CAMBRIDGE, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

Acceleron Pharma, Inc., a biopharmaceutical company developing protein therapeutics for cancer and orphan diseases, announced that Tom Maniatis, Ph.D., an Acceleron co-founder and Professor and Chair of the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biophysics at the Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons, is to be honored with the 2012 Lasker-Koshland Special Achievement Award in Medical Science. The Albert and Mary Lasker foundation award is considered to be one of the most prestigious scientific prizes and the Special Achievement Award recognizes its recipients for exceptional leadership and citizenship in biomedical science. Dr. Maniatis will be presented with the Lasker-Koshland Special Achievement Award in Medical Science on September 21st in New York City.

Dr. Maniatis is a pioneer in the development of gene cloning technology, and he has published extensively in the field of eukaryotic gene regulation. In particular, he identified numerous genetic defects that underlie the inherited human illness -thalassemia. Dr. Maniatis is widely known for his seminal work developing gene cloning technologies and applying those methods to discovering the genetic bases of human diseases. His book, The Cloning Manual, has become a world-wide resource.

In addition to these scientific accomplishments, Dr. Maniatis has been instrumental in creating successful biotechnology companies. He was a co-founder of Genetics Institute, where he chaired the scientific board and served on the board of directors for more than 17 years. During this time, Genetic Institutes gained FDA approval for several protein-based drugs, including recombinant human erythropoietin, Factor VIII and Factor IX, as well as bone morphogenic proteins. Dr. Maniatis was also a co-founder of ProScript Inc., which discovered the drug Velcade (bortezomib). Dr. Maniatis is currently a member of the board of directors at Acceleron.

Mark Ptashne, Ph.D., the Ludwig Chair of Molecular Biology at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York, a co-founder of Genetics Institute and Acceleron, and a previous Lasker awardee said, Ive worked with Tom for many years in both basic science and biotechnology,he is simply the best.

Tom has had an enormous impact on the scientific community and an equally impressive contribution to the discovery and development of innovative medicines at several biotechnology companies, said John Knopf, Ph.D., Chief Executive Officer of Acceleron. I have had the distinct pleasure of knowing and working with Tom since I joined Genetics Institute 30 years ago. I personally continue to benefit significantly from his involvement at Acceleron as does our entire team of world-class scientists.

About Acceleron

Acceleron is a privately-held biopharmaceutical company committed to discover, develop, manufacture and commercialize novel protein therapeutics for orphan diseases and cancer. Accelerons scientific approach takes advantage of its unique insight to discover first-in-class therapies based on the TGF- protein superfamily. Acceleron utilizes proven biotherapeutic technologies and capitalizes on the companys internal GMP manufacturing capability to advance its therapeutic programs rapidly and efficiently. The investors in Acceleron include Advanced Technology Ventures, Alkermes, Avalon Ventures, Bessemer Ventures, Celgene, Flagship Ventures, MPM BioEquities, OrbiMed Advisors, Polaris Ventures, QVT Financial, Sutter Hill Ventures and Venrock. For further information on Acceleron, please visit http://www.acceleronpharma.com.

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Acceleron Founder Dr. Tom Maniatis To Receive The 2012 Lasker Award in Medical Science

Lasker Award Winners` Research into Molecular Motors Formed the Foundation of Company`s Research and Development Activities

South San Francisco, CA, September 11, 2012 - Cytokinetics, Incorporated (CYTK) extends congratulations to Dr. James Spudich and Dr. Ronald Vale, winners of the 2012 Albert Lasker Award for Basic Medical Research. The Lasker Awards are among the most respected science prizes in the world. Since 1945, the Lasker Awards Program has recognized the contributions of scientists, physicians, and public servants who have made major advances in the understanding, diagnosis, treatment, cure, and prevention of human disease.

Drs. Spudich and Vale share this award for their innovative research relating to cytoskeletal motor proteins, the protein machines that transport cargoes within cells, segregate chromosomes and divide cells, contract muscles, and enable cell motility. Dr. Spudich is the Douglass M. and Nola Leishman Professor in Cardiovascular Disease and Professor of Biochemistry and Developmental Biology at Stanford University. Dr. Vale is the William K. Hamilton Distinguished Professor of Anesthesia and Professor and Vice Chair of Cellular and Molecular Pharmacology at the University of California, San Francisco. Drs. Spudich and Vale are co-founders of Cytokinetics.

"Today, we extend congratulations to our founders in connection with their receipt of the prestigious Lasker Award," stated Robert I. Blum, Cytokinetics` President and Chief Executive Officer. "Their pioneering research in the biochemistry and biophysics of molecular motors formed the cornerstone of our initial discovery research at Cytokinetics. It is our company`s privilege to now carry forward biopharmaceutical programs into later stage research and development that are directed towards grievous illnesses and that continue to benefit from their valued contributions as scientific advisors."

About Cytokinetics

Cytokinetics is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on the discovery and development of novel small molecule therapeutics that modulate muscle function for the potential treatment of serious diseases and medical conditions. Cytokinetics` lead drug candidate from its cardiac muscle contractility program, omecamtiv mecarbil, is in Phase II clinical development for the potential treatment of heart failure. Amgen Inc. holds an exclusive license worldwide (excluding Japan) to develop and commercialize omecamtiv mecarbil and related compounds, subject to Cytokinetics` specified development and commercialization participation rights. Cytokinetics is independently developing tirasemtiv (formerly CK-2017357), a skeletal muscle activator, as a potential treatment for diseases and conditions associated with aging, muscle wasting or neuromuscular dysfunction. Tirasemtiv is currently the subject of a Phase II clinical trials program and has been granted orphan drug designation and fast track status by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and orphan medicinal product designation by the European Medicines Agency for the potential treatment of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, a debilitating disease of neuromuscular impairment in which treatment with tirasemtiv produced potentially clinically relevant pharmacodynamic effects in Phase II trials. Cytokinetics is also conducting research on compounds that inhibit smooth muscle contractility and which may be useful as potential treatments for diseases and conditions associated with excessive smooth muscle contraction, such as bronchoconstriction associated with asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. All of these drug candidates and potential drug candidates have arisen from Cytokinetics` research activities and are directed towards the cytoskeleton. The cytoskeleton is a complex biological infrastructure that plays a fundamental role within every human cell. Additional information about Cytokinetics can be obtained at http://www.cytokinetics.com.

