cryo-EM Archives | ��ϳԹ��Դ

Dehydration’s role in learning and memory

Samuel Diamond — Mon, 18 May 2026 11:30:10 +0000

How do we learn to remember? At the most fundamental level, it’s all about chemicals and electricity. Beyond their roles in diet and nutrition, calcium and magnesium work as ions, or charged particles, in the brain. Magnesium can block a channel found within brain receptors known as NMDARs. When the blockade lifts, calcium can pass...

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A doorstop for the brain’s electrical gates

Jennifer Michalowski — Wed, 29 Oct 2025 16:00:04 +0000

Nature, reveals the molecular mechanisms that keep the brain’s NMDA receptors fully or partially open." data-description="Image of NMDA receptors in different positions" />As information zings from cell to cell inside the brain, bursts of electricity spur its transmission. At ��ϳԹ��Դ (CSHL), scientists have turned their attention to the tiny pores that let charged ions enter a cell—and the molecular gatekeepers that help control them. CSHL structural biologist Hiro Furukawa studies NMDA receptors (NMDARs). These...

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Ketamine: From club drug to antidepressant?

Samuel Diamond — Fri, 14 Feb 2025 16:00:46 +0000

AI generated voice Ketamine has received a Hollywood makeover. It used to be known as a rave drug (street name special K) and cat anesthetic. However, in recent years, some doctors have prescribed ketamine to treat conditions from post-traumatic stress disorder to depression. “The practice is not without controversy,” notes ��ϳԹ��Դ (CSHL)...

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Eyes on the atom

Communications Department — Tue, 31 Dec 2024 12:30:31 +0000

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The Microprocessor inside you

Jennifer Michalowski — Mon, 02 Dec 2024 12:30:49 +0000

It’s a big year for microRNAs. The 2024 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine went to Victor Ambros and Gary Ruvkun, who discovered the first microRNA in 1993. Today, we know that humans make more than 1,000 different microRNAS. These molecules are critical for building and maintaining healthy bodies, so it’s crucial that they’re made...

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Putting out a brain on fire

Jen A. Miller — Thu, 17 Oct 2024 11:30:47 +0000

Imagine you wake up in a hospital without a single memory of the last month. Doctors say you had a series of violent episodes and paranoid delusions. You’d become convinced you were suffering from bipolar disorder. Then, after a special test, a neurologist diagnoses you with a rare autoimmune disease called anti-NMDAR encephalitis. This is...

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This protein does “The Twist”

Luis Sandoval — Wed, 31 Jul 2024 15:00:56 +0000

Proteins are constantly performing a kind of dance. They move and contort their bodies to fulfill specific functions inside our bodies. The NMDAR protein executes an especially hard dance routine in our brains. One wrong step can lead to a range of neurological disorders. NMDAR binds to the neurotransmitter, glutamate, and another compound, glycine. These...

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Up close and personal with cryo-EM

Luis Sandoval — Thu, 11 Apr 2024 11:30:01 +0000

When it comes to biology, details matter. If a drug isn’t designed to perfectly hit its target, down to a single atom, it may utterly fail. That’s where structural biologists come in. ��ϳԹ��Դ (CSHL) has one of the world’s leading experts. CSHL Professor & HHMI Investigator Leemor Joshua-Tor specializes in the use...

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At the Lab Episode 2: Molecular puppetry

Communications Department — Tue, 09 Apr 2024 11:30:36 +0000

It’s easy to think of your brain as your body’s puppet master. This week At the Lab, we speak with CSHL Professor Hiro Furukawa, who studies a part of the brain that actually does work a lot like a puppeteer. Hear how Furukawa figured out the puppet master’s routine. And find out what that might...

