Science of 'Protein Origami' Unfolds

There's now a way to make "protein origami" ? self-assembling shapes made of twisted molecular strands? a new study reveals.

The technology builds upon the advances of DNA origami, a technique that has been used to build box shapes, DNA scissors and other materials. Now, bioengineers have produced a single-stranded coil of protein that spontaneously sprang into a pyramid shape. While just an early demonstration, the technique could someday be used to make vehicles for drug delivery or to catalyze reactions.

"It is a piece of great work in the field of programmed biomacromolecular self-assembly," said chemist Chengde Mao of Purdue University in Indiana, who was not involved in the study. "The beauty of the strategy is its simplicity." [Biomimicry: 7 Clever Technologies Inspired by Nature]

Proteins are the molecular building blocks that carry out a host of vital functions in cells. They are composed of long chains known as polypeptides, which coil and fold to form complex 3D structures.

The idea with protein origami is to create rigid segments that can self-assemble in a modular fashion, like LEGO bricks. The segments are "smart" materials, because they contain all the information for the final structure inside them.

For the bricks, researchers designed well-studied structures called "coiled-coil segments" ? a combination of two or more helices that intertwine. They then made a chain of 12 of these segments stitched together on flexible hinges, which self-assembled into a pyramidlike shape known as a tetrahedron. Each edge of the tetrahedron was bounded by two of the segments.

"The shape is completely different from anything natural," said senior study author Roman Jerala, a synthetic biologist at the National Institute of Chemistry in Ljubljana, Slovenia.

Jerala and his colleagues confirmed the tetrahedron's formation using several kinds of microscopy. Each tetrahedron was only about 5 nanometers on an edge, about one ten-thousandth the width of a human hair.

Right now, it's just a proof of principle, Jerala told LiveScience. But ultimately, protein origami could be used to encapsulate drugs, for instance, to allow their controlled release. Or these structures could act as catalysts for reactions, much like enzymes in living cells.

Creating similar shapes using DNA origami is cheaper and easier to handle than proteins, said Paul Rothemund of Caltech, who was not involved in the study. But protein origami lets you make them much finer. "Making structures out of DNA is like building molecular structures out of DUPLO blocks [giant LEGOs]," Rothemund said, but? "working with proteins, on the other hand, is sort of like working with adult LEGOs ? they have a much smaller intrinsic resolution."

Scientists have created small objects out of proteins before, but these had to be symmetrical shapes, Jerala said. Using protein origami, "we can take natural elements and do something completely different that does not exist in nature," Jerala said. "Nature just didn?t explore all the possibilities."

The findings were detailed today (April 28) in the journal Nature Chemical Biology.

Follow Tanya Lewis on Twitterand Google+.?Follow us @livescience, Facebook& Google+. Original article on?LiveScience.com.

Copyright 2013 LiveScience, a TechMediaNetwork company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/science-protein-origami-unfolds-171342478.html

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Higher expectations for digital media at NewFronts

NEW YORK (AP) ? Last year, the inaugural Digital NewFronts didn't skimp on the hype.

Google, Hulu, Yahoo and others made brash, glitzy presentations to advertisers trumpeting their ascendancy in a rapidly changing media landscape. Even Jay-Z dropped by.

There will be plenty of the same this week in New York at the second Digital NewFronts, the digital world's take on the annual TV "upfront" tradition. But ahead of this year's five-day-long overture to Madison Avenue, the talk is of both the great progress of digital entertainment and unrealized promises.

"It was absolutely a learning experience," Doug McVehil, senior vice president of content and programming for the music video destination Vevo, says about last year's NewFronts."I know there's some things we can do better this year both at the presentation itself and in terms of follow-up. But we're all fairly new at this. This is a young thing for the digital media industry."

In 12 months' time, the industry has come a long way. Netflix's first major original series, "House of Cards," proved that streaming video can compete with the most prestigious cable programs. Google's YouTube rolled out its 100-plus funded channels in a bid to bring higher quality videos (and thus advertisers) to its platform. One of the biggest TV stars, Jerry Seinfeld, launched a handsome Web series, "Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee."

