NIH awards new $14.5 million, five-year grant to the Scripps Research Institute
...on, provides insights into the correlation between protein structure and function. Some day scientists may be...icient, and dependable methods to produce membrane protein samples that scientists can use to solve structures and investigate physiological functions associat...New therapy for specific form of leukemia
...ral forms of leukemia ABL1 is a kinase, a type of protein that catalyzes a number of processes in the cell − in the case of ABL1, this is the process of cell division. It is crucial that kinases function in a very controlled manner within our cells. Loss of control of their functioning disturbs the no...DNA sequence controls expression of gene involved in cancer
...ll to become cancerous. Normally, bcl-2 produces a protein that inhibits cell death or apoptosis. This protein keeps death-promoting factors from producing holes in the mitochondria which can result in calcium a...Commandeering cellular machinery: recognition mechanism to detect small molecules
...ecules. By allowing manipulation of this cellular protein machinery known as nuclear receptors the techniq.... However, Doyle and his research team used a new protein engineering technique known as chemical complementation that allowed the variants to be tested in pa...Amgen investigational therapy, AMG 162, increased bone mineral density with twice yearly injection
...d multiple myeloma. The body naturally produces a protein called osteoprotegerin (OPG) to modulate the effects of excess RANK Ligand. OPG acts as a decoy receptor, preventing RANK Ligand from binding to its receptor, RANK, on the surface of osteoclasts and osteoclast precursors. By binding to RANK Ligand,...HHMI researchers Richard Axel and Linda Buck win 2004 Nobel Prize
... receptors look a lot like rhodopsin, the receptor protein in rod cells of the eye. Rhodopsin and at least 40 other receptor proteins criss-cross the cell surface seven times, which gives them a characteristic, snake-like shape. They also function in similar ways, by interacting with G proteins to transmit s...How roots control plant shoots
...eriments indicated the normal BPS1 gene produces a protein that is a "negative regulator," which Sieburth compares with the handle on a water faucet. In a normal plant, BPS1 keeps the faucet shut. But when conditions are bad, it opens the faucet so that the growth-inhibiting carotenoid byproduct flows free...Talented sniffer: A receptor known for guiding sperm to egg plays a role in the nose
...archers have found that a human olfactory receptor protein previously shown to act in sperm, where it appears...had shown that hOR17-4, a human olfactory receptor protein that is unconventionally expressed on sperm cells, appears to play a key role in sperm-egg communica...New biomaterials improve medical devices
...search challenges, with topics such as designing a protein matrix to imitate the natural one that cells interact with, exploiting nature's tricks to alter biomaterial surfaces, and biofilms that cause infection of implants. Some of the new approaches to these challenges employ nanotechnology methods for bot...Plants provide model for new shape-changing materials
...nt of a new class of materials that will use plant protein structures in an attempt to mimic biological syste...nges. The plan calls for the investigation of the protein structures of plants for the purpose of understanding their role in generating shape changes in natu...Research out this week helps us understand basics of how neurons communicate
... the calcium channel molecule called the 'synaptic protein interaction site' and put this mutant calcium channel back into cells," Dr. Harkins said. "We found that cells with the mutant calcium channel no longer released neurotransmitter as efficiently as cells with the normal calcium channel." The research...Protein energy profiles offer clues about amyloids
...r improved understanding of the basic processes of protein folding, one of the most complicated and least und...the blueprints for all the proteins we need. Every protein has a characteristic shape, and it folds itself into that shape very soon -- generally in less than ...Most promising clinical uses for stem cells from fat agreed on by international society
...h effort should be directed toward identifying the protein markers for adipose stem cells in order to better understand how they differentiate into other cell types and what factors they secrete. In developing its consensus, the society focused on three main areas, with separate sessions addressing eac...Marine Biological Laboratory summer investigator wins Nobel Prize in Chemistry
...Chemistry for "the discovery of ubiquitin-mediated protein degradation." Dr. Hershko, a professor of biochem...the discovery of the ubiquitin system of regulated protein degradation, a fundamental process that influences key cellular events such as the cell cycle, malig...Biologists ID molecular block for social 'cheaters'
...elium without the gene dimA, which codes for a key protein that Dictyostelium cells use to recognize DIF-1. "We wanted to see if cells without dimA could cheat the system by ignoring DIF-1 and thereby increase their chances of becoming spore cells rather than stalk cells," said paper co-author David Queller,...New genetic tools provide clues to the effects of exercise and diet on obesity, diabetes
...side, the researchers analyzed gene expression and protein profiles from muscle of lean and obese and morbidl...erobic exercise and weight gain on muscle gene and protein expression patterns," Hittel said. They found that adenylate kinase 1 (AK1), an important...After flu exposure, mild exercise protects mature mice from dying
...ng include: lung histopathology, cytokine gene and protein expression in the lung, and possible development of flu-specific immune cells. At the moment, the laboratory also has a large NIH-funded human clinical trial underway examining whether or not moderate exercise training can improve immunological vigor...Botulism bug says no to nitric oxide, provides key to molecule's role in human cell signaling
...y illuminates the origins and structure of a vital protein involved in human cell signaling, University of Te...) sheds light on how NO connects with its receptor protein in humans to govern crucial processes in the cardiovascular, neurological and immunological systems,...U-M scientists see ubiquitin-modified proteins in living cells
...s, a small peptide called ubiquitin is linked to a protein in ways that can change the protein's function and...ions. "The same ubiquitin signal can cause one protein to be degraded, but another protein to be moved to a new location," Kerppola says. "We're interested......inding" to its target, a process that is common in protein enzymes but not usually associated with RNA. It is also surprising that such complex relics of an RNA World are seen in modern organisms. Breaker and his research team have pioneered the field of riboswitches and reported the existence of nine classe...