Results: NIGMS Research Around the Nation

NIGMS-funded researchers have found that repeating CGG sequences in DNA, which are associated with inherited neurological disorders, stall DNA replication.

NIGMS-supported scientists have synthesized for the first time RNA enzymes that can indefinitely replicate themselves without the help of proteins or other cellular components.

A group of NIGMS-supported researchers has found a new function for one of the proteins involved with chromosome segregation during cell division.

NIGMS-supported researchers have revealed the molecular structure of aromatase, the enzyme targeted by Tamoxifen and other, related drugs.

A team of NIGMS-supported biologists has discovered that two RNA polymerases found only in plants are specialized forms of an enzyme common to all eukaryotic organisms.

NIGMS-funded researchers discovered that removing the tail of a tumor suppressor called PTEN activated the protein, which is often inactive in cancer cells.

NIGMS-supported researchers have developed a computational method that predicts how bacterial proteins fold and interact.

NIGMS-funded researchers have successfully used E. coli to synthesize natural products known as bacterial aromatic polyketides.

A study supported in part by NIGMS developed a way to detect movement within ion channels, which are major drug targets.

NIGMS-funded researchers discovered that a special DNA sequence in certain bacteria can impede the spread of antibiotic resistance in Staphylococcus.

NIGMS-funded researchers are deepening their grasp of how adding ubiquitin tags affects transcription.

An NIGMS-funded study shows that DNA-binding proteins don't need to give full-body hugs to accurately read DNA sequence.

NIGMS-funded biologists have discovered that nerve cells and cancer cells share common methods to prevent cell death.

Using a technique that allowed them to watch cells divide in real time, NIGMS-funded researchers have discovered details about how cell membranes allow fission.

NIGMS-funded biologists have found that the mechanisms that control molecular motors are different from what biologists have previously believed.

NIGMS-funded researchers have charted biochemical steps leading to chromosomal translocations, mutations that occur frequently in blood cancers.

NIGMS-funded researchers have obtained a detailed structure for the core of the replisome, molecular machinery assembled to copy DNA.

NIGMS-funded researchers have identified a protein, called Menainv, that may be responsible for breast cancer metastasis.

A study supported by NIGMS reveals how some viruses infect E. coli bacteria.

NIGMS-funded researchers are exploring how dynamic shifts in proteins prompt alternative splicing in the developing heart.

NIGMS-funded researchers have discovered a new protein complex that chemically modifies histones, whose interactions with DNA help regulate gene expression.

NIGMS-funded researchers have discovered a mechanism critical to the pinching of cells in two when they divide.

NIGMS-funded researchers are closer to understanding nucleolar dominance, the phenomenon whereby an entire set of ribosomal RNA genes from one parent is silenced.

An NIGMS-funded study provides epidemiological evidence confirming that a contaminant in batches of heparin caused severe allergic reactions.

About a year ago, hundreds of people were sickened and dozens died after receiving the blood thinner heparin. Now, scientists have conclusively proven that a specific contaminant in the medicine was to blame. 

NIGMS-funded researchers have identified the genetic sequence behind how gray mold kills plants, including many agricultural staples.

NIGMS-supported researchers have shown that distinct groups of proteins each control one of four simple activities involved in the collective migration of cells. 

New NIGMS-supported research sheds light on possible functions of abundant 'noncoding' RNA molecules.

A team of NIGMS-supported scientists has discovered that a class of small RNAs carries epigenetic information and passes on the trait of fertility from mother to offspring in fruit flies.

NIGMS-supported researchers have discovered that DNA damage decreases a cell's ability to regulate gene activities, which may represent a universal culprit for aging.

A new NIGMS-supported study sheds light on how cells adapt to disruptions in cell division—findings that may help explain how cancer cells elude the body's defenses.

Alpha-catenin allows cells to recognize neighboring cells as ‘friends’, leading to strong bonds that are hard to break, according to a new NIGMS-supported study.

NIGMS-supported researchers have figured out how a molecular machine unwinds DNA tangles so that the genetic information can be read and used.

Hybrid plants grow bigger than their parents because many of their metabolism genes are more active during the day, report NIGMS-researchers.

NIGMS-supported researchers have developed a peptide that converts the Bcl-2 protein from a cancer cell's friend to a foe.

NIGMS-supported biochemists have answered a fundamental question about how a key class of bacterial proteins binds DNA and controls a variety of functions.

As cells bend, they reorganize their internal scaffolding, and as they reorganize the scaffolding, the cells further adjust their shape, according to a new NIGMS-supported study.

NIGMS-supported scientists have discovered the key chemical that signals Bacillus anthracis, the bacterium that causes anthrax, to become lethal.

A study supported in part by NIGMS is providing new insights on the regulation of calpains, enzymes involved in diseases ranging from diabetes to Alzheimer's.

A team of NIGMS-supported scientists has reduced the ability of breast cancer cells to migrate by knocking down levels of a protein called palladin.

