Molecular

A new study has found that adaptive molecular convergence—the process by which distantly related or unrelated species evolve the same genomic changes—is not as rare as previously thought.

Proteases are naturally occurring enzymes that break down proteins into peptides and even single amino acids. They are useful in medicine and industrial processes, where they clean tissue, digest waste and help in the manufacture of everyday products. Now scientists have used artificial intelligence to design new versions from scratch.

A Florida State University–led review shows how ultrahigh-resolution mass spectrometry can help researchers identify the molecular fingerprints of human activity in water systems around the world.

Materials that change their shape upon exposure to light are attracting growing interest in applications such as soft robotics, microscale actuators and smart materials. However, the connection between molecular-level structural changes and larger-scale deformation remains incompletely understood.

Bacteriophages, or viruses that infect bacteria, have a fiendishly simple purpose in life: attach to a bacterial cell, inject their DNA and then use the host's genetic machinery to reproduce. In doing so, they may have evolved some of the most efficient gene-editing tools ever seen in nature.

Chitin, a chain of repeating sugar molecules, is the main building block of fungal cell walls. When fungi grow or are broken down, fragments of chitin chains of different lengths end up in the soil, and plants detect them to monitor the microbes around them.

Researchers from Capital Medical University, Beijing, China, have identified a CaN/NFATC3/Id3/E2A/Bmp4 signaling pathway that helps explain how low-intensity pulsed ultrasound (LIPUS) promotes bone regeneration.

Discarded plastic packaging materials, old CDs and even LEGO bricks can be transformed into materials that capture significant amounts of moisture from the air. Materials chemists Anastasiia Naryshkina, Paul Schweng and Robert Woodward at the University of Vienna have converted several types of plastic waste into water-attracting polymer networks that take up water even in dry climates and release it again under moderate heating, for example, using sunlight. The study, published in Chem Circularity, offers a route to give plastic waste a second life as an adsorbent for atmospheric water harvesting.

Imagine a medicine that stops seizures at their source, switches off instructions that keep a cancerous tumor growing and prevents Alzheimer's from stealing memories and wreaking havoc on the brain.

A faster way of finding the best diamond-based materials for quantum computers has been developed by a researcher at the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL). The new approach has already identified promising materials for practical quantum sensors and computers that could one day transform scientific research as a whole. The research was recently published in the journal ACS Central Science and has already garnered attention from other experts in the field.

Scientists have long sought to understand the complex origins of intelligent life. It remains unclear how biological systems not only formed but survived and persisted under the extreme conditions of primordial Earth's hostile climate. Now, researchers at Texas A&M University are using light-based technologies to uncover new clues to help solve this evolutionary puzzle.

Maintaining healthy blood glucose levels involves striking a balance between the glucose produced by the liver during fasting, and the insulin released from pancreatic beta cells after meals.

Researchers from the University of Oxford and international collaborators have revealed previously unseen rapid chemical stages in the formation of β-lactam antibiotics like penicillin, offering insights that can support future antibiotic development.

An international research team have revealed previously unseen rapid chemical stages in the formation of β-lactam antibiotics such as penicillin, offering insights that could help to support future antibiotic development. The post ‘Molecular Movie’ of Penicillin Synthesis Could Inform Future Antibiotic Development appeared first on GEN - Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology News.

Researchers from the University of Oxford and international collaborators have revealed previously unseen rapid chemical stages in the formation of β-lactam antibiotics like penicillin, offering insights that can support future antibiotic development. The findings have been published in Nature Catalysis.

A cell sitting in fluid looks like one of the most passive things in biology. Nutrients drift toward it on the aimless currents of molecular motion, and now and then one bumps into the right spot on the cell's surface and gets pulled inside. This impression of the cell as a lottery run by chance, with the molecules wandering and the cell waiting, is a misconception.

Large dogs tend to be shorter lived than their smaller counterparts, and a new study found that male and larger dogs undergo accelerated molecular aging, with pronounced DNA methylation changes on the X chromosome and at transposable elements. The post Epigenetics Underlies Comparatively Accelerated Molecular Aging in Larger and Male Dogs appeared first on GEN - Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology News.

Chemistry Nobel for Mirror-Image Molecules Twenty-five years after French chemists protested that he had been passed over, 95-year-old

An abundance of complex molecules has been proposed as a universal signature of life.

Azobenzene is one of the best-known molecules that can be switched between two forms by light. However, the question of how the molecule moves in the first few picoseconds (trillionths of a second) after it absorbs light has remained unresolved for nearly 50 years.

