proteins

Researchers in Canada report discovery of unusual proteins in a small group of Kenyan sex workers that appear to be associated with resistance to infection with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS.

Scientists have developed a new computational method that they say will help them to understand how life began on Earth.

The method has the potential to trace the evolutionary histories of proteins all the way back to either cells or viruses, thus settling the debate once and for all over which of these life forms came first.

It may take just one or two proteins to polish off a simple cellular task, but life-or-death matters, such as caring for the ends of chromosomes known as telomeres, require interacting crews of proteins, all with a common goal but each with a specialized task.

Researchers have developed a fast, inexpensive and effective method for evaluating the sugars pharmaceutical companies use to stabilize protein-based drugs for storage at room temperature.

Abnormally folded proteins cause a number of illnesses such as the Creutzfeldt-Jacob Disease, BSE (bovine spongiform encephalopathy) and Alzheimer’s.

It is still unknown why this misfolding occurs. The first stages of folding and the onset of the aggregation of the proteins, the so-called oligomerisation, appear to be decisive for pathogenesis.

(Rockefeller University Press) A cell decides what proteins to make based on the messages it receives from its genome.

Sometimes messages are held back to be read later, and in most cell types these delayed messages are stored and marked for destruction in P bodies.

P bodies in worm egg cells, however, are message protectors, according to a paper by Boag et al. appearing in the Aug. 11 issue of the Journal of Cell Biology.

(Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions) Extreme heat or cold is not only uncomfortable, it can be deadly -- causing proteins to unravel and malfunction.

Isoforms from a new family of genes called novel structure proteins could be involved in apoptosis or programmed cell death.

(Massachusetts Institute of Technology) MIT researchers have designed a new type of probe that can image thousands of interactions between proteins inside a living cell, giving them a tool to untangle the web of signaling pathways that control most of a cells' activities.

Researchers have identified a panel of proteins linked to early development of pancreatic cancer in mice that applies also to early stages of the disease in humans -- a breakthrough that brings scientists a significant step closer to developing a blood test to detect the disease early, when cure rates are highest.