Inspired by the forms and functions of protein molecule machines and materials observed in nature, such as the shells that protect virus genomes, researchers have now engineered ten large, 120-subunit ...

Research led by a physicist at the University of California, Riverside, shows how viruses form protective shells (capsids) around their genomes, a process that—while messy and complex—consistently ...

A strategy for constructing quasicrystals with a special symmetry has been devised for the first time. Quasicrystals are curious entities. Unlike conventional crystals, they are not made up of ...

Flaviviruses, such as Dengue and Zika, were assumed to be symmetrical icosahedrons (shapes with 20 identical faces) based on data from microscopes. But these icosahedral viruses might not be perfectly ...

For University of Washington Institute of Protein Design scientists working to invent molecular tools, vehicles, and devices for medicine and other fields, the icosahedron's geometry is inspiring. Its ...

Determining the structure of a virus is an important step in understanding and treating viral disease. For decades, structural biologists have been using cryo-electron microscopy to create ...

Virus Particle Explorer (VIPER: http://mmtsb.scripps.edu/viper) is a web-based catalogue of structural information describing icosahedral virus particles. Virus ...

A team of physicists and a virologist explains how large virus shells are formed. Their work can also be used also to explain how large spherical crystals form in nature. This understanding may help ...

The same 20-sided solid that was morphed into geodesic domes in the past century may be the shape of things to come in synthetic biology. For University of Washington Institute of Protein Design ...

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — Determining the structure of a virus is an important step in understanding and treating viral disease. For decades, structural biologists have been using cryo-electron ...