New advances in the protein folding process thermodynamics

Optical tweezers to unravel the complexity of living matter

25-Mar-2022 - In biophysics, the kinetic states of molecules play a determining role in the metabolic and physiological processes in which they take part. Now, a paper published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) specifies for the first time the levels of energy, the entropy and the ...

The future of crop engineering

Scientists want to increase the efficiency of photosynthesis

11-Dec-2017 - Photosynthesis is the process underlying all plant growth. Scientists aim to boost photosynthesis to meet the increasing global demand for food by engineering its key enzyme Rubisco. Now, researchers at the Max Planck Institute of Biochemistry have succeeded in producing functional plant Rubisco ...

Protein-folding simulations sped up

08-Dec-2017 - Proteins, the ubiquitous workhorses of biochemistry, are huge molecules whose function depends on how they fold into intricate structures. To understand how these molecules work, researchers use computer modeling to calculate how proteins fold. Now, a new algorithm can accelerate those vital ...

Researchers fold a protein within a protein

15-Nov-2017 - A team from the NUS Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine (NUS Medicine) has invented a fundamentally new way of folding and protecting recombinant proteins. Sourced from the rapidly expanding field of synthetic biology, this protein-in-a-protein technology can improve functional protein yields by ...

A protein-folding chaperone's functional dance simulated

31-Aug-2017 - Using a combination of computational and experimental techniques, a research team at the University of Massachusetts Amherst led by molecular biologist Lila Gierasch has demystified the pathway of interdomain communication in a family of proteins known as Hsp70s - a top target of dozens of ...

Investigating folding stability and dynamics of proteins

07-Jul-2017 - Hydrogels are polymer materials that can absorb a large amount of water, making them flexible like human tissue. They are used in a number of medical applications, including contact lenses, wound dressings, and facial reconstruction. Hydrogels also can be used in drug delivery, for example, as ...

Focussing on cell membranes to develop Alzheimer's treatments

28-Mar-2017 - Thin parts of the cell membranes of neurons turn out to be particularly vulnerable to a protein that collects in the brain of people with Alzheimer's disease, according to a University of Michigan researcher. The discovery could open an avenue for developing treatments for Alzheimer's disease ...

No compromises: Short, flexible, reusable AFM probe

11-Apr-2014 - JILA researchers have engineered a short, flexible, reusable probe for the atomic force microscope (AFM) that enables state-of-the-art precision and stability in picoscale force measurements. Shorter, softer and more agile than standard and recently enhanced AFM probes, the JILA tips will benefit ...

Folded and misfolded protein levels in cells

The findings pave the way to discover new drugs for misfolding diseases

06-Mar-2014 - Scientists have long needed better tools for making such measurements in cells, because protein misfolding is a major cause of damage to tissues. Disorders that feature excessive protein misfolding afflict millions of people worldwide and include Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases, the systemic ...

The dance of the chaperones

Max Planck scientists identify key player of protein folding

12-Mar-2012 - Proteins are the molecular building blocks and machinery of cells and involved in practically all biological processes. To fulfil their tasks, they need to be folded into a complicated three-dimensional structure. Scientists from the Max Planck Institute of Biochemistry (MPIB) in Martinsried near ...