Conformation & topology as a research area investigates the three-dimensional arrangements and spatial organization of atoms, molecules, and macromolecular assemblies, and how these geometric and topological features govern physical, chemical, and biological behavior. It encompasses conformational analysis of flexible molecules, energy landscapes, and transition pathways, as well as topological descriptors such as knots, links, and entanglements in polymers, proteins, nucleic acids, and materials. The field integrates theoretical models, computational simulations, and experimental techniques (e.g., spectroscopy, scattering, single-molecule methods) to relate structural ensembles and topological invariants to function, dynamics, stability, and self-assembly across molecular and supramolecular systems.
When DNA breaks, cells must repair it accurately to prevent harmful mutations. Researchers have discovered that during a key repair process called homologous recombination, the cell uses loops in its DNA structure to speed ...
Cell & Microbiology
Dec 4, 2025
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15
In an effort to reveal the inner workings of a protein that serves as a cell's damage detection system, scientists at Johns Hopkins and the Ludwig-Maximilians-University Munich (LMU) have published what is believed to be ...
Cell & Microbiology
Nov 24, 2025
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26
Every function in a cell is associated with a particular protein or group of proteins, typically in a well-defined three-dimensional structure. However, intrinsically disordered regions of proteins defy this structure-function ...
Molecular & Computational biology
Nov 21, 2025
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51
Pictures of DNA often look very tidy—the strands of the double helix neatly wind around each other, making it seem like studying genetics should be relatively straightforward. In truth, these strands aren't often so perfectly ...
Biotechnology
Nov 11, 2025
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44
A quick, purification-free method was developed by researchers at the Institute of Science Tokyo, to capture the detailed 3D structures of flexible sugar molecules. By growing crystals of galectin-10 protein using a cell-free ...
Biotechnology
Oct 30, 2025
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27
A research group at The University of Tokyo has discovered a new principle by which helical chiral molecules acquire spin through molecular vibrations, enabling them to adhere to magnets. Until now, it was believed that chiral ...
Condensed Matter
Oct 29, 2025
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185
An international research team has determined the first high-resolution structures of the herpes simplex virus origin-binding protein (OBP), a critical component of viral DNA replication that has eluded structural characterization ...
Cell & Microbiology
Oct 23, 2025
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76
In a groundbreaking new study, researchers led by the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth have shown that players of the online citizen science game Foldit can successfully refine and improve previously solved protein structures—enhancing ...
Biotechnology
Oct 15, 2025
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17
In synthetic and structural biology, advances in artificial intelligence have led to an explosion of designing new proteins with specific functions, from antibodies to blood clotting agents, by using computers to accurately ...
Biotechnology
Oct 6, 2025
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102
Why do glass and other amorphous materials deform more easily in some regions than in others? A research team from the University of Osaka, the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST), Okayama ...
Condensed Matter
Sep 25, 2025
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105
