In the non-stop fight against infectious agents, many researchers have foregone searching for new antibiotics and instead have turned to older antibiotics that never reached the clinic for one reason or another. Such a strategy will require a better understanding of the molecular mechanisms of antibiotic resistance, so in this study, the researchers solved the crystal structure of the resistance enzyme aminoglycoside phosphotransferase (4)-Ia in complex with the aminoglycoside hygromycin B.

While medical breakthroughs generate tremendous news, little thought is given to the countless basic discoveries that provide the foundations for that clinical endpoint. In a new Journal of Biological Chemistry “Reflections” article, Roscoe O. Brady, a scientist emeritus at the National Institutes of Health, offers some perspective about this long and sometimes arduous journey.

A recent study reported that two oxysterol species, 15HC and 15KC, were increased more than three-fold in the blood of multiple sclerosis patients, suggesting a potential use for these oxysterols as diagnostic biomarkers. In this Journal of Lipid Research study, the researchers performed their own analysis of blood samples using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry to validate these exciting findings but failed to find any significant 15HC or 15KC levels in blood of either healthy individuals or MS patients.

In an effort to keep expanding the scope of research covered by Molecular and Cellular Proteomics and ensure that the journal continues to receive the highest quality manuscripts at the forefront of proteomics, the editors of MCP have added a new manuscript type – Technological Innovation and Resources.