A study of how the enzyme, BubR1, helps distribute chromosomes evenly during cell division might explain how the process goes awry in cancer, according to NIGMS-supported researchers.

A new class of exceptionally effective catalysts that promote the powerful olefin metathesis reaction has been discovered by a team of NIGMS-supported scientists. 

A new NIGMS-supported study reveals how a genetic switch known as FoxJ1 helps developing embryos tell their left from their right.

NIGMS-supported biologists have made headway in explaining a mechanism by which plant cells silence potentially harmful genes.

A single gene drives yeast cells to cooperate in protecting themselves from stress, antibiotics, and other dangers, according to a new NIGMS-supported study.

The biosynthesis of hemoglobin and chlorophyll would take 2.3 billion years—half the earth’s age—without a key cellular enzyme.

A team of NIGMS-supported researchers have combined medicine, math and engineering to reveal how sepsis occurs and how to prevent it.

U.S. and Japanese scientists expand their pharmacogenomics collaboration with five new projects.

NIGMS-supported researchers have shown that a phenomenon known as alternative splicing varies more between tissues than was previously believed.

Blood clots, which sometimes form during severe bacterial infections, arise in response to bacterial clustering, according to an NIGMS-supported study.

NIGMS-supported bioengineers have created the first stable, fast and programmable genetic clock that reliably keeps time by the blinking of fluorescent proteins inside E. coli cells.

Amoebas glide toward their prey with the help of a protein switch that controls a molecular compass, according to a new NIGMS-supported study.

Alu retrotransposons are by far the most abundant class of jumping genes in our genome, according to a new NIGMS-supported study.

NIGMS-supported scientists have moved toward developing more effective antibacterials by pinpointing how a specific antibiotic blocks bacterial growth.

With support from NIGMS, scientists from three Chicago-area universities have joined forces to develop new ways of building chemical libraries that will help identify compounds for drug development and basic biomedical research. 

NIGMS-funded researchers have shown that electrical signals are a powerful control mechanism for modulating embryonic stem cell behavior.

NIGMS-supported engineers have created a synthetic RNA device that is capable of taking in and responding to more than one signal at a time.

NIGMS-funded scientists have shown how three antibiotics block the action of RNA polymerase, paving the way for more potent antibiotics.

NIGMS-funded researchers are using a computational model to study how cells process chemical information, which could improve the efficacy of drug treatments.

NIGMS-funded developmental biologists have traced basic, molecular information on how different-sized animals develop bodies that are in proportion.

NIGMS-funded researchers have tracked how DNA copying gets reorganized as embryonic stem cells become specialized.

NIGMS-funded researchers are showing how proteomics can be used to identify which proteins in sperm are dysfunctional in certain cases of infertility.

The University of Michigan will lead an NIGMS-supported effort to expand and enhance the molecular data needed to develop computer programs that more accurately predict potential drug candidates.

Three NIGMS grantees are honored with a Nobel Prize in chemistry for their groundbreaking work on green fluorescent protein.

A parasitologist funded by NIGMS headed a team of researchers that has decoded the genome of the parasite that causes 40 percent of malaria infections.

NIGMS-funded biologists have solved the structure of an adenosine receptor that could lead to drugs for neurological disorders.

NIGMS-funded bioengineers are developing models for how cell populations order themselves.

Using NMR to solve the structure of an integral membrane protein, NIGMS-funded researchers have paved the way to creating better antibiotics.

NIGMS-funded researchers have discovered that microRNAs, which help regulate genes, have been around since the earliest of animal lineages.

NIGMS pledges over $48 million over 5 years to support five Centers of Excellence in Chemical Methodologies and Library Development (CMLD).

NIGMS-funded biologists have shown that losing just one telomere can lead to many abnormalities in a cell's chromosomes.

An NIGMS-funded study shows how a protein bends DNA into tight loops to regulate gene expression.

NIGMS-funded researchers have developed a way to pair proteins with a drug that prevents proteins from being degraded.

NIGMS-funded researchers have developed a way to mass-produce an antimalarial compound. Related molecules have antibiotic properties.

NIGMS-funded researchers have clarified how cholesterol interacts with neurotransmitter receptors involved in inflammation and a range of diseases.

NIGMS-funded researchers are developing new tools based on mass spectrometry to visualize things like tissue slices or organisms in biofilms.

A new window onto the world of protein structure has been opened with the launch of the NIGMS-funded PSI-Nature Structural Genomics Knowledgebase.

A study supported in part by NIGMS has discovered master controllers of a gene critical to mammalian development.

NIGMS-funded researchers have traced the biochemical processes that enable alternative proteins to be made from some of the same genes.

NIGMS-funded researchers have discovered evidence of cross talk between the nervous system and the immune system in roundworms.

NIGMS-funded biophysicists have discovered that apoptosis can exert substantial mechanical force on surrounding cells.

Researchers supported in part by NIGMS have determined how an enzyme that stitches important molecular adjustments onto proteins regulates its own function.