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The decision means I.V.F. patients who want to transfer frozen embryos to another state may not be able to do so.Cryoport, a major embryo shipping company, said on Friday that it was “pausing” its business in Alabama as it evaluated the state’s Supreme Court decision that declared frozen embryos created through in vitro fertilization to be children.“Until the company has further clarity on the decision and what it means for Cryoport, clinics and intended parents, it is pausing all activity in Alabama until further notice,” read an email received by an Alabama fertility clinic and shared with The New York Times.The email said that Cryoport would “not be able to assist” with a scheduled shipment, and instead would offer a refund.The Alabama court’s ruling has already significantly limited fertility treatment for patients in that state. Three clinics have paused care as they evaluate what the ruling means for their patients and their own legal liability. The case involved several couples whose frozen embryos were accidentally destroyed at a clinic in Mobile. It found that clinics could be held liable for wrongful death claims, bringing new gravity to accidents that are not uncommon in fertility treatment.Cryoport’s decision will make it more difficult for current I.V.F. patients to move embryos out of state to continue treatments.Embryo shipping is common in modern fertility treatment, as patients sometimes move and need to switch clinics or move embryos they do not plan to use soon to a long-term storage facility.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe.

Iron is a micronutrient for plants. Biologists from the Institute of Botany at Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf (HHU) describe in a study, which has now been published in the Journal of Cell Biology, that regulatory proteins for iron uptake behave particularly dynamically in the cell nucleus when the cells are exposed to blue light — an important signal for plant growth. They found that the initially homogeneously distributed proteins relocated together into “biomolecular condensates” in the cell nucleus shortly after this exposure.
Both iron deficiencies and excesses are problematic for plants. They need the micronutrient for photosynthesis and enzymatic reactions. A lack of iron leads to yellowing of the plants and reduced growth, while an excess can result in cell damage. A well-balanced iron uptake must therefore be in place to ensure a healthy plant life.
Once the plant has an iron deficiency, a signalling cascade is activated and more iron is taken up via the roots. Proteins that regulate particular genes (so-called transcription factors) play an important role in this process.
A research team from the Institute of Botany at HHU headed by Professor Dr Petra Bauer has examined the cellular localisation of the transcription factors involved in iron uptake, concentrating in particular on an essential transcription factor within the iron signalling cascade called “FIT.”
To date, very little research has been conducted into where in the nucleus the transcription factors occur in the plant cell. However, knowing this would aid understanding of the function of the protein. Whether the localisation can change is also relevant, as this may be part of a regulatory mechanism that acts on the protein.
The study, which has now appeared in the Journal of Cell Biology, found that FIT is a dynamic protein that can localise in membrane-less sub-compartments — so-called biomolecular condensates — within the cell. The authors consider these sub-compartments regulatory hubs that enable spatially and temporally flexible platforms for signalling and interaction.
The biologists found that FIT specifically accumulates in condensates within the cell nucleus when the plant cells have been exposed to blue light. They examined blue light in particular as it is an important environmental signal for the plant and iron uptake.

The formation of condensates of certain light-regulated proteins has already been described. Biomolecular condensates arise when protein complexes accumulate locally. However, a connection with components relevant for nutritional physiology like FIT was not previously known to exist. It was unclear whether FIT condensates can contribute to the organisation and efficiency of cellular processes. To this end, the researchers in Düsseldorf examined the interactions between FIT and other proteins in nuclear condensates in more detail. They found that not only transcription, but also regulation of the mRNA — i.e. of the sections of genetic material that are read from the DNA to control processes — may take place in the condensates.
“For the first time, I observed accumulations of FIT proteins in the form of condensates during laboratory work on a master’s module project, which posed the simple question of why this is so,” says lead author Dr Ksenia Trofimov (now Krooß). This was the start of a major research project: “When we saw these condensates forming, we barely had any idea of what the function could be as the research topic of condensates was just emerging within the plant field. The original question gave rise first to my master’s work and then my doctoral thesis.”
Professor Bauer adds: “This work has led to a new aspect in plant nutrition. We now need to further explore how these condensates are integrated into the signalling cascades of iron uptake and how environmental cues such as light are able to control iron uptake in a fast and dynamic way.”
The extensive microscopy study was made possible by the Center for Advanced Imaging (for short: CAi), a high-performance, inter-faculty imaging facility at HHU.

