Illinois researchers test nicotinic hypothesis of COVID-19

Authors Nicole Godellas, Gisela Cymes, and Claudio Grosman sit together in a row outside, smiling.
Although researchers have learned much about SARS-CoV-2, the vast array of unexplained symptoms associated with acute and post-acute ("long") COVID-19 warrants the search for additional biochemical pathways involved. On the basis of amino-acid sequence analyses and computational approaches, it has...

Piecing together the LanCL puzzle

Removing the phosphate group from kinases can activate them, which can be problematic. LanCL adds glutathione to these kinases, after which they became deactivated.
Researchers from the Carl R. Woese Institute for Genomic Biology, including several faculty in the School of Molecular & Cellular Biology, in collaboration with scientists at Oxford University have published a paper in Cell reporting the function of LanCL proteins. These proteins...

Structure matters over sequence for cys-loop cell receptors

Professors Gisela D. Cyme and Claudio Grosman stand side by side in lab.
Cells communicate with each other by sending, receiving, and decoding signals. Signals that cannot cross the cell membrane directly – such as ions, water-soluble small molecules, and peptides – need to be detected by receptor proteins on the cell’s outer surface.

Researchers find protein that suppresses muscle repair in mice

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Researchers report that a protein known to be important to protein synthesis also influences muscle regeneration and regrowth in an unexpected manner. The discovery, reported in the Journal of Clinical Investigation, could one day lead to new methods for treating disorders that result in muscle...