Magnetic properties in molecular materials depend not only on the molecular components themselves but also on their solid-state organization. In charged π-electronic systems, electrostatic and dispersion forces can organize molecules into distinct ion-pairing structures.

Northwestern University scientists have developed remarkably long, precisely patterned molecular threads that could open new possibilities for designing advanced materials. The scientists also discovered that these threads—called supramolecular polymers—can dramatically enhance brain cell activity. The study is published in the journal Science.

Author(s): T. I. Rajib, M. S. Pochechuev, A. Dharmasiri, K. Hatcher, X. Liu, A. M. Zheltikov, and G. S. AgarwalPairs of photons provide a gentle way to measure the impact of a molecule’s environment on its ultrafast dynamics. [Phys. Rev. A 114, 033737] Published Wed Sep 30, 2026

Viruses come in two major flavors—not chocolate and vanilla, quips Harvard Medical School structural biologist Stephen Harrison, but those enveloped in membranes, such as herpesvirus, influenza virus, HIV and SARS-CoV-2, and those that are not, such as poliovirus, HPV, rotavirus and adenovirus.

For years, TFEB has been regarded as one of the most promising therapeutic targets for restoring the cell's ability to clear and recycle waste.

High-throughput proteomics combined with AI-based structural modeling helped researchers discover molecular glues that degrade VAV1. The approach could support new therapies for blood cancers and autoimmune diseases. The post AI and Proteomics Accelerate VAV1 Molecular Glue Discovery appeared first on GEN - Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology News.

Merck agreed to pay SciBrunch up to $2.13 billion consisting of $400 million upfront and the remainder in payments tied to achieving milestones across multiple indications. The post Merck, SciBrunch Launch Up-to-$2.13B Collaboration to Develop Preclinical KRAS-Inhibiting Molecular Glue appeared first on GEN - Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology News.

Enzymes are often described as molecular machines that recognize and process specific molecules. However, they are not rigid structures. Their shapes can change, affecting how molecules enter, interact with and remain within their active sites.

A Baylor College of Medicine-led team has developed a strategy that combines the analysis of thousands of proteins with artificial intelligence to accelerate the discovery of small molecules called molecular glues to treat disease. Their approach, published in Nature Communications, has uncovered a new class of molecular glues that could neutralize harmful proteins linked to blood cancers and autoimmune diseases. The work also shows how AI-based structural modeling can help chemists optimize compounds well before experiments reveal how they work.

Enzymes are often described as molecular machines that recognize and process specific molecules. However, they are not rigid structures. Their shapes can change, and these changes can affect how molecules enter, interact with, and remain within their active sites.

TMEM63B, a mechanosensitive lipid scramblase, has an autoinhibitory domain in its C-terminal tail that helps keep it inactive under resting conditions, researchers from the Institute of Science Tokyo report. Changes to this regulatory region, particularly the Leu776 residue, reverse the inhibitory action and cause continuous lipid scrambling, disrupting normal phospholipid asymmetry.

Controlling dopant concentration near the silicon surface is increasingly important for ultrashallow junctions and nanoscale devices. Mixed monolayer doping (MMLD) offers a surface-chemistry-based approach in which dopant-containing molecules are mixed with nondopant molecules to tune the amount of dopant available at the silicon surface before thermal diffusion.

A new study from Ben-Gurion University of the Negev (BGU) has identified a molecular switch that controls whether stressed human cells activate a survival mechanism or trigger programmed cell death (apoptosis). The findings, published in Redox Biology, provide insights that could help overcome chemotherapy resistance in aggressive tumors.

Scientists have often thought of cells as small bustling cities with parts that resemble factories, power grids, and shipping systems.

Medical researchers, clinicians and pharmaceutical scientists often study small molecules called metabolites, which are produced in living cells through a variety of processes, including the breakdown of food, chemicals or drugs. This area of study is known as metabolomics, and it can be used to identify new signs of disease, measure the effectiveness of medical treatment or study how diet and nutrition affect the body.

Remodeling may bring to mind construction crews and scaffolding, but the process is far from unique to buildings. Even molecules can be remodeled. Pandorachelins, newly discovered molecules produced by Pandoraea bacteria, are one example.

Orthogonally arranged π-electronic systems that combine electron-donating and electron-accepting units display distinctive electronic and photophysical behavior. Fine-tuning their electronic structure offers a way to control photoinduced electron transfer. Building on this idea, complexing boron with 1,3-diketones and 9-oxidophenalenone may produce electron-deficient cationic π-electronic systems.

Weill Cornell Medicine investigators have determined the mechanism by which a molecule within cells can help tune the light sensitivity of the eyes.

