News

Jan 25, 2021

Regulating the ribosomal RNA production line

Cryo-electron microscopy study allows researchers to visualize structural changes in an E. coli enzyme synthesizing ribosomal RNA that shift it between turbo- and slow-modes depending on the bacteria’s growth rate

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Nov 23, 2020

Altered 'coat' disguises fatal brain virus from neutralizing antibodies

A genetic modification in the ‘coat’ of a brain infection-causing virus may allow it to escape antibodies, according to Penn State College of Medicine researchers.

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Aug 12, 2020

Determining how a coronavirus protein takes over human protein-making machinery

Jean-Paul Armache, assistant professor of biochemistry and molecular biology, has been awarded seed funding from the Huck Institutes of the Life Sciences at Penn State to use cryo-electron microscopy to study how an important SARS-CoV-2 protein binds to and takes over the human ribosome — a protein factory in the cell that the virus uses to copy itself.

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Jun 05, 2020

New image of a cancer-related enzyme in action helps explain gene regulation

New images of an enzyme in action as it interacts with the chromosome could provide important insight into how cells — including cancer cells — regulate their genes.

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Sep 24, 2019

Virus may jump species through 'rock-and-roll' motion with receptors

Like a janitor thumbing through a keychain to find just the right key to open a lock, the "rock-and-roll" motion of the canine parvovirus during the binding process may help explain how the virus can find the spot on a receptor to infect not just dogs, but multiple species, according to an international team of researchers.

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