Tag: Biochemistry
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Nation & World
Why there might be life out there unlike any on Earth
Researchers create synthetic species without biochemistry, find they operate according to Darwinian evolutionary principles.
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Nation & World
To clean up the mine, let fungus reproduce
Harvard-led researchers have discovered that an Ascomycete fungus that is common in polluted water produces environmentally important minerals during asexual reproduction.
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Nation & World
A man of endless curiosity
Emre Basar seeks to understand how small interfering RNA (siRNA) can be harnessed and integrated into cells with the goal of silencing the expression of certain proteins that allow diseases like breast cancer and HIV to proliferate inside the body.
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Nation & World
The art of science
Susan Mango, professor of molecular and cellular biology and MacArthur award winner, brings her unorthodox approach to research.
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Nation & World
Jack Strominger receives AAI mentoring award
Jack Strominger, the Higgins Professor of Biochemistry in the Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology, was recently honored with the AAI Excellence in Mentoring Award “in recognition of exemplary career contributions to a future generation of scientists,” by the American Association of Immunologists.
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Nation & World
How growing cells move together
Our cells are more than inert bags of proteins and genes whose complex signaling networks confound the world’s most powerful computers. They also have a physical side whose brawny feats…
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Nation & World
Knowles memorial set for May 30
A memorial service for former dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences Jeremy R. Knowles will be held May 30 at 11 a.m. at the Memorial Church. The Amory Houghton Professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Knowles died April 3.
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Nation & World
Rajan Sonik hopes to cure bodies while energizing hearts and souls
Rajan Sonik arrived at Harvard four years ago aspiring to a career in science or maybe law, but a 14-year-old boy with sickle cell disease Sonik met in his sophomore year through a hospital mentoring program changed everything.
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Nation & World
Comprehensive model first to map protein folding at atomic level
Scientists at Harvard University have developed a computer model that, for the first time, can fully map and predict how small proteins fold into three-dimensional, biologically active shapes. The work…
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Nation & World
Snaring secrets of the Venus flytrap
While “speed” is not a word most people associate with the plant kingdom, the Venus flytrap closes its v-shaped leaves in just one-tenth of a second – fast enough to…
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Nation & World
Disparate proteins structurally identical
Gerhard Wagner, the Elkan Blout professor of biological chemistry and molecular pharmacology, and Tucker Collins, the S. Burt Wolbach professor of pathology at Harvard Medical School and Children’s Hospital, made…
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Nation & World
RNA-making apparatus seen to uncoil and recoil DNA
Eukaryotic cells like to keep their DNA under wraps, winding the long strands of nucleic acid around millions of little protein complexes. This bead-on-a-string structure, called chromatin, ensures that the…
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Nation & World
Matrix-buster inhibitor has second way to throttle angiogenesis
Matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) and their regulators, the tissue inhibitors of metalloproteinases (TIMPs), form an intriguing partnership. MMPs work by breaking down the dense matrix surrounding cells, freeing them to wander…
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Nation & World
Researchers make new compounds from protein
Over the years, scientists have repeatedly sought to use a cell’s protein-making process to create new drugs and other compounds. They have had some dramatic successes, such as inducing bacteria…
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Nation & World
New multiple sclerosis drugs are found
Five years ago, scientists at Harvard University began to take a close look at Copolymer 1, a treatment for multiple sclerosis, that is put together from a string of amino…
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Nation & World
Protein may play double role in issuing genetic gag order
So cells can differentiate and maintain their specialized identities, large sections of unneeded genes must be turned off. During cell division, the stability of every chromosome depends upon sections of…