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A new computational tool developed with support from the U.S. National Science Foundation could greatly speed up determining the 3D structure of RNAs, a critical step in developing new RNA-based drugs, identifying drug-binding sites and using RNAs in other biotechnology and biomedicine applications.
The tool, NuFold, leverages state-of-the-art machine learning techniques to predict the structure of a wide variety of RNA molecules from their sequences. This new capability will allow researchers to visualize what a given RNA structure could look like based on its sequence and identify its potential use in drug delivery, disease treatment and other applications. The research leading to NuFold was published in Nature Communications.
RNAs are critical biological molecules — encoding information, like DNA, and performing cellular functions, like proteins — but relatively few RNA structures have been determined through experimentation thus far, which severely limits understanding of their functions. For example, RNAs in the NSF-funded Research Collaboratory for Structural Bioinformatics Protein Data Bank (RCSB PDB) represent only about 3% of total entries. Experimentally determining RNA structures is often time-consuming and costly. By providing a path to reliably predicting RNA structure from sequence, NuFold could greatly expedite the discovery of RNA function and enable quicker development of RNA-based therapeutics and technologies.
RSS feed source: National Science Foundation
Time2025-05-07 07:35:59 UTC2025-05-07 07:35:59 UTC at epicenterLocation2.574°S 35.983°EDepth10.00 km (6.21 mi)
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RSS feed source: National Science Foundation
Volcanoes Today, 7 May 2025: Santiaguito volcano, Fuego, Semeru, Ibu, Dukono, Marapi, Reventador, Poas
Wed, 7 May 2025, 14:00 1746626405 | BY: VN
Satellite image of Ibu volcano on 7 May 2025
Satellite image of Semeru volcano on 7 May 2025
Satellite image of Marapi volcano on 6 May 2025
Satellite image of Dukono volcano on 7 May 2025
Satellite image of White Island volcano on 7 May 2025
After the end of the lava fountaining episode at Kilauea, the floor of Halema’uma’u crater is still covered with incandescent lava (image: HVO webcams)
Tall lava fountains from Kilauea volcano this morning (image: HVO webcam)
Ibu (Halmahera, Indonesia): Explosive activity continues. Volcanic Ash Advisory Center (VAAC) Darwin warned about a volcanic ash plume that rose up to estimated 7000 ft (2100 m) altitude or flight level 070 and is moving at 05 kts in S direction.
The full report is as follows: VA TO FL070
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Background:
Volcán Popocatépetl, whose name is the Aztec word for smoking mountain, towers to 5426 m 70 km SE of Mexico City to form North America’s 2nd-highest volcano. The glacier-clad stratovolcano contains a steep-walled, 250-450 m deep crater. The generally symmetrical volcano is modified by the sharp-peaked Ventorrillo on the NW, a remnant of an earlier volcano.
At least three previous major cones were destroyed by gravitational failure during the Pleistocene, producing massive debris-avalanche deposits covering broad areas south of the volcano. The modern volcano was constructed to the south of the late-Pleistocene to Holocene El Fraile cone. Three major plinian eruptions, the most recent of which took place about 800 AD, have occurred from Popocatépetl since the mid Holocene, accompanied by pyroclastic flows and voluminous lahars that swept basins below the volcano. Frequent historical eruptions, first recorded in Aztec codices, have occurred since precolumbian
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