Latest news from American Crystallographic Association (ACA) on Newswise en-us Copyright 2024 Newswise 115 31 / /images/newswise-logo-rss.gif /articles/aca-invites-media-to-structural-science-meeting-in-denver-july-7-12/?sc=rsin /articles/aca-invites-media-to-structural-science-meeting-in-denver-july-7-12/?sc=rsin Tue, 02 Jul 2024 08:05:32 EST The 74th ACA Meeting will take place July 7-12 at the Denver Marriott Tech Center. From developing new drugs, to engineering novel materials for electronics, to guiding unprecedented vaccines and biological insights, ACA2024 will highlight the golden future for structural science and bring together a diverse community of experts from around the world to share scientific discoveries and advancements that impact economies, health care, and everyday understanding of the natural world. American Crystallographic Association (ACA) /articles/insecticide-resistant-mosquitoes-prompt-new-look-at-bed-nets/?sc=rsin /articles/insecticide-resistant-mosquitoes-prompt-new-look-at-bed-nets/?sc=rsin Mon, 10 Jul 2023 16:20:00 EST Modern mosquito bed nets also come with insecticidal compounds embedded into the fibers that keep mosquito populations down. In recent years, however, insecticide-resistant mosquitoes have curtailed the nets' effectiveness. American Crystallographic Association (ACA) /articles/a-head-start-on-the-next-pandemic/?sc=rsin /articles/a-head-start-on-the-next-pandemic/?sc=rsin Sun, 09 Jul 2023 16:00:00 EST Investigating viruses with spillover potential could give us a head start on the next pandemic and minimize its severity; one such virus is RshTT200, discovered in Cambodian bats in 2010. During ACA's 73rd annual meeting, July 7-11, Samantha Zepeda from the University of Washington will present her team's investigation into RshTT200. The team used cryo-electron microscopy to solve the spike protein structure. Once the spike proteins were understood, they built harmless, nonreplicating pseudoviruses expressing the spike proteins to investigate how RshTT200 accesses human cells. American Crystallographic Association (ACA) /articles/killing-cancer-in-a-flash/?sc=rsin /articles/killing-cancer-in-a-flash/?sc=rsin Sat, 08 Jul 2023 09:30:00 EST FLASH is a targeted radiation therapy that kills tumor cells while sparing healthy tissue and delivers a short, intense burst of radiation in a single appointment. Corie Ralston from Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory will present her team's research using X-ray footprinting mass spectrometry to investigate the mechanisms that make FLASH a powerful cancer killer at ACA's 73rd annual meeting, July 7-11. American Crystallographic Association (ACA) /articles/paintings-cartoons-combine-to-render-biological-molecules/?sc=rsin /articles/paintings-cartoons-combine-to-render-biological-molecules/?sc=rsin Tue, 02 Aug 2022 16:00:00 EST During the annual ACA meeting, David Goodsell, of Scripps Research and RCSB Protein Data Bank, will discuss his use of artistic methods to visualize biological data. His presentation, "Art as a Tool for Structural Biology," takes place Tuesday. Traditional artistic mediums, like painting, provide the freedom necessary to illustrate cells, and Goodsell is using illustrations to lay the foundation for computational modeling of whole cells. He also creates brightly colored, cartoonlike graphics with nonphotorealistic computer graphics methods to highlight the overall shape of molecules and how they assemble and interact. American Crystallographic Association (ACA) /articles/improving-yields-in-enhanced-oil-recovery/?sc=rsin /articles/improving-yields-in-enhanced-oil-recovery/?sc=rsin Tue, 02 Aug 2022 11:55:00 EST Nonionic surfactants are molecules with both hydrophobic and hydrophilic components, which lets them interact both with hydrophilic liquids like water as well as hydrophobic liquids like oil. This surface-active property makes them invaluable in enhanced oil recovery, where they can be used to greatly increase oil yields. During the 72nd ACA meeting, Thomas Fitzgibbons, of Dow, will detail how nonionic surfactants behave under the high-pressure conditions found in oil wells; adding nonionic surfactants to the injection fluid can help in several ways. American Crystallographic Association (ACA) /articles/synchrotron-x-ray-diffraction-captures-invisible-traumatic-brain-injuries/?sc=rsin /articles/synchrotron-x-ray-diffraction-captures-invisible-traumatic-brain-injuries/?sc=rsin Sun, 31 Jul 2022 11:30:00 EST Rama Madhurapantula, of the Illinois Institute of Technology, will describe how synchrotron X-ray diffraction can aid in diagnosing invisible traumatic brain injuries in their presentation, "X-ray fiber diffraction to elucidate tissue transition and changes to molecular packing in relation damage," held Sunday, July 31 at the annual ACA meeting. While traditional imaging methods work on the micron scale, Madhurapantula's team showed synchrotron X-ray diffraction can capture much smaller changes to myelin on the nanometer to angstrom scale in situ. American Crystallographic Association (ACA) /articles/understanding-alzheimer-s-progression-with-improvements-to-imaging-image-processing-machine-learning/?sc=rsin /articles/understanding-alzheimer-s-progression-with-improvements-to-imaging-image-processing-machine-learning/?sc=rsin Thu, 05 Aug 2021 13:30:00 EST Because there is no ethical way to extract brain tissue from patients to look for clues about how amyloid plaques and protein aggregates proliferate, supplementary techniques are needed to better understand the progression of Alzheimer's disease. During ACA's 71st annual meeting, Abdullah Al Bashit, from Northeastern University, will discuss using computational techniques to help address these challenges. His work demonstrates how using small and wide-angle scattering along with state-of-the-art detection techniques will help probe the molecular structure and proliferation. American Crystallographic Association (ACA) /articles/avoiding-drug-resistance-by-understanding-evolution-of-viruses/?sc=rsin /articles/avoiding-drug-resistance-by-understanding-evolution-of-viruses/?sc=rsin Tue, 03 Aug 2021 13:20:00 EST During ACA's 71st annual meeting, Celia Schiffer, from the University of Massachusetts, will talk about her lab's work with virus substrate recognition as a method to avoid drug resistance. Schiffer and her team expanded their work on HIV and the hepatitis C virus to include human T-cell lymphotropic virus type 1 and SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, and discovered that designing robust inhibitors to fit within the substrate envelope tips this balance toward decreasing the probability of resistance. American Crystallographic Association (ACA) /articles/gaming-the-research-reinforcement-learning-changing-data-evaluation-challenges/?sc=rsin /articles/gaming-the-research-reinforcement-learning-changing-data-evaluation-challenges/?sc=rsin Tue, 03 Aug 2021 13:20:00 EST Advances in artificial intelligence, specifically reinforcement learning, are proving beneficial to accelerating the pace of data-intensive challenges. The methods used by researchers with RL are techniques often used in video games, and by applying gamification to scientific processes, RL agents can learn as they are used in experiments, in effect, leveling up their rates of discovery as they work. Researchers are using trained RL agents at NSLS-II to accelerate the analysis of data-heavy measurements. American Crystallographic Association (ACA) /articles/molecular-storytelling-helps-diverse-audiences-understand-biomolecular-science/?sc=rsin /articles/molecular-storytelling-helps-diverse-audiences-understand-biomolecular-science/?sc=rsin Wed, 05 Aug 2020 14:10:00 EST Reducing the barriers preventing everyone from exploring the science behind biomolecular interactions and structures is the goal of molecular storytelling, a combination of visual and interactive methods used to explain the complex subject of structural biology. Through a 20-year partnership with the RCSB Protein Data Bank, researcher David Goodsell and a team of scientists have developed the Molecule of the Month series, which uses visual and interactive storytelling as an educational bridge for a wide audience of students, educators and the public. American Crystallographic Association (ACA) /articles/coronavirus-drug-for-cats-has-potential-use-for-covid-19-virus-in-humans/?sc=rsin /articles/coronavirus-drug-for-cats-has-potential-use-for-covid-19-virus-in-humans/?sc=rsin Tue, 04 Aug 2020 13:45:00 EST Researchers at the University of Alberta say a protease in SARS-CoV-2 can be targeted with a drug that is also used to treat feline infectious peritonitis, a fatal infection in cats caused by a coronavirus. The drugs, dipeptide-based protein inhibitors, could be used to slow or stop replication of the COVID-19 virus in humans. During the 70th annual meeting of the American Crystallographic Association, Joanne Lemieux will outline how the drugs are strong candidates for the treatment of human coronavirus infections. American Crystallographic Association (ACA) /articles/x-ray-scattering-facility-for-extreme-biology-opens-for-research/?sc=rsin /articles/x-ray-scattering-facility-for-extreme-biology-opens-for-research/?sc=rsin Mon, 03 Aug 2020 12:45:00 EST Life on Earth manages to exist in the Mariana Trench and deep below the ocean floor, where extreme conditions create large effects on the behavior of biological molecules. At the Cornell High Energy Synchrotron Source, a facility dedicated to high-pressure biological X-ray scattering is available for use to explore those deep ocean molecules. Richard Gillilan will describe the main capabilities of BioSAXS and call for scientific use of the facility at the 70th Annual Meeting of the American Crystallographic Association. American Crystallographic Association (ACA) /articles/exposing-stem-students-to-diversity-improves-innovation-performance/?sc=rsin /articles/exposing-stem-students-to-diversity-improves-innovation-performance/?sc=rsin Wed, 24 Jul 2019 09:00:00 EST As technology and science continue to play an even greater role in everyday lives, training and developing the next wave of scientists needs to evolve. Noncognitive factors and new strategies to more fully engage each student and promote an inclusive classroom