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Originally published by Case Western Reserve University in medicalexpress.com, on August 12, 2025 Edited by Gaby Clark , reviewed by Robert Egan   ChAT+ INs are activated under a hypercapnic gas challenge. Credit: Cell Reports (2025). DOI: 10.1016/j.celrep.2025.116078 Late actor Christopher Reeve , best known for his role as Superman in the 1970s and '80s, became an activist for spinal cord injury research after being paralyzed in a horseback-riding accident —making him a lifelong wheelchair user and on a ventilator. Reeve, who died in 2004, was among about 300,000 people nationally living with a spinal cord injury , with respiratory complications being the most common cause of illness and death, according to the Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation, which he and his late wife created to support the research. But the results of a new study, led by researchers at  Case Western Reserve University's School of Medicine , show promise that a group of nerve cells in...

  Originally published by Justin Jackson , Phys.org, on May 19, 2025 Edited by Sadie Harley , reviewed by Robert Egan Working model revealing the role of ALDH4A1 in maintaining an active MPC complex for mitochondrial pyruvate import and TCA cycle entry. Credit: Nature Cell Biology (2025). DOI: 10.1038/s41556-025-01651-8 Researchers at Duke University Medical Center and Wake Forest University School of Medicine have identified ALDH4A 1 , a mitochondrial proline-metabolizing enzyme , as a third structural component of the mitochondrial pyruvate carrier (MPC) complex . Forming a trimeric assembly with MPC1 and MPC2 , ALDH4A1 maintains MPC integrity and facilitates pyruvate import into mitochondria . M itochondrial pyruvate import serves as a c ritical step in cellular energy metabolism , linking cytosolic glycolysis to mitochondrial oxidative phosphorylation. Disruptions in this pathway can promote cancer cell proliferation by increasing cytosolic pyruvate and driving ...

Originally published by Ian Haydon, University of Washington , February 22,2023   An artist's imaginative conception of the idea of light-emitting enzymes. Credit: Ian Haydon / Institute for Protein Design For the first time, scientists have used machine learning to create brand-new enzymes , which are proteins that accelerate chemical reactions. This is an important step in the field of protein design , as new enzymes could have many uses across medicine and industrial manufacturing . "Living organisms are remarkable chemists. Rather than relying on toxic compounds or extreme heat, they use enzymes to break down or build up whatever they need under gentle conditions. New enzymes could put renewable chemicals and biofuels within reach," said senior author David Baker, professor of biochemistry at the University of Washington School of Medicine and recipient of the 2021 Breakthrough Prize in Life Sciences. Original article