First complete 3D visualization of vitamin D receptor
Tuesday, January 24, 2012 - 08:31
in Biology & Nature
For the first time, a team from the Institut de Génétique et de Biologie Moléculaire et Cellulaire, France, has obtained a high-resolution, full 3D image of a small but vital molecule locked up within our cells: the vitamin D receptor (VDR). Published on 18 January 2012 in The EMBO Journal, this study provides key information on the 3D structure and action mechanism of the receptor at the molecular scale. This data is crucial to pharmaceutical research, since VDR is involved in numerous diseases such as cancer, rickets and type 1-diabetes.