Mind Soup

3D Model of an HIV Virus HEALTH JOCKEY : A previous investigation on rhesus monkeys claimed that TRIM5a safeguards these animals from HIV. It was affirmed that after the protein latches on to a HIV virus, other TRIM5a proteins accumulate and destroy the virus. This protein is also present in humans but was assumed to work in the opposite way. Instead of protecting against HIV, it seemed to guard against some other viruses . TRIM5a which may contain almost 500 amino acid subunits is predicted to be an effective therapeutic agent by the researchers. The investigation was triggered for figuring out the components in TRIM5a which allow the protein to destroy viruses. Edward M. Campbell, PhD, of Loyola University Health System senior researcher alleged, “Scientists have been trying to develop antiviral therapies for only about 75 years. Evolution has been playing this game for millions of years, and it has identified a point of intervention that we still know very little about.” Duri...

METRO : It’s an age-old puzzle that’s stumped generations of scientists. But now they believe they have cracked the conundrum of what came first: the chicken or the egg. British researchers say the chicken must have come first as the formation of eggs is only possible thanks to a protein found in the chicken’s ovaries. ‘It had long been suspected that the egg came first but now we have the scientific proof that shows that in fact the chicken came first,’ said Dr Colin Freeman, from Sheffield University , who worked with counterparts at Warwick University. ‘The protein had been identified before and it was linked to egg formation but by examining it closely we have been able to see how it controls the process,’ he added. The protein – called ovocledidin-17 (OC-17) – acts as a catalyst to speed up the development of the shell. Scientists used a super computer called HECToR, based in Edinburgh , to ‘zoom in’ on the formation of an egg. It showed OC-17 was crucial in kick-start...