Versatile method yields synthetic biology building blocks, body
Synthetic biology involves creating artificial replica that mimic the building blocks of living systems. It aims at recreating biological phenomena in the laboratory following a bottom-up approach....
View ArticleModels suggest cosmic rays can trigger reactions in interstellar ice balls...
(Phys.org)—A team of researchers with affiliations to several universities in the U.S. has found evidence that suggests that cosmic rays striking balls of ice floating around in interstellar clouds can...
View ArticleScientists determine structure of enzyme linked with key cell-signaling protein
Scientists have captured atomic level snapshots showing how one key enzyme modifies a protein involved in turning genes on or off inside cells. Understanding this process-which is particularly...
View ArticleAn engineered protein can disrupt tumor-promoting 'messages' in human cells
Over a century of research has shined light on the once-murky innards of our cells, from the genes that serve as our "blueprints" to the proteins and other molecules that are our cellular taskmasters.
View ArticleChemistry method expedites path to useful molecules for medicine
Opening a broad vista in the search for effective pharmaceuticals, a collaboration of Chinese and U.S. chemists has laid out a highly efficient new method to convert abundant organic molecules into new...
View ArticleA tail of gene expression
Messenger molecules that convey instructions from DNA to protein factories for protein synthesis require special molecular tails for their stability and function. Now, a team of scientists from the...
View ArticleAging simulation finds dangerous molecule activity
Every time we breathe, we bring crucial oxygen into the body. However, a very small part of this oxygen may be converted to so-called free radicals, which have the ability to damage our cells. The...
View ArticleChameleonic properties make large molecules into possible drugs
In a paper published today in Nature Chemical Biology, a team of researchers from Uppsala University, the Broad Institute of MIT, Harvard, and AstraZeneca are presenting new insights into how...
View ArticleNew advance in RNA studies holds out hope for cancer drug development
An international research team led by the University of Leicester has made a breakthrough advance that could pave a new route for the development of anti-cancer drugs.
View ArticleFocused interactions important for protein dynamics
Many biological processes in cells function solely due to the phenomenon of diffusion. This ensures that particles are able to move randomly and aimlessly on the basis of their thermal energy alone. In...
View ArticleScientists discover a new state of matter for water
One of the most basic things we are taught in school science classes is that water can exist in three different states, either as solid ice, liquid water, or vapour gas. But an international team of...
View ArticleResearchers warn scientists of costly impure chemicals
Keele University researchers have published a paper recently warning fellow scientists of impure reagents that could skew results.
View ArticleGenome editing: Pressing the 'delete' button on DNA
Until recently, genomics was a "read-only" science, but scientists have developed a tool for quick and easy deletion of DNA in living cells. This software, published in PLOS Computational Biology, will...
View ArticleResearch shows that circular RNAs, until now considered non-coding, can...
A group of scientists in Israel and Germany, led by Prof. Sebastian Kadener from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, have discovered a protein-encoding function for circular RNA. This kind of RNA...
View ArticleNew method for tapping vast plant pharmacopeia to make more effective drugs
Cocaine, nicotine, capsaicin. These are just three familiar examples of the hundreds of thousands of small molecules (also called specialized or secondary metabolites) that plants use as chemical...
View ArticleGame-changing PanDDA method unveils previously hidden 3-D structure data
Scientists have utilised Diamond Light Source to develop a new method to extract previously hidden information from the X-ray diffraction data that are measured when resolving the three-dimensional...
View ArticleSolid acetylene reagent for laboratory applications
Acetylene is one of the primary starting materials for chemical synthesis. However, acetylene is a highly flammable gas, dangerous and difficult to use in regular research laboratories. A novel solid...
View ArticleCommercializing structural biology knowledge can save money and speed drug...
HarkerBIO is a "shining star" in the growing biotech ecosystem taking shape on the Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus. The small structural biology company determines 3-D structures of proteins for drug...
View ArticleTechnology unlocks mold genomes for new drugs
Fungi are rich sources of natural molecules for drug discovery, but numerous challenges have pushed pharmaceutical companies away from tapping into this bounty. Now scientists at Northwestern...
View ArticleAlgorithm leads to a dramatic improvement in drug discovery methods
Antibiotics for treating particularly resistant diseases, molecules that block immune system overreactions, molecules that inhibit the growth of cancer cells by removing excess iron, molecules that may...
View ArticleSupramolecular materials with a time switch
Materials that assemble themselves and then simply disappear at the end of their lifetime are quite common in nature. Researchers at the Technical University of Munich (TUM) have now successfully...
View ArticlePhysicists develop new tool that could improve cancer research
University of Arkansas physicists have developed a new way for quantifying data from microscopic observations that could help scientists better study how cancer cells respond to treatment, among other...
View ArticleResearchers develop a rapid, automatable, chip-based platform to analyze live...
Fluorescence microscopy gives researchers incredible power to illuminate the tiniest structures and capture the real-time activities of live cells by tagging biological molecules with a veritable...
View ArticleNobel-winning technique like "Google Earth for molecules"
Three researchers won a Nobel Prize on Wednesday for developing a microscope technique that lets scientists see exquisite details of the molecules that drive life—basically providing a front-row seat...
View ArticleNew experiments and simulations reveal molecular interactions in extreme...
Water is everywhere. But it's not the same everywhere. When frozen under extreme pressures and temperatures, ice takes on a range of complex crystalline structures.
View ArticleResearch team creates powerful system to identify biological threats
A team led by investigators from the Biocomplexity Institute of Virginia Tech has been selected through a competitive process to participate in a multimillion dollar program sponsored by the...
View ArticleScientists developing a pharmaceutical that stops convulsions
Scientists from RUDN University took an active part in the development of a chemical compound to stop convulsions during epileptic seizures. The results of the study were published in Chirality.
View ArticleSwarm-based simulation strategy proves significantly shorter
When the maths cannot be done by hand, physicists modelling complex systems, like the dynamics of biological molecules in the body, need to use computer simulations. Such complicated systems require a...
View ArticleParticles in charged solution form clusters that reproduce
Dr Martin Sweatman from the University of Edinburgh's School of Engineering has discovered a simple physical principle that might explain how life started on Earth.
View ArticleChemists discover plausible recipe for early life on Earth
Chemists at The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) have developed a fascinating new theory for how life on Earth may have begun.
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