'Lego' Approach Thwarts Anthrax Toxin 78
NewScientist is reporting that scientists have discovered complex nanoscale structures that have successfully protected rats from anthrax. From the article: "The technique relies on using tiny 'peptide' molecules, stuck onto one large molecule, which bind to toxins and prevent them from causing damage. They do this in much the same way that two Lego bricks might fit together - with several studs from the binding molecule slotting into, and so blocking, the sites on a toxin molecule which are needed to cause damage."
Ho Hum... (Score:4, Insightful)
That's the way EVERYTHING in biochemistry works!
Re:Ho Hum... (Score:5, Funny)
KFG
Re:Ho Hum... (Score:3, Funny)
Oh boy, here goes the movie.
First were the websites. Then the crops. Now, they come for your BLOOD.
ATTACK OF THE KILLER PATENT VAMPIRES.
"This time there's no escape"
Re:Ho Hum... (Score:2)
Re:Ho Hum... (Score:2, Interesting)
It is interesting that they're doing it with nano-tech though. What are the odds on becoming Grey Goo [wikipedia.org]? (Well, okay, none because it's not assemblers/disassemblers, but I haven't read anything that makes me real eager to snort a bunch of nano-tube structures either)
Re:Ho Hum... (Score:1, Flamebait)
Re:Ho Hum... (Score:4, Funny)
I have but three serious perturbations: people who stand in the way of scientific progress, the use of logical fallacies, and carnies (you know, circus folk. very small hands. smell like cabbage.)
With that in mind, I only now noticed your sig. Your violation of my first personal peeve is somewhat rectified by your support of my second. If I had seen it earlier, I may have formed my reply using more flowery prose. You have been added to my "friends" list. Unless, of course, you are a carnie.
Besides, this is the internet. Civil discourse hasn't been here since the early 1990s.
Re:Ho Hum... (Score:2)
I can only plead lack of caffeine as an excuse, because I actually do understand the difference between the two, and was heartly embarassed when I re-read the article to get the quote to point out how utterly right I was...or not.
And no, I'm not a carnie.
Re:Ho Hum... (Score:3, Interesting)
The basic premise of the research is
I think it's the tunability that's new (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:I think it's the tunability that's new (Score:1)
Re:I think it's the tunability that's new (Score:1)
Also, as I recall, carbonmonoxide only has about 200 times greater affinity for hemoglobin tha
Re:I think it's the tunability that's new (Score:1)
Generally, the affinity (strength) of a binding interaction (e.g. a drug interacting with its molecular target) is measured by the equilibrium dissociation constant, Kd. Kd is derived from the law of mass action [graphpad.com]. The Kd is reported in concentration units such a
Re:Ho Hum... (Score:1)
Re:Ho Hum... (Score:1)
Re:Ho Hum... (Score:3, Funny)
Better yet, wait until the next Atkins-like fad hits after some clever nutritionist "discovers" that foods which are high in protein are also high in "peptides"... miraculous molecules that can help protect against anthrax, provide increased energy, and help the body heal.
Patent Violation (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Patent Violation (Score:2)
Re:Patent Violation (Score:2)
Re:Patent Violation (Score:1)
'Lego' Approach - new'...?? (Score:2)
I'm no biochemist, but from my rudimentary understanding of medicinal functions in the human body....isn't this how most medicines function? By 'binding' onto rogue molecules, or enabling the white blood corpuscles to do the same?
Re:'Lego' Approach - new'...?? (Score:1)
IANA Biochemist either, but my basic understanding of the big benefit of the nano-structure approach is that you can *make* the nano-structures. The drug discovery process is VERY slow - it takes years and basically a lot of luck. If we can get some success manufacturing the ri
The Article with all the crap filtered out: (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:The Article with all the crap filtered out: (Score:1)
Re:'Lego' Approach - new'...?? (Score:3, Interesting)
Many drugs work by binding to a target protein and inhibiting its activity in this way. However, there are several ways to achieve this. The conventional form of drug is a "small molecule", created by organic chemistry. These are called small because they are much smaller (and less complex) than proteins -- say more than a factor 10 smaller.
Small molecules can have enormous advantages: They are relatively easy to manufacture and to store, and if they are stable enough a
unfortunate side effect- nothing else gets in (Score:2)
Re:unfortunate side effect- nothing else gets in (Score:1)
To balance my critique... this has as much to do with lego as tap-dancing. The article writer's just trying to make his article more interesting using a reasonably valid analogy for the masses of non-biochemists. New Scientist is read by a suprisingly large number of people.
"They also gave nine rats a lethal dose of the anthrax toxin, injected into their tails..."
