Tag Archives: prions

Protein complexity could be our demise

Impact: Proteomics    May 19, 2011
Did you know that badly folded proteins could be the cause of our species’ destruction? Neither did I. I know about nuclear bombs, climate change, asteroid strike and even pandemic as possible doomsday scenarios. I’m aware of predictions that in the not too distant future mankind might be overpowered by or merge with artificial intelligence [...]
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Prions bad. Prion shaping good – for memory

News: Proteomics    February 6, 2010
Understanding how memory in the brain works remains one of the most difficult and insight-resistant issues in neuroscience. Also, like most things about the brain (human brains, any brains), the more we look, the more complex it becomes. The research by a team from Kansas and New York (USA) on prion-like proteins is a good [...]
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Prions: Not alive but they can evolve

News: Cell Biology    December 31, 2009
Prions are mostly protein. Although protein is a fundamental component of living cell material, prions are not alive. The behave something like viruses, without DNA or RNA yet able to reproduce by forcing living cells to do the reproduction for them. Prions were hypothesized in the 1960’s (Alper and Griffith) but not discovered until 1982 [...]
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