For more than a year, researchers watched patiently as a few computer-simulated HIV protease molecules squirmed into more than 15,000 slightly different shapes. In real time, this contortion takes only a fraction of a second. In the end, however, this suspended animation paid off, as the simulations uncovered a potential new drug target to fight drug-resistant AIDS.

Preeclampsia, the development of high blood pressure and protein in the urine during pregnancy and its more severe complications such as eclampsia, can threaten the lives of both mother and child. While there is no therapy to prevent preeclampsia, a link to calcium deficiency has been suggested. In a study published in the March issue of the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology, researchers across the globe, under the auspices of the World Health Organization (WHO), investigated whether a calcium supplement could reduce the complications and mortality from this condition.

New tools in the fight against pneumococci – the bugs targeted by vaccines recently announced by the Department of Health – are described by a team led by scientists from the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute. They have put together a complete description of the targets of the vaccine that will help monitor the disease and provide new tools for rapid diagnosis.