|
|
|
 CELL BIOLOGY: Protein-conducting Channel Debuts in Crystal Structure
Inside a cell, proteins with jobs to do and places to go must navigate their way through the membrane of cell organelles or the outer wall of the cell itself. In a milestone paper in the Dec. 3 advance online edition of Nature, researchers in the lab of Tom Rapoport show the first high-resolution crystal structure of a protein-conducting channel. The architecture reveals a smaller-than-expected opening and other novel features.
|
 MICROBIOLOGY: Drugs Thwart Anthrax Toxin by Protecting Key Pathway
A team of HMS scientists has made a discovery that could give humans the upper hand in their struggle with the ancient disease anthrax. The anthrax-causing microbe works its destructive effects by releasing a deadly poison into the bloodstream and tissues, which dismantles a key cellular pathway. Lewis Cantley, Benjamin Turk (left to right), and their colleagues are investigating how exactly the toxin gains its stranglehold on the life-giving Map kinase cascade. What is more, they have devised small molecules that are capable of keeping the toxin from attacking the pathway. The findings appear in the Jan. 8 Nature Structural & Molecular Biology.
|
 IMAGING: Study Sheds Light on Cancer's Spread--Literally
Surgical removal and analysis of lymph nodes is widely used to test for cancer metastases. But even with the use of colored or radioactive tracers, the sentinel nodes that directly drain tumors may be difficult to find. Using quantum dots, which are intensely fluorescent nanocrystals, John Frangioni and colleagues have developed a new way to label sentinel nodes in large animals. The dots are small enough to pass through the lymph system, but they get trapped at the nodes, providing a stark contrast to the surroundings. According to the researchers' paper in the December Nature Biotechnology, the dots' fluorescence is bright enough to shine through a centimeter of tissue and guides the surgeon directly to the node.
|
Copyright 2004 by the President and Fellows of Harvard College
|
|