This press release contains forward-looking statements for purposes of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 (the "Act"). Cytokinetics disclaims any intent or obligation to update these forward-looking statements, and claims the protection of the Act`s Safe Harbor for forward-looking statements. Examples of such statements include, but are not limited to, statements relating to Cytokinetics` research and development activities, including the properties and potential benefits of Cytokinetics` drug candidates and potential drug candidates. Such statements are based on management`s current expectations, but actual results may differ materially due to various risks and uncertainties, including, but not limited to, potential difficulties or delays in the development, testing, regulatory approval and production of Cytokinetics` drug candidates and potential drug candidates that could slow or prevent clinical development or product approval, including risks that current and past results of clinical trials or preclinical studies may not be indicative of future clinical trials results and that Cytokinetics` drug candidates and potential drug candidates may have unexpected adverse side effects or inadequate therapeutic efficacy. For further information regarding these and other risks related to Cytokinetics` business, investors should consult Cytokinetics` filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Contact: Jodi L. Goldstein Manager, Marketing & Corporate Communications (650) 624-3000

The owner of this announcement warrants that: (i) the releases contained herein are protected by copyright and other applicable laws; and (ii) they are solely responsible for the content, accuracy and originality of the information contained therein.

Excerpt from:
Cytokinetics Congratulates Its Founders, James A. Spudich, Ph.D. and Ronald D. Vale, Ph.D., on their Receipt of the ...

By Ashton Wackym

Contributing Reporter

Tuesday, September 11, 2012

Gary Brudvig, the Benjamin Silliman Professor of Chemistry and professor of molecular biophysics and biochemistry, was appointed last week as the director of Yales new Energy Sciences Institute.

The institute is the sixth such group added to Yales West Campus, and represents the newest leg of the Universitys push in sustainability science. As part of the institutes opening, Brudvig said he is looking not simply to move current faculty to West Campus, but to also hire new researchers. Although the facility opened earlier this month, Brudvig is still filling out his ranks in order to get projects started.

I am most excited to bring in 10 new faculty members in the energy area, Brudvig said. It is great for the University and will help to build a critical mass of faculty working in this area to Yale.

By bringing in new staff, Brudvig said he hopes to also bring in new ideas, perspectives and research opportunities, all key ingredients to the collaborative science mission of West Campus. While the emphasis of the Energy and Sciences Institute is research in energy storage, conservation and conversion, it is also part of a larger initiative to promote interdisciplinary research at Yale.

The institutes are independent, but we are hoping some of the faculty of the various institutes will have overlapping interests so that collaboration can take place, Brudvig said. The focus of West Campus is on interdisciplinary research.

The West Campus institutes generally represent the cross-pollination of ideas and disciplines, according to chemistry professor Jason Crawford. He added that the multi-institute model will succeed by drawing upon strengths collectively.

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West Campus welcomes newest institute

Public release date: 10-Sep-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Karin Eskenazi ket2116@columbia.edu 212-342-0508 Columbia University Medical Center

NEW YORK (September 10, 2012) Tom Maniatis, PhD, the Isidore S. Edelman Professor of Biochemistry and chair of the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biophysics at Columbia University Medical Center, is to receive the 2012 Lasker-Koshland Special Achievement Award in Medical Science. Dr. Maniatis is known for both his research on the mechanisms of gene regulation and his Molecular Cloning Manual. Dr. Maniatis will receive the award on Sept. 21 in New York City.

"I am deeply honored to receive the Lasker Special Achievement Award in Medical Science," said Dr. Maniatis. "I became a scientist because of the excitement of making discoveries, but to see the impact of these discoveries on the treatment of human disease has been particularly gratifying."

"Tom Maniatis' work is the quintessential example of the path from basic science to clinical applications," said Lee Goldman, MD, executive vice president of Columbia University and dean of the faculties of health sciences and medicine at Columbia University Medical Center. "His cloning manual is used by researchers worldwide, while his research contributions are at the foundation of current thinking about genetics."

In 1980 James Watson, PhD, director of Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL), asked Maniatiswho was on the Harvard faculty at the timeto teach new genetic engineering techniques during a summer course at CSHL and then to produce a manual. The resultant Molecular Cloning Manualpublished in 1982 and often referred to as "the Bible" by students and researcherscontained practically every technique biologists needed to manipulate DNA.

Scientists could now identify genes that cause disease and then produce new drugs such as human insulin; and the techniques were indispensable for the success of the Human Genome Project. Dr. Maniatis' laboratory developed many of the techniques in the manual, which he coauthored with his postdoctoral fellow Ed Fritsch, PhD, and Joe Sambrook, PhD, the scientific director at CSHL.

Using the new techniques, Dr. Maniatis was the first to isolate a human gene and to use the cloned gene to identify deletion and substitution mutations that cause disease. The gene beta globin, for example, is part of the hemoglobin complex, and the mutations Dr. Maniatis identified cause a blood disease called beta thalassemia.

Maniatis also created the first complete human "genomic" DNA librarya collection of DNA containing every human genewhich made it possible to isolate and study any human gene. As with his genetic engineering techniques, Maniatis freely shared this library with other researchers.

In other research, Dr. Maniatis and his students uncovered important details of how information in genes is turned into proteins, including the mechanisms of transcription and RNA splicing.

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Dr. Tom Maniatis honored with 2012 Lasker-Koshland Special Achievement Award in Medical Science

Two Columbia professors have won prestigious Lasker Foundation Awards for their work in biological sciences.

Tom Maniatis, the Isidore S. Edelman Professor of Biochemistry and chair of the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biophysics at Columbia University Medical Center, will receive the 2012 Lasker-Koshland Special Achievement Award in Medical Science. Maniatis is known for both his research on the mechanisms of gene regulation and his Molecular Cloning Manual. The award, which he will share with the Carnegie Institutions Donald Brown, is given to scientists for exceptional leadership and citizenship in biomedical science.

I am deeply honored to receive the Lasker Special Achievement Award in Medical Science, said Maniatis. I became a scientist because of the excitement of making discoveries, but to see the impact of these discoveries on the treatment of human disease has been particularly gratifying.

On the Morningside campus, Michael Sheetz, the William R. Kenan Jr. Professor of Biological Sciences, won the Lasker Basic Medical Research Award for his part in discoveries concerning cytoskeletal motor proteins, machines that move cargos within cells, contract muscles, and enable cell movements. The basic research award is given to those scientists whose techniques or concepts to the elimination of major causes of disability and death, according to the Lasker Foundation.

