Molecular Biology

A total of 120 scientists attended to discuss issues facing the field and exchange ideas for solutions.

Each year, the Frederick National Laboratory offers its scientists an opportunity to compete for funding to conduct the research they view as critical to advance biomedical research but is outside the scope of their daily research activities. This year, three proposals earned funding through the program, known as the Laboratory Directed…

Neurofibromatosis linked to destabilization of NF1 protein dimers.

Upon hearing earlier this year that she was elected to the prestigious American Academy of Arts and Sciences, cancer scientist Mary Carrington wished she could share the news with her beloved late father-in-law, a former law school dean at Duke. She had only discovered Paul Carrington’s academy membership after he died last year, when she and…

The success of today’s COVID-19 vaccines has given medical nanotechnology a long-awaited boost, with a renewed interest in its potential for treating disease among big pharma and small start-ups. Over the years, nanotechnology has had its ups and downs in the public eye, cycling from peaks of excitement and fanfare–and a little too much hype–…

Study discovered that other RAS proteins may be involved in the paradoxical ERK activation.

The Nanotechnology Characterization Laboratory is working with industry partners to bolster the use of nanotechnology in drug development and delivery as the interest in the promising technology expands. “Pharma has initially been hesitant to get into nano because it’s too much risk versus reward,” said Jeffrey D. Clogston, Ph.D., the…

Predicting disease severity from a SARS-CoV-2 infection has been an elusive but critical need in addressing the COVID-19 pandemic, as some patients experience mild symptoms while others develop fatal complications. As scientists try to determine what contributes to infection levels and mortality, several medical signs are providing potential…

The spike protein critical for coronavirus research -- and for some COVID-19 vaccines -- slowly deteriorates while in storage, which can affect research results and vaccine production, a new study suggests. But the effect can be reversed. The SARS-CoV-2 spike protein, which is used in laboratories around the world, is unstable under…

A team of scientists has gone fishing, but they’re interested in more than the bounty of the seas: They’ve also cast out nets on land. And they’ve never left the laboratory. Their “nets” are high-powered chemical and biological analyses. The team, a group of cancer biologists, dermatologists, biochemists, natural product chemists, and…