In recent news, there has been a case where a patient experienced pain due to a surgical procedure involving sutures, resulting in the unintended presence of gauze within the patient’s body. Gauze is typically employed to control bleeding during medical interventions, aiding in hemostasis. However, when inadvertently left in the body, it can lead to inflammation and infection. Addressing this issue, recent research has been published by researchers focusing on a hemostatic agent derived from mussels and silkworm cocoons. This hemostatic agent has garnered attention in the academic community due to its efficacy in clotting blood and its safety within the body.
A collaborative team, led by Professor Hyung Joon Cha (Department of Chemical Engineering and the School of Convergence Science and Technology) and Dr. Jaeyun Lee (Department of Chemical Engineering) at Pohang University of Science and Technology (POSTECH), Professor Kye Il Joo (Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science) at Ewha Womans University, and Dr. Jong Won Rhie (Department of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery) at Seoul St. Mary’s Hospital of the College of Medicine at the Catholic University of Korea, has developed a bilayer nanofiber membrane hemostat using natural proteins derived from mussels and silkworm cocoons. The findings of this research have been recently published online in the latest issue of Small, an international journal specializing in nanoengineering.
Conventional hemostatic agents such as gauze or medical bands are limited to application on the surface of the skin. Although there are certain materials that naturally degrade within the body like fibrin glue and collagen sponges, they necessitate proteins sourced from humans or animals, making them considerably expensive. Moreover, existing hemostatic materials lack consistent adherence to bleeding sites and are prone to infection from external contaminants.
In response, the researchers developed a bilayer adhesive hemostat utilizing mussel adhesive proteins that exhibit strong tissue adhesion underwater and silk fibroin extracted from silkworm cocoons. In the research, mussel adhesive proteins demonstrated excellent hemostatic effects including platelet activation. The researchers employed methanol vapor to modify the secondary structure of silkworm silk proteins, resulting in a nanofiber membrane with a hydrophobic outer surface.
In light of this, the team engineered a hemostatic agent featuring an inner layer with mussel adhesion proteins for wound adhesion and an outer protective layer entirely composed of silkworm silk proteins. Through animal experiments, the hemostatic agent demonstrated rapid acceleration of tissue adhesion and hemostasis in bleeding wounds, effectively preventing the infiltration of water containing infectious agents such as bacteria. Using two proteins that are both highly biocompatible and biodegradable, the researchers have introduced a novel hemostatic agent capable of clotting blood and providing defense against infection.
Professor Hyung Joon Cha of the POSTECH who led the study remarked, “We have validated the exceptional hemostatic performance of a multifunctional topical adhesive hemostatic agent that is derived from nature and is based on degradable proteins in the human body.” He added, “We will continue further research to assess its applicability in real-world patient care or surgical settings.”
The research was conducted with support from the Marine BioMaterials Research Center Program of the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries and the Mid-Career Research Program of the National Research Foundation of Korea.

A new technique for electrospinning sponges has allowed scientists from the University of Surrey to directly produce 3D scaffolds — on which skin grafts could be grown from the patient’s own skin.
Electrospinning is a technique which electrifies droplets of liquid to form fibres from plastics. Previously, scientists had only been able to make 2D films. This is the first time anybody has electro-spun a 3D structure directly and on-demand so that it can be produced to scale.
Chloe Howard, from Surrey’s School of Computer Science and Electronic Engineering said:
“After spinning these scaffolds, we grew skin cells on them. Seven days later, they were twice as viable as cells grown on 2D films or mats. They even did better than cells grown on plasma-treated polystyrene — previously, the gold standard. They were very happy cells on our 3D scaffolds!
“Our findings pave the way for harvesting a patient’s own skin cells and multiplying them. These grafts could treat chronic wounds better and faster.”
Scientists prepared a solution which included gelatin and polyaprolactone (PCL) — a biodegradable polymer which is known to be compatible with human tissue. They pumped this solution through a syringe into an electrical field, which stretched it into nanofibres.
This process is simple, scalable, and cheap. The researchers now hope it can be used in other medical applications.
Dr Vlad Stolojan, Associate Professor in Surrey’s Advanced Technology Institute, said:
“Electrospinning is extremely adaptable. We can mimic the way that muscle fibres behave by spinning fibres that align in the same direction. This technique could one day create artificial skin, bone and cartilage too — helping people recover from wounds quicker, and with better long-term results.”