He won it with two other scientists, Stanford Universitys James Spudich and Ronald Vale of the University of California, San Francisco, with whom hes been working for many years. I am deeply honored to receive the Lasker with friends and wish to thank the many people in my lab and our collaborators who contributed so much to the overall effort, said Sheetz.

The Lasker Awards, which carry an honorarium of $250,000 for each category, will be presented at a ceremony on Friday, September 21, in New York City. Since the inception of the Lasker Awards in 1945, 81 Lasker laureates have gone on to win the Nobel Prize, 29 in the last two decades.

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Two Columbia Professors Win Lasker Foundation Awards for Their Work in Biological Sciences

Removing molecular 'garbage' may be key to successful aging, Clarke says

(Attention editors: Photo Attached)

Newswise Steven G. Clarke, a distinguished professor in the department of chemistry and biochemistry in UCLA's College of Letters and Science, has been named to UCLA's Elizabeth and Thomas Plott Chair in Gerontology.

The endowed chair, held for a five-year term, is intended for a scholar who conducts research and education activities related to aging and longevity in the areas of molecular biology, neuroscience and immunology.

An authority in his field, Clarke focuses on the biochemistry of the aging process and conducts research aimed at understanding, on a molecular level, how human functions are maintained during aging.

His research team has proposed that a major factor in the successful aging of all organisms is how well age-generated molecular "garbage" damaged proteins, nucleic acids, lipids and small molecules can either be repaired or eliminated from the body. His lab has analyzed protein-repair systems and novel types of enzymes that may contribute to reducing this buildup of damage in aging organisms.

Specifically, Clarke's team discovered and characterized the repair system involving the enzyme L-isoaspartyl methyltransferase, or PCMT. Early research on this enzyme's ability to repair defective proteins demonstrated that mice lacking sufficient PCMT had a significant increase in the number of damaged proteins in their tissues, particularly in the brain. Deficiencies in this enzyme have been linked to epilepsy and may also play a role in several degenerative diseases.

According to Clarke, understanding such pathways may help spur the future development of interventions to enhance these repair systems in the elderly, helping address declines in muscle strength, lung capacity, mental status, eye-lens clarity, heart output and other losses of function.

Clarke added that we may now be at the tip of the iceberg in our understanding of how many repair activities exist and how these activities may be manipulated for healthy living, particularly with diet and pharmaceuticals.

"I'm excited to accept the appointment to the Plott Chair and to continue our research in this critical field," said Clarke, who also directs UCLA's Cellular and Molecular Biology Training Program.

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UCLA Chemist Steven G. Clarke Named to Endowed Chair in Gerontology

SEATTLE and COPENHAGEN, Denmark, Sept. 10, 2012 /PRNewswire/ --CMC Biologics, a leading contract manufacturing organization known for its technical excellence in process development and cGMP manufacture, announced today it has hired Mark W. Sawicki, Ph.D., to serve as the Company's new Vice President of Global Business Development. Dr. Sawicki will be focused on business development, sales management, and the integration and alignment of the Company's global sales and marketing team.

(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20110502/SF93356LOGO)

"Mark brings broad experience and documented success in the pharmaceutical/biotechnology industry," said Gustavo Mahler, Chief Operations Officer of CMC Biologics. "His results-oriented approach and business acumen will play a pivotal role in extending our track record of innovation, while helping us grow profitability and take full advantage of the global contract manufacturing market opportunities ahead. In his role as Vice President, Global Business Development, he will be responsible for realizing the full potential of the sales and marketing team and provide leadership to this exciting phase of CMC Biologics' growth".

"CMC Biologics is very well respected, has a growing global customer base, offers world-class analytical, process development and manufacturing services, and has recently introduced new innovative services and technologies to its offering, giving the company a very attractive growth potential." said Dr. Sawicki. "I see a bright future for CMC Biologics and am eager to be part of the experienced and dedicated team and the challenges ahead."

Dr. Sawicki brings 10 years of business development and sales management experience, consistently delivering on corporate revenue and market share goals in the pharmaceutical/biotechnology industry. Prior, Sawicki was Vice President, Business Development-Europe for Albany Molecular Research, Inc. responsible for business development and sales activity in the European theater, as well as global key account management strategy. He consistently increased sales revenue at rates far outpacing industry standards from the EU Theater and prior, the US, and developed market analysis models for AMRI to determine market factors to proactively envisage future geographic/business shifts and trends. He holds Ph.D. and B.S. degrees in biochemistry from State University of New York at Buffalo; is a member of the Editorial Advisory of Pharmaceutical Outsourcing; and has more than a dozen publications in drug discovery and biochemistry.

About CMC Biologics

CMC Biologics is a global contract development and manufacturing organization that provides fully integrated biopharmaceutical development and manufacturing solutions to clients around the world from its facilities in Europe and the USA. The Company has proven expertise in delivering custom solutions for the scale-up and cGMP manufacture of protein-based therapeutics for pre-clinical, clinical trials and commercial production. The Company's wide range of integrated services includes cell line development, bioprocess development, formulation and comprehensive analytical testing. Clients can also benefit from CMC Biologics' proprietary CHEF1 expression system for mammalian production. CMC Biologics has fully segregated microbial fermentation and mammalian cell culture suites and offers both fed-batch and perfusion production processes. CMC Biologics is located in Copenhagen, Denmark; Seattle, Washington; and Berkeley, California. More detailed information can be found at http://www.cmcbiologics.com.

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CMC Biologics Announces Mark W. Sawicki as Vice President, Global Business Development

The work Richwoods High School grad Ryan Niemeier does would be impressive enough just on its face.

The biology student, now in his junior year at Bradley University, has spent the last three years working with nanofiber materials, trying to create "scaffold" systems to help concentrate the delivery of stem cells to help the body repair itself. It's research that could one day help facilitate repairs to damaged organs and lead to cures for conditions like Parkinson's disease.

And now he's taking the research on the road, with a prestigious nine-month fellowship to Galway, Ireland, to expand his work and come at it from a different perspective and with the advice of different scientists.

Niemeier stands out among students at Bradley, said mentor Craig Cady, a Bradley biology professor whose research is directed in similar areas.

