Molecular & Structural Biology

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Placental Protein Levels Offer Insights into Early-Onset Preeclampsia

A potentially fatal pregnancy complication, preeclampsia is characterized by persistently elevated blood pressure, which is exacerbated when it develops early in the first trimester.

15 Oct 2024

Advanced Model Predicts Nucleosome Positions with High Precision

DNA-;the molecule that carries the genetic information of all living organisms-;is packaged within cells in a complex manner that allows it to function efficiently.

15 Oct 2024

Scientists Identify Key Role of Proteasome in Cell Death

Programmed cell death protects the body against cancer and other diseases. A team of researchers led by Professor Alexander Bartelt from the Institute for Cardiovascular Prevention (IPEK) has decoded a new mechanism by which oxidative stress influences cell death.

15 Oct 2024

New Mouse Model Shows Superior Ability to Study Human Immune Response to Cancer

Immunity plays a central role in the fight against cancer. Many of the current immunotherapies aim at helping the patient's immune system to better recognize cancer cells – by using engineered antibodies – or by simply providing it with new cells, pre-equipped to search and destroy cancer. Either way, what is paramount is a deep understanding of how the immune system works and confronts tumors.

15 Oct 2024

Disrupting a Gene Boosts T Cell Therapy, St. Jude Study Shows

Immunotherapy, using a patient's own immune system to treat disease, has shown promise in some patients with cancer but has not worked in most.

15 Oct 2024

Unveiling a New Cellular Phase for Protein Compartmentalization

Classical mixture theory, which takes into account the percentage corresponding to each constituent as well as the interactions among constituents, can be used to model a system made up of two substances in physics.

14 Oct 2024

A New Technique Reveals the Behavior of OPCs in the Brain

Imagine yourself sometime in the far future aboard a routine rocket to Mars. Someone just spilled their drink. Without gravity, it collects in floating blobs that ripple right before your eyes. Now freeze.

14 Oct 2024

New Research Reveals Link Between Stress Response and C. difficile Severity

The portion of our nervous systems responsible for the "fight or flight" response can shape the severity of potentially deadly C. difficile infections, new research from the University of Virginia School of Medicine reveals.

14 Oct 2024

New Research Examines the Role of Skeletal Stem Cells in Bone Growth and Regeneration

Researchers at UTHealth Houston have been awarded an $8.1 million grant by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to examine skeletal stem cells as potential drivers of craniofacial bone diseases and deformities. The study is led by Noriaki Ono, DDS, PhD, associate professor of orthodontics, and diagnostic and biomedical sciences at UTHealth Houston School of Dentistry.

14 Oct 2024

Cell Division Variability Promotes Healthy Embryo Development

There is variability in when and how cells divide during the development of embryos. While researchers traditionally believed this variability was an obstacle that needed to be regulated, the Hiiragi group now found that it actually promotes healthy development.

14 Oct 2024

A Novel Approach to Detecting Adulteration in Ginseng Supplements

Rosalee Hellberg, an associate professor in Chapman University's Food Science Program, and her research team have made a significant breakthrough in the fight against adulteration in dietary supplements. Effective methods for identifying adulteration and fraud have remained elusive. Now, a new study of 50 commercially available ginseng products has found surprising results.

9 Oct 2024

Researchers Develop Highly Selective SARS-CoV-2 Mpro Inhibitors

New research from The Wistar Institute's Salvino lab -; led by professor Joseph Salvino, Ph.D. -; has identified a novel series of SARS-CoV-2 Mpro inhibitors that may lead to potential new COVID-19 treatments that, according to preclinical testing, effectively inhibits COVID-19 and synergizes with existing anti-COVID therapies.

9 Oct 2024

New RNA Molecule Found to Boost Wound Healing

A new study from Karolinska Institutet in Sweden and the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences has identified an RNA molecule that is important for skin wound healing. The research, published in Nature Communications, may have implications for the treatment of hard-to-heal wounds.

9 Oct 2024

Engineering Tissue Domains with a Synthetic Biology Approach

Researchers at Nano Life Science Institute (WPI-NanoLSI), Kanazawa University, demonstrate how morphogens combined with cell adhesion can generate tissue domains with a sharp boundary in an in vitro model system.

9 Oct 2024

Study Unravels the Mystery of Hsp70 Chaperones

Proteins control most of the body's functions, and their malfunction can have severe consequences, such as neurodegenerative diseases or cancer. Therefore, cells have mechanisms in place to control protein quality.

9 Oct 2024

Scientists Map the Entire Brain of a Fruit Fly

UC Santa Barbara neuroscientists have reconstructed the entire anterior visual pathway of a fruit fly, a complex series of connections between the insect's eyes and the navigation center of its brain. With the help of artificial intelligence and manual proofreading, systems biologist Sung Soo Kim's research group and collaborators worked out the relationships between more than 3,000 neurons with unprecedented detail.

9 Oct 2024