A discovery by researchers from the GIGA — Center of Research Cyclotron at University of Liège reveals that the sleeping body also reacts to the external world during sleep, explaining how some information from the sensory environment can affect sleep quality.
Researchers at ULiège have collaborated with the University of Fribourg in Switzerland to investigate whether the body is truly disconnected from the external world during sleep. To do so, they focused on how heartbeat changes when we hear different words during sleep. They found that relaxing words slowed down cardiac activity as a reflection of deeper sleep and in comparison to neutral words that did not have such a slowing effect. This discovery is presented in Journal of Sleep Research andsheds new light on brain-heart interactions during sleep.
Matthieu Koroma (Fund for Scientific Research — FNRS postdoctoral researcher), Christina Schmidt and Athena Demertzi (both Fund for Scientific Research — FNRS Research Associate) from the GIGA Cyclotron Research Center at ULiège teamed up with colleagues from University of Fribourg led a previous study analyzing brain data (electroencephalogram) showing that relaxing words increased deep sleep duration and sleep quality, showing that we can positively influence sleep using meaningful words. By that time, the authors hypothesized that the brain also remains able to interpret sensory information in a way that makes our body more relaxed after hearing relaxing words during sleep. In this new study, the authors had the opportunity to analyze cardiac activity (electrocardiogram) to test this hypothesis and found that the heart slows down its activity only after the presentation of relaxing, but not control words.
Markers of both cardiac and brain activity were then compared to disentangle how much they contributed to the modulation of sleep by auditory information. Cardiac activity has been indeed proposed to directly contribute to the way we perceive the world, but such evidence was so far obtained in wakefulness. With these results, the ULiège researchers showed that it was also true in sleep, offering a new perspective on the essential role of bodily reactions beyond brain data for our understanding of sleep.
“Most of sleep research focuses on the brain and rarely investigates bodily activity,” says Dr. Schmidt.
“We nevertheless hypothesize that the brain and the body are connected even when we cannot fully communicate, including sleep. Both brain and body information need then to be taken into account for a full understanding of how we think and react to our environment,” explains Dr. Demertzi.
“We shared freely our methodology following the principles of Open Science hoping that the tools that helped to make this discovery will inspire other researchers to study the role played by the heart in other sleep functions,” Dr.Koroma advocates.
This work offers a more comprehensive approach about the modulation of sleep functions by sensory information. By looking into the cardiac responses to sounds, we may, for example, study in the future the role of the body in the way sounds influence emotional processing of memories during sleep.

Published8 minutes agoShareclose panelShare pageCopy linkAbout sharingImage source, Omer Messinger/Getty ImagesBy Damien McGuinnessBBC News, BerlínThe German parliament has backed a new law to allow the recreational use of cannabis. Under the law, over-18s in Germany will be allowed to possess substantial amounts of cannabis, but strict rules will make it difficult to buy the drug.Smoking cannabis in many public spaces will become legal from 1 April.Possession of up to 25g, equivalent to dozens of strong joints, is to be allowed in public spaces. In private homes the legal limit will be 50g.Already police in some parts of Germany, such as Berlin, often turn a blind eye to smoking in public, although possession of the drug for recreational use is illegal and can be prosecuted. 