"It's unusual for a student ... to see him advance that much at that age," he said. "Some students are intimidated at that age - a lot of research, a lot of stress. But Ryan was very much at ease. He can make decisions on his own," Cady said.

In fact, though still a student, he's frequently been the one in the driver's seat when it comes to determining where he wants to take his studies.

"Ryan basically was involved in implementing and creating a design to literally do the research" that led him to where he is today, Cady said.

"I've been able to set up and design all my experiments from the ground up," Niemeier said shortly before leaving last month for the Emerald Isle.

And that's precisely what he said he was looking for in choosing a course of study, first at Bradley and then with the fellowship: "Am I going to be able to get into a lab and am I going to be able to do meaningful research?"

The two share a student-mentor relationship, but because of the direction of their research and the amount of time they have spent together since the summer after Niemeier's junior year of high school, Cady said, they can also work as collaborators.

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Bradley biology student takes his research on the road

Public release date: 5-Sep-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Angela Hopp ahopp@asbmb.org 240-283-6614 American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology

The National Human Genome Research Institute today announced the results of a five-year international study of the regulation and organization of the human genome. The project is named ENCODE, which stands for the Encyclopedia of DNA Elements. In conjunction with the release of those results, the Journal of Biological Chemistry has published a series of reviews that focus on several aspects of the findings.

"The ENCODE project not only generated an enormous body of data about our genome, but it also analyzed many issues to better understand how the genome functions in different types of cells. These insights from integrative analyses are really stories about how molecular machines interact with each other and work on DNA to produce the proteins and RNAs needed for each cell to function within our bodies," explains Ross Hardison of Pennsylvania State University, one of the JBC authors.

Hardison continued: "The Journal of Biological Chemistry recognized that the results from the ENCODE project also would catalyze much new research from biochemists and molecular biologists around the world. Hence, the journal commissioned these articles not only to communicate the insights from the papers now being published but also to stimulate more research in the broader community."

The human genome consists of about 3 billion DNA base pairs, but only a small percentage of DNA actually codes for proteins. The roles and functions of the remaining genetic information were unclear to scientists and even referred to as "junk DNA." But the results of the ENCODE project is filling this knowledge gap. The findings revealed that more than 80 percent of the human genome is associated with biological function.

The study showed in a comprehensive way that proteins switch genes on and off regularly and can do so at distances far from the genes they regulate and it determined sites on chromosomes that interact, the locations where chemical modifications to DNA can influence gene expression, and how the functional forms of RNA can regulate the expression of genetic information.

The results establish the ways in which genetic information is controlled and expressed in specific cell types and distinguish particular regulatory regions that may contribute to diseases.

"The deeper knowledge of gene regulation coming from the ENCODE project will have a positive impact on medical science," Hardison emphasizes. For example, recent genetic studies have revealed many genomic locations that can affect a person's susceptibility to common diseases. The ENCODE data show that many of these regions are involved in gene regulation, and the data provide hypotheses for how variations in these regions can affect disease susceptibility, adds Hardison.

The effort behind the ENCODE project was extraordinary. More than 440 scientists in 32 labs in United States, the United Kingdom, Spain, Singapore and Japan performed more than 1,600 sets of experiments on 147 types of tissue. The results were published today in one main integrative paper and five other papers in the journal Nature, 18 papers in Genome Research and six papers in Genome Biology.

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Major advances in understanding the regulation and organization of the human genome

NEW YORK, Sept. 5, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Reportlinker.com announces that a new market research report is available in its catalogue:

Global Medical Laboratories Industry

http://www.reportlinker.com/p0960414/Global-Medical-Laboratories-Industry.html#utm_source=prnewswire&utm_medium=pr&utm_campaign=In_Vitro_Diagnostic

This report analyzes the worldwide markets for Medical Laboratories in US$ Million by the following Product Segments: Hospital-Based Medical Laboratories, and Others. The report provides separate comprehensive analytics for the US, Canada, Japan, Europe, Asia-Pacific, Latin America, and Rest of World. Annual estimates and forecasts are provided for the period 2010 through 2018. Also, a six-year historic analysis is provided for these markets. The report profiles 162 companies including many key and niche players such as Adeona Clinical Laboratory, Alverno Clinical Laboratories, LLC, ARUP Laboratories, Asuragen, Inc., Bio-Reference Laboratories, Inc., Creative Testing Solutions, Gamma-Dynacare Medical Laboratories, Genoptix, Inc., Healthscope Ltd., Laboratory Corporation of America Holdings, Metametrix Clinical Laboratory, Mayo Medical Laboratories, Medtox Scientific, Inc., The National Health Laboratory Service, Pathology, Inc., Quest Diagnostics, Inc., Quest Diagnostics Nichols Institute, Sonic Healthcare Ltd., American Esoteric Labs, Clinical Pathology Laboratories, Inc., Sonora Quest Laboratories, STAR Metropolis Clinical Laboratories & Health Services, and Thyrocare Technologies Limited. Market data and analytics are derived from primary and secondary research. Company profiles are primarily based upon search engine sources in the public domain.

I. INTRODUCTION, METHODOLOGY & PRODUCT DEFINITIONS

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Global Medical Laboratories Industry

DUBLIN--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

Research and Markets (http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/np8lcc/biochemical_pathwa) has announced the addition of John Wiley and Sons Ltd's new book "Biochemical Pathways. An Atlas of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology" to their offering.

Covering a wide range of subject matter, including biochemistry, molecular and cell biology, medicine, chemistry, and allied health, Biochemical Pathways is a full-color, easy-to-use resource for students and professionals. This information-packed reference features a unique summary of biochemical pathways based on the well-known Biochemical Pathways chart. Included is descriptive information about properties such as enzymes, chemicals, proteins, and DNA, all of which act together to create an elaborate chain that drives all biological functions. Completely updated, this new edition continues to play a valuable role in this important scientific field.

Key Topics Covered:

Chapter 1. Introduction and general aspects, chemistry and physical chemistry

Chapter 2. The cell and its contents: Enzymes, nucleic acids, and polymeric carbohydrates and lipids

Chapter 3. General metabolism in animals, plants and bacteria

Chapter 4. Protein biosynthesis, modification and degradation

Chapter 5. Viruses

Chapter 6. Transport systems

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Research and Markets: Biochemical Pathways. An Atlas of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology

Sangeeta Tohani, 19, of Longwood Gardens, Barkingside performed a special dance routine in front of 80,000 people in the Olympic Stadium alongside fellow dancers from Sakthi Fine Arts, The Crescent, Gants Hill.

