Two new studies reveal in unprecedented detail how the ribosome interacts with other molecules to assemble new proteins and guide them toward their destination in biological cells. The studies used molecular dynamics flexible fitting (MDFF) to examine the interaction of the ribosome with two prominent molecular partners.

It is possible that broken bones will in the near future be fixed using metallic glass. Materials researchers at ETH Zurich have developed an alloy that could herald a new generation of biodegradable bone implants. Their results have been published in the online edition of Nature Materials.

Most vaccines that protect against viruses generate infection-fighting proteins called antibodies that either block infection or help eliminate the virus before it can cause disease. Attempts to create a vaccine that induces antibodies that prevent HIV infection or disease, however, have so far been unsuccessful. But several recent studies suggest promising new research directions for [...]

A team of University of Maryland scientists has paved the way for the development of new drug therapies to combat active and asymptomatic (latent) tuberculosis infections by characterizing the unique structure and mechanism of an enzyme in M. tuberculosis, the bacterium that causes the disease. Assistant Professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry Barbara Gerratana, in the [...]

For RNA, the gateway to a productive life outside the nucleus is the nuclear pore complex, an amalgamation of 30 kinds of proteins that regulates all traffic passing through the nuclear membrane.
New research from Rockefeller University shows that one of these proteins magnetically couples with a special molecule – a helicase – to form a [...]