Molecular Awards

 Each time a cell divides, it replicates its DNA once, then separates the two copies from each other and splits into two daughter cells. The event is intricately coordinated and was long known to be under the influence of cyclins—an aptly named group of proteins whose levels go up and down as the cell traverses through the different phases of its division cycle. This picture of the cell cycle came into question in 2008, when a study done in yeast suggested that individual steps of the cycle might not be dependent on cyclins, but rather be driven by oscillations in gene expression. Now, work from Rockefeller’s Laboratory of Cell Cycle Genetics, led by Fred Cross, puts cyclins squarely back at the helm of cell cycle–regulated gene expression by showing that if these proteins are completely and totally eliminated, yeast cells no longer have pulses of periodic gene expression, and completely fail to execute the cell division cycle. The results are reported in Cell. A central clock : Sa...

In simple organisms such as yeast, cells divide once they reach a specific size. However, determining if this holds true for mammalian cells has been difficult, in part because there has been no good way to measure mammalian cell growth over time. Now, a team of MIT and Harvard Medical School (HMS) researchers has precisely measured the growth rates of single cells, allowing them to answer that fundamental question. In the Aug. 5 online edition of Nature Methods, the researchers report that mammalian cells divide not when they reach a critical size, but when their growth rate hits a specific threshold. This first-ever observation of this threshold was made possible by a technique developed by MIT professor Scott Manalis and his students in 2007 to measure the mass of single cells. In the new study, Manalis and his colleagues were able to track cell growth and relate it to the timing of cell division by measuring cells’ mass every 60 seconds throughout their lifespans. The finding offer...

Neuroscientists have unveiled a new hybrid cell, straddling the line between the well-known neurons and glial cells in the brain.Previously, glial cells, especially astrocytes, were believed to merely support neuron functions. However, recent research highlights the ability of these cells to release neurotransmitters and directly influence neural circuits.This groundbreaking discovery challenges traditional beliefs about brain cell functionality and paves the way for novel therapeutic strategies. Key Facts: A new hybrid cell type, located between neurons and astrocytes, has been identified that can release neurotransmitters. Modern molecular biology techniques confirmed that astrocytes possess machinery necessary for the rapid secretion of glutamate. Disruption of these hybrid cells’ functionality impacts memory, has links with epilepsy, and offers therapeutic insights for Parkinson’s disease. Source: University of Lausanne Neuroscience is in great upheaval. The two major families of c...

Figuring out how hundreds of different kinds of brain cells develop from their unique expression of thousands of genes promises to not only advance understanding of how the brain works in health, but also what goes wrong in disease. A new MIT study that precisely probes this “molecular logic” in two neuron types of the Drosophila fruit fly shows that even similar cells push and pull many levers to develop distinct functions. In the study in Neuron, a team of neurobiologists at The Picower Institute for Learning and Memory found that the two closely related neuronal subtypes differed from each other in how they expressed more than 800 genes, or about 5 percent of the total genes encoded in the fly genome. By manipulating genes whose expression differed most prominently, the scientists were then able to show how they produced several of the observable differences between the cells. The two neuron types compared in the study both emerge from the fly’s analog of a spinal cord to control mu...

" Phage display had never been deployed for this purpose in research on parasitic diseases, which normally involves preselection of a few targets for testing of candidate vaccines. In this study, we screened 12,000 proteins of S. mansoni at the same time to identify which ones were targeted by the macaque's antibodies, both after initial infection and reinfection and after reinfection and self-cure, a key innovation. Both the technique and the model for the study were innovative," said Murilo Sena Amaral, a researcher at Butantan Institute's Laboratory of Cell Cycle. Amaral is the penultimate author of the article. The last author, as principal investigator for the study, is Sergio Verjovski-Almeida, also a researcher at Butantan Institute and a professor at the University of São Paulo's Institute of Chemistry (IQ-USP). The researchers investigated the immune response of ten macaques infected by S. mansoni during the stages of self-cure and resistance to reinfecti...

Scientists have successfully applied reinforcement learning to a challenge in molecular biology. The team of researchers developed powerful new protein design software adapted from a strategy proven adept at board games like Chess and Go. In one experiment, proteins made with the new approach were found to be more effective at generating useful antibodies in mice. The findings, reported on April 21 in the journal Science, suggest that this breakthrough may soon lead to more potent vaccines. More broadly, the approach could lead to a new era in protein design. “Our results show that reinforcement learning can do more than master board games. When trained to solve long-standing puzzles in protein science, the software excelled at creating useful molecules,” said senior author David Baker, professor of biochemistry at the UW School of Medicine in Seattle and a recipient of the 2021 Breakthrough Prize in Life Sciences.   The research is a milestone in tapping artificial intelligence to...

Cells possess a remarkable ability to organize their interiors using minuscule protein machines known as molecular motors, which generate directed motion. Most molecular motors rely on a common form of chemical energy, ATP, to function. Recently, a team of researchers from the Max Planck Institute of Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics (MPI-CBG), the Cluster of Excellence Physics of Life (PoL), the Biotechnology Center (BIOTEC) of TU Dresden, and the National Centre for Biological Sciences (NCBS) in India uncovered a novel molecular system that utilizes an alternative energy source and features a new mechanism for executing mechanical tasks. This molecular motor, which operates similarly to a traditional Stirling engine through repeated contraction and expansion, assists in distributing cargo to membrane-bound organelles. It is the first motor using two components, two differently sized proteins, Rab5 and EEA1, and is driven by GTP instead of ATP. The findings were recently published i...

The Candida auris fungus is spreading across the globe at an "alarming" speed. This species of fungus, which can cause fatal infections in risk groups and was first discovered only 10 years ago, can now be found all over the world. In nearly all cases, infections are contracted in hospitals, and the fungus has become resistant to all current drugs. Molecular biologist Auke de Jong, who is conducting research to try to understand the fungus, will be defending his Ph.D. thesis on 22 December in the Agnietenkapel in Amsterdam. The origins of the fungus as still shrouded in mystery. De Jong is looking for clues in the DNA and behavior of Candida auris. "We suspect that seawater plays a key role," he says. "Because this fungus has a very high tolerance for salt, which is a substance many fungi cannot cope with. The sea could be a plausible route for the global spread of Candida auris; it may have been spread across the globe by the currents." According to De J...