amino acid

ORNL microscopy yields first proof of ferroelectricity in simplest amino acid
04/22/2012 - 21:32

The boundary between electronics and biology is blurring with the first detection by researchers at Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory of ferroelectric properties in an amino acid called glycine.

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How cancer cells get by on a starvation diet
11/21/2011 - 10:10

Researchers found that when deprived of oxygen, cancer cells (and many other mammalian cells) can engage an alternate metabolic pathway that allows them to use glutamine, a plentiful amino acid, as the starting material for synthesizing fatty molecules known as lipids. These lipids are essential components of many cell structures, including cell membranes.

 

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Creation of the largest human-designed protein boosts protein engineering efforts
11/15/2011 - 21:20

If Guinness World Records had a category for the largest human-designed protein, then a team of Vanderbilt chemists would have just claimed it. They have designed and successfully synthesized a variant of a protein that nature uses to manufacture the essential amino acid histidine. It is more than twice the size of the previous record holder, a protein created by researchers at the University of Washington in 2003.

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