Use of the drug among young people has been soaring for years despite the existing law, says Health Minister Karl Lauterbach, who is instigating the reforms.He wants to undermine the black market, protect smokers from contaminated cannabis and cut revenue streams for organised crime gangs. But legal cannabis cafes will not suddenly spring up all over the country. A ferocious debate about decriminalising cannabis has been raging for years in Germany, with doctors’ groups expressing concerns for young people and conservatives saying that liberalisation will fuel drug use. Simone Borchardt of the opposition conservative CDU told the Bundestag, Germany’s parliament, that the government had gone ahead with its “completely unnecessary, confused law” regardless of warnings from doctors, police and psychotherapists.But Mr Lauterbach said the current situation was no longer tenable: “The number of consumers aged between 18 and 25 has doubled in the past 10 years.”As so often in Germany, the law approved by MPs on Friday afternoon is complicated. Smoking cannabis in some areas, such as near schools and sports grounds, will still be illegal. Crucially, the market will be strictly regulated so buying the drug will not be easy. Original plans to allow licensed shops and pharmacies to sell cannabis have been scrapped over EU concerns that this could lead to a surge in drug exports. Instead, non-commercial members’ clubs, dubbed “cannabis social clubs”, will grow and distribute a limited amount of the drug. Each club will have an upper limit of 500 members, consuming cannabis onsite will not be allowed, and membership will only be available to German residents. Growing your own cannabis will also be permitted, with up to three marijuana plants allowed per household.This means that Germany could be in the paradoxical position of allowing possession of rather large amounts of the drug, while at the same time making it difficult to purchase. Regular smokers would benefit, but occasional users would struggle to buy it legally and tourists would be excluded. Critics say this will simply fuel the black market.Over the next few years, the government wants to assess the impact of the new law, and eventually introduce the licensed sale of cannabis.But given how tortuous the debate has been so far, nothing is certain.Meanwhile, opposition conservatives say that if they get into government next year, they will scrap the law entirely. Germany is unlikely to become Europe’s new Amsterdam anytime soon. More on this storyCannabis clubs plan dilutes German drugs reformsPublished12 April 2023Biden grants pardons for certain marijuana offencesPublished22 December 2023Has Canada’s legal cannabis industry gone to pot?Published17 October 2023US agency recommends looser marijuana restrictionsPublished31 August 2023

Published15 minutes agoShareclose panelShare pageCopy linkAbout sharingImage source, Getty ImagesBy Hugh PymHealth editorEmployers are “extremely concerned” up to 20,000 health workers in England have not yet received a one-off payment of nearly £1,655 agreed last May.NHS staff in England were awarded the lump sum, alongside a 5% pay rise.Those in front-line NHS settings but employed by social enterprises were initially excluded, until November when ministers agreed to fund it.The government says non-NHS organisations are responsible for making the payments.Employers were told to apply to the Department of Health and Social Care to receive funding to cover the award. But they say there is still no indication of when this will happen and have not been updated on progress.’Extremely concerned’These social enterprises are often not-for-profit community organisations founded to take on services outsourced by the NHS in England. Staff, including community nurses and physiotherapists, are transferred across from NHS trusts but remain on the same pay and conditions. And some continue to wear NHS uniforms.Social Enterprise UK director Dan Gregory said: “Social enterprises were promised funding to cover all parts of the NHS pay deal last year- but our members still haven’t seen that money.”So vital staff, working hard on the front line have now been waiting nearly a year for the government to properly fund the bonus that was agreed last spring. “We remain extremely concerned that the government is not fulfilling its side of the deal to ensure that all staff delivering NHS care are paid what they deserve.”Health staff win Covid bonus after legal threatSome NHS temporary staff miss out on full pay deal Social Enterprise UK had threatened to take the government to court under judicial-review proceedings but paused its action when ministers said they would come up with the money. But the option to continue with the action expires this week, meaning Social Enterprise UK would have to go back to the start of the prolonged judicial-review process.CSH Surrey provides community nursing and therapy services to adults and children and management were hoping to get the lump sum into March pay packets. But chief executive Steve Flanagan said: “To date, we have not had any feedback or communication regarding an outcome of our application. “We were hopeful that after the positive response, this would be resolved quickly allowing our ‘overlooked’ colleagues to be treated equally – but so far, this has not been the case.”Speech-and-language therapist Pippa Wiseman said: “We continued seeing patients throughout lockdown, in full personal protective equipment, visiting households, care homes and working in community hospitals. “To not receive this bonus has been incredibly disappointing for so many front-line people delivering NHS community services like me.”Industrial actionOther health groups have also been protesting, including some “bank staff”, who provide temporary cover for hospital trusts to fill rota gaps. The Royal College of Nursing has also been campaigning on behalf of members in GP practices. And some members of the Unite union have staged industrial action when employers have failed to make the payments. These include cleaners, porters and other NHS facilities staff, who demonstrated at the Department of Health this week.Separate pay deals have been agreed in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.A spokesperson for the Department of Health said: “Whilst these staff are contractually eligible for the payments, the independent organisations are responsible for making them.”As outlined in the guidance, the outcome of applications made by individual organisations for additional funding will be known by the end of the financial year.”More on this storyHealth staff win Covid bonus after legal threatPublished6 November 2023Health staff to begin legal fight over Covid bonusPublished26 October 2023Some NHS temporary staff miss out on full pay dealPublished21 July 2023

