Results 1 to 10 of 81
For the first time, academics in the Astbury Centre have recorded the highest mass-to-charge ratios ever measured on an Orbitrap machine. But how did they do it? A recently developed technique, called electron capture charge reduction, reduces charge in biomolecular structures. It’s now offering huge promise for analysing larger sized proteins – a current limitation...
Scientists take one step closer to uncovering new sensing technology. Scientists at University of Leeds are part of an international collaboration that has described a new approach to designing proteins from scratch. The approach uses Transmembrane β-barrel pores (TMBs), nanosized proteins which are extensively used for single-molecule DNA and RNA sequencing –an analysis method that...
Scientists investigating Alzheimer’s disease have determined the structure of molecules within a human brain for the very first time. The study describes how scientists used cryo-electron tomography, guided by fluorescence microscopy, to explore deep inside an Alzheimer’s disease donor brain. This gave 3-dimensional maps in which they could observe proteins, the molecular building blocks of...
Professor Richard Bayliss, School of Molecular and Cellular Biology, and Dr Charlotte Dodson, University of Bath, reflect on what the latest developments in AlphaFold 3 mean for biologists. AlphaFold 3 is the latest version of an algorithm designed to predict the structures of proteins – vital molecules used by all life – from the “instruction code” in...
New research carried out at the University of Leeds, in collaboration with the CRUK Scotland Institute and the University of Cambridge, has led to the discovery of a nanobody that offers a potential new approach for preventing the spread of cancer, known as metastasis. A protein called Fascin-1, which is found at high levels in...
A group of scientists from the University of Leeds and the University of Dundee have discovered new knowledge in how ribosomes – the key machinery that makes proteins for our cells - are rescued. The researchers used an imaging technique called cryo-electron microscopy (cryo-EM) to visualise the 3D structure of UREL bound to the ribosome...
For the first time, an interdisciplinary team of researchers has revealed intricate 3D detail of how the structure of a malfunctioning protein, hIAPP, evolves over time. Scientists used Cryo-Electron Microscopy (cryoEM) – a high resolution imaging technique - to determine the structures of the hIAPP amyloid fibrils present at three distinct points of growth; an...
For the first time, scientists have witnessed new molecular behaviour in proteins that protect us from cancer. Scientists in the have identified new features of BRCA1–BARD1, a group of proteins that play a critical role in repairing damaged DNA. Using ground-breaking imaging techniques, thanks to the state-of-the-art equipment at the Astbury and Bragg centres in...
Researchers at the University of Leeds have developed a new diagnostic approach that can quickly identify how a patient is responding to antibody medication. The technology, which uses special sensors called enzyme switch sensors, can detect the amount of therapeutic monoclonal antibodies (TmAb) that are present in a patient’s system. TmAbs are medicines that are...
Dr Grace Roberts, researcher in the School of Molecular and Cellular Biology, writes for The Conversation. A growing number of people living in the UK are going abroad to have tattoos, piercings and cosmetic surgeries. Any procedure, no matter where it’s performed, can carry the risk of injury and infection. But people heading abroad for cosmetic procedures...