But some of the digital series touted last year have disappointed. Although Yahoo's "Bachelor"-spoof "Burning Love" has proved a modest hit, its Tom Hanks animated sci-fi series, "Electric City," didn't live up to its creator's reputation. While the top YouTube channels have grown considerably, several of its star-driven efforts have fizzled.

"Last year, there were some big promises about not only the quality but the volume of shows that people are going to make," says Eric Berger, executive vice president of digital networks for Sony Pictures TV, which owns the video site Crackle. "If you look back over the course of the year, as we talked to brands and agencies, there're some questions about quality and about the volume of things that were actually produced."

Crackle didn't participate in the NewFronts last year but will this year. It will be promoting, among other shows, an upcoming second season of Seinfeld's series.

Naturally, growing pains are inevitable, especially when so much is changing so fast. The wide array of NewFront presenters this year exhibits the evolving nature of media companies.

New presenters include The Wall Street Journal and Conde Nast, both venerable publishers known for their print products. But Conde Nast earlier this year launched online series slates for two of its magazines (GQ and Glamour), with plans to do the same for its other properties, including Vanity Fair and The New Yorker. The Journal, more than any other newspaper, has developed live video programing with its "WSJ Live" app.

"The Journal has really transformed itself since News Corp.'s acquisition into a complete content provider and not just business, finance and economics," says Michael Rooney, chief revenue officer for The Journal, explaining its entry to the NewFronts. "The world still needs to learn and understand about that and what we have to offer."

Yahoo will come into its presentation on the heels of acquiring the rights to archival clips to all 38 years of "Saturday Night Live." YouTube recently announced that in May it will begin a series of theme weeks to highlight its premium channels, starting with comedy. On Sunday night, Vevo will kick off the fourth year of its flagship program "Unstaged," a concert live stream. (Vampire Weekend will perform with Steve Buscemi directing the webcast.)

Performances will play a big part of Vevo's presentation, with appearances by Carly Rae Jepsen, Kendrick Lamar and Jessie Ware. But McVehil says at this year's NewFronts, brands want more than a good show.

"As we mature, I think it's going to be about people looking hard at real numbers and performance and judging companies based on that more than how sexy their presentation was," McVehil says.

Some companies are going it alone. NBCUniversal's digital division, having been a part of the NewFronts last year, held a separate event in New York last week, as did the gaming network Machinima. The talent agency CAA will preview its clients' digital projects this week, but not in an official NewFront.

Still, there are close connections for several of the 18 media companies in the NewFronts. Disney Interactive has several YouTube channels and in February partnered with Vevo to produce family friendly music content.

Ad agency Universal McCann predicted deals at the NewFronts could reach $1 billion. That's still a fraction of what broadcast upfront presentations pull in, but few don't expect digital media to continue to increase their share of the advertising pie.

"We're bigger this year, both in terms of the scope of the event and the amount of content," says Mark Walker, senior vice president of Disney Interactive Entertainment. "We had a few programs before and some speculation. Now, we have conclusively demonstrated that there's a robust audience demand for the kind of high quality video content that we're producing."

___

Follow AP Entertainment Writer Jake Coyle on Twitter at: http://twitter.com/jake_coyle

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/higher-expectations-digital-media-newfronts-131732617.html

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Florence and Mary: Movie Review: Pitch Perfect

I recently picked up Pitch Perfect from the library (where I rent all my movies from - post coming soon!) and it was the perfect Saturday night film. Most often when watching tv I'll still be browsing on the ipad or flicking through a magazine, but every so often there's a film that manages to keep my attention from beginning to end and Pitch Perfect was it.

If you're a fan of Glee I'd suggest this is a must but if you're not (and neither am I) do give it a try. Anna Kendrick of Twilight fame arrives at college and despite her reservations joins underdog a cappella singing group featuring the very funny Rebel Wilson who you must remember from Bridesmaids.

Yes it's fluff, yes its predictable and Bring it On?with microphones?familiar but it's good fun and well worth gathering your friends and/or family together to watch.?

