Αlpha¹

Issue 8

May 6, 20265 ArticlesAlpha¹ Editorial

This week's top 1% preprint from AI-guided protein assemblies, cryo-EM, DNA construction, and more!

Resolving human neuronal herpesvirus reactivation via petabase-scale association studies

Summary

In a massive data-mining detective story, scientists sift through petabytes of human genomes to catch HSV-1 quietly reactivating inside specific RORB+ neurons like a sneaky brain saboteur, linking viral hijinks to dementia risk with single-nucleus precision.

Community Discussion

Shared by PI Caleb Lareau (@CalebLareau) with strong engagement (nearly 300 likes, 87 reposts), sparking interest among neuro and virology folks for its bold petabase-scale approach and neuronal reactivation insights

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Article 2 of 5Α1On Αlpha¹

AI-guided discovery of atypical protein assemblies

Summary

AlphaFold gets an upgrade with the Structural Novelty Index (SNI) to hunt weird protein complexes, uncovering an 11-mer "undecameric" resistosome assembly that flips the usual hexamer script like a quirky oligomer surprise party.

Community Discussion

Posted by PhD student AmirAli Toghani (@amiralito_) highlighting protein assembly discovery as the next big thing after structure prediction, praised for the novel SNI framework and unexpected 11-mer findings

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Cooling fast and slow: Characterising the effects of vitrification in cryo-EM...

Summary

Cryo-EM's rapid plunge into ice gets a molecular dynamics reality check on whether it freezes proteins in their natural poses or creates cooling artifacts, with simulations revealing tricks to recover true equilibrium ensembles like a thermodynamic time-travel correction.

Community Discussion

Shared by postdoc Miro Astore (@miroastore) with solid traction (250+ likes) for addressing a core cryo-EM biophysical limitation, drawing attention from structural biology enthusiasts

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Polymer micelle model of transcriptional bursting

Summary

Transcriptional bursting gets a quirky polymer physics makeover where genes act like micelle-forming molecules in a bubbling cauldron of chromatin, neatly explaining noisy gene expression bursts through phase-like behaviors and local crowding antics.

Community Discussion

Shared by Takashi Fukaya (@FukayaLab) with strong structural biology and genomics interest (nearly 100 likes, good reposts), drawing engagement for its elegant modeling of bursting mechanics

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One-pot parallel DNA construction with Sidewinder

Summary

DNA synthesis goes mega-scale with Sidewinder tech turning oligo pools into complex constructs in one glorious pot like a molecular assembly line on steroids, supercharging AI-driven synthetic biology dreams with parallel wizardry.

Community Discussion

Highlighted by Adrian Woolfson (@AdrianWoolfson) for its scalability potential in synthetic bio, sparking interest among biotech and AI-biology folks with solid likes and shares

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