What triggers type 1 diabetes has been difficult to prove, but a bacterium that produces an insulin-like peptide can give mice type 1 diabetes, and infection with the microbe seems to predict the onset of the disease in humans.
A peptide found in bull ant venom closely resembles a hormone of its primary predator, triggering hypersensitivity and making subsequent bites even more painful than the ones that came before.
From proteomics to pharmacokinetics, researchers turn to advances in liquid chromatography and mass spectrometry to identify and quantify components in different samples.
Aleksei Aksimentiev and Stefan Howorka discuss challenges in amino acid sensing with nanopores and approaches to design efficient protein sequencing technology.
Researchers report an ability to detect several types of cancer in blood samples based on signatures of immune response, but some are skeptical about the utility of such a test.