Biosciences News

Using protein crystallography at the Advanced Light Source (ALS), investigators at Oregon Health and Science University visualized an acid-sensing ion channel, ASIC1a, in it’s elusive closed state for the first time. An important cell membrane protein in the central nervous system, ASIC1a plays a role in sensing pain and in forming memories of fear. The researchers used protein crystals of ASIC1a channels purified in the closed state and compiled X-ray data from ALS Beamline 5.0.2 and the Advanced Photon Source at Argonne National Lab to build a model of the closed channel structure. Defining the closed structure enabled the researchers to generate a comprehensive molecular model of how ASIC1a toggles between the closed, open, and desensitized states.

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Markita Landry, a faculty affiliate of the Molecular Biophysics and Integrated Bioimaging (MBIB) Division, has received a prestigious two-year Department Of Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) Young Faculty Award for her work developing optical probes for neuromodulators such as dopamine. An assistant professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering at UC Berkeley, Landry conducts research at the intersection of single-molecule biophysics and nanomaterial-polymer science to develop new tools to probe and characterize complex biological systems. The DARPA project will focus on using synthetic near-infrared optical nanosensors—a new technology developed in the Landry lab—to develop a brain-computer interface driven by neurochemistry. Currently such technologies rely on electrical signals for signal acquisition, processing, and machine learning algorithms. Read a Berkeley Neuroscience news article to learn about how the award will allow her to investigate visualizing the probes in awake and behaving animals.

The National Student Leadership Conference (NSLC) visited JBEI on July 17. NSLC is a nonprofit, nonpartisan, education organization which brings together high school students for fast-paced, high-level, interactive summer sessions. For a fifth year in a row JBEI and NSLC partnered to instruct students about the benefits and research behind biofuels and bioproducts.

With the aid of protein crystallography at the Advanced Light Source (ALS), investigators at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) and the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle led a study in which they isolated human-derived antibodies that protect against malaria and determined the antibodies’ site of attack. The team isolated the antibody, called CIS43, from the blood of a volunteer who had received an experimental vaccine made from whole, weakened malaria parasites (Plasmodium falciparum). The use of a whole-parasite vaccine allowed the isolation of antibodies against circumsporozoite protein (CSP), which covers the malaria parasite in its native conformation. The scientists co-crystallized CIS43 with various peptides from CSP. Protein crystallography at ALS Beamlines 5.0.1 and 5.0.2 revealed that CIS43 works by binding to a specific portion, or epitope, of CSP. This epitope occurs only once along the length of the surface protein and is conserved across 99.8 percent of all known strains of P. falciparum. The discovery paves the way for the development of a more effective and practical human vaccine for malaria, a disease responsible for half a million deaths worldwide each year.

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View photos from the July 9 Women @ The Lab awards ceremony, where six Biosciences Area staffers were among the outstanding group of female scientists, engineers, technicians, and operations professionals recognized.