MBIB researchers have conducted the first ever structural analysis of a key protein involved in DNA damage repair and cancer. While the prevailing narrative surrounding cancer chemotherapy has historically focused on DNA damage repair pathways, findings from this study underscore the key role of RNA-mediated processes on chemotherapy response, which could have major implications for cancer treatment outcomes.
Caught in the Actinium
Berkeley Center for Structural Biology beamline scientists contributed their expertise to a structural study of the radioactive metal actinium led by the Chemical Sciences Division’s Rebecca Abergel.
Researchers Gain Mechanistic Insight into a Viral-factory Protein
A team that included Banumathi Sankaran of the Molecular Biophysics and Integrated Bioimaging Division studied a protein called σNS, an important component of some viral factories. Understanding how this protein works will foster development of therapeutic strategies against viruses that use similar proteins to replicate.
Pinning Down a Piece of Photosynthesis
By studying the structure and function of a cyanobacterial protein, researchers have new insights into how these ocean photosynthesizers cycle carbon in changing conditions.
BCSB Confirms Design of Stimulus-responsive, Two-state Proteins
Researchers have leveraged machine learning to create proteins that toggle between two different shapes in response to biological triggers, overcoming a limiting challenge in computational protein design and broadening the potential functionality of designed proteins. Study co-author Banumathi Sankaran, a research scientist in the Molecular Biophysics and Bioimaging Division, used the Advanced Light Source (ALS) beamlines in the Berkeley Center for Structural Biology (BCSB) to validate results with X-ray crystallography data.
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