The Queen Mary University student auditioned back in February and she was soon told she had been selected after learning Indian classical dancing since she was about five years old.

She said: From the very beginning the whole experience has been incredible. We saw people auditioning with disabilities, who were all catered for, which was really inspiring.

I was determined to get involved in the Paralymics after missing out on the Olympics, which I watched constantly. And knowing that Id be performing just around the corner from where I live was amazing.

Miss Tohani, who also performed during the Torch Relay in Redbridge, was part of the Navigation segment of the ceremony representing the sea.

She said: Despite the steps being fairly simple I forgot them in the dress rehearsal because everything was so overwhelming and to see everything come together in the stadium left me gobsmacked.

Miss Tohani, who described the experience as surreal had been practising with the large group of dancers for ten hours a day for the past three weeks in preparation for the performance.

She added: It started to rain during our section, which was quite late on, leaving the floor really wet; but we didnt even think about it.

Once our part was almost over everyone got really emotional because we didnt want it to end. I have met so many people who I wouldnt normally get a chance to meet.

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SAN DIEGO Open an undergraduate biochemistry textbook and you will learn that enzymes are highly efficient and specific in catalyzing chemical reactions in living organisms, and that they evolved to this state from their sloppy and promiscuous ancestors to allow cells to grow more efficiently. This fundamental paradigm is being challenged in a new study by bioengineers at the University of California, San Diego, who reported in the journal Science what a few enzymologists have suspected for years: Many enzymes are still pretty sloppy and promiscuous, catalyzing multiple chemical reactions in living cells, for reasons that were previously not well understood.

In this study, the research team, led by Bernhard Palsson, Galetti Professor of Bioengineering at the UC San Diego Jacobs School of Engineering, brought together decades of work on the behavior of individual enzymes to produce a genome-scale model of E. coli metabolism and report that at least 37 percent of its enzymes catalyze multiple metabolic reactions that occur in an actively growing cell.

Weve been able to stitch all of the enzymes together into one giant model, giving us a holistic view of what has been driving the evolution of enzymes and found that it isnt quite what weve thought it to be, said Palsson.

When organisms evolve, it is the genes or proteins that change. Therefore, gene and protein evolution has classically been studied one gene at a time. However in this work, Palsson and his colleagues, introduce an important paradigm shift by demonstrating that the evolution of individual proteins and enzymes is influenced by the function of all of the other enzymes in an organism, and how they all work together to support the growth rate of the cell.

Using a whole-cell model of metabolism, the research team found that the more essential an enzyme is to the growth of the cell, the more efficient it needs to be; meanwhile, enzymes that only weakly contribute to cell growth can remain sloppy. The study found three major reasons why some enzymes have evolved to be so efficient, while others have not:

Our study found that the functions of promiscuous enzymes are still used in growing cells, but the sloppiness of these enzymes is not detrimental to growth. They are much less sensitive to changes in the environment and not as necessary for efficient cell growth, said Nathan Lewis, who earned a Ph.D. in bioengineering at the Jacobs School in March and is now a postdoctoral fellow at Harvard Medical School.

This study is also a triumph in the emerging field of systems biology, which leverages the power of high-performance computing and an enormous amount of available data from the life sciences to simulate activities such as the rates of reactions that break down nutrients to make energy and new cell parts. This study sheds light on the vast number of promiscuous enzymes in living organisms and shifts the paradigm of research in biochemistry to a holistic level, said Lewis. The insights found in our work also clearly show that fine-grained knowledge can be obtained about individual proteins while using large-scale models. This concept will yield immediate and more distant results.

Our teams findings could also inform other research efforts into which enzymes require further study for overlooked promiscuous activities, said Hojung Nam, a postdoctoral researcher in Palssons lab. Besides testing and characterizing more enzymes for potential promiscuous activities, enzyme promiscuity could have far-reaching impacts as scientists try to understand how unexpected promiscuous activities of enzymes contribute to diseases such as leukemia and brain tumors, said Nam.

Funding was provided by the U.S. Department of Energy and National Institutes of Health (DE-SC0004917, DE-FG02-09ER25917, and 2R01GM057089-13) and a fellowship from the National Science Foundation (NSF GK-12 742551).

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‘Promiscuous’ enzymes still common in metabolism

Newswise Svetlana Kilina, Ph.D., assistant professor of chemistry and biochemistry at North Dakota State University, Fargo, has received a $750,000 five-year award from the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science Early Career Research Program. Funding will be used to conduct research outlined in Dr. Kilinas proposal titled Modeling of Photoexcited Process at Interfaces of Functionalized Quantum Dots.

Dr. Kilinas research occurs at the intersection of renewable energy, high-performance computing, nanotechnology and chemistry. Only 68 awardees were selected from a pool of about 850 university- and national laboratory-based applicants, based on peer review by outside scientific experts.

Quantum dots are nanocrystals discovered by scientists in the 1980s. Ranging in size from two to 10 nanometers, billions of them could fit on the head of a pin. Their tiny sizes belie the Herculean impact they could make in semiconductors and energy. Dr. Kilinas work centers on new generation solar cells and fuel cells using quantum-dot-based materials.

Materials at the nanoscale level behave differently than at larger scales. Energized quantum dots absorb and emit light. The color of the light depends on the size of the dot. In addition, one quant of light can generate more than two carriers of electric current (two electrons-hole pairs instead of one) in quantum dots. As a result, quantum dots could convert energy to light or vice versa more efficiently than conventional energy materials based on bulk semiconductors such as silicon. That makes quantum dots very promising materials for solar cells and other energy applications.

One of the main obstacles in the synthesis of quantum dots is the controllable chemistry of the quantum dot surface, said Dr. Kilina. Due to their nanosize, the dots are extremely chemically reactive, and different organic molecules from solvent/air environment interact with the surface of the quantum dot during and after synthesis. These molecules cover the surface of the quantum dot like a shell, influencing its optical and electronic properties.

Dr. Kilina uses supercomputers to conduct computer-simulated experiments, investigate and advance her research in this field. Her goal is to generate theoretical insights to the surface chemistry of quantum dots, which are critical to design efficient quantum-dot-based materials for solar energy conversion and lighting applications.

