Every year about two million cases of traumatic brain injury (TBI) occur in the United States, caused by falls, car crashes, sports collisions and other injuries. TBI can lead to a host of health prob...
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Fungi produce a variety of chemical compounds called secondary metabolites that possess useful pharmaceutical properties. These compounds are invaluable platforms for developing front-line drugs. They...
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While extensive research has been devoted to understanding the influence of medium conditions on cell development, researchers have only recently begun to understand the role of culture surface proper...
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Boronic acids (i.e., compounds that have a single boron-carbon bond) are one of the most useful functional groups in organic chemistry and chemical biology. They have applications in polymer sciences,...
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Rodents and other small animals are extensively used as models to study human health and disease, but there are increasing concerns about their relevance. Research funding and regulatory agencies are ...
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Rodents and other small animals are extensively used as models to study human health and disease, but there are increasing concerns about their relevance. Research funding and regulatory agencies are ...
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Presently, there are no good rodent models for mania, which is a critical component of bipolar disorder. The most commonly used approach is to inject normal mice with amphetamines to produce hyperacti...
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Humans are diploid organisms whose (non-sex) cells contain two copies of each chromosome – one from each parent. Each of these two copies may be distinguished by genetic variations such as insertion...
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Membrane proteins perform many crucial functions in vivo but are difficult to manipulate and study because they are not soluble in simple aqueous buffers. Solubilizing membrane proteins for physical c...
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Proteomics is a relatively new discipline that is a large scale study of proteins. It includes systematically identifying the sequence, characterizing the structure and evaluating the function of all ...
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Protein characterization has become an integral part of modern biology, even inspiring a new discipline known as proteomics, or the classification of proteins based on the genome of an organism.  MS ...
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Encephalomyocarditis virus, a cardiovirus, causes encephalitis and myocarditis. It is a widespread problem in swine, causing sudden death and reproductive failure and potentially leading to severe eco...
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Equine rhinitis A virus, formerly known as equine rhinovirus 1, causes a respiratory disease in horses similar to the common cold in humans. No vaccines against this virus are available commercially a...
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Currently, it is not possible to visualize the in vivo dynamics of an influenza infection. All existing models rely on proxies to measure viral replication (e.g., viral concentration in nasal washes) ...
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Enantiomers are pairs of compounds that have the same chemical formula but different spatial structures (like your left and right hand, they are non-superimposable mirror images of each other). This i...
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Tandem mass spectrometry (MS/MS) is a technique capable of identifying large numbers of proteins in complex biological samples. In the process, peptides are ionized and an initial survey scan (i.e., a...
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Ubiquitin (Ub) is a small protein composed of 76 amino acids and found throughout the cells of eukaryotic organisms. It folds into a compact globular structure, often as part of a complex of proteins....
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Fungi produce a variety of chemical compounds called secondary metabolites. These compounds display a broad range of activities, including fighting off other fungi and bacteria. They also are useful f...
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Disulfide bonds between cysteine residues are the most common crosslinking agents in proteins. Reducing these bonds is an ordinary procedure in biochemistry and biotechnology. The most commonly used r...
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Integral membrane proteins are crucial cellular components, helping to transfer material and signals through the cytoplasm or between different cell compartments. Analyzing the structures and function...
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‘Nanopore sequencing’ holds the potential for sequencing a single molecule of DNA without the need for conventional tools like chemical labels or costly optical instruments. This promising method ...
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Isolating analytes from complex biological samples is one of the most crucial steps in many areas of biological research and clinical diagnostics. Paramagnetic particles (PMPs) or beads are important ...
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The ability to chemically synthesize single-stranded oligonucleotides has had a profound impact on research and medicine. Yet existing strategies have their limitations. One critical limitation is the...
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Transfection is the process of introducing nucleic acids into cells. Two main strategies are viral (utilizing viruses as vectors) and non-viral. Non-viral methods are less efficient but attractive for...
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Membrane proteins play crucial roles in biology but are difficult to handle and analyze because of their physical properties. The structures of these proteins display extensive nonpolar surfaces, whic...
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