The optogenetic toolset is composed of genetically encoded molecules that, when targeted to specific neurons in the brain, enable the electrical activity of those neurons to be driven or silenced by light. When these opsins are expressed in the lipid
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Take a tour of the Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS), whose ultra-powerful X-ray beam is being used to solve the structures of proteins that are notoriously hard to crystallize.
This animation illustrates optogenetics—a radical new technology for controlling brain activity with light. Ed Boyden, the co-inventor of this technology, is a professor at the MIT Media Lab and at the McGovern Institute for Brain Research, where he continues to develop new technologies for controlling brain activity.
A powerful new X-ray–generating laser is imaging smaller crystals than ever before.
When someone snorts or smokes cocaine, which is composed of small crystalline alkaloid molecules, the drug enters the bloodstream and from there eventually crosses into the heart, brain, and other organs. Cocaine quickens heart and respiratory rates,
Like other enveloped viruses, HIV exits its host cell enshrouded in the cell’s membrane, which contains membrane molecules such as the human leukocyte antigens (HLA). The HLA proteins act as a set of cell identification marks: every person expresses
Recent clinical trials have reignited the interest in simple anti-inflammatory drugs like aspirin for controlling the inflammation associated with cancer. The results suggest that these drugs reduced the risk of relapse as well as cancer formation ac
Epigenetic events regulate the activities of genes without changing the DNA sequence. Different genes are expressed depending on the methyl-marks attached to DNA itself and by changes in the structure and/or composition of chromatin. The main compone
Meet the people behind studies that use nematodes to treat inflammatory diseases.
Microbes, both good and bad, can exert direct effects on host cells and vice versa. For example, pathogenic bacteria such as some strains of E. coli and Salmonella reduce the overall number of normal gut commensal bacteria, promoting their own growth
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