A Step Closer to a Malaria Vaccine

An international team of scientists that includes biologist Michael Becker has determined the three-dimensional molecular structure of a promising malaria-vaccine component. This research may help lead to a successful vaccine for the disease, which currently infects approximately 400 million people worldwide and kills about two million people each year - mostly children.

Scientists Develop Protein-Sequence Analysis Tool

With more and more protein sequences available, scientists are increasingly looking for ways to extract the subset of information that determines a protein's function. Now scientists at BNL have written a computer program 'to sort the informational wheat from the chaff' said Brookhaven biochemist John Shanklin, who leads the research team.     See also Video Clip.

Protein Structure Initiative Advances to Rapid Production Phase

With the announcement of 10 new research centers, the Protein Structure Initiative (PSI) launches the second phase of its national effort to find the shapes of a wide range of proteins. Biologists Subramanyam Swaminathan and William Studier are among the principal investigators of the New York Structural GenomiX Research Consortium (NYSGXRC) to be awarded a new PSI grant.

International Team Presents Finished Sequence of Rice Genome

With this map-based sequence, you can use known genetic markers to locate the actual genes that underlie traits such as insect resistance, drought resistance, or higher seed yield, and more efficiently combine rice strains with these beneficial genetic traits, said Brookhaven biologist Benjamin Burr, who has served as IRGSP project coordinator since its inception in 1998.     See also Video Clip

Astronauts' Children Unlikely to Inherit Cosmic Ray-Induced Genetic Defects

Male astronauts exposed to cosmic rays in space are not likely to pass on possible mutations caused by the rays to their offspring, according to a new study by a collaboration that includes senior biologist Richard Setlow. The results are published in the April 11, 2005, online issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

An Exceptionally Effective Lead-Detection Protein

Biologist Niels van der Lelie and scientists from the University of Chicago have discovered that a member of a well-known protein family is better at detecting lead than any other known substance. Learning more about the protein's structure and lead-detection mechanism, they say, may lead to new ways to synthesize drugs or to develop treatments for lead poisoning.