BETHESDA, MD – As space agencies prepare for human missions to the Moon and Mars, scientists need to understand how the absence of gravity affects living cells. Now, a team of researchers has built a rugged, affordable microscope that can image cells in real time during the chaotic conditions of zero-gravity flight—and they’re making the design available to the broader scientific community.

A group of CDI scientists have found a way to understand how the germ is evolving - and how best to strategize a fight against it.

A study led by the Institute for Bioengineering of Catalonia (IBEC) and the Molecular Biology Institute of Barcelona (IBMB) provides the most detailed picture to date of NrdR — the master regulator of ribonucleotide reductases (RNRs) in bacteria. Researchers obtained the first detailed images of the complete NrdR protein structure and showed how changes in the shape and grouping of this protein affect the way it controls key processes inside the cell. The findings, recently published in International Journal of Biological Macromolecules, increase our understanding of how bacteria regulate the production of the molecular building blocks of DNA, a crucial aspect for both fundamental microbiology and the development of new antimicrobial strategies.

Researchers at the MRC Laboratory of Medical Sciences (LMS) and Imperial College London have shown for the first time that, before they can start developing into egg and sperm cells, the embryonic precursors of these cells uniquely reshape the 3D organisation of their genetic material. Led by Dr Tien-Chi Huang and Dr Maria Rigau, these insights published in Nature Structural & Molecular Biology could help guide future efforts to create sperm and eggs in the laboratory – currently one of the biggest barriers to developing new infertility treatments.

The University of Osaka’s Center for Quantum Information and Quantum Biology (QIQB) is a premier research institute in Japan, distinguished by its extensive global network of leading institutions worldwide.

Cleaner fish interacted with a mirror in their tank in a way that suggests ‘contingency testing’ intelligence, a higher form of smarts typically found in mammals. This finding coupled with faster self-recognition than previously thought, expands our image of intelligence in these social fish.

New research has, for the first time, identified one thing that bed bugs seem to fear -- water and wet surfaces.

A new study demonstrated that computer models of gut metabolism can predict which probiotics will successfully establish themselves in a person’s gut and how different prebiotics affect production of health-promoting short-chain fatty acids. The findings were published February 19^th in the open-access journal PLOS Biology by Sean Gibbons of the Institute for Systems Biology, US, and colleagues.