Entries by DOE-MBI Staff

Biochemistry PhD Dissertation Awarded to Yuxi Liu

Graduating PhD student Yuxi Liu from the Yeates lab has been awarded the Biochemistry PhD Dissertation Award from the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry for her outstanding research accomplishments. Dr. Liu has pioneered the development of designed protein scaffolds that make it possible to image small proteins by cryo-EM. Proteins smaller than about 50 kDa […]

Kristen Holbrook accepted position at Amgen, Toxicology Group

Kristen Holbrook, postdoctoral researcher in Sabeeha Merchant’s group, has recently accepted a position as a Scientist in the Toxicology group at Amgen. Her job will focus on the development and implantation of toxicology strategy for early lead discovery through clinical targets. In addition, she will work with a multidisciplinary team to design and manage a […]

Colleen Hui selected as a Graduate Scholar at LLNL

Third-year Ph.D. student Colleen Hui from Merchant lab has been selected as a Graduate Scholar at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL). Funded by LLNL, the Livermore Graduate Scholar Program allows participants to gain hands-on experience with the cutting-edge instruments available at LLNL, and to apply them toward solving problems in the context of questions that […]

Atomic structures of low-complexity protein segments reveal kinked β sheets that assemble networks

Interactions of LARKS protein domains More than 1500 human proteins contain long, disordered stretches of “low complexity”—strings of just a few of the 20 common amino acids. The functions of these low-complexity domains have been unclear. Hughes et al. present atomic-resolution structures that suggest that short segments of two such domains can bind weakly to […]

Low-complexity domains adhere by reversible amyloid-like interactions between kinked β-sheets

Control of metabolism by compartmentation is a widespread feature of higher cells. Recent studies have focused on dynamic intracellular bodies such as stress granules, P-bodies, nucleoli, and metabolic puncta. These bodies appear as separate phases, some containing reversible, amyloid-like fibrils formed by interactions of low-complexity protein domains. Here we report five atomic structures of segments […]

Structure-based inhibitors of tau aggregation

Published in Nature Chemistry Aggregated tau protein is associated with over 20 neurological disorders, which include Alzheimer’s disease. Previous work has shown that tau’s sequence segments VQIINK and VQIVYK drive its aggregation, but inhibitors based on the structure of the VQIVYK segment only partially inhibit full-length tau aggregation and are ineffective at inhibiting seeding by […]

Protocols for some Crystallization Stock Solutions

Dan Anderson We have our own water machine to make HPLC grade water. Use this very pure water, and chemicals of ACS grade or better. Ammonium Sulfate, saturated solution: Weigh about 80 grams of enzyme grade ammonium sulfate. In a 250ml beaker, stir the solid into 100ml of wa ter. Heat the mixture to dissolve […]