molecular

Jose Onuchic gives a talk at the RPP08 conference on the mechanics of molecular motors. The discussion includes: 1) The reflection of constraints of the molecular architecture the dynamical pathways during stepping 2) The role of rectified diffusional motion.

Phineus Markwick gives a talk at the RPP08 conference long time-scale MD simulations of protein dynamics. He discusses experiments using dipolar coupling to probe the protein dynamics. From these he shows how to build a simulation.

Scott S. Terhune, Ph.D., an assistant professor in Microbiology and Molecular Genetics and the Biotechnology and Bioengineering Center at the Medical College of Wisconsin, describes his research in proteomics, mass spectrometry and Human Cytomeglavirus (HCMV).

Staphylococcus aureus is a frequent cause for serious, chronic and therapy-refractive infections in spite of susceptibility to antibiotics in vitro. In chronic infections, altered bacterial phenotypes, such as small colony variants (SCVs), have been found. Yet, it is largely unclear whether the ability to interconvert from the wild-type to the SCV phenotype is only a rare clinical and/or just laboratory phenomenon or is essential to sustain an infection. Here, we performed different...

A quick (possible too much so) introduction to the Central Dogma of Molecular Biology (DNA to RNA to Protein) with fast audio and intuitive images.

Diana Woodruff-Pak (Temple University, Philadelphia, PA) used cholesterol-fed rabbits as a model of AD for evaluation of currently available and potential anti-Alzheimer drugs. These animals developed typical Alzheimer pathology, including behavioral changes and deposition of ß-amyloid and even tau. Galantamine and donepezil partially protected animals from Alzheimer symptomatology.

R.A. Flavell (Yale University, New Haven, CT) discusses the role of Transforming Growth Factor ß (TGFß) in disease. In the central nervous system of a murine model of AD this cytokine appears to prevent macrophages from attacking ß-amyloid. Flavell visualizes that selective blockade of this TGFß activity could lead to the destruction of plaques in patients with AD.