The breakthrough made by researchers at IRB Barcelona allows the study of the role of each molecular component in the stability and conformation of DNA crystals.
The new molecular simulation techniques are expected to reduce the time and cost of obtaining crystals in the laboratory.
The study, published in the journal Molecular Biology and Evolution, has been headed by Lluís Ribas, at IRB Barcelona.
Modesto Orozco’s lab has published a paper in Chemical Communications about a therapeutic tool to prevent treatment resistance in breast cancer.
The tool has been tested in tumour cells in vitro and will now need to be tested in animal models before moving on to the development of a valid treatment for patients.
A team headed by ICREA researchers Salvador Aznar Benitah and Fran Supek concludes that care should be taken with drugs that inhibit epigenetic factors.
Published in Nature Cell Biology, the study is a collaboration between a biomedical lab and a computational lab at IRB Barcelona.
Researchers at IRB Barcelona modify chlorotoxin—a small protein present in scorpion venom with blood-brain barrier permeability—to transport drugs into the brain.
The barrier, which protects the brain, prevents drugs used for the treatment of neurological diseases and brain tumours from entering the organ.
A study in mice done at IRB Barcelona and CNAG-CRG explains that dermal fibroblasts lose their cell identify over time and with it their capacity to produce and secrete collagen and other proteins.
The team headed by Núria López-Bigas has published an article in Cell about what might have favoured the periodicity of certain base pairs in the genomes of eukaryotic organisms.
The structure adopted by DNA when packaged inside cells influences the periodicity observed.
A study done at IRB Barcelona and the Vrije Universiteit Brussel identifies camelid nanobodies able to block EGF, a protein that is abundant in tumour cells and that helps them to proliferate.
Most solid tumours with metastatic potential show a high degree of chromosomal instability.
A study published in the journal Developmental Cell demonstrates that chromosomal instability itself promotes invasive behaviour.
The researchers identify the oncogene Fos and the tumour suppressor Capicua as necessary molecular elements mediating this invasive behaviour.
The protein CPEB4, which coordinates the expression of hundreds of genes required for neuronal activity, is altered in the brains of individuals with autism
Published in Nature, the study indicates that a defect in CPEB4 could be the link between environmental factors that alter brain development and the genes that determine susceptibility to autism