To apply her model and algorithmic methods, Dr. Kilinas research group uses supercomputers at the NDSU Center for Computationally Assisted Science and Technology, in addition to Department of Energy and Los Alamos National Laboratory leadership-class, high-performance computing facilities. The combination of NDSU supercomputing and government facilities substantially reduces the amount of time needed for the massive calculations used in this research.

Dr. Kilinas research aims to gain fundamental understanding of nanomaterials at the molecular and electronic level, said Dr. Greg Cook, chair of NDSUs Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry. Insights gained from this research will enable the progression of solar energy technology to help solve the worlds energy challenges. The Department of Energy award recognizes Dr. Kilinas unique expertise in the area of theoretical modeling of these materials critical for the future, said Cook.

Dr. Kilinas research addresses fundamental questions of modern materials science that affect the design and manufacture of new-generation energy conversion devices. To design and manufacture such devices requires developing new multi-functional materials with controllable properties. As part of Dr. Kilinas work centered around new generation solar cells and fuel cells, she develops and applies a new generation non-adiabatic photoinduced dynamics methodology that simultaneously includes electron-hole coupling response for excitonic effects and exciton-phonon coupling critical in photoexcitation and couplings between electronics and crystal-lattice vibrations responsible for energy-to-heat losses.

It is anticipated that the acquired theoretical knowledge gained from the research at NDSU will help better explain and interpret experimental data and could facilitate rational design of new nanostructures with desired optical, transport, and light harvesting properties that are fundamental to a myriad of clean energy technologies.

Original post:
NDSU Research Connects the Dots to Renewable Energy Future

Newswise Open an undergraduate biochemistry textbook and you will learn that enzymes are highly efficient and specific in catalyzing chemical reactions in living organisms, and that they evolved to this state from their sloppy and promiscuous ancestors to allow cells to grow more efficiently. This fundamental paradigm is being challenged in a new study by bioengineers at the University of California, San Diego, who reported in the journal Science what a few enzymologists have suspected for years: many enzymes are still pretty sloppy and promiscuous, catalyzing multiple chemical reactions in living cells, for reasons that were previously not well understood.

In this study, the research team, led by Bernhard Palsson, Galetti Professor of Bioengineering at the UC San Diego Jacobs School of Engineering, brought together decades of work on the behavior of individual enzymes to produce a genome-scale model of E. coli metabolism and report that at least 37 percent of its enzymes catalyze multiple metabolic reactions that occur in an actively growing cell.

Weve been able to stitch all of the enzymes together into one giant model, giving us a holistic view of what has been driving the evolution of enzymes and found that it isnt quite what weve thought it to be, said Palsson.

When organisms evolve, it is the genes or proteins that change. Therefore, gene and protein evolution has classically been studied one gene at a time. However in this work, Palsson and his colleagues, introduce an important paradigm shift by demonstrating that the evolution of individual proteins and enzymes is influenced by the function of all of the other enzymes in an organism, and how they all work together to support the growth rate of the cell.

Using a whole-cell model of metabolism, the research team found that the more essential an enzyme is to the growth of the cell, the more efficient it needs to be; meanwhile, enzymes that only weakly contribute to cell growth can remain sloppy. The study found three major reasons why some enzymes have evolved to be so efficient, while others have not:

Enzymes that are used more extensively by the organism need to be more efficient to avoid waste. To increase efficiency, they evolve to catalyze one specific metabolic reaction. When enzymes are responsible for catalyzing reactions that are necessary for cell growth and survival, they are specific in order to avoid interference from molecules that are not needed for cell growth and survival.

Since organisms have to adapt to dynamic and noisy environments, they sometimes need to have careful control of certain enzyme activities in order to avoid wasting energy and prepare for anticipated nutrient changes. Evolving higher specificity makes these enzymes easier to control.

Our study found that the functions of promiscuous enzymes are still used in growing cells, but the sloppiness of these enzymes is not detrimental to growth. They are much less sensitive to changes in the environment and not as necessary for efficient cell growth, said Nathan Lewis, who earned a Ph.D. in bioengineering at the Jacobs School in March and is now a postdoctoral fellow at Harvard Medical School.

This study is also a triumph in the emerging field of systems biology, which leverages the power of high-performance computing and an enormous amount of available data from the life sciences to simulate activities such as the rates of reactions that break down nutrients to make energy and new cell parts. This study sheds light on the vast number of promiscuous enzymes in living organisms and shifts the paradigm of research in biochemistry to a holistic level, said Lewis. The insights found in our work also clearly show that fine-grained knowledge can be obtained about individual proteins while using large-scale models. This concept will yield immediate and more distant results.

Our teams findings could also inform other research efforts into which enzymes require further study for overlooked promiscuous activities, said Hojung Nam, a postdoctoral researcher in Palssons lab. Besides testing and characterizing more enzymes for potential promiscuous activities, enzyme promiscuity could have far-reaching impacts as scientists try to understand how unexpected promiscuous activities of enzymes contribute to diseases such as leukemia and brain tumors, said Nam.

Continued here:
Science Study Shows 'Promiscuous' Enzymes Still Prevalent in Metabolism

ScienceDaily (Aug. 30, 2012) Open an undergraduate biochemistry textbook and you will learn that enzymes are highly efficient and specific in catalyzing chemical reactions in living organisms, and that they evolved to this state from their "sloppy" and "promiscuous" ancestors to allow cells to grow more efficiently. This fundamental paradigm is being challenged in a new study by bioengineers at the University of California, San Diego, who reported in the journal Science what a few enzymologists have suspected for years: many enzymes are still pretty sloppy and promiscuous, catalyzing multiple chemical reactions in living cells, for reasons that were previously not well understood.

In this study, the research team, led by Bernhard Palsson, Galetti Professor of Bioengineering at the UC San Diego Jacobs School of Engineering, brought together decades of work on the behavior of individual enzymes to produce a genome-scale model of E. coli metabolism and report that at least 37 percent of its enzymes catalyze multiple metabolic reactions that occur in an actively growing cell.

"We've been able to stitch all of the enzymes together into one giant model, giving us a holistic view of what has been driving the evolution of enzymes and found that it isn't quite what we've thought it to be," said Palsson.

