Malaria pathogens under the X-ray microscope

X-ray microscopy at BESSY II reveals how antimalaria-drugs might work

04-Nov-2019 - Malaria is one of the most threatening infectious diseases in the world. An international team has now been able to investigate malaria pathogens in red blood cells in vivo using the BESSY II X-ray microscope and the ALBA and ESRF synchrotron sources. The scientists reveal the mechanisms used by ...

Lego proteins revealed

25-Aug-2017 - When hemoglobin undergoes just one mutation, these protein complexes stick to one another, stacking like Lego blocks to form long, stiff filaments. These filaments, in turn, elongate the red blood cells found in sickle-cell disease. For over 50 years, this has been the only known textbook example ...

DNA dominos on a chip

Carriers of genetic information packed together on a biochip like in nature

11-Aug-2016 - Normally, individual molecules of genetic material repel each other. However, when space is limited DNA molecules must be packed together more tightly. This case arises in sperm, cell nuclei and the protein shells of viruses. An international team of physicists has now succeeded in artificially ...

Making the most of a shitty situation

What the “fecal prints” of microbes can tell us about Earth’s evolution

02-Jan-2015 - Everything that eats must excrete, and microbes are no exception. Microbes have dominated the Earth’s ecology for at least the past 3.5 billion years. They play a vital role in the planet’s carbon cycle by digesting organic matter. So their waste potentially carries information about how the ...

Tokyo Institute of Technology research: Towards medical treatments using cell level control

06-Nov-2012 - Researchers at Tokyo Institute of Technology and the Weizmann Institute of Science identify a means of controlling biological processes that could help treatments for immune disease, neurological disorders and cancer.The cellular response to a number of signals including inflammatory cytokines, ...

Weizmann scientists developed an electronic 'nose' that can predict the pleasantness of novel odors

These findings have implications for automated environmental toxicity monitoring and transmitting scent digitally

19-Apr-2010 - Weizmann Institute scientists have 'trained' an electronic system to be able to predict the pleasantness of novel odors, just like a human would perceive them – turning the popular notion that smell is completely personal and culture-specific on its head. In research published in PLoS ...

Weizmann Institute Scientists Develop a Unique Approach for Splitting Water into Hydrogen and Oxygen

07-Apr-2009 - Weizmann Institute scientists have devised a unique new mechanism for the formation of hydrogen and oxygen from water, without the need for sacrificial chemical agents, through individual steps, using light. The design of efficient systems for splitting water into hydrogen and oxygen, driven by ...

The code of codes: Scientists discover parallel codes in genes

The genetic code is nearly optimal for harboring information

09-Feb-2007 - Researchers from The Weizmann Institute of Science report the discovery of two new properties of the genetic code. Their work, which appears online in Genome Research, shows that the genetic code - used by organisms as diverse as reef coral, termites, and humans - is nearly optimal for encoding ...