A gift of medical books from an unlikely source spurred Chrystal Starbird’s scientific career. She talks about what motivates her research on cell surface receptors and the obstacles she has faced as a Black woman in academia.

Researchers demonstrate that the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein is more stable and binds the human ACE2 receptor with much higher affinity than the spike protein of its closest known relative, bat coronavirus RaTG13.

Once considered an unimportant curiosity, Z-DNA is now recognized to provide an on-the-fly mechanism to regulate how an RNA transcript is edited.

The virus’s tool for prying open host cells is coated in a protective armor of sugar—but gaps may offer vulnerability to disruption by antibodies.

The DNA-protein complex has branches that fold back on themselves.

The University of Cambridge scholar’s research on folding proteins advanced scientists’ understanding of illnesses, such as Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, and type 2 diabetes.

The former Columbia University professor’s early work helped illuminate the structure of penicillin, allowing chemists to make variants and broaden the scope of antibiotic treatments.

In Chapter 13, “The Final Assault,” author Venki Ramakrishnan relays the moment when he and collaborators finally solved the structure of a ribosomal subunit.

Nobel laureate Venki Ramakrishnan’s new book recounts the tale of researchers striving to understand an ancient molecular machine that is essential for all life.

Modified cryogenic electron microscopy can analyze viral structures better than ever before.

The receptors, found in so-called elite controllers who don’t need medications to keep the virus in check, suggest a new path toward immunotherapy.

Philip Coppens, who developed photocrystallography, has passed away at age 86.

A modification to traditional docking software enables the examination of a ligand’s passage into its receptor.

A software upgrade follows ligands step-wise into their binding sites on receptors.

Metagenomic sequence data boosts the power of protein modeling software to yield hundreds of new protein structure predictions.