When organisms evolve, it is the genes or proteins that change. Therefore, gene and protein evolution has classically been studied one gene at a time. However in this work, Palsson and his colleagues, introduce an important paradigm shift by demonstrating that the evolution of individual proteins and enzymes is influenced by the function of all of the other enzymes in an organism, and how they all work together to support the growth rate of the cell.

Using a whole-cell model of metabolism, the research team found that the more essential an enzyme is to the growth of the cell, the more efficient it needs to be; meanwhile, enzymes that only weakly contribute to cell growth can remain 'sloppy.' The study found three major reasons why some enzymes have evolved to be so efficient, while others have not:

Enzymes that are used more extensively by the organism need to be more efficient to avoid waste. To increase efficiency, they evolve to catalyze one specific metabolic reaction. When enzymes are responsible for catalyzing reactions that are necessary for cell growth and survival, they are specific in order to avoid interference from molecules that are not needed for cell growth and survival.

Since organisms have to adapt to dynamic and noisy environments, they sometimes need to have careful control of certain enzyme activities in order to avoid wasting energy and prepare for anticipated nutrient changes. Evolving higher specificity makes these enzymes easier to control.

"Our study found that the functions of promiscuous enzymes are still used in growing cells, but the sloppiness of these enzymes is not detrimental to growth. They are much less sensitive to changes in the environment and not as necessary for efficient cell growth," said Nathan Lewis, who earned a Ph.D. in bioengineering at the Jacobs School in March and is now a postdoctoral fellow at Harvard Medical School.

This study is also a triumph in the emerging field of systems biology, which leverages the power of high-performance computing and an enormous amount of available data from the life sciences to simulate activities such as the rates of reactions that break down nutrients to make energy and new cell parts. "This study sheds light on the vast number of promiscuous enzymes in living organisms and shifts the paradigm of research in biochemistry to a holistic level," said Lewis. "The insights found in our work also clearly show that fine-grained knowledge can be obtained about individual proteins while using large-scale models." This concept will yield immediate and more distant results.

"Our team's findings could also inform other research efforts into which enzymes require further study for overlooked promiscuous activities," said Hojung Nam, a postdoctoral researcher in Palsson's lab. "Besides testing and characterizing more enzymes for potential promiscuous activities, enzyme promiscuity could have far-reaching impacts as scientists try to understand how unexpected promiscuous activities of enzymes contribute to diseases such as leukemia and brain tumors," said Nam.

Continued here:
'Promiscuous' enzymes still prevalent in metabolism: Challenges fundamental notion of enzyme specificity and efficiency

Enzymes are often thought to be specific, catalyzing only one reaction in a cell (left). However, some more promiscuous enzymes have many functions and catalyze many reactions in a cell. This study shows that promiscuous enzymes play a larger part in cell growth than previously thought. Credit: Courtesy of Systems Biology Research Group, UC San Diego, Jacobs School of Engineering

Open an undergraduate biochemistry textbook and you will learn that enzymes are highly efficient and specific in catalyzing chemical reactions in living organisms, and that they evolved to this state from their "sloppy" and "promiscuous" ancestors to allow cells to grow more efficiently. This fundamental paradigm is being challenged in a new study by bioengineers at the University of California, San Diego, who reported in the journal Science what a few enzymologists have suspected for years: many enzymes are still pretty sloppy and promiscuous, catalyzing multiple chemical reactions in living cells, for reasons that were previously not well understood.

In this study, the research team, led by Bernhard Palsson, Galetti Professor of Bioengineering at the UC San Diego Jacobs School of Engineering, brought together decades of work on the behavior of individual enzymes to produce a genome-scale model of E. coli metabolism and report that at least 37 percent of its enzymes catalyze multiple metabolic reactions that occur in an actively growing cell.

"We've been able to stitch all of the enzymes together into one giant model, giving us a holistic view of what has been driving the evolution of enzymes and found that it isn't quite what we've thought it to be," said Palsson.

When organisms evolve, it is the genes or proteins that change. Therefore, gene and protein evolution has classically been studied one gene at a time. However in this work, Palsson and his colleagues, introduce an important paradigm shift by demonstrating that the evolution of individual proteins and enzymes is influenced by the function of all of the other enzymes in an organism, and how they all work together to support the growth rate of the cell.

Enlarge

Each gene and protein in a cell has a function, and many of these functions are linked to each other. Thus, as organisms evolve, the collective functions of all genes and proteins in the cells influence the evolution of each gene or protein. Credit: Courtesy of Systems Biology Research Group, UC San Diego, Jacobs School of Engineering

"Our study found that the functions of promiscuous enzymes are still used in growing cells, but the sloppiness of these enzymes is not detrimental to growth. They are much less sensitive to changes in the environment and not as necessary for efficient cell growth," said Nathan Lewis, who earned a Ph.D. in bioengineering at the Jacobs School in March and is now a postdoctoral fellow at Harvard Medical School.

This study is also a triumph in the emerging field of systems biology, which leverages the power of high-performance computing and an enormous amount of available data from the life sciences to simulate activities such as the rates of reactions that break down nutrients to make energy and new cell parts. "This study sheds light on the vast number of promiscuous enzymes in living organisms and shifts the paradigm of research in biochemistry to a holistic level," said Lewis. "The insights found in our work also clearly show that fine-grained knowledge can be obtained about individual proteins while using large-scale models." This concept will yield immediate and more distant results.

"Our team's findings could also inform other research efforts into which enzymes require further study for overlooked promiscuous activities," said Hojung Nam, a postdoctoral researcher in Palsson's lab. "Besides testing and characterizing more enzymes for potential promiscuous activities, enzyme promiscuity could have far-reaching impacts as scientists try to understand how unexpected promiscuous activities of enzymes contribute to diseases such as leukemia and brain tumors," said Nam.

View post:
'Promiscuous' enzymes still prevalent in metabolism

Brain imaging helps to understand how the brain works, aids in the diagnosis of neurological diseases and guides treatments. Positron emission tomography or PET is an imaging technique that uses trace amounts of radioactive drugs to visualize the function and biochemistry of the brain.

Imaging researchers now have developed new PET tracers to detect changes in the brain caused by Alzheimer's dementia and other neurodegenerative disease. These diseases damage and ultimately kill large numbers of brain cells (neurons) and thus lead to severe disability and death.

