News

Ischemic retinopathies, including glaucoma and diabetic retinopathy, are major causes of visual morbidity and blindness. New research shows that an epigenetic therapy reduces retinal injury from acute ischemia, not only in the animals that receive the treatment, but also in their untreated first-generation offspring.

A major collaborative effort has resulted in a significant technical advance in X-ray crystallographic sample strategies.

In their new paper, researchers have used machine learning together with experimental NMR data for hundreds of proteins to build a new bioinformatics tool called ODiNPred. This bioinformatics program can help other researchers making the best possible predictions of which regions of their proteins are rigid and which are likely to be flexible.

Deposits of a protein called "Medin", which manifest in virtually all older adults, reduce the elasticity of blood vessels during aging and hence may be a risk factor for vascular dementia.

Frontotemporal lobar degeneration (FTLD) is a type of dementia that appears earlier in life than Alzheimer's disease (AD). Both FTLD and AD, along with several other neurodegenerative diseases, are marked by the appearance and clustering of the protein "tau" in nerve cells. However, there is much left to be explored about this mechanism.

A method that lights up tags attached to selected proteins can help to purify the proteins from a mixed protein pool.

Researchers compared lipoproteins and metabolites in the blood of COVID-19 patients and healthy subjects, revealing signs of multi-organ damage in patients that could someday help diagnose and treat COVID-19.

In photosynthesis, solar energy is converted into chemical energy, which is then used in nature to produce organic molecules from carbon dioxide. In plants, algae and cyanobacteria, the key photosynthesis reactions take place in two complex structures known as photosystems. These are located in a special membrane system, the thylakoids. Many details of their molecular structure and the way the proteins are incorporated into the membranes have yet to be explored - until now.

An innovative genetic study of blood protein levels, led by researchers in the MRC Integrative Epidemiology Unit (MRC-IEU) at the University of Bristol, has demonstrated how genetic data can be used to support drug target prioritisation by identifying the causal effects of proteins on diseases.

Nineteen global health experts from around the world have proposed a new, three-phase plan for vaccine distribution — called the Fair Priority Model — which aims to reduce premature deaths and other irreversible health consequences from COVID-19.