x ray crystallography
New model fosters drug development for pain, epilepsy
Drawing on X-ray crystallography and experimental data, as well as a software suite for predicting and designing protein structures, a UC Davis School of Medicine researcher has developed an algorithm that predicts what has been…
Researchers get a grip on nervous system’s receptors
A digital signal processing technique long used by statisticians to analyze data is helping Houston scientists understand the roots of memory and learning, Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases and stroke.
Researchers at Rice University and the Uni…
Chemists document workings of key staph enzyme — and how to block it
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Researchers have determined the structure and mechanism of an enzyme that performs the crucial first step in the formation of cholesterol and a key virulence factor in staph bacteria.
Chemists at the University of Illino…
Research provides new leads in the case against drug-resistant biofilms
PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] — When a foreign object such as a catheter enters the body, bacteria may not only invade it but also organize into a slick coating — a biofilm — that is highly resistant to antibiotics. Like sophisticated…
Antibody locks up West Nile’s infection mechanism
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – Researchers have learned the structure that results when an antibody binds to the West Nile virus, neutralizing the virus by locking up its infection mechanism. The information could help scientists develop a vaccine against t…
X-ray crystallography reveals structure of precursor to blood-clotting protein
ST. LOUIS — Using state-of-the-art robotic and x-ray crystallographic equipment, researchers at Saint Louis University have revealed for the first time the molecular structure of the zymogen, or inactive, form of a blood-clotting enzyme.
In an …
Rutgers researchers discover how HIV resists AZT
NEW BRUNSWICK, N.J. — Rutgers researchers have discovered how HIV-1, the virus that causes AIDS, resists AZT, a drug widely used to treat AIDS.
The scientists, who report their findings in Nature Structural & Molecular Biology, believe their di…
Bochum’s researchers discover proton diode
Biophysicists in Bochum have discovered a diode for protons: just like the electronic component determines the direction of flow of electric current, the “proton diode” ensures that protons can only pass through a cell membrane in one direction….
Study shows how key hormone hitches a lift round body
Structural analysis has revealed for the first time how a key messenger in the body’s chemical communication system hooks up with one of the proteins that delivers it to sites of action in the body. Using X-ray crystallography, scientists from Imperial College London and the University of Hawaii have identified the location of four binding sites on human serum albumin (HSA), the principal protein in blood plasma, to which the chemical messenger thyroxine attaches.