The only criticism my friend had whilst watching was "there's no good looking men" but I'll leave you to judge the "Treble Makers" looks for yourself.

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Source: http://www.florenceandmary.com/2013/04/movie-review-pitch-perfect.html

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OUYA shows up at the FCC, has its guts splayed for the world to see

It was only a matter of time, we suppose, before OUYA found itself on Uncle Sam's table, and the day has finally come, as the open source console has made its way through the FCC. As we've steadily uncovered all of OUYA's secrets since its inception, there's not much new revealed by the government's testing. That said, the flayed OUYA appears to be a founding backer edition, with the names of the chosen 11 inscribed on one side, but it's exchanged the opaque power button on top for a clear unit -- indicating that perhaps retail OUYA's will make it easier for owners to tell when the thing's on. Want to see the full monty for yourself? Theres's plenty of pictures of the OUYA's insides at the source link below.

Filed under: Gaming

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Source: FCC

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/04/19/ouya-fcc/?utm_medium=feed&utm_source=Feed_Classic&utm_campaign=Engadget

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Cell-permeable peptide shows promise for controlling cardiovascular disease

Wednesday, April 17, 2013

Atherosclerosis ? sometimes called "hardening of the arteries" ? is a leading cause of death and morbidity in Western countries. A cell-permeable peptide containing the NF-?B nuclear localization sequence (NLS) shows promise as a potential agent in controlling the development of atherosclerotic disease. This study is published in the May 2013 issue of The American Journal of Pathology.

Atherosclerosis is a chronic inflammatory disease of the arterial and vascular wall. The objective of many therapeutic compounds is to modulate atherogenesis ? the process that leads to the formation of fatty tissue-containing plaques that stick to the cell wall. Numerous cellular and molecular inflammatory components are involved in the disease process, and uncontrolled activation of pro-inflammatory transcription factors, such as nuclear factor-B (NF-?B), plays a significant role. Several NF-?B inhibitors are in phase II-III clinical trials against various inflammatory diseases, but most cardiovascular research is still in the preliminary laboratory experimental phase.

Investigators in Spain, the United States, the United Kingdom, and Germany studied the anti-inflammatory and atheroprotective effects of a cell-permeable peptide containing the NF-?B NLS. In vitro tests clearly established that NLS peptide blocks the nuclear import of activated NF-?B and inhibits NF-?B activation in vascular cells. These findings were corroborated in vivo in ApoE knockout mice, an experimental model relevant to human atherosclerosis. In these experiments, the mice were fed a high-fat diet and treated with either NLS peptide or vehicle (control group).

The results showed that systemic administration of NLS peptide reduced the nuclear NF-?B activity in vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs) and macrophages of aortic plaques of mice. More importantly, NLS peptide inhibited lesion development in mice either at the onset of atherosclerosis (early treatment) or after the development of advanced plaques (delayed treatment), without affecting serum cholesterol levels. The results also demonstrated that NLS peptide alters plaque composition and inflammation in atherosclerotic lesions.

"The NF-?B system is a crucial factor regulating the expression of genes in different steps of the atherosclerotic process, from early phases characterized by lipid modification, chemotaxis, adhesion of leukocytes, monocyte differentiation, foam cell formation, and inflammatory cytokine expression to more advanced lesions involving cell death, migration and proliferation of VSMCs, and fibrous cap formation," explained lead investigator Carmen Gomez-Guerrero, PhD, of the Renal and Vascular Inflammation Laboratory, IIS-Fundaci?n Jim?nez D?az, Autonoma University, Madrid, Spain.

"Our study demonstrates that targeting NF-?B nuclear translocation hampers inflammation and atherosclerosis development and identifies cell-permeable NLS peptide as a potential anti-atherosclerotic agent," she said. "These properties make cell-permeable NLS peptide a promising prevention/intervention strategy to inhibit inflammation in cardiovascular diseases."

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Elsevier Health Sciences: http://www.elsevierhealth.com

Thanks to Elsevier Health Sciences for this article.

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Source: http://www.labspaces.net/127787/Cell_permeable_peptide_shows_promise_for_controlling_cardiovascular_disease

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