Genentech has developed a unique one-armed antibody, onartuzumab, which is now in late-stage clinical trials in multiple cancer types. The company used crystal structures obtained at ALS Beamline 5.0.2 to demonstrate the mechanism of action of this unique potentially therapeutic antibody. Read more »
ALS Work Using Scattering/Diffraction
These techniques make use of the patterns of light produced when x-rays are deflected by the closely spaced lattice of atoms in solids and are commonly used to determine the structures of crystals and large molecules such as proteins.
The Molecular Ingenuity of a Unique Fish Scale
ALS research has shown how the scales of a freshwater fish found in the Amazon Basin can literally re-orient themselves in real time to resist force, in essence creating an adaptable body armor. Read more »
Learning from Roman Seawater Concrete
Analyses of ancient concrete samples pinpointed why the best Roman concrete was superior to most modern concrete in durability, why its manufacture was less environmentally damaging, and how these improvements could be adopted in the modern world. Read more »
Self-Assembly of “S-Bilayers”, a Step Toward Expanding the Dimensionality of S-Layer Assemblies
Protein-based assemblies with ordered nanometer-scale features in three dimensions are of interest as functional nanomaterials but are difficult to generate. Here we report that a truncated S-layer protein assembles into stable bilayers, which we characterized using cryogenic-electron microscopy, tomography, and X-ray spectroscopy. Read more »
Two Novel Ultra-Incompressible Materials
Materials that are mechanically, thermally, and chemically stable at extreme conditions are valuable for aerospace engineering and fission/fusion research. Researchers have synthesized and characterized two such materials: Re2N and Re3N are both extremely incompressible. Read more »
Mechanical Behavior of Indium Nanostructures
Indium is a key material in lead-free solder applications for microelectronics due to its excellent wetting properties, extended ductility, and high electrical conductivity. Researchers have investigated the small-scale mechanics of indium nanostructures. Read more »
Solving Structures with Collaborative Crystallography
The Berkeley Center for Structural Biology’s Collaborative Crystallography (CC) program is making major advancements in solving protein structures, especially for users involved in high-throughput projects. The CC program is an NIH-funded, peer-reviewed service that allows external users to apply for both beam time and the support of a crystallographer to perform experiments and subsequent data analyses. Read more »
First Detailed Look at RNA Dicer
Scientists have gotten their first detailed look at the molecular structure of an enzyme that Nature has been using for eons to help silence unwanted genetic messages: Dicer, an enzyme that plays a critical role in a process known as RNA interference.
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Snapshots of Ribozyme Reaction States Reveal Structural Switch
RNA, like protein, can sometimes function as an enzyme (ribozyme) to speed biochemical reaction rates. But how does RNA, a simple polymer, enhance reaction rates by at least a million fold? Researchers obtained the structures of a ribozyme trapped in different states of its catalytic cycle, showing how a change in the RNA conformation governs the reaction mechanism. Read more »
The Path of Messenger RNA through the Ribosome
Using x-ray crystallography, researchers directly observed the path of mRNA in the 70S ribosome in Fourier difference maps at 7 Å resolution. Image depicts the view down the crystallographic 4-fold axis of the 70S ribosome-mRNA-tRNA complex, showing the head-to-tail juxtaposition of the model mRNAs (red-orange) between adjacent ribosomes. Read more »
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