#keratin

This is Damon Landor. He had been growing his hair out for 20 years as part of his practice of Rastafarianism. He was serving a sentence in prison for possession and just weeks before release, he was handcuffed to a chair and shaved bald.

Today, the supreme court denied him the ability to sue the prison for violating his religious rights and violating his person. The vote is split along the lines you expect.

Harvard’s salt trick could turn billions of tons of hair into eco-friendly materials

New, sustainable way to break down keratins, turn leftover hair, wool, and feathers into useful products.

Key Takeaways: - SEAS researchers have discovered the chemical mechanism by which certain salt compounds break down protein waste, like wool and feathers. - The discovery enables a gentler and more sustainable protein recycling process. The textile and meat-processing industries produce billions of tons of waste annually in the form of feathers, wool and hair, all of which are rich in keratin - the strong, fibrous protein found in hair, skin and nails. Turning all that animal waste into useful products - from wound dressings to eco-friendly textiles to health extracts - would be a boon for the environment and for new, sustainable industries. But upcycling proteins is challenging: Breaking down, or de-naturing, proteins into their component parts typically requires corrosive chemicals in large, polluting facilities, keeping any cost-effective protocol out of reach.

mühsam gesammelt und aufgereiht,

Aminosäureperlenkette

ringelt und kringelt sich,

wächst mit den Perlen,

gefunden mit der Zeit, manche

greifen zurück durch die Zeit,

halten zusammen, wie

Schwefel und Schwefel,

weben das Keratin zu Wolle

~

Welche Form bist du?

Hier auf der Couch...

Lass es mich verstehen,

dein Origamialphabet des Lebens,

lass uns ein paar Verwebungen

entwickeln, neu verwickeln,

lass Wolle zu etwas werden, das

seine Seele besser kleidet

---

I attempted to answer your question but accidentally deleted the post. I do so hope you see it.

Here is my original response:

My dear, my dear… What a perceptive little anatomist you are…

I will admit that I used the word Keratin because it was the closest I could find…

So no. White they very much are like keratin horns on other species. I would say they have a degree more flexibility and density.

Alright, I spoke about it a couple times, but I have something cooking, writing-wise. A story of love, adventure, awe, cultural bridges, tragedy, baboons stealing hard drives and lizards in the shower.

I've been working extra hard at themes, research, structure and plot, and inventing elaborate backstory for background characters. I'm nearly ready to get writing for good, but I bumped into an issue: one of my male leads lost his name.

More precisely, I fell out of love with the semi-placeholder I was using so far, and I haven't been able to decide on a new one. That's where I need your help!

For context, he is:

Danish. Tall, chill, humble, with an accent that sounds like a digestion concern, but becomes disturbingly charming once you're used to it.

Hot. He has a badass job, a couple tattoos and scars with interesting stories you'll probably never find out, fiery red hair, and some perplexing stamps on his passport.

Quiet. He won't be the one bragging about the impossible places he's been to, and if you agree to sit in Scandinavian silence, he's more than happy to oblige.

Caring. He will bring you coffee, cook something questionable and remind you to check for ticks after a long day in the field.

Funny. He might talk little, but the ratio of bad puns, clever references and dry remarks to word count is high.

Protective. If someone as much as *thinks* of something that might rhyme with a sexist, racist or homophobic remark in his vicinity, they will regret it.

VET LADLE MIGEL KEY LAY LAKERN HEEEM LARL GDQ GG DIVINE MAD APG VIDEL SALINE MERDE QEQ MAKE NERD EATWAFL STEEL KEN VANS SEL WASSER SEVTEL REVLEG LEIEL QSQ LAST KASTLEN SLEET KRYG CML SQISH LIVESEQ LAQL RACEME EASY DILL DVKIT REALITY DRILL PETAH BLISS QAQ GIB SYSREV TSSSSSSS REQ TRIPLIKE QSSEF SIGH

cool! i did have to make it a little less readable but let's see how it goes

from a brief search, there are multiple forms of keratin, but the structures in the PDB all look like long helices that are wound together (which makes sense for a structural protein like this and reminds me of collagen)

a protein BLAST search for the sequence i'm using

letter sequence in this ask matching protein-coding amino acids:

VETLADLEMIGELKEYLAYLAKERNHEEEMLARLGDQGGDIVINEMADAPGVIDELSALINEMERDEQEQMAKENERDEATWAFLSTEELKENVANSSELWASSERSEVTELREVLEGLEIELQSQLASTKASTLENSLEETKRYGCMLSQISHLIVESEQLAQLRACEMEEASYDILLDVKITREALITYDRILLPETAHLISSQAQGISYSREVTSSSSSSSREQTRIPLIKEQSSEFSIGH

protein guy analysis:

unsurprisingly, this sequence also gave a very long alpha helix, with very high confidence scores. this falls apart a little at either end, which makes sense since this doesn't seem to be coding for the full wild type keratin protein, and the slightly less confident areas are places where i suspect this has deviated a bit from the original sequence. i did also have to delete 2 'B's, which may have messed things up a little towards the C terminus. still, i think this is a really neat looking structure, and it does a great job showing how diverse natural proteins can be. (if you haven't yet, go google keratin protein structure and take a look at the images)

predicted protein structure:

cartoon coloured by pLDDT

Under Your Skin

The story of your life is written in every wrinkle and scar on your skin. Beneath that tapestry is a constant balancing act: skin cells 'deciding' to specialise into the protective layers that shield your body, or remain poised to divide when needed. A new study shows that this decision is influenced by two proteins, keratin 14 and keratin 15. Keratin 14 promotes differentiation by restraining a growth signal called YAP1, keeping it out of the nucleus. Keratin 15 does the opposite, allowing YAP1 to stay active in the nucleus and hold cells in a more flexible state. The research found that keratin 15 marks a distinct pool of these cells (red in the human buttock skin section pictured, with differentiated cells above in pink, and keratin 14-rich cells in green). This balance may be key to wound healing, ageing, and diseases where cell growth goes awry, including cancer.

Written by Anthony Lewis

Image from work by Catherine J. Redmond and colleagues

Department of Cell & Developmental Biology, University of Michigan Medical School, Ann Arbor, MI, USA

Image originally published with a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Published in Journal of Cell Biology, January 2026