AI supports analysis of metallic materials

"With our specially developed algorithm, we are three times faster"

22-May-2023 - Until now, the analysis of crystalline microstructures in metallic materials has been technically challenging and particularly time-consuming. Researchers from the fields of materials engineering and computer science have now developed an algorithm for this purpose and published it in the ...

Molecular chaperones caught in flagrante

X-ray structure analysis shows how MHC I molecules are prepared for peptide loading

04-Oct-2022 - For an adequate immune response, it is essential that T lymphocytes recognise infected or degenerated cells. They do so by means of antigenic peptides, which these cells present with the help of specialised surface molecules (MHC I molecules). Using X-ray structure analysis, a research team from ...

First 3D Images of a Giant Molecule

Resolution up to a millionth of a millimeter

26-Mar-2021 - Capturing the structure of large molecular complexes with variable shape is an extremely difficult task. Scientists from Würzburg and Montpellier now have been able to do it – thanks to a new approach regarding an important protein machine. SMN or in full Survival Motor Neuron: Professor Utz ...

How oxygen destroys the core of important enzymes

06-Nov-2019 - New findings are expected to help protect the hydrogen-producing enzymes from harmful oxygen – which is interesting for biotechnological applications. Certain enzymes, such as hydrogen-producing hydrogenases, are unstable in the presence of oxygen. Researchers at Ruhr-Universität Bochum (RUB) ...

How molecular footballs burst in an X-ray laser beam

Study shows effect of X-ray flashes on sensitive biomolecules

26-Sep-2019 - An international research team has observed in real time how football molecules made of carbon atoms burst in the beam of an X-ray laser. The study shows the temporal course of the bursting process, which takes less than a trillionth of a second, and is important for the analysis of sensitive ...

Analyzing the structure of the protein FAT10

Fundamental research for a potential cancer therapy

04-Sep-2018 - FAT10 is a small protein with a huge effect. Its attachment to a target protein is a signal for its degradation. FAT10 is a marking system for degradation that seems to be inefficient. In contrast to its biological competitor, ubiquitin, which is recycled, FAT10 is degraded along with its target ...

Faster characterization of organic salts

27-Mar-2018 - UZH researchers have developed a novel method that speeds up the process of determining crystal structures of organic salts and significantly reduces the effort required to do so. As about 40 percent of all active pharmaceutical ingredients are salts, this new crystallographic method is set to ...

X-ray pulses reveal structure of viral cocoon

15-Feb-2017 - An international team of scientists has used high-intensity X-ray pulses to determine the structure of the crystalline protein envelope of an insect virus. Their analysis reveals the fine details of the building blocks that make up the viral cocoon down to a scale of 0.2 nanometres (millionths of ...

Protein reactions identified with subatomic resolution

08-Oct-2015 - Using subatomic resolution, researchers have gained insights into the dynamic modus operandi of two switch proteins which are responsible for the import of compounds into the nucleus and for cell growth. The team headed by Prof Dr Klaus Gerwert from the Department of Biophysics at the ...

Imprisoned molecules move

Crystal cage does not hinder molecule movement

06-Oct-2015 - X-ray crystallography reveals the three-dimensional structure of a molecule, thus making it possible to understand how it works and potentially use this knowledge to subsequently modulate its activity, especially for therapeutic or biotechnological purposes. For the first time, a study has shown ...