Incredible Stanford study discovers thousands of novel proteins produced by human microbiome

A remarkable new study from scientists at Stanford University has revealed thousands of previously undiscovered small proteins produced by bacteria in the human microbiome. Almost all of these newly described proteins serve unknown functions … Continue reading Incredible Stanford study discovers thousands of novel proteins produced by human microbiome

Life's building blocks spontaneously self-assemble in primordial soup experiment

Researchers have shown that amino acids, the building blocks of life, stack themselves readily under the ...

Exactly how life sprung out of non-living matter is one of biology’s biggest mysteries. But with continued research into our own origin story, it’s starting to seem like life on early Earth was just itching to be born. In new research from Georgia Tech and the Scripps Research Institute, scientists cooked up a “primordial soup” and found that some of the crucial building blocks of life spontaneously stacked themselves in a surprisingly efficient way.

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Category: Biology

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Continue reading Life's building blocks spontaneously self-assemble in primordial soup experiment

Breakthrough discovery of signal cancers use to hide from immune system

New research reveals some cancer cells signal "don't eat me" to nearby immune cells through a ...

Cancer cells often deploy specific “don’t eat me” signals to hide from immune cells. A breakthrough new study from Stanford University has homed in on a previously undiscovered signaling protein that, if effectively inhibited, may lead to new treatments for breast, ovarian, and other difficult-to-treat cancers.

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Category: Medical

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Artificial protein can reprogram cells to become self-regulating "smart cells"

Proteins are the workhorses of the cell, but nature sometimes has room for improvement. Now a team from the University of Washington’s Institute for Protein Design (IPD) and the University of California San Francisco (UCSF) has created a new … Continue reading Artificial protein can reprogram cells to become self-regulating "smart cells"

Bacteria self-defense mechanisms uncovered, opening new drug targets

Evolution has obviously helped humans get to where we are today – but now it’s working against us. Bacteria are rapidly developing resistance to our best drugs, hurtling us towards a future where antibiotics simply don’t work anymore. Now a t… Continue reading Bacteria self-defense mechanisms uncovered, opening new drug targets

Scientists offer solution for chemical chicken-and-egg problem of the origins of life

How life arose from non-living material is one of the most profound mysteries facing science, and now a new study from the University College London (UCL) may have brought us a step closer to understanding it. The team may have solved a long-… Continue reading Scientists offer solution for chemical chicken-and-egg problem of the origins of life

Fast new directed evolution technique makes viruses create drug proteins in days

Evolution is one of nature’s most impressive forces, allowing organisms to adapt to changing environments to survive. By harnessing and guiding that process scientists have managed to manipulate micro-organisms into producing useful new drugs… Continue reading Fast new directed evolution technique makes viruses create drug proteins in days

"Primordial" proteins successfully inserted into engineered E. coli in synthetic biology breakthrough

Researchers at Rutgers and Rice Universities have shed some light on the mystery of how life on Earth got started. After studying proteins that are key to metabolism in modern cells, the team reverse engineered a simplified protein that may h… Continue reading "Primordial" proteins successfully inserted into engineered E. coli in synthetic biology breakthrough

Velcro-like proteins keep cancer drugs inside the cancer

There’s no shortage of techniques to kill cancer, such as chemotherapy and radiotherapy, but the really tricky part is doing so without harming the rest of the body. Cytokines are small proteins that could play a part in immunotherapy, but th… Continue reading Velcro-like proteins keep cancer drugs inside the cancer

Genetic study reveals easily-exploitable "chinks in the armor" of MRSA superbugs

Humans are currently locked in an arms race against pathogenic bacteria – and we’re losing. After we developed antibiotics, starting with penicillin in the early 20th century, bacteria have evolved resistance to each new drug we created, thre… Continue reading Genetic study reveals easily-exploitable "chinks in the armor" of MRSA superbugs