The National Institute of Information and Communications Technology (NICT, President: OHNO Hideo, Ph.D.) has discovered molecular mechanism of synaptic facilitation, instantaneous strengthening of synaptic transmission, which may be physiological basis of instantaneous memory.

Research led by Mount Sinai scientists within the PsychAD Consortium, a large-scale, multidisciplinary initiative launched in 2019 with support from the National Institute on Aging (NIA), is featured in a landmark collection of nine papers published across the Nature family of journals that maps the molecular mechanisms underlying Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, schizophrenia, and other brain disorders.

A study conducted by the University of Liège and Rockefeller University reveals, with near-atomic precision, the three-dimensional structure and function of a gigantic molecular machine essential to the survival of trypanosomatid parasites, which cause serious diseases in humans, animals and plants. The work has been published in Nature Communications.

Crystals are usually thought of as rigid and brittle. Yet some molecular crystals can bend, jump, twist or even change shape when exposed to light. Understanding how tiny molecular movements inside an ordered crystal can produce such large visible motions is an important challenge for developing responsive materials that could eventually be used in actuators, sensors and other miniature devices.

Cells rely on complex signaling networks in which different molecular pathways communicate with one another. Small GTPases act as molecular switches in these networks, controlling diverse cellular processes such as intracellular transport and cell morphogenesis. Although crosstalk between different families of small GTPases is established in animal cells, whether and how such crosstalk occurs in plants has remained largely unknown.

Validated on the CellXpress.ai automated cell culture system, the new workflow combines organoid biology expertise and laboratory automation to help researchers reduce variability, expand scale, and move discoveries toward impact with more confidence. The post Molecular Devices and STEMCELL Technologies Team Up to Automate Organoid Research appeared first on GEN - Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology News.

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is associated with more than 1,200 risk genes, raising a fundamental question: Do these diverse genetic changes affect the brain in entirely different ways, or do they converge on shared biological mechanisms?

What if signs of disease could be detected using nothing more than a tiny chip that fits in the palm of your hand and a camera, without ever visiting a hospital? A scene that once seemed possible only in science fiction has now moved one step closer to reality.

Researchers at the Nano Life Science Institute (WPI-NanoLSI) at Kanazawa University, Kyoto University, SOKENDAI and the National Institute for Physiological Sciences have revealed how CaMKIIα—a key brain protein involved in learning and memory—organizes itself into chain-like structures.

A cross-campus team of McMaster University researchers has identified why some patients develop dangerous blood clots after exposure to a common blood thinner – and a potential way to prevent it.

Kinesin is a molecular motor responsible for hauling essential cargoes within cells by walking step by step along filamentous tracks known as microtubules. To move efficiently and avoid falling off, the motor's two feet must coordinate their stepping in a precise direction. Scientists have known that a connecting segment called the neck region is crucial for coordinating this motion. However, its exact three-dimensional structure and how it physically interacts with the microtubule track have remained a mystery because of the limitations of current imaging techniques.

Nature is the foremost international weekly scientific journal in the world and is the flagship journal for Nature Portfolio. It publishes the finest peer-reviewed research in all fields of science and technology on the basis of its originality, importance, interdisciplinary interest, timeliness, accessibility, elegance and surprising conclusions. Nature publishes landmark papers, award winning news, leading comment and expert opinion on important, topical scientific news and events that enable readers to share the latest discoveries in science and evolve the discussion amongst the global scientific community.

Porous liquids combine permanent nanoscale cavities with fluidity, making them promising for applications like carbon dioxide capture, gas separation and other chemical processes. Their viscosity must be tailored to the intended application: Lower-viscosity liquids are easier to pump and circulate while facilitating faster heat and mass transfer, whereas higher-viscosity liquids provide greater structural stability in membrane formation.

From targeted cancer treatments to self-healing materials and microscopic robots, many emerging technologies depend on molecules that can be controlled with light. Researchers at Tohoku University have now developed a way to make these light-responsive molecules much more sensitive to visible light by using a molecular antenna. The breakthrough gives scientists better control over molecular photoswitches remotely and potentially expands their use in medicine and advanced materials. The findings are published in the Journal of the American Chemical Society.

Cyclopropanes are organic chemistry's smallest rings. Three carbon atoms are joined in a triangle, creating a compact and unusually strained structure. Despite—or partly because of—this unusual geometry, cyclopropanes are found in many biologically active natural products and have important applications in medicines and drug discovery, from antidepressants to antibiotics and antiviral research.

