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Eddy Arnold, Board of Governors Professor of Chemistry and Chemical Biology at Rutgers University, and Resident Faculty Member at the Center for Advanced Biotechnology and Medicine (CABM), was recently elected as a Fellow of the American Crystallographic Association (ACA).

Within the past decade it was discovered that many cells have an adaptive immune system to fight off foreign RNA or DNA which may have been inserted by a viral, plasmid or transposon attack.

DNA in the cell must be stored in a compact form (or it wouldn't fit) that also allows it to be translated to RNA, and to be copied when a cell divides.

A catalytic enzyme facilitates a reaction by bringing one or more molecules into its active site and there providing an environment conducive to the reaction.

Proteases, enzymes that cleave proteins, are found both free-floating and embedded in membranes. Reactions involving the former are well understood, but the workings of the latter have remained mysterious – how are reactions controlled inside the viscous, two-dimensional membrane, from which water is excluded?

Rickettsia bacteria are transmitted by the bites of infected ticks and other arthropods, and cause diseases such as typhus and spotted fever.

BioSAXS experiments require careful preparation. Many users (even though they may be experienced crystallographers) are new to the technique, and MacCHESS' Richard Gillilan and Alvin Acerbo spend a great deal of time “holding hands” of biologists using the BioSAXS facility for the first time.

A video spotlighting MacCHESS, and some other work at CHESS, has been produced by WebsEdge.