Working in silico, researchers hone in on candidate proteins worthy of laboratory work
By stringing together amino acids in a prescribed sequence that then folds into a defined structure, nature designs proteins to perform specific functions. Nowadays, computational researchers are...
Sep, 01, 2011
By computationally combining incomplete imaging information with bits and pieces of structural data from all sorts of different experiments, researchers have worked out the protein-by-protein structure of an important cellular assembly called the nuclear pore complex.
Like puzzles? Here’s a tough one: Try figuring out the construction of a nearly 500-piece machine without blueprints or a complete picture. Biologists have now accomplished just such a feat,...
Apr, 01, 2008
Central repository of information on genes and proteins requires participation by the scientific community
If you build it, will they come? That’s the question on everyone’s mind after the launch of two pioneering initiatives in community annotation: WikiProteins and Gene Wiki, announced,...
Oct, 01, 2008
Computation can speed up the time it takes to find new binding partners for old drugs
When cheap drugs are needed fast, researchers and drug companies are increasingly turning to an interesting short-cut: repurposing existing drugs for new uses. Because drugs exert multiple actions in...
Apr, 01, 2011
Models of healthy and diseased lipid profiles could prove valuable diagnostically.
When it comes to heart disease risk, “bad” and “good” cholesterol—also known as low density lipoproteins [LDL] and high density lipoproteins [HDL]—do not tell...
Oct, 01, 2008
Using Rosetta@Home, a program that runs on the personal computers of 150,000 volunteers worldwide, David Baker’s team predicted the structure of a 112-amino-acid protein from scratch.
When nature folds an amino acid sequence into a protein, it usually knows that just one conformation is the right one. But when a computer tries to do the same thing, it often predicts multiple...
Jan, 01, 2008
Predicting protein localization
Joe works in a factory; Jane works in a hospital; protein X works in the Golgi apparatus. Just as one might guess a worker’s job by knowing where he or she is employed, biologists can guess a...
Apr, 01, 2006
Knot-detecting algorithm discovers that proteins are rarely knotted
When you accidentally twist a shoelace, garden hose, or necklace, it can get annoyingly tangled into intractable knots. On the microscopic level, biopolymers—string-like molecules such as DNA...
Oct, 01, 2010
As algorithms evolve, computing power explodes, and scientists solve a greater number of 3-D protein structures, computer-aided design has the potential to dramatically cut the cost and time of drug discovery
Once upon a time, not long ago, HIV/AIDS was a scourge, killing anyone who contracted the deadly virus. Now, many people are living with the disease, which they control with drugs initially developed...
Jul, 01, 2007
Each year, the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) gives an award to an outstanding paper that appeared in the pages of Science. This year the award—the Newcomb Cleveland...
Jun, 01, 2005
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