— Archaeologists find new evidence of animals being introduced to prehistoric Caribbean — An archaeological research team from North Carolina State University, the University of Washington and University of Florida has found one of the most diverse collections of prehistoric…
— Microscopic worms could hold the key to living life on Mars — The astrophysicist Stephen Hawking believes that if humanity is to survive we will have up sticks and colonise space. But is the human body up to the challenge?…
— Chemical warfare of stealthy silverfish — A co-evolutionary arms race exists between social insects and their parasites. Army ants (Leptogenys distinguenda) share their nests with several parasites such as beetles, snails and…
— Stinky frogs are a treasure trove of antibiotic substances — Some of the nastiest smelling creatures on Earth have skin that produces the greatest known variety of anti-bacterial substances that hold promise for becoming new weapons in the battle…
— Genetic code of first arachnid cracked — An international team of scientists - including Ghent VIB scientists - has succeeded in deciphering the genome of the spider mite. This is also the first known genome of an arachnid.…
— How bats 'hear' objects in their path — By placing real and virtual objects in the flight paths of bats, scientists at the Universities of Bristol and Munich have shed new light on how echolocation works. Their research is…
— Counting cats: The endangered snow leopards of the Himalayas — The elusive snow leopard (Panthera uncia) lives high in the mountains across Central Asia. Despite potentially living across 12 countries the actual numbers of this beautiful large…
— Surprise role of nuclear structure protein in development — Scientists have long held theories about the importance of proteins called B-type lamins in the process of embryonic stem cells replicating and differentiating into different varieties…
— Pregnancy is a drag for bottlenose dolphins — Lumbering around during the final weeks before delivery is tough for any pregnant mum. Most females adjust their movements to compensate for the extreme physical changes that accompany…
Despite damage, membrane protein structure can be seen using new X-ray technology
Australian researchers have identified a way to measure the structure of membrane proteins despite being damaged when using X-ray Free-Electron Lasers (XFELs), a discovery that will help fast track the development of targeted drugs using emerging XFELs technology.
About 70% of drugs on the market today depend on the activity of membrane proteins, which are complex molecules that form the membranes of the cells in our body.
A major problem for the design of new pharmaceuticals, often known as the 'membrane protein problem,' is that they do not form the crystals needed to enable further investigation of the structure to design better drugs.
A major international effort is being mounted to determine the structures of membrane proteins using XFELs - large facilities that create such a bright beam of X-rays it is possible to see the X-ray light bouncing off a single molecule without forming a crystal.
Professor Keith Nugent, Laureate Professor and ARC Federation Fellow and Director of the Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Coherent X-ray Science (CXS) at the University of Melbourne said a key problem was that the light from an XFEL was so bright a molecule would start to disintegrate in less than one thousandth of a millionth of a millionth of a second.
In a paper published today in the journal Nature Physics, Professor Nugent and Associate Professor Harry Quiney from the ARC Centre of Excellence for Coherent X-ray Science (CXS) have developed a method by which the damage from the XFEL pulse may be included in the data analysis.
Associate Professor Quiney, also of the School of Physics at the University of Melbourne, said results showed that high-resolution molecular structures may be obtained from X-ray scattering data using a few-femtosecond pulse from an XFEL, even if the interaction resulted in significant electronic damage to the target.
'This result has far-reaching implications for the future development of structural biology, because it removes a significant obstacle to the practical realisation of the molecular microscope using XFEL sources,' he said.
It also provides important insights into the complex, turbulent and poorly-understood interactions that are driven by the interaction of an XFEL pulse with an atom, molecule or solid.
Their approach uses sophisticated molecular physics and careful data analysis to determine a new approach to measuring molecular structure.
Although still at the theoretical and computation level when put into practice this discovery will remove a major road-block in the path to solving the membrane protein problem.
This year, CXS signed an agreement with Japanese colleagues and will host the 4th Asia-Oceania Workshop on Science with X-ray Free Electron Lasers in 2011.
Professor Nugent said this was an extremely exciting time for X-ray science.
'My colleagues and I are convinced that our recent work is a critically important step forward,' he said.
'We are very much looking forward to working with our Japanese colleagues in the coming years.'
The first XFEL started operating at Stanford in California in 2009 and the second, the SPring8 facility in Japan, will start in 2011. A third is under construction in Europe to commence in 2014.
Or subscribe for our Newsletter, a free e-mail publication. It is published practically every day.
Brainy worms: Evolution of the cerebral cortex
Tiny, new, pea-sized frog is Old World's smallest
Origins of multicellularity: All in the family
Developing zebrafish patchwork