Latest proteomics Stories

Using synthetic biology to precisely label proteinsScientists at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) in Heidelberg, Germany, have developed a new method which enables researchers to label any protein of their choice with any of a wide variety of previously available compounds, in living cells, by introducing a single reactive artificial amino acid. Published today in Angewandte Chemie, the new technique enables researchers to label even rare proteins very precisely for optical...

A key question in protein biochemistry is how proteins recognize "correct" interaction partners in a sea of cellular factors. Nowhere is that more critical to know than in the brain, where interactions governing channel protein activity can alter an organism's behavior. A team of biologists at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies has recently deciphered a molecular code that regulates availability of a brain channel that modulates neuronal excitability, a discovery that might...

By David Salisbury, Vanderbilt UniversityA new laser technique has demonstrated it can measure the interactions between proteins tangled in a cell's membrane and a variety of other biological molecules. These extremely difficult measurements can aid the process of drug discovery.Scientists estimate that about 30 percent of the 7,000 proteins in a human cell reside in the cell's membrane, and that these membrane proteins initiate 60 to 70 percent of the signals that control the operation of...

Four novel biomarkers have been identified which may aid in the diagnosis and management of asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), according to a study conducted by researchers in Australia, who determined the biomarkers may be used in different combinations to successfully identify patients with either of the airway diseases. In conducting the study, the researchers relied on proteomics, an emerging field of science that focuses on the structure and functions of an...

ANN ARBOR, Michigan, and LONDON, March 9, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- NextGen Group plc (AIM:NGG) is pleased to announce that its subsidiary NextGen Sciences Inc, a leader in biomarker discovery, measurement and qualification, has completed a commercial reorganization. The restructuring, which is accompanied by new management appointments, is expected to help the company execute its strategy of becoming a leading player in the growing oncology and central nervous system (CNS) biomarker...

Proteins are the most important functional biomolecules in nature with numerous applications in life science research, biotechnology and medicine. So how can they be modified in the most effective way to attain certain desired properties? In the past, the modifications were usually carried out either chemically or via genetic engineering. The team of Professor Arne Skerra from the TUM Chair of Biological Chemistry has now developed a more elegant combined solution: By extending the otherwise...

THOROLD, ON, March 3 /PRNewswire/ - Norgen Biotek recently received a financial contribution of over $800,000 from the National Research Council of Canada Industrial Research Assistance Program (NRC-IRAP). Norgen Biotek is an innovative Canadian biotechnology company focusing primarily on advancing powerful tools for nucleic acids (NA) and protein purification and preservation, as well as developing leading-edge diagnostic tools. This funding will allow Norgen to develop new...

Liz Ahlberg, University of IllinoisIllinois researchers have combined two molecular imaging technologies to create an instrument with incredible sensitivity that provides new, detailed insight into dynamic molecular processes.Physics professors Taekjip Ha and Yann Chemla and combined their expertise in single-molecule biophysics "“ fluorescence microscopy and optical traps, respectively "“ to study binding and unbinding of individual DNA segments to a larger strand. They and their joint...

Protein folding and how it affects disease and drug discovery will be the focus of lectures hosted Thursday, March 3, by The Verna and Marrs McLean Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston.Guest speakers will include Dr. David S. Eisenberg, director of the University of California at Los Angeles Department of Energy Institute for Genomics and Proteomics, and Sir Tom Blundell, Ph.D., director of research and professor emeritus in the department...

Manipulation of cells by a new microfluidic device may help clinicians improve a promising cancer therapy that harnesses the body's own immune cells to fight such diseases as metastatic melanoma, non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, chronic lymphocytic leukemia and neuroblastoma.The therapy, known as adoptive T cell transfer, has shown encouraging results in clinical trials. This treatment involves removing disease-fighting immune cells called T cells from a cancer patient, multiplying them in the...