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Categories: Biology: Molecular, Engineering: Nanotechnology

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Anyone who's tried to neatly gather a fitted sheet can tell you: folding is hard. Get it wrong with your laundry and the result can be a crumpled, wrinkled mess of fabric, but when folding fails among the approximately 7,000 proteins with an origami-like complexity that regulate essential cellular functions, the result can lead to one of a multitude of serious diseases ranging from emphysema and cystic fibrosis to Alzheimer's disease. Fortunately, our bodies have a quality-control system that identifies misfolded proteins and marks them either for additional folding work or destruction, but how, exactly, this quality-control process functions is not entirely known. Researchers have now made a major leap forward in our understanding of how this quality-control system works by discovering the 'hot spot' where all the action takes place.

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Anti-rejection regimens currently in use are broad immunosuppressive agents that make patients susceptible to infections. By using specific antibodies, it may be possible to just block the inflammation that leads to rejection but leave anti-microbial immunity intact.

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Nanotubes can serve as biosensors. They change their fluorescence when they bind to certain molecules. Until now, it was unclear why. Researchers have gained new insights into the cause of the fluorescence.

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A previously unknown mechanism of active matter self-organization essential for bacterial cell division follows the motto 'dying to align': Misaligned filaments 'die' spontaneously to form a ring structure at the center of the dividing cell. The work could find applications in developing synthetic self-healing materials.

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Researchers have introduced a new advancement in the fight against climate change. Their study showcases a novel method for understanding the mechanisms of carbon dioxide re-utilization leading to fuels and chemicals. This work paves the road for the further optimization of this catalytic process driven by renewable electricity.

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With the help of a tiny, transparent worm called Caenorhabditis elegans, researchers have identified novel players in dopamine signaling by taking advantage of a powerful platform generated via the Million Mutation Project (MMP) for the rapid identification of mutant genes based on their functional impact. They can seek insights from simpler organisms whose genes bear striking similarity to those found in humans and where opportunities for genetic insights to disease can be pursued more efficiently and inexpensively.

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The body has a veritable army constantly on guard to keep us safe from microscopic threats from infections to cancer. Chief among this force is the macrophage, a white blood cell that surveils tissues and consumes pathogens, debris, dead cells, and cancer. Macrophages have a delicate task. It's crucial that they ignore healthy cells while on patrol, otherwise they could trigger an autoimmune response while performing their duties.

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A key question that remains in biology and biophysics is how three-dimensional tissue shapes emerge during animal development. Research teams have now found a mechanism by which tissues can be 'programmed' to transition from a flat state to a three-dimensional shape.

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While seeking to unravel how marine algae create their chemically complex toxins, scientists have discovered the largest protein yet identified in biology. Uncovering the biological machinery the algae evolved to make its intricate toxin also revealed previously unknown strategies for assembling chemicals, which could unlock the development of new medicines and materials.

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Gene therapy could potentially cure genetic diseases but it remains a challenge to package and deliver new genes to specific cells safely and effectively. Existing methods of engineering one of the most commonly used gene-delivery vehicles, adeno-associated viruses (AAV), are often slow and inefficient. Now, researchers have developed a machine-learning approach that promises to speed up AAV engineering for gene therapy. The tool helps researchers engineer the protein shells of AAVs, called capsids, to have multiple desirable traits, such as the ability to deliver cargo to a specific organ but not others or to work in multiple species. Other methods only look for capsids that have one trait at a time.

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A 'loopy' discovery in bacteria is raising fundamental questions about the makeup of our own genome -- and revealing a potential wellspring of material for new genetic therapies.

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A new artificial intelligence model can predict how different proteins may bind to DNA.

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The key finding was that temperature and genome size, not body size, had the greatest influence on the maximum population growth rate of the diatoms. Yet body size still mattered in colder latitudes, conserving Bermann's Rule.

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Researchers develop a microstructured 'artificial lung' model using bioprinting technology.

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Stirring allows for homogenization and efficient gas exchange -- this fact has been known for decades. Controlling the stirring rate during the nanocluster synthesis is pivotal in achieving nanostructures with well-defined sizes, structures, optical properties, and stability.

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Scientists have developed a new way of counting labelled proteins in living cells that could become a standard and valuable tool in the field of biomedical research.

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Scientists discovered a role played by ribosomes during the folding of new proteins in cells.

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A viral defense mechanism can be used to accelerate the creation of female stem cell lines in mice. The findings can boost efforts in medical research, drug testing, and regenerative therapies, particularly for women and individuals with two X chromosomes.

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In nematodes and humans, mitochondrial stress in the nervous system initiates a whole-body response that is most pronounced in the gut. A recent study showed that in nematodes, the odor of a pathogen triggers the nervous system to broadcast this response to the rest of the organism, prepping mitochondria in intestinal cells to fight a bacterial infection. Humans, too, may be able to sense pathogenic odors that prepare the gut for an infection.

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Researchers have discovered two proteins that work in tandem to control an important response to cell stress.