Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes

Freeze-framing the shape-shifting SARS-CoV-2 spike protein

The rod-like spike proteins on the surface of SARS CoV-2 are the tip of the spear of the COVID-19 pandemic. The spikes bind to human cells via the ACE2 receptor and then dramatically change shape, jack-knifing to fuse the ...

Medical research

Protein twist and squeeze confers cancer drug resistance

In 1986, cellular biochemist Kazumitsu Ueda, currently at Kyoto University's Institute for Integrated Cell-Material Sciences (iCeMS), discovered that a protein called ABCB1 could transport multiple chemotherapeutics out of ...

Medical research

Human cells building 'molecular highways' captured for first time

Researchers at the Center for Genomic Regulation (CRG) in Barcelona and the Spanish National Cancer Research Center (CNIO) in Madrid have captured the world's first high-resolution images of the earliest moments of microtubule ...