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The dance of epigenetic inheritance

Communications Department — Wed, 27 Sep 2023 11:30:43 +0000

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How plants pass down genetic memories

Jennifer Michalowski — Mon, 28 Aug 2023 15:00:16 +0000

Arabidopsis thaliana is a plant species widely used to make fundamental biological discoveries. With the help of this versatile test subject, CSHL scientists have now dug up the secrets of a process that helps control inheritance." data-description="" />When organisms pass their genes on to future generations, they include more than the code spelled out in DNA. Some also pass along chemical markers that instruct cells how to use that code. The passage of these markers to future generations is known as epigenetic inheritance. It’s particularly common in plants. So, significant findings here...

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This eight-armed octopus-like pore perceives taste

Jennifer Michalowski — Fri, 14 Jul 2023 11:30:33 +0000

The neurons in our bodies are dotted with tiny pores that let essential molecules pass in and out of our cells. Neurons need these channels to send the signals that allow us to move, think, and perceive the world around us. Now, structural biologists at ��ϳԹ��Դ (CSHL) have captured never-before-seen images of...

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President’s essay: Bringing bold visions to life

Communications Department — Fri, 26 May 2023 11:30:08 +0000

The art of high-impact research, which is at the core of ��ϳԹ��Դ (CSHL), is to pursue important questions, follow unanticipated leads, and be bold in crafting new ideas. In this way, we challenge our researchers to move science into new frontiers. While our scientists have freedom to pursue their ideas, they are...

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A molecular machine’s secret weapon exposed

Luis Sandoval — Thu, 23 Feb 2023 16:00:39 +0000

RNAs are having a moment. The foundation of COVID-19 vaccines, they’ve made their way from biochemistry textbooks into popular magazines and everyday discussions. Entire companies have launched dedicated to RNA research. These tiny molecules are traditionally known for helping cells make proteins, but they can do much more. They come in many shapes and sizes,...

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A new look at brain function and psychiatric disorders

Jennifer Michalowski — Wed, 02 Nov 2022 11:30:23 +0000

New images from scientists at ��ϳԹ��Դ (CSHL) reveal for the first time the three-dimensional structures of a set of molecules critical for healthy brain function. The molecules are members of a family of proteins in the brain known as NMDA receptors, which mediate the passage of essential signals between neurons. The detailed...

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DNA replication: A game of precision

Jasmine Lee — Sun, 25 Apr 2021 13:00:40 +0000

Stretching out the DNA in all 46 chromosomes packed into one human cell would make a string of DNA two meters long. Accurately replicating all that DNA is vital to survival; cells must control this process with tremendous precision in time and space. Origin recognition complexes (ORCs) initiate the task of DNA replication throughout an...

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How to tame a restless genome

Luis Sandoval — Thu, 08 Apr 2021 13:00:19 +0000

Short pieces of DNA—jumping genes—can bounce from one place to another in our genomes. When too many DNA fragments move around, cancer, infertility, and other problems can arise. ��ϳԹ��Դ (CSHL) Professor & HHMI Investigator Leemor Joshua-Tor and a research investigator in her lab, Jonathan Ipsaro, study how cells safeguard the genome’s integrity...

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The “ORC” twists, pinches, and dances around DNA

Marc Persad — Wed, 16 Sep 2020 20:20:11 +0000

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Replicating a genome starts with a twist, a pinch, and a bit of a dance

Eliene Augenbraun — Wed, 16 Sep 2020 12:00:35 +0000

The most basic activity of a living thing is to turn one copy of its genome into two copies, crafting one cell into two. That replication event begins with a set of proteins—the Origin Recognition Complex (ORC). And, with some cancers and developmental diseases linked to ORC proteins, structural biologists need to see how the...

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Brain receptor pulls open electrical gate like a puppet master

Communications Department — Tue, 30 Jun 2020 15:09:08 +0000

For the first time, researchers in the lab of CSHL Professor Hiro Furukawa have been able to track each atom in the NMDA receptor, an important brain protein, as it transmits or inhibits neural signals. Critical for brain development and function, the receptor converts chemical messages between cells into electrical signals within a neuron. The...

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