Ow. I'm pretty sure I wouldn't like a needle of Anthrax jabbed up my as
Re:unfortunate side effect- nothing else gets in (Score:1)
Dang microscopic kids! (Score:5, Funny)
nanokids (Score:1)
http://cohesion.rice.edu/naturalsciences/nanokids/ cast.cfm [rice.edu]
Block Germs (Score:2)
Now if they can only thwart the germs all over the Legos themselves, this would be an advance in disease resistance.
Cellular peptide cake (Score:2, Funny)
Re:Cellular peptide cake (Score:1)
Re:Cellular peptide cake (Score:2)
Cellular Peptide Cake [ytmnd.com]
Re:Cellular peptide cake (Score:1)
Re:Scratch one for the good guys, then (Score:1)
Like the legislation that funded this research?
This will go far. (Score:2, Offtopic)
So, with this protecting them, we can't use anthrax on these rats [arstechnica.com] now? Pity.
We all know that anything that helps protect a politician is funded fully, quickly...
Soko
Surprise, surprise... (Score:5, Interesting)
That's called an antibody [wikipedia.org].
spy duh man, strikes again. (Score:4, Insightful)
It's nice to be able to make them to order for formerly untreatable disseases.
Re:Surprise, surprise... (Score:2)
Antibodies bind to targets, as do all sorts of other biochemical molecules. (As others have pointed out.) This isn't an antibody.
Re:Surprise, surprise... (Score:1)
Yes, a custom-made antibody - not a drug that takes years to develop (basically by chance). That's the point.
Re:Surprise, surprise... (Score:2)
A simple version: the anthrax bacterium makes a particular protein complex - the anthrax toxin - that disrupts cell membranes. This toxin has seven-fold symmetry, meaning that it is made up of seven identical subunits. There are various peptides that bind to each subunit and inhibit the anthrax toxin, thereby protecting cells.
What this group has done is to make liposomes (fat globules, not anti
Re:Surprise, surprise... (Score:2)
Like putting too many legos in a balloon! (Score:5, Funny)
Fry: Well, usually on the show someone would come up with a complicated plan then explain it with a simple analogy.
Leela: Hmm. If we can reroute engine power through the primary weapons and reconfigure them to Melllvar's frequency that should overload his electro-quantum structure.
Bender: Like putting too much air in a ballon!
You just said Lego to make me read it! (Score:3, Funny)
I can see it now... (Score:3, Funny)
Re:I can see it now... (Score:1)
I've always wondered about the whole block thing (Score:2)
They do this in much the same way that two Lego bricks might fit together - with several studs from the binding molecule slotting into, and so blocking, the sites on a toxin molecule which are needed to cause damage.
So the idea is that you inject something into the body that has prongs shaped like the sockets on the toxins you're trying to capture. The innoculant binds to the sites and afterwards the toxin cannot bind into the places in the body where they do their damage.
So my question is, how do we
Re:I've always wondered about the whole block thin (Score:1)
Re:I've always wondered about the whole block thin (Score:3, Informative)
Yes, it can happen. Look for a example at recent drug trial [bbc.co.uk] incident in London, where a therapeutic antibody that had good results in animals (and apparently mild side-effects in monkeys) had dramatic and potentially fatal side-effects in human volunteers.
The effects are rarely that dramatic, as the worst effects are usually discovered in animal trials. (For added safety, at least two species are used, one rodent and one non-rodent.) However, unwanted side effects are the rule rather than the exception, a
Sweet. Analog version of Folding @ Home (Score:4, Funny)
Monsanto, here we come!
Where is the not suitable for work warning? (Score:1)
I'm sorry, but anything about several studs slotting into something should be labeled unsuitable for work!
Good week for antrax (Score:3, Interesting)
Now, along with the anthrax killer protien [sciencedaily.com], we are making progress, indeed.
Whats more, this protien looks to be anti-resistant too.
Is it an alias? (Score:2)
"Yes sir. We are still looking into the claims of this so-called 'peptide' molecule."
Tom Caudron
http://tom.digitalelite.com/ [digitalelite.com]
Re:Is it an alias?No it isn't. (Score:2, Insightful)
Peptides are certain linked molecules. "Peptide" is an scientific expression for "linked aminoacids", nothing more, nothing less.
Putting it in quotes is as if you put "computer" or "internet" in qoutes. You make obvious your neither part of "the scene" nor have a clue what you're writing about.
Obligatory Lego funding report (Score:1, Funny)
==============
Thin 2x2's - $52,193.31
Fat 3x1's - $19,493.95
Spinners - $49,128.59
Folders - $23,485.20
1x1 blue see-through squares - $6,921.10
Damage due to separating pieces apart with teeth - $4,129.04
(-1 offtopic, but it was worth it!)
Breakthrough (Score:1)
This would be a big discovery if, as the researchers suggest, the procedure can be applied to other bacteria or virii.
Re:Breakthrough (Score:2)
I agree but..... (Score:1)
Trapped, like rats, in a chiapet! (Score:1)