are being considered for improved learning experiences in STEM courses. During the 69th ACA meeting, July 20-24, Bernie Santarsiero, University of Illinois at Chicago, will talk about how resources other than remedial training can foster significant improvements in successful student outcomes. American Crystallographic Association (ACA) /articles/space-station-hosts-crystal-growth-experiments-for-students-testing-of-real-time-approach/?sc=rsin /articles/space-station-hosts-crystal-growth-experiments-for-students-testing-of-real-time-approach/?sc=rsin Mon, 22 Jul 2019 13:30:00 EST Two experiments on the International Space Station examined how different crystal formations can be grown in a microgravity environment. One of the experiments was designed by six prize-winning students from Wisconsin, who were looking to compare growing salt crystals in space to growing crystals on Earth. The other experiment tested new advancements in methods and hardware to direct protein crystal growth by astronauts on the space station. Both experiments will be featured during a session at the 69th ACA meeting, July 20-24. American Crystallographic Association (ACA) /articles/high-pressure-biology-seeks-answers-to-early-life-beginnings/?sc=rsin /articles/high-pressure-biology-seeks-answers-to-early-life-beginnings/?sc=rsin Sun, 21 Jul 2019 13:30:00 EST Researchers at Cornell University are using a high-pressure biology facility dedicated to providing the emerging "deep-life" community with new technology to study fundamental molecular biology. The facility provides high-pressure small angle X-ray scattering and macromolecular crystallography technologies to examine how biomolecules function in organisms under high-pressure conditions. American Crystallographic Association (ACA) /articles/a-new-potentially-faster-acting-aspirin-/?sc=rsin /articles/a-new-potentially-faster-acting-aspirin-/?sc=rsin Tue, 24 Jul 2018 08:00:00 EST A team of researchers recently discovered a new aspirin polymorph that's predicted to dissolve faster than current form I aspirin tablets, which would mean faster pain relief after ingestion. Greater dissolving efficiency also means that each tablet would require less of the compound. Chunhua (Tony) Hu, New York University, will present the painstaking story of aspirin IV alongside its structural definition at the 68th Annual Meeting of the American Crystallographic Association. American Crystallographic Association (ACA) /articles/x-ray-diffraction-method-used-to-examine-collagen-in-the-brain,-heart,-and-t.-rex-fossils-/?sc=rsin /articles/x-ray-diffraction-method-used-to-examine-collagen-in-the-brain,-heart,-and-t.-rex-fossils-/?sc=rsin Sun, 22 Jul 2018 08:00:00 EST A laboratory at the Illinois Institute of Technology is using fiber diffraction to examine tissue structures in the human brain and heart, as well as in T. rex fossils. Few researchers use this type of X-ray diffraction because of the time and labor required to complete experiments, the researchers have resolved images of the fine threads of collagen fibrils in connective, neurological and dinosaur tissues to one-billionth of a meter. During the 68th Annual Meeting of the American Crystallographic Association, they will explain their work. American Crystallographic Association (ACA) /articles/new-mof-vaccines-could-expand-access-to-immunization-and-reduce-global-health-care-costs/?sc=rsin /articles/new-mof-vaccines-could-expand-access-to-immunization-and-reduce-global-health-care-costs/?sc=rsin Sun, 22 Jul 2018 08:00:00 EST Many vaccines become ineffective when exposed to room temperature or heat. This challenge can prevent patients from accessing lifesaving immunizations and increase the risk of global pandemics. During the 68th Annual Meeting of the American Crystallographic Association, Jeremiah Gassensmith, University of Texas at Dallas, will describe his lab's work developing metal-organic framework vaccines. This new biocompatible polymer framework "freezes" proteins inside vaccines. The proteins then dissolve when injected in human skin. This innovation could help health care providers transport and administer vaccines in remote areas with unreliable power. American Crystallographic Association (ACA) /articles/scientists-capture-neon-in-an-organic-environment-for-the-first-time/?sc=rsin /articles/scientists-capture-neon-in-an-organic-environment-for-the-first-time/?sc=rsin Fri, 12 Aug 2016 15:05:35 EST In a new study, researchers from the Cambridge Crystallographic Data Centre (CCDC) and the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE's) Argonne National Laboratory have teamed up to capture neon within a porous crystalline framework. Neon is well known for being the most unreactive element and is a key component in semiconductor manufacturing, but neon has never been studied within an organic or metal-organic framework until now. The results, which include the critical studies carried out at the Advanced Photon Source (APS), a DOE Office of Science user facility at Argonne, also point the way towards a more economical and greener industrial process for neon production. American Crystallographic Association (ACA)