tt’s official. Getting the recommended 7-9 hours of sleep a night is currently out of reach for almost one-third of the population as Flinders University experts found 31% of adults had average sleep durations outside the recommended range.
The global study of thousands of adults published in Sleep Health found only 15% of people slept the recommended 7-9 hours for five or more nights per week — and among those who did achieve an average of 7-9 hours per night over the nine month monitoring period, about 40% of the nights fell outside the ideal range.
“This is crucial because regularly not sleeping enough — or possibly too much — are associated with ill effects and we are only just realising the consequences of irregular sleep,” says Flinders University researcher Dr Hannah Scott.
“Clearly getting the recommended sleep duration range frequently is a challenge for many people to achieve, especially during the working week.”
The Flinders research group used sleep tracker data collected by an under-mattress sensor to examine sleep durations over the nine-month period in almost 68,000 adults worldwide. The sample consisted of 67,254 adults (52,523 males, 14,731 females), mainly in Europe and North America, whose sleep recordings were registered by the Withings under-mattress Sleep Analyzer.
Sleeping less than six hours on average per night is associated with increased mortality risk and multiple health conditions including hypertension, obesity and heart disease. Less than 7 hours and more than 9 hours of sleep a day has been linked to adverse health and wellbeing, including digestive and neuro-behavioural deficits.
Female participants generally had longer sleep durations that males, and middle-aged people recorded shorter sleep durations than younger or older participants.

“Based on these findings, public health and advocacy efforts need to support the community and individuals to achieve more regular sleep within the recommended range for their age,” says co-author Professor Danny Eckert, an Australian National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) leadership fellow and director of Sleep Health research at Flinders University.
“Given what we know about the importance of sleep to health, we also need to assist people to resolve chronic sleep difficulties and encourage all people to make sleep a priority.”
Regular snoring is also associated with hypertension, according to another new study from Flinders University.
The Flinders sleep researchers’ tips to achieve a better sleep regime include: In the short term, people are advised to try and maintain a sleep schedule that is sufficient for them to feel rested enough, as often as they possibly can. Keeping a fixed wake-up time, even on weekends, and going to bed when you feel sleepy will help ensure you frequently get enough restorative sleep. If people can’t keep a consistent sleep schedule due to unavoidable commitments (e.g. shift work), then catch-up sleep is recommended. Watch for the symptoms of insufficient sleep such as daytime drowsiness, fatigue, struggling to maintain concentration, poor memory, and potentially making errors while driving. This may be due to not sleeping enough, or the sleep not being restorative enough due to poor sleep quality — as occurs with obstructive sleep apnoea, for example. People who feel like they might not be sleeping enough, especially those currently sleeping less than seven hours, could test whether allowing a longer sleep schedule or naps helps them sleep longer and results in them feeling more rested. For those without a sleep disorder, following good sleep hygiene may be beneficial. Avoiding caffeine and alcohol in the afternoon/reducing their caffeine and alcohol consumption across the day, and/or avoiding a heavy meal close to bedtime may help people fall asleep faster and sleep for longer. Others may not see much benefit from following sleep hygiene advice, but it is worth trying as it may be a relatively simple fix to their sleep problems. People should consult their GP in the first instance if they are concerned about their sleep. Treatment options are available through referrals to sleep specialists for a variety of sleep disorders such as sleep apnoea and insomnia.

