News

•    Magnetotactic bacteria are a unique aquatic species which use magnetic nanoparticles as an internal compass to navigate •    The configuration of the magnetic chain in these bacteria has been analysed using neutrons, explaining how the magnetic field affects its behaviour •    Understanding t…

•    Bacterial infections can be lethal and are becoming increasingly resistant to antibiotics. Six million people dye of blood poisoning (sepsis) every year.  •    The use of neutrons to analyse complex structures on the surface of E.coli could reveal how bacteria interact with their surroundings…

The integral membrane protein MsbA (blue) embedded in a ‘semi-transparent’ membranous nanodisc (grey). The nanodisc itself is, through selective deuteration, rendered invisible in SANS experiments that focus on the conformation of the protein in its native context. …

Key binding characteristics of a sugar-binding protein associated with heart disease and breast cancer defined for the first time, guiding future drug developmentResearchers pinpoint hydrogen-bonding interactions in the C-terminal carbohydrate recognition domain of galectin-3 (galectin-3C) for the first time using neutron crystallographyThese detailed observations will inform future drug design f…

A neutron diffraction pattern from a crystal of the PKG II enzyme binding domain with an activator bound, collected using the LADI-III beamline at the Institut Laue-Langevin. Credit:Blakeley & Kovalevsky. Enzyme associated with stomach cancer and osteoporosis s…

10.04.2013Research at Birkbeck, University of London uses world-leading neutron sources at ILL and ISIS to demonstrate ozone attacks on lung surface fluidsA research team from Birkbeck and Royal Holloway Colleges at the University of London, and Uppsala University in Sweden, have helped explain ho…

An ORNL-led team used neutrons to observe the AAT enzyme, a vitamin B6-dependent protein, and found that the chemical reaction occurred only in one active site. Nuclear scattering length density maps (colored mesh) highlight the positions of critical hydrogen atoms, including a low-barrier hydrog…

Credit Synthelis / Illusciencia January 2018p7 is a protein essential for the release of the hepatitis C virus, however little data is currently available on the way it interacts with its environment, hindering the development of vaccinations for itResearchers have…

HIV-1 protease in cartoon representation with bound clinical drug darunavir. Credit Jill Hemman and Andrey Kovalevsky (Oak Ridge National Laboratory) 08.05.2016HIV-1 protease is an enzyme which is essential for the replication of HIV, the retrovirus that causes AID…

Molecular structure of Amyloid beta. Copyright raimund14-fotolia.com 27.04.2015One of the pathological hallmarks of Alzheimer’s disease is the formation of amyloid fibres by tau proteins Results have shown that water mobility is increased on the surface of these ta…

19.05.2014Results from neutron spin-echo analysis at the Institut Laue-Langevin (ILL) and the National Center of Neutron Research (NCNR) in the United States are an important advance towards enabling subcutaneous injections of concentrated biopharmaceuticals used to treat cancer and autoimmune dis…