A study of human astrovirus structure reveals the strategy that the virus uses to enter the body, and illuminates the possibility of repurposing existing, FDA-approved treatments to target astrovirus.

Scientists at UC San Diego’s Scripps Institution of Oceanography have described a new way to produce large amounts of xanthommatin, a natural pigment, in a bacterium for the first time. Xanthommatin is the natural chemical compound used by octopus, squid and other cephalopods to change the color of their skin. Researchers in the Moore Lab at Scripps have found their nature-based approach to produce up to 1,000 times more xanthommatin material than traditional methods. This breakthrough opens new possibilities for the pigment’s use in a wide range of materials and cosmetics — from photoelectronic devices and thermal coatings to dyes and UV protectants.

A new Northwestern University study using patient nervous tissue and lab-grown human neurons has uncovered how a key disease protein, TDP-43, drives overactive nerve cells in the neurodegenerative diseases ALS and frontotemporal dementia (FTD). 

The findings not only explain a long-standing mystery of why nerve cells overfire in ALS and FTD but also highlight a promising new drug to slow or prevent disease progression.