Learn about new discoveries into how plants and animals sense the world around them on a microscopic level!
Category: Chemical biology
The influence of one water molecule on the gas-phase structure of triglycine
Can one water molecule change the conformation of a peptide? Vibrational spectroscopy in the gas-phase is the perfect technique to answer this question.
‘Optical Tweezers’ give new insights to cancer drugs
By using a technique that allows researchers to study single molecules, scientists have gained new knowledge about how a common anti-cancer drug interacts with DNA. These findings can help explain the properties of the drug and help scientists discover novel r anti-cancer treatments with improved effectiveness.
Using Machine Learning to Discover New Fluorescent Proteins
Fluorescent proteins are incredibly useful for exploring the inside of living cells. Let’s learn about a new way to find better-performing proteins using machine learning!
IRON MUST GRAB AN ELECTRON BEFORE ENTERING THE CELL
A new fluorescent molecule can distinguish between Fe(II) and Fe(III) at the cell membrane.
A surprising answer for how cells deal with a toxic – but essential – molecule
Heme is central to many processes within cells, from breaking down food to energy to transporting oxygen from the air we breathe. Bound to proteins it’s extremely useful and versatile, but by itself it is highly reactive and toxic. So how does the body prevent heme from reacting before it is used in a cell?
Using chemical probes to identify bacterial virulence factors
It seems like a silly question: how can we study the function of proteins with unknown functions? The answer: with activity-based chemical probes. In this article, researchers identified several previously unexplored enzymes that may play a role in serious bacterial infections.