Researchers at The University of Manchester and the Australian National University have developed a new class of molecular magnets that combines the most successful features of previous designs, resulting in some of the strongest magnetic memory properties reported to date.

Certain chemical substances, broadly called luminogens, have an inherent ability to emit light. Most fluorescent molecules emit light in solution but lose their emission in the solid state, where the molecules aggregate.

People's bodies may reflect their ages very differently at the molecular level, even when they are the same chronological age, according to a new study.

Fungi are major degraders of plant biomass, including leaves, stems and roots. Investigating the molecular mechanisms that control this process is essential for identifying ways to degrade and use lignocellulose, a recalcitrant waste-product residue from biofeedstocks and agricultural residues, and accelerate the development of biotechnology. It is also essential for deepening understanding of the ecological role of fungi in the global carbon cycle.

Gram-negative bacteria are responsible for several infections that are hard to treat because of their high resistance to antibiotics. These bacteria possess an outermost layer called the outer membrane that acts as a protective barrier. Serving as the cell's interface with the outside world, the outer membrane contains specialized proteins that perform multiple functions, such as nutrient transport and environmental sensing. The localization of these outer membrane proteins is achieved through the combined action of several key players, including the SurA chaperone and the β-barrel assembly machinery (BAM) complex.

Every movement we make, from blinking to sprinting, depends on the ability of muscle fibers to contract in a rapid and coordinated way. Achieving this precision requires an intricate internal membrane network known as the transverse tubule, or T-tubule, system. These narrow membrane invaginations carry electrical signals from the cell surface deep into the muscle fiber, where they trigger the release of calcium needed for contraction.

Aging does not appear to follow the same molecular script for everyone, according to an eight-year study of 335 women.

Astronomers have discovered a second interstellar cloud near the center of the Milky Way that is extraordinarily rich in complex molecules, including several molecules associated with prebiotic chemistry. The newly studied cloud, G+0.633-0.0604, or G+0.633, contains more than 120 identified molecular species and is the first confirmed chemical twin of another famous molecule-rich cloud. Their paper, posted to the arXiv preprint server on Aug. 14, outlines the chemistry of the newfound cloud.

Groundbreaking study published in Alzheimer's & Dementia reveals the crucial links between the NAD⁺-mitophagy axis and neurodegeneration.

Scientists have uncovered new evidence from one of Earth’s most extreme ancient warming events, revealing how the climate

Observing multiple types of proteins simultaneously, within the thickness of a cell and on the scale of a

Restructuring a molecule without rebuilding it from scratch is an increasingly important goal in modern organic chemistry. Skeletal editing is an approach that helps chemists explore new chemical structures and simplify the synthesis of molecules with potential pharmaceutical applications.

Welding plastic is a critically important part of everyday engineering—especially for preventing leaks in underground water and gas pipes. For decades, engineers have understood that a properly welded joint in polyethylene pipe can be just as strong as the pipe itself, if not stronger. However, the reason for this strength has remained a mystery.

Researchers have uncovered early molecular warning signs of inflammatory bowel disease, revealing the condition can begin before symptoms appear and continue silently even when patients appear well.

Researchers identified the immune cell population responsible for producing autoantibodies after SARS-CoV-2 infection, and uncovered the molecular program that drives this response, providing insights that might point to new therapeutic targets. The post Molecular Pathways Driving Autoantibody Production Following SARS-CoV-2 Infection Identified appeared first on GEN - Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology News.

Some of nature's most important chemical reactions rely on the coupled movement of negatively and positively charged particles. These processes play central roles in photosynthesis, catalysis and biological energy conversion yet remain difficult to observe.

Craniosynostosis is a congenital developmental disorder in which the skull's cranial sutures fuse prematurely.

For more than two decades, researchers have identified hundreds of genes that increase the risk of autism spectrum disorder (ASD).

Near-infrared organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) that emit about 1,000 nanometers could support biomedical and security technologies. Yet pushing organic light to these longer wavelengths usually causes a steep drop in efficiency. As the energy gap becomes smaller, molecular vibrations more readily turn excited-state energy into heat rather than light.

As climate change drives more frequent and intense heat waves, plants face growing challenges to survive and remain productive. Researchers at VIB, Ghent University, KU Leuven and their international collaborators have uncovered an evolutionary innovation that helps plants cope with high temperatures.

What if amyloid plaques are not the whole story of Alzheimer's disease? New research suggests that a broad range of Alzheimer's pathologies may be orchestrated by a molecular switch called ERBB4 when it turns on in the wrong neurons.

A mother's obesity during pregnancy may send molecular signals across the placenta that permanently alter her son's liver metabolism, according to a new study in mice published in Nature Communications.