Neurodegenerative diseases cause specific patterns of injury and biochemical abnormalities in the brain. Until recently, these changes could only be measured after death by examining brain tissue using a microscope. One of the exciting developments in PET imaging is the availability of new agents that can detect beta-amyloid plaques, one of the key abnormalities in Alzheimer's disease, in the living human brain. Plaques may develop in the brain over a decade before Alzheimer's symptoms develop.

Neurologists and other dementia specialists currently rely primarily on information gathered from the patient and family, physical examination and cognitive tests to diagnose Alzheimer's dementia. In some cases, determining the cause of a patient's cognitive problems can be challenging, and now PET imaging can help doctors and patients be more confident in the diagnosis.

Two clinically used PET imaging tests for patients are being evaluated for dementia. A PET tracer called FDG measures the brain's use of glucose, a simple sugar that serves as the brain's major source of energy. In dementia due to Alzheimer's disease, decreased glucose metabolism in specific brain regions supports a diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease.

The other PET imaging test for patients with cognitive impairment uses a different PET tracer, florbetapir, which binds to beta-amyloid plaques that occur in Alzheimer's disease. This PET tracer was approved for clinical use by the Food and Drug Administration in April 2012. Amyloid PET imaging can show the presence or absence of abnormally increased plaques in the brain. Low plaque levels (a negative amyloid PET study) reduce the likelihood that a patient's cognitive problems are due to Alzheimer's disease. Higher plaque levels are present in Alzheimer's disease, but a positive amyloid PET scan can occur with other neurologic diseases and in older people without cognitive problems.

Both FDG and amyloid PET are only part of the evaluation of patients with dementia or other cognitive disorders. Neither of these tests alone can make specific diagnoses. PET imaging in patients with cognitive impairment should be ordered by physicians experienced in the diagnosis and treatment of patients of these conditions when the results will help in clinical decision making.

Dr. Jonathan McConathy is an assistant professor of radiology at Washington University who is board certified in diagnostic radiology and nuclear medicine. For information about brain PET studies at Washington University, call 314-362-4738.

Read more from the original source:
Senior Focus: New imaging device helps detect brain changes

By Carina Storrs HealthDay Reporter

MONDAY, Aug. 27 (HealthDay News) -- With the U.S. presidential campaign season heating up and Election Day drawing nearer, political science experts are saying that campaigns could one day benefit from having a deeper understanding of voters, all the way down to their DNA.

"Since about 2005, there has been a turning of the tide that genes can influence political traits," said Peter Hatemi, an associate professor of political science, microbiology and biochemistry at Pennsylvania State University.

"Most social scientists had viewed the world as a blank slate, whatever your family is, whatever you run into and your experiences, is how you develop your attitudes," he added.

Research into the genetic underpinnings of political views has grown significantly in the past eight years, Hatemi said. His comprehensive review of previous research on the role genes play in attitudes, ideologies and voting behavior, is co-authored by Rose McDermott, a professor of political science at Brown University, and appears online Aug. 27 in Trends in Genetics.

Political scientists have borrowed pages from the geneticists' book of techniques for studying medicine and psychology, but it may be how political scientists are using these approaches that will have the biggest impact on public health.

"The world revolves around politics, it doesn't revolve around schizophrenia. It's important to study because the biggest determinant of public health is going to be politics," Hatemi said.

One technique in particular involves studying identical and fraternal twins. Researchers can compare how often identical twins, who share all of their genes, and fraternal twins, who share half their genes on average, give the same answers to political questions to gauge how big of a role genes play in different categories.

Hatemi and McDermott reviewed previous twin studies and reported that about half of the variation in political traits could be explained by genetics, the other half by upbringing and environment.

Categories such as political knowledge and liberal versus conservative ideology were more likely to be influenced by genetics, whereas political party identification was strongly affected by upbringing, the researchers said.

More:
Could Your Genes Influence How You Vote?

A tiny resonating beam, just 10 millionths of a meter in length, can measure the mass of a molecule or nanoparticle in real time

By John Matson

WEIGHTY MATTERS: The diagonal beam in this image can detect the presence of single molecules and determine their mass. Image: Caltech/Scott Kelber and Michael Roukes

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Dieters and exercise buffs might feel better about their progress if they tracked their weight loss in daltons. Even a short jog can help you shed a few septillion daltons, a unit of mass often used in biochemistry that is equivalent to the atomic mass unit. (Of course, no weight-conscious individual would want to know their full weight in this unitthe average American male weighs approximately 5 X 1028 daltons.)

Even the megadalton, or one million daltons, is a tiny unit of measurea gold particle five nanometers across weighs in at just a few megadaltons. (One nanometer is a billionth of a meter.) But researchers at the California Institute of Technology and CEALeti, a government-funded research organization in Grenoble, France, have built a scale that weighs single objects even lighter than a megadalton, including nanoparticles and human antibody molecules. The device is the first of its kind to determine the masses of individual molecules and nanoparticles in real time, the researchers reported in a study published online August 26 in Nature Nanotechnology. (Scientific American is part of Nature Publishing Group.)

The heart of the device is a nanoelectromechanical resonatora tiny beam of silicon vibrating at two tones simultaneously. "It's like vibrating a guitar string at the fundamental and a harmonic," says study co-author Michael Roukes, a Caltech physicist. "We're continuously strumming it with an electrostatic excitation." The beam runs diagonally across the photo (above); it measures 10 microns long and 300 nanometers wide. (A micron is one millionth of a meter.)

Tiny arms connecting the ends of the beam to the rest of the device convert the resonator's vibrations into an electrical signal via a phenomenon known as the piezoresistive effect. "The smallest pieces there are flexed slightly, and when they're flexed their resistance changes," Roukes says. "And so we can read out the motion as a change in resistance." A single molecule landing on the beam shifts the frequency of the two tones downward, and from the accompanying change in resistance the researchers can deduce both the mass of the particle and where it landed along the beam.

The device's sensitivity to single molecules allowed the researchers to perform mass spectroscopyidentifying the various particles in a mixture by their masseson collections of gold nanoparticles five and 10 nanometers in diameter, as well as on the antibody molecule immunoglobulin M, which weighs just under one megadalton. (The natural molecules proved much more consistent in their construction than did the man-made nanoparticles, whose masses fluctuated by a factor of five or so from particle to particle.)

Excerpt from:
Scaled-Down: New Nano Device Can Weigh Single Molecules