By screening millions of molecular targets, researchers have uncovered a tumor beacon detected by the immune cells of two patients with colorectal cancer. The screening technology, developed by Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator (HHMI) Christopher Garcia and colleagues after almost 20 years of basic molecular studies of the immune system, may ultimately lead to more…
CRISPR Treatment Prevents Hearing Loss in Mice
Using molecular scissors wrapped in a greasy delivery package, researchers have disrupted a gene variant that leads to deafness in mice. A single treatment involving injection of a genome editing cocktail prevented progressive hearing loss in young animals that would have otherwise gone deaf, Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) Investigator David Liu and colleagues report…
Large Protein Nanocages Could Improve Drug Design and Delivery
Using novel computational and biochemical approaches, scientists have accurately designed and built from scratch 10 large protein icosahedra–polyhedra with 20 faces–similar to viral capsids that carry viral DNA. The designed structures are made of two different engineered proteins, present in 60 copies each, which self-assemble into icosahedra. They have a wide variety of potential applications,…