Scientists at the University of Southampton have discovered that bacteria can pair up their defence systems to create a formidable force, greater than the sum of its parts, to fight off attack from phage viruses. Understanding how bacteria react to this type of virus is a big step in combatting antimicrobial resistance.
This new groundbreaking research shows that inside each bacterial cell different defence systems are forming partnerships and combining their strengths to effectively combat viral threats. Findings of the study are published in the journal Cell Host & Microbe.
Phage viruses, or bacteriophages, could be thought of as ‘the good guys’ of the virus world. Spider-like in their appearance, the microscopic organisms can kill harmful bacteria without affecting the good bacteria in our bodies. Understanding how bacteria respond to phages is crucial in exploring how these viruses can be used to fight infections in humans, as an alternative to antibiotics.
Lead author of the study, Dr Franklin Nobrega of the University of Southampton, comments: “Just like how our immune system protects us from harmful germs, bacteria have their own set of defence systems which create a dynamic shield against viral threats. Imagine if your white blood cells, antibodies, and killer T-cells all joined forces to fight off a virus together. This is exactly what is happening inside bacterial cells.
“We used to think of bacterial defence as a solo act, but it turns out it’s more like a buddy system. A ‘dynamic duo’ of defence systems merge their powers to mount a stronger response than they otherwise would have achieved, potentially saving the cell from destruction.”
The researchers analysed existing datasets to find patterns of paired defence systems in the genomes (cell DNA instructions) of some 42,000 bacteria, including E. coli. They looked for pairs which occurred more often than would be expected by random chance. The scientists then took a selection of these and tested them in the lab for enhanced virus immunity and, crucially, ‘synergy’ — in other words, a defence effect in the bacteria which is more powerful than the sum of its parts.
On identifying these enhanced systems, and with further testing, they were able to see for the first time how the partnerships between individual bacterial defences are based on one system using a function from another to improve its activity. Combined, they have a more robust effect than working apart.

Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) has been identified by the World Health Organisation as one of the top ten global public health threats. It occurs when medicines, such as antibiotics, no longer effectively prevent and treat disease. Although resistance to treatments can occur naturally, the over use of certain drugs and poor infection control are accelerating the problem.
Phages could be one way of helping with AMR. Their ability to selectively kill harmful bacteria, while sparing ‘good’ bacteria, makes them a strong contender as one alternative to antibiotics. However, a lot more research is needed before treatments are refined and they can be widely used.
Dr Franklin Nobrega explains: “Phages are already in use as a last-resort treatment for antibiotic-resistant bacterial infections, a practice known as phage therapy. But by delving into how bacteria defend against these phages, we can supercharge our strategies to make them even more effective at wiping out bacterial cells, offering a glimmer of hope in the battle to keep infections at bay.”
The scientists say their research will complement efforts already underway to develop phage therapy through public participation initiatives, such as The Phage Collection Project and open science initiatives like KlebPhaCol.
The funding for this study was from the Wessex Medical Trust and the National Institutes of Health, USA.

Researchers at the University of California, Irvine have discovered profound similarities and surprising differences between humans and insects in the production of the critical light-absorbing molecule of the retina, 11-cis-retinal, also known as the “visual chromophore.” The findings deepen understanding of how mutations in the RPE65 enzyme cause retinal diseases, especially Leber congenital amaurosis, a devastating childhood blinding disease.
For the study, recently published online in the journal Nature Chemical Biology, the team used X-ray crystallography to study NinaB, a protein found in insects that functions similarly to the RPE65 protein found in humans. Both are crucial for synthesis of 11-cis-retinal, and their absence results in severe visual impairment.
“Our study challenges traditional assumptions about the similarities and differences of human and insect vision,” said corresponding author Philip Kiser, UCI associate professor of physiology & biophysics as well as ophthalmology. “While these enzymes share a common evolutionary origin and three-dimensional architecture, we found that the process by which they produce 11-cis-retinal is distinct.”
Creation of 11-cis-retinal begins with the consumption of foods like carrots or pumpkins containing compounds used for vitamin A generation, such as beta-carotene. These nutrients are metabolized by carotenoid cleavage enzymes, including NinaB and RPE65. It was previously known that humans require two of these enzymes to produce 11-cis-retinal from beta-carotene, whereas insects can achieve the conversion with just NinaB. Gaining insight into how NinaB can couple the two steps into a single reaction along with the functional relationships between NinaB and RPE65 was a key motivation for the study.
“We found that structurally, these enzymes are very much alike, but the locations in which they perform their activity are different,” said lead author Yasmeen Solano, a graduate student in Kiser’s laboratory at the UCI Center for Translational Vision Research. “Understanding key features within the NinaB structure has led to an enhanced understanding of the catalytic machinery necessary to support the function of the retinal visual pigments. Through our study of NinaB, we were able to learn about the structure of a key portion of RPE65 that had not previously been resolved. This discovery is vital in understanding and addressing loss-of-function mutations in RPE65.”
Other team members included Michael Everett, a junior specialist in the Kiser lab, and Kelly Dang and Jude Abueg, biological sciences undergraduates at the time.
This work was supported by the National Science Foundation under grant CHE-2107713, the Department of Veterans Affairs under grant BX004939 and the National Institutes of Health under grant EY034519-01S1.