Molecular & Structural Biology

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Studying the nanomechanical properties of aging and cancerous cells using AFM

An interview with Prof. Igor Sokolov, Tufts University conducted by April Cashin-Garbutt, MA (Cantab).

From Bruker Nano Surfaces and Metrology 31 Oct 2017

NASA’s “Twins Study” explores the effects space travel has on the human body

Preliminary results from NASA’s Twins Study have revealed some of the bodily changes that occurred in an astronaught, who spent almost one year in space, compared with his twin brother, who remained on earth.

30 Oct 2017

Researchers provide new insight into how nematode's brain controls movement

The human brain is a mysterious supercomputer. Billions of neurons buzz within an intricate network that controls our every thought, feeling, and movement. And we've only just begun to understand how it all works.

26 Oct 2017

IBN researchers create DNA technology with two new genetic alphabets

Just like how alphabets are strung together to form words, our DNA is also strung together by alphabets to encode proteins. Our DNA contains only 4 natural genetic alphabets - A, C, G and T, which hold the blueprint for the production of proteins that make our bodies work.

26 Oct 2017

Study: New histone modifications link cellular metabolism to chromatin architecture

Scientists of Helmholtz Zentrum München and Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität Munich (LMU) have discovered that two new classes of histone modifications couple cellular metabolism to gene activity. The study was published in 'Nature Structural and Molecular Biology'.

26 Oct 2017

Researchers discover mechanism that corrects protein misfolding in plants

Various human nervous system diseases, such as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), Alzheimer's, Huntington's, and Parkinson's diseases, are associated with the same basic disorder: the loss of nerve cells capacity to fold their proteins correctly, which causes protein aggregations that form "clumps" that end up generating the cell death.

25 Oct 2017

Scientists discover 'molecular pencil sharpener' that releases powerful antibiotics

Picture a brand-new, unsharpened pencil. The graphite at its core can't be used for writing until a pencil sharpener chews away its wooden tip.

24 Oct 2017

Research provides insight into how two stands of double helix separate during replication

Life would be impossible if the DNA in dividing cells were replicated with anything less than near-perfect precision. Every time a nucleated cell commits to becoming two cells, every "letter" of its genome must be replicated once and only once.

24 Oct 2017

Measuring biological samples using SNAP

My group is interested in host pathogen interaction and we mainly focus on how bacteria enter cells. In essence, the idea is that if you can prevent bacteria from entering cells, then you will prevent illness.

From Bruker Nano Surfaces and Metrology 24 Oct 2017

New synthetic genetic tool measures and manipulates protein aggregation in live cells

A common thread ties seemingly unlinked disorders like Alzheimer's disease and type II diabetes together. This thread is known as protein aggregation and happens when proteins clump together. These complexes are a hallmark of many diseases but have recently been linked to beneficial functions as well.

20 Oct 2017

Chromosomes may be entangled, research finds

Everyone knows that long bits of yarn, or charging cables and the like, tend to get quickly tangled and form nasty knots. Little is known about the structures of our genetic material, chromosomes, which also consist of long strings that -- according to our experience -- should be likely to become knotted. However, up to now it has not been possible to study this experimentally.

20 Oct 2017

Researchers discover new function in gene-regulatory protein

Researchers at Umeå and Stockholm universities in Sweden and Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in the US have published a new study in the journal Molecular Cell.

20 Oct 2017

Protein identified as promising novel obesity treatment

This week Amgen published data showing that injection of a protein known as growth differentiation factor 15 (GDF15) facilitated weight loss in obese mice and primates.

20 Oct 2017

New RNA switch achieves gene activation thousands of times better than nature

If scientists could precisely regulate gene expression, they could turn off the genes responsible for illness and disease and turn on those that enhance health and the immune system.

19 Oct 2017

Scientists uncover surprising molecular link in critical cellular growth pathway

A team of scientists led by Whitehead Institute has uncovered a surprising molecular link that connects how cells regulate growth with how they sense and make available the nutrients required for growth.

19 Oct 2017

Using AFM to study cell mechanics and function

My lab, broadly speaking, is interested in trying to understand interactions between cells and materials. Those could be materials that are present within living tissue or materials that we use for engineering purposes to try to do something of technological or therapeutic interest.

From Bruker Nano Surfaces and Metrology 17 Oct 2017

Study helps understand basic mechanisms of mitochondrial DNA maintenance

Researchers at the University of Eastern Finland have discovered a novel mechanism safeguarding mitochondrial DNA. The study, published in PNAS earlier this week, was carried out in close collaboration with research groups from CBMSO in Madrid, Spain, and Umeå University in Sweden.

13 Oct 2017

New x-ray analysis methodology reveals structure of disordered protein

Scientists at The University of Notre Dame have shown that disordered proteins have a structure very close to what would be expected for a truly random structure using a novel X-ray scattering (SAXS) analysis methodology.

13 Oct 2017

Researchers use mixed realty viewer to visualize complex biological networks in 3D

They call it the "hairy ball." It's an unflattering name for two-dimensional representations of a complex biological network, a depiction of a system of linkages and connections so complex and dense that "it looks like a big mess," said Dmitry Korkin, PhD, associate professor of computer science at Worcester Polytechnic Institute and director of the university's bioinformatics and computational biology program.

13 Oct 2017

Scientists one step closer to unraveling mystery of how intrinsically disordered proteins work

Determining how proteins function on a molecular level is crucial to understanding the underlying basis for disease. Now scientists at the University of Notre Dame are one step closer to unraveling the mystery of how intrinsically disordered proteins work, according to new research published in Science

13 Oct 2017