15 Apr 2020

On the SARS-Cov-2 Inhibitor Track

To develop specific anti-coronavirus therapeutics and prophylactics, the molecular mechanism that underlies viral infection must first be defined. The recent study published in Cell Research solved the X-ray crystal structure of six-helical bundle (6-HB) core of the HR1 and HR2 domains in the SARS-CoV-2 S protein S2 subunit, revealing that several mutated amino acid residues in the HR1 domain may be associated with enhanced interactions with the HR2 domain, as compared to SARS-CoV.

14 Apr 2020

Instruct-ERIC Resource Centre – Supporting research relating to SARS-CoV-2 and COVID-19

Instruct-ERIC has put together a catalogue of tools, information and support that is available from Instruct and the wider scientific community to support COVID-19 research Many Instruct-ERIC services are available via remote access, where samples can be sent for analysis without the need for researchers to travel.

7 Apr 2020

The 2020 Petr Sedmera Award

for the best published work in Nuclear Magnetic Resonance knows its winner. The competition is organized by the Czech Spectroscopic Society of Jan Marcus Marci and sponsored by the pharmaceutical company Teva. The awarded paper Quantitative Conformational Analysis of Functionally Important Electrostatic Interactions in the Intrinsically Disordered Region of Delta Subunit of Bacterial RNA Polymerase was published in Journal of the American Chemical Society by Lukáš Žídek and co-workers from CEITEC, Masaryk University.

6 Apr 2020

Czech Large Research Infrastructures and SARS-CoV-2

As a part of the Large Research Infrastructures website there has been established a special section dedicated to SARS-CoV-2/Covid-19 research. It gathers offers of Czech research infrastructures services related to this topic.

6 Apr 2020

Team Cryo ices Mass Spectrometry hopes in JBC Methods Madness tourney

In its inaugural Methods Madness tournament, the Journal of Biological Chemistry pitted influential research techniques against one another in a three-week competition for methods glory, and at 12:01 p.m. EST on March 31 cryo–EM/ET gave structural biologists around the world something to cheer about, beating mass spectrometry 51% to 49% — a margin thinner than shaved ice.

1 Apr 2020

European Research Area (ERA) Corona Platform

Useful link for the latest information on EU grant opportunities affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.

31 Mar 2020

Launch of Life Science Research Insfrastructure website with COVID-19 resources

A new website brings together the vast services of 13 Life Science Research Infrastructures in order to advance research in the life sciences. This website aims to be a common source of comprehensive information about the 13 European Life Science Research Infrastructures, their activities, offers, news and funding opportunities.

30 Mar 2020

How SARS-CoV-2 binds to human cells

Scientists are racing to learn the secrets of severe acute respiratory syndrome–coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), which is the cause of the pandemic disease COVID-19. On Friday, March 27 , 2020 Yuanyuan Zhan et al. from Westlake Institute of Advanced Study, Hangzhou, China, published in Science a study entitled Structural basis for the recognition of SARS-CoV-2 by full-length human ACE2 where they explain how it binds to human cells...