“Dictionaries” make fluorescence-based data for integrative structure models and their dynamics accessible

3D structures of biomolecules

23-Oct-2024 - A research team from Germany and the USA led by Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf (HHU) has developed a data description that can provide results from fluorescence measurements for structural and dynamic modelling of large biomolecules. The authors explain in the scientific journal Nature ...

Researchers can measure distances in molecules optically

MINFLUX microscopy allows the determination of distances within biomolecules using an optical microscope

15-Oct-2024 - A team led by physicists Steffen Sahl and Stefan Hell at the Max Planck Institute for Multidisciplinary Sciences in Göttingen and the Max Planck Institute for Medical Research in Heidelberg has succeeded in measuring distances within biomolecules using a light microscope, down to one nanometer ...

ONE microscopy: from molecule to 3D structure with conventional microscopy

The simple and cost-effective method developed using a few simple but effective tricks

11-Oct-2024 - Researchers at the University Medical Center Göttingen (UMG) have developed a new method that makes it possible for the first time to image the three-dimensional shape of proteins with a conventional microscope. Combined with artificial intelligence, One-step Nanoscale Expansion (ONE) microscopy ...

Research under high pressure

Why 3,000 bars are needed to take a comprehensive look at a protein

08-May-2024 - Konstanz researchers Frederic Berner and Michael Kovermann present a new high-pressure spectroscopy method to unravel the properties of proteins' native structures. A pressure of 3,000 bar is applied to the cold shock protein B of Bacillus subtilis in a small tube in the NMR spectroscopy ...

Discovery of the first fractal molecule in nature

‘We stumbled on this structure completely by accident and almost couldn’t believe what we saw when we first took images of it using an electron microscope’

12-Apr-2024 - Snowflakes, fern leaves, romanesco cauliflower heads: many structures in nature have a certain regularity. Their individual parts resemble the shape of the whole structure. Such shapes, which repeat from the largest to the smallest, are called fractals. But regular fractals that match almost ...

Superconducting Nanowires Detect Single Protein Ions

Detection efficiency 1,000 times higher than conventional ion detectors due to high sensitivity

08-Dec-2023 - An international research team led by quantum physicist Markus Arndt (University of Vienna) has achieved a breakthrough in the detection of protein ions: Due to their high energy sensitivity, superconducting nanowire detectors achieve almost 100% quantum efficiency and exceed the detection ...

Fish and seafood - improved trace detection of life-threatening allergy sources

"AQUALLERG-ID": Researchers develop methods for detecting potential food allergens

01-Nov-2023 - It is estimated that 1 to 2.5 percent of the adult population suffers from an allergy to fish and seafood, which is one of the most common triggers of life-threatening reactions (13 to 29 percent). These individuals are also more likely to allergic reactions when consuming insects. This is due to ...

Novel Raman technique breaks through 50 years of frustration

04-Aug-2023 - Raman spectroscopy — a chemical analysis method that shines monochromatic light onto a sample and records the scattered light that emerges — has caused frustration among biomedical researchers for more than half a century. Due to the heat generated by the light, live proteins are nearly destroyed ...

Deadly virus structures point toward new avenues for vaccine design

By comparing the structures of protein complexes from different lineages of the dangerous Lassa virus, a Scripps Research team identified new antibodies and vaccine targets

12-Jun-2023 - Every year, hundreds of thousands of people in West Africa become infected with Lassa virus, which can cause Lassa fever and lead to severe illness, long-term side effects or death. There are currently no widely approved treatments or vaccines for the disease. Now, scientists at Scripps Research ...

The key to understanding Corona: The virus needs only a single door opener

Super-resolution microscopy made it clear

09-Jun-2023 - Why is the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus able to spread so efficiently? Various hypotheses are still circulating in the scientific community. A group of researchers from Würzburg has now found groundbreaking answers. In Europe, the pandemic triggered in 2020 by the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus is now largely ...