Researchers from the Department of Chemistry at The University of Hong Kong (HKU), led by Professor Jian He and collaborators, have developed a new light-driven method for constructing three-dimensional molecular building blocks that could give medicinal chemists greater flexibility in designing new drug candidates. The approach broadens the range of starting materials that can be used while suppressing unwanted polymerization, overcoming key limitations of existing synthetic methods. The findings have been published in Nature Chemistry.

Glaucoma is an eye disease that causes progressive damage to the optic nerve, leading to loss of sight. One major risk factor is an increase in intraocular pressure (IOP), or the pressure inside the eye.

Author(s): Michele Valsecchi, William S. Fall, Hendrik Meyer, Gary S. Grest, and Sanat K. KumarUnlike glassy plastics, semicrystalline polymers develop higher crystallinity right at the weld line, creating a unique weld that can surprisingly push mechanical failures away from the joint. [Phys. Rev. Lett. 137, 098101] Published Mon Aug 24, 2026

Researchers at TU Dortmund University, Paderborn University, the University of Duisburg-Essen, and the University of Oxford have developed a new method for selectively modifying the internal structure of specific types of glass. The study, published in the journal Nature Materials, shows how adding an organic molecule during melting causes the chemical bonds in the material to rearrange. The process reduces the required processing temperature, prevents the substance from decomposing, and allows the magnetic and optical properties to be precisely tuned. These specialized glasses are used, among other things, in gas storage, batteries, optical applications and catalysis.

Despite advances, AI applications in scientific research have not experienced their “Claude Code” moment. The compute power exists. The models exist. What’s missing is a system that coordinates them. The post From Models to Agents: The Next Phase of AI Adoption in Molecular Discovery appeared first on GEN - Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology News.

Once a cell has locked into an abnormal state — the way cancer cells do — can it ever be restored back to normal? A KAIST research team has identified the 'molecular lock' that keeps cells trapped in an altered state, opening a new path toward releasing that lock and reversing a cell's fate.

100 million years ago, long before human intervention, ancestors of grasses, including wheat, rice and maize, developed "bypasses" in chemical pathways used to create two critical compounds: lignin and starch. These more efficient pathways could explain why grass plants are so successful in nature and agriculture, according to a new paper published in Science on Aug. 20 by researchers from the University of Wisconsin–Madison and their collaborators.

A paper published in the journal Science lays out a roadmap for broadening access to the process of discovering molecular tools that can benefit society, including medicines, materials and a wide range of everyday consumer products.

Proteins form complex three-dimensional shapes and can join together to create larger structures. Researchers want to use these properties to make artificial materials. However, arranging proteins and synthetic molecules together with a high level of structural precision is no easy task. This is partly because of the lack of large, clearly defined contact surfaces between the two components.

As we age, the skin loses part of its ability to regenerate, heal wounds, and maintain an effective barrier against the outside world.

A research team has developed a new molecular editing strategy that can directly convert pyridine compounds into their positional isomers. Instead of moving individual substituents around the molecule, the method relocates the nitrogen atom within the pyridine ring itself, allowing existing molecular structures to be reorganized while preserving their substituents.

In humans and many other animals, a mother's age can affect the physical and behavioral characteristics of the next generation. Scientists call these changes maternal age effects, and while they are widespread across the animal kingdom, researchers still don't fully understand how or why they occur.

The deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) of living organisms contains regulatory elements that control when, where and to what extent specific genes are turned on or off. They can be co-opted to create "gene switches" that hold significant potential for understanding gene expression and for therapeutic applications, particularly for the noninvasive treatment or management of genetic disorders.

Sprint-interval exercise triggers a much larger and faster shift in circulating proteins and metabolites than moderate-intensity exercise, revealing distinct patterns of predicted communication between organs. The findings suggest that exercise intensity shapes systemic molecular signaling, with skeletal muscle and adipose tissue emerging as potential source and target tissues linked to cardiometabolic health.

Scientists often describe life as a series of chemical reactions. Pallav Kosuri, PhD, describes life as movement. Chemical reactions are how you drive the movement of atoms, proteins, cells, and bodies-without movement, there is no life.

Three minutes of sprinting can do something that 90 minutes of moderate exercise apparently cannot: dramatically reshape the molecular contents of the bloodstream.

Researchers engineered a fuel-driven DNA origami nanosyringe that moves in approximately 14 nm steps to reversibly penetrate model lipid membranes and transport molecular cargo. The device also triggered localized DNA assembly, RNA transcription, and catalytic RNA cleavage inside synthetic cell-like vesicles.