presumed to have been a primordial pool of building blocks.

24 May 2007

New understanding of infectious prion

Researchers have known for decades that certain neurodegenerative diseases, such as mad cow disease or its human equivalent, Cruetzfeldt-Jakob disease, result from a kind of infectious protein called a prion.

10 May 2007

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