Proteins in Mucus Offer Immune Protection
It turns out that mucus may not be just a messy side effect of colds and sickness. Biological engineers at MIT are exploring the antiviral…
Protein
Insect Protein Inspires New Materials to Treat Vocal Disorders
Superpowers aren’t unheard of in the world of insects. Feats of strength, sound and leaping ability are all made common by the naturally occurring protein…
Intrinsically Disordered Protein Responsible for Inactivating BK Channel
Neurobiologists at Washington University School of Medicine are studying how a protein that lacks any definable structure plays a vital role in cell channels. While…
Protein NLRP12 Protects Against Colon Cancer
A newly published research study from the UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center describes how the absence of the protein NLRP12 significantly increases susceptibility to colitis-associated…
NOD2 Pathway Helps Activate T Cells
Researchers now have a better understanding of how dendritic cells address specific types of infections. By using a protein called NOD2, the scientists were able…
Mutated Protein Allows Flu’s Lethality in Some Patients
The flu can be lethal in some patients, but benign in others. The reason that this is the way that flu infections work might be…
Infrared Spectroscopy Analyzes Proteins in Picoseconds
By building on a technology known as two-dimensional infrared spectroscopy, scientists at MIT have developed a way to analyze proteins that doesn’t require any pre-treatment….
Complete Structure of the “Salvia Receptor” Revealed
A team of researchers have determined the structure of the kappa-opioid receptor, KOR, and give details about how salvinorin A and other drugs interact with…
CFP mTurquoise2 Shines Bright
By first uncovering how CFPs store incoming energy and retransmit it as fluorescent light, scientists were able to understand the function of individual atoms within…
Amplifier Chip Measures Nanopores with High Speed Precision
Scientists continue to improve upon nanotechnology and find new uses for it. By designing a custom integrated circuit using commercial semiconductor technology, researchers have developed…
Behavior in Curious honeybees Similar to Humans
Experiments show that scouting bees, much like novelty-seeking humans, have differences in brain activity in genes related to dopamine and glutamate signaling between neurons. Genomic…
Examining Membrane Proteins by X-Ray Laser
New research at SLAC’s Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS) has shown a promising new way to collect data on membrane proteins in the human body….
Using RNA Import to Repair Mutations in Human Mitochondria
For the first time, scientists have been able to identify a way to correct mutations in human mitochondrial DNA by targeting corrective RNAs. The published…
DnaK Identified as Key Player of Protein Folding
A new published report from the Max Planck Institute of Biochemistry shows how different chaperones cooperate during the folding process. The scientists found that the…
Examining the Mechanism Behind Melanoma Drug Resistance
Zelboraf, which targets the mutated BRAF gene, is used to treat melanoma, but it isn’t always successful due to melanoma’s ability to sometimes get around…
Targeting Dkk1 for the Treatment of Alzheimer’s Disease
Neurologists just took another step forward in the fight against Alzheimer’s disease. While study mice, they discovered that the antibodies that block the function of…
Tyrosine Phosphatase SHP2 and Breast Cancer
A new study identified the protein phosphatase SHP2 as an important player in the signaling cascades governing tumor initiating cells. The scientists found that SHP2…
Researchers Stop Parkinson’s Disease in Animal Model
Researchers at UCLA have found a way to prevent a protein called α-synuclein from forming “clumps,” which become toxic and kill the brain’s neurons in…