Molecular & Structural Biology

RSS

Unveiling the Molecular Mechanisms of Shigella flexneri Infection

Virginia Tech researchers have learned how bacteria manipulate molecules to infect the host organism.

23 Sep 2024

A New Method to Correct Misplaced Proteins in Cells

Cells are highly controlled spaces that rely on every protein being in the right place. Many diseases, including cancers and neurodegenerative disorders, are associated with misplaced proteins. In some cancers, for instance, a protein that normally stands watch over DNA replicating in the nucleus is sent far from the DNA it is meant to monitor, allowing cancers to grow.

23 Sep 2024

AI-Driven Insights into Lasso Peptide Biosynthesis

Lasso peptides are natural products made by bacteria. Their unusual lasso shape endows them with remarkable stability, protecting them from extreme conditions. In a new study, published in Nature Chemical Biology, researchers have constructed and tested models for how these peptides are made and demonstrated how this information might be used to advance lasso peptide-based drugs into the clinic.

23 Sep 2024

A New Understanding of the Effects of Fever on Immune Cells

Fever temperatures rev up immune cell metabolism, proliferation and activity, but they also -; in a particular subset of T cells -; cause mitochondrial stress, DNA damage and cell death, Vanderbilt University Medical Center researchers have discovered.

23 Sep 2024

Novel Tool Helps Identify Snake Venom Genes Across Species

Only about ten percent of the world's roughly 4,000 snake species have venom strong enough to seriously hurt a human, but that's enough for snake bites to be an important public health concern.

20 Sep 2024

The Role of Ancient Viral Sequences in Gene Regulation

For any organism to survive and thrive, its cells must tightly control which genes are activated when, and where.

19 Sep 2024

Early Detection of Off-Target Binding Could Improve Drug Safety

Integral Molecular, a pioneer in antibody discovery and characterization, has published new findings in the journal mAbs, revealing that up to one-third of antibody-based drugs exhibit nonspecific binding to unintended targets.

18 Sep 2024

Breakthrough Discovery on How TGF-Beta Communicates in Cells

Scientists discover how TGF-Beta, a crucial protein in development and cancer, sends its message even while tethered to the cell membrane.

17 Sep 2024

New Insights into How Mutant p53 Promotes Tumor Growth

Research from the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ) and the National Institute of Science and Technology for Structural Biology and Bioimaging (INBEB) in Brazil has uncovered a critical mechanism by which mutations in the p53 protein-;a key tumor suppressor known as the "guardian of the genome"-;turn other proteins into cancer-promoting agents

17 Sep 2024

New Guidelines Enhance Accuracy of DNA-Protein Interaction Studies

Researchers at University of California San Diego have published new guidelines that could help scientists significantly improve their results when quantifying the interactions between DNA and proteins.

17 Sep 2024

New Guidelines for Accurate Spike-In Normalization in DNA-Protein Interaction Studies

New criteria developed by researchers at the University of California San Diego may greatly enhance the accuracy of results obtained by scientists when assessing the interactions between proteins and DNA.

16 Sep 2024

Membrane Tension and Calcium Signaling Regulate Phospholipid Scrambling

Researchers at the Institute for Integrated Cell-Material Sciences (WPI-iCeMS) at Kyoto University have discovered new information regarding how cells control the distribution of lipids in their cell membrane.

16 Sep 2024

A Novel Method for Incorporating Non-Canonical Amino Acids into Proteins

Every basic biology lesson teaches that proteins are made up of combinations of 20 distinct amino acids, which are ordered in various patterns similar to words.

12 Sep 2024

A Powerful New Tool for Biomedical Research

Scientists at Weill Cornell Medicine in Qatar (WCM-Q) have built a comprehensive molecular map of the human body and its complicated physiological processes by analyzing thousands of molecules found in 391 volunteers' blood, urine, and saliva samples.

12 Sep 2024