A nanopore sequencing device is typically used for sequencing DNA and RNA.Credit: Anthony Kwan/Bloomberg/Getty With its fast analyses and ultra-long reads, nanopore sequencing has transformed genomics, transcriptomics and epigenomics. Now, thanks to advances in nanopore design and protein engineering, protein analysis using the technique might be catching up. “All the pieces are there to start … Read more
Since the 1950s, scientists have had a pretty good idea of how muscles work. The protein at the centre of the action is myosin, a molecular motor that ratchets itself along rope-like strands of actin proteins — grasping, pulling, releasing and grasping again — to make muscle cells contract. The basics were first explained in … Read more
The artificial-intelligence tool AlphaFold can design proteins to perform specific functions.Credit: Google DeepMind/EMBL-EBI (CC-BY-4.0) Could proteins designed by artificial intelligence (AI) ever be used as bioweapons? In the hope of heading off this possibility — as well as the prospect of burdensome government regulation — researchers today launched an initiative calling for the safe and … Read more