research advances

Synopses of important developments in the field of structural biology and structural genomics, including advances from the Protein Structure Initiative. The featured articles and technical highlights are specially written for the Structural Biology Knowledgebase, while the research highlights are taken from NPG publications.

October 2011

featured articles
- TLR4 regulation: heads or tails?
  
  The crystal structure of the TLR4 regulator RP105–MD-1 reveals a unique head-to-head conformation and provides a glimpse into the mechanism of TLR4 regulation.
- Docking and rolling
  
  GPCR Dock 2010 reveals just how far homology modeling has come and how far it still has to go.
research highlights
- Taming crystals' whimsy
  Molecularly imprinted polymers act as 'smart' nucleants for protein crystallization.
- Heating up the nuclear pore
  Electron microscopy of nucleoporins from a thermophilic fungus helps build a model for the inner ring of the nuclear pore complex.
technical highlights
- Fit to serve
  
  A new web server promises to make MultiFit even more accessible and easy to use.
- Making invisible proteins visible
  
  Protein flexibility allows conversion of an invisible excited state to a ground state with implications for rational protein design.