Molecular & Structural Biology

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Research identifies how neuronal transmission is disrupted in ALS

Patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), also known as Lou Gehrig's disease, lose muscle control as nerve cells or neurons in the brain and spinal cord degenerate and can no longer send signals to muscles.

29 May 2020

Biophysicists shed light on how optogenetic tool works

An international research team has for the first time obtained the structure of the light-sensitive sodium-pumping KR2 protein in its active state.

29 May 2020

Study provides new strategies for treating different types of cancer

An RNA molecule involved in preventing the formation of tumors can modify its structure and thus regulate the production of proteins in the cell.

29 May 2020

Study highlights crucial role of immune-system molecule in Huntington's disease

More than a decade before people with Huntington's disease show symptoms, they can exhibit abnormally high levels of an immune-system molecule called interleukin-6 (IL-6), which has led many researchers to suspect IL-6 of promoting the eventual neurological devastation associated with the genetic condition.

28 May 2020

New study outlines the mechanisms behind cell fusion

Scientists have known for a decade that cells that fuse with others to perform their essential functions - such as muscle cells that join together to make fibers - form long projections that invade the territory of their fusion partners.

28 May 2020

Scientists explain why cold-adapted enzymes stop functioning at room temperature

Enzymes from cold-loving organisms that live at low temperatures, close to the freezing point of water, display highly distinctive properties.

28 May 2020

Damped circadian oscillations observed in the absence of KaiA protein in cyanobacterium

Circadian rhythms are driven by a highly autonomous, self-sustaining circadian clock in our cells, telling us when to sleep or wake up in a 24-hour cycle.

27 May 2020

Using CRISPR/Cas molecular scissors to recombine entire chromosomes

The CRISPR/Cas molecular scissors work like a fine surgical instrument and can be used to modify genetic information in plants.

27 May 2020

Study discovers how protein inhibits tumor development in mice

Proteins are found throughout our cells and regulate a lot of biological processes that are important for our survival.

27 May 2020

New minimally invasive method allows cells to be sampled over time

At any given moment, a variety of dynamic processes occur inside a cell, with many developing over time. Because current research methods for gene profiling or protein analysis destroy the cell, study is confined to just that one moment in time, and researchers are unable to return to the cell to examine how things change beyond that snapshot.

27 May 2020

The eye launches an immune response in the lens following injury

The lens of the eye is an unusual organ. Unlike most of the body's organs, blood vessels don't reach the lens. If they did, they'd obscure our vision and we wouldn't be able to see. The lack of vasculature led scientists to believe immune cells, which travel via the bloodstream, couldn't get to this part of the body either.

27 May 2020

Study reveals the favorable effect of Neanderthal gene in child-bearing women

According to a new study, one in three women in Europe has inherited the progesterone receptor from Neanderthals.

27 May 2020

New sequencing method helps map the spatial arrangement of DNA

A sequencing technique helps to map the spatial arrangement of DNA in the cell nucleus, revealing which regions of the genome are at greater risk of mutation.

27 May 2020

Fruit fly study helps explain why it is so hard to wake up on a winter morning

Winter may be behind us, but do you remember the challenge of waking up on those cold, dark days? Temperature affects the behavior of nearly all living creatures, but there is still much to learn about the link between sensory neurons and neurons controlling the sleep-wake cycle.

26 May 2020