Molecular Awards

  Small, laboratory-grown balls of cells made from the intestinal tissue of people with celiac disease have revealed a previously unknown molecular link between gluten exposure and intestinal damage, according to a study from researchers at Stanford Medicine . The molecule, called IL-7, has been implicated in other autoimmune diseases including rheumatoid arthritis and multiple sclerosis, but it has never been linked to celiac disease. The study is the first to describe the use of clumps of cells maintained in a laboratory dish, called organoids, to study autoimmune disease. Unlike previous attempts to model celiac disease in the laboratory, the intestinal organoids grown by the researchers include multiple cell types, including immune cells and the cells that make up the lining of the gut. The organoids open the door to understanding how different cell types interact in people with the disorder, characterized by an acute sensitivity to gluten, in ways that haven’t previously...

  A first-of-a-kind research expedition is pioneering the use of mobile laboratories to understand how Europe’s coastal ecosystems are impacted by environmental factors such as pollution, loss of biodiversity, and climate change. The mobile truck laboratories will bring state of the art equipment and technologies to over 100 locations along the coast in 24 countries, where scientists will collect samples and analyze them directly on site. This will be the first time researchers have been able to carry out such detailed molecular biology research in the field. Studying the ocean has always been more difficult than studying the land. Some of the challenges include a lack of visibility, pressure changes, salinity that can wreak havoc with equipment, and tides. Compounding this is a lack of standardization of hardware, surveying methodologies and systems for recording data. Carrying out molecular biology research in coastal ecosystems is even more challenging. Organisms die in transit...

  A molecule called adenosine triphosphate (ATP) is the basic unit of biochemical energy that fuels the activities of all cells. Now a team led by researchers at Weill Cornell Medicine and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) Janelia Research Campus has developed and tested a high-resolution sensor for tracking the real-time dynamics of ATP levels in cells and within subcellular compartments. The new tool represents a major advance over prior ATP sensor technology, and the researchers expect it to accelerate many areas of biological research. The researchers, who published their  work  on May 15 in PNAS, developed the sensor by modifying an ATP-binding bacterial enzyme and combining it with GFP, a natural fluorescent protein. Because the sensor is made of proteins, it can be encoded in DNA and produced within targeted cells. The researchers demonstrated the utility of their new ATP sensor in several experiments, including one that illuminated, in unprecedented deta...