Large protein machines and unstructured regions that had hitherto been out of the reach of biophysical tools are now having their molecular details uncovered through methodological advances, and nanoscale secrets from proteasomal dynamics to viral packaging were described at a recent Astbury Conversation conference.
Orphanet Journal of Rare Diseases has recently published an article quantifying the benefit-risk preferences for new medicines in rare disease patients and caregivers. Editor-in-Chief for the journal Ségolène Aymé discusses this publication further.
When faced with a difficult choice regarding treatment for a family pet, many of us might turn to our vet for advice, but how involved should they be in making this tough decision? Guest writer Stine B. Christiansen discusses her recent findings from interviews with owners who dealt with this dilemma.
Recently published in Genome Biology, Ginger Tsueng and colleagues discuss two high-performance web services for querying gene and variant annotation. Ginger explains more in this blog about the ideas behind the software, and how they advance the field.
How does a growth spurt affect how adolescents walk? Guest writer Dr Maria Cristina Bisi explains that growing teenage boys are less smooth and regular than their non-growing friends, but that the body is remarkably good at compensating to keep them from falling.
Xenobiotics are foreign chemicals found in organisms or in the environment. They have a big environmental and economic impact worldwide because they can kill or limit the growth of organisms. It is therefore important to remove them from the environment, and one way we can do this is by employing bioremediators such as the fungi. Laura Coninx discusses the zinc tolerance mechanism of the fungus, Suillus luteus.
Hilary Browne, Advanced Research Assistant in the Host-Microbiota Interactions Laboratory group, at the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute talks here about how they seeks to understand the role our microbiota play in human health and disease. In this blog, originally posted on the Sanger Institute blog, Hilary talks through the process they recently developed to culture, identify and store these bacteria.
The 3rd International Congress on Transposable Elements (ICTE) took place between 16 and 19 April in Saint-Malo (France) and we were keen to find out what hot topics were being discussed.
Plants have complex sex lives, just like humans. And just like us, their sex lives involve a lot of communication and testing for mutual compatibility. Since today is Fascination of Plants Day, we take a look at the raunchy world of plant sex.
Fascination of Plants Day is celebrated on 18 May. The goal of this day, established in 2012, is to get people around the world excited about plants and enthused about the importance of plant sciences. And we at BioMed Central can’t contain our excitement for the world of plants.