Synthetic chemistry approach yields new compounds with potential biomedical applications

The study marks a significant advancement in chemical synthesis techniques, leveraging modern organic chemistry and engineered enzymes

10-May-2024 - Researchers at Rice University have successfully synthesized a group of natural compounds known as fusicoccanes. The molecules, found in various living organisms, exhibit diverse biological activities, including the ability to modulate protein-protein interactions within biological systems. The ...

Bird’s enzyme points toward novel therapies

Rice University scientists imbue cells with ‘noncanonical’ pathway to make own drugs

21-Sep-2022 - Thank the rarecrested ibisfor a clue that could someday help our bodies make better drugs. The species of bird is the only one known to naturally produce an enzyme able to generate a noncanonicalamino acid; that is, one not among the 20 necessary to encode most proteins. That it exists -- a ...

Crystal study may resolve DNA mystery

Rice lab captures unseen details of replication, clues to how mutations can happen

12-May-2022 - When cells reproduce, the internal mechanisms that copy DNA get it right nearly every time. Rice University bioscientists have uncovered a tiny detail that helps understand how the process could go wrong. Their study of enzymes revealed the presence of a central metal ion critical toDNA ...

Moths and magnets could save lives

Experimental therapy could repair mutations that cause genetic diseases

15-Nov-2018 - A new technology that relies on a moth-infecting virus and nanomagnets could be used to edit defective genes that give rise to diseases like sickle cell, muscular dystrophy and cystic fibrosis. Rice University bioengineer Gang Bao has combined magnetic nanoparticles with a viral container drawn ...

Nanoscale virus delivers peptide drugs to cells, tissues

11-Jan-2018 - By chipping away at a viral protein, Rice University scientists have discovered a path toward virus-like, nanoscale devices that may be able to deliver drugs to cells. The protein is one of three that make up the protective shell, called the capsid, of natural adeno-associated viruses (AAV). By ...

Proteins put up with the roar of the crowd

Proteins that activate DNA binding sites appear to have no problems with crowded conditions

27-Jun-2016 - It gets mighty crowded around your DNA, but don't worry: According to Rice University researchers, your proteins are nimble enough to find what they need. Rice theoretical scientists studying the mechanisms of protein-DNA interactions in live cells showed that crowding in cells doesn't hamper ...

Two-lock box delivers cancer therapy

08-May-2014 - Rice University scientists have designed a tunable virus that works like a safe deposit box. It takes two keys to open it and release its therapeutic cargo. The Rice lab of bioengineer Junghae Suh has developed an adeno-associated virus (AAV) that unlocks only in the presence of two selected ...

Researchers divide enzyme to conquer genetic puzzle

Rice University scientists find split, mutant protein serves as building block for synthetic biological circuits

18-Mar-2013 - Rice University researchers have found a way to divide and modify enzymes to create what amounts to a genetic logic gate. Biochemist Matthew Bennett and graduate student David Shis created a library of AND gates by mutating a protein from a bacterial virus. The well-understood protein known as T7 ...

Synthetic enzymes could help ID proteins

'Smart' catalysts programmed to recognize specific molecular shape

03-May-2010 - Using a rare metal that's not utilized by nature, Rice University chemists have created a synthetic enzyme that could help unlock the identities of thousands of difficult-to-study proteins, including many that play key roles in cancer and other diseases. The research was published online in the ...

All tied up: Tethered protein provides long-sought answer

24-Sep-2009 - The tools of biochemistry have finally caught up with lactose repressor protein. Biologists from Rice University in Houston and the University of Florence in Italy published new results about "lac repressor," which was the first known genetic regulatory protein when discovered in 1966. Using ...