membrane proteins, techniques

With multiple applications in biomedicine, the antibodies can now be made quickly, cheaply, and without the need for an alpaca or one of its relatives.

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. 

A powerful new X-ray–generating laser is imaging smaller crystals than ever before.

This animation illustrates optogenetics—a radical new technology for controlling brain activity with light. 

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.

A powerful new X-ray–generating laser is imaging smaller crystals than ever before.

The challenges of crystallizing membrane proteins—and how they’re being overcome.

Institut Curie researchers Bruno Goud, a biologist, and Patricia Bassereau, a physicist, talk about their fruitful, decade-long collaboration exploring the physics of membrane trafficking in a Skype interview conducted by Associate Editor Richard P. Grant.