Feature Channels: Chemistry

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Released: 8-Jun-2017 12:05 PM EDT
Polymer Removes Highly Toxic Pollutant From Water
Northwestern University

A Northwestern University-led research team has discovered an inexpensive and renewable material that rapidly removes PFOA, a highly toxic pollutant, from water. The treatment effectively eliminates the micropollutant, which has plagued several U.S. communities' water supplies last year.

Released: 7-Jun-2017 3:05 PM EDT
Eck Industries Exclusively Licenses Cerium-Aluminum Alloy Co-Developed by ORNL
Oak Ridge National Laboratory

Wisconsin’s Eck Industries has signed an exclusive license for the commercialization of a cerium-aluminum (Ce-Al) alloy co-developed by the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory that is ideal for creating lightweight, strong components for advanced vehicles and airplanes.

   
2-Jun-2017 10:05 AM EDT
Similar Lipids Cluster in Soybean Cell Membrane Model
American Institute of Physics (AIP)

Researchers have developed a detailed computational model of the soybean plasma membrane that provides new structural insight at the molecular level, which may have applications for studying membrane proteins and may be useful for engineering plants to produce biochemicals, biofuels, drugs and other compounds, and in understanding how plants sense and respond to stressful conditions. The group report their findings this week in The Journal of Chemical Physics.

2-Jun-2017 1:05 PM EDT
Dissolving the Challenge: Open-Source Approach Provides Faster, Better Solubility Predictions
American Institute of Physics (AIP)

Despite the importance of predicting solubility, it is not an easy matter. One approach, using “brute force” simulations, requires long computing times. Other techniques, while faster, fail to predict accurate solubility values. This week in The Journal of Chemical Physics, researchers report a new type of software that enables convenient solubility estimations of essentially any molecular substance over wide temperature and pressure ranges.

Released: 5-Jun-2017 5:05 PM EDT
Multidisciplinary Research Team Receives Seed Grant to Predict Red Blood Cell Deformability
Penn State College of Engineering

A multidisciplinary team of researchers has received a $25,000 seed grant from the Penn State Institute for CyberScience to develop a modeling platform to predict the deformability and morphological changes of diseased and aged red blood cells.

   
Released: 5-Jun-2017 11:00 AM EDT
Announcement: A New Publication from the American Institute of Physics -- Bioengineering Today
American Institute of Physics (AIP)

The American Institute of Physics (AIP) and AIP Publishing are pleased to announce the launch of a new online magazine, Bioengineering Today. Bioengineering Today offers news and information about the intersection of biology, chemistry and physics with medicine. The articles cover everything from biomedical discoveries, research, new devices, new imaging technologies, engineering and applications of physics to bioengineering as well as disease detection, prevention and treatment.

Released: 2-Jun-2017 3:05 PM EDT
American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Selects New Leaders
American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (ASBMB)

The American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology announced this week the election and appointment of seven new society leaders. They begin their terms July 1.

   
Released: 2-Jun-2017 8:05 AM EDT
Scientists Design Molecular System for Artificial Photosynthesis
Brookhaven National Laboratory

A molecular system for artificial photosynthesis is designed to mimic key functions of the photosynthetic center in green plants—light absorption, charge separation, and catalysis—to convert solar energy into chemical energy stored by hydrogen fuel.

Released: 1-Jun-2017 5:05 PM EDT
Faculty-Student Research Team Uncovers Critical Process in Drug Development
University of Redlands

A faculty-student research team in the chemistry lab at the University of Redlands has advanced a new approach to a critical process in pharmaceutical drug development that could reduce the time and cost of bringing a drug from concept to market.

   
Released: 31-May-2017 4:05 PM EDT
Research Uncovers a Novel Mechanism of Common Anesthetic Propofol
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI)

Research published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science, and supported by the National Institutes of Health, identifies a previously unknown mechanism of the anesthetic propofol that may help to explain its outcomes, knowledge that could lead to safer anesthetics.

Released: 31-May-2017 9:00 AM EDT
America’s Top Young Researchers Named Finalists for 2017 Blavatnik National Awards for Young Scientists
Blavatnik Family Foundation/New York Academy of Sciences

The Blavatnik Family Foundation and the New York Academy of Sciences today announced the Finalists for the 2017 Blavatnik National Awards for Young Scientists. From a pool of 308 nominees – the most promising scientific researchers aged 42 years and younger at America’s top academic and research institutions – the 30 Finalists will now compete for the largest unrestricted awards of their kind for early career scientists and engineers.

Released: 30-May-2017 2:05 PM EDT
The Next Enchanted Ring?
Washington University in St. Louis

Using genomics, a chemistry lab has worked out the biosynthetic machinery that makes a new class of antibiotic compounds called the beta-lactones. Like the beta-lactams, they have an unstable four-member ring. The key to their kill mechanism it is also difficult to synthesize.

Released: 30-May-2017 1:05 PM EDT
Squeezing Molecules Guides Chemistry
Department of Energy, Office of Science

Neutron-scattering studies reveal surprising formation of ammonia after acetonitrile is turned into graphitic polymer, opening doors for catalyst-free industrial reactions at room temperature.

Released: 25-May-2017 1:30 PM EDT
Water Forms ‘Spine of Hydration’ Around DNA
Cornell University

How water relates to and interacts with biological systems – like DNA, the building block of all living things – is of critical importance, and a Cornell University group has used a relatively new form of spectroscopy to observe a previously unknown characteristic of water.

Released: 25-May-2017 9:00 AM EDT
International Liquid Crystal ChemistryResearch Project Launches at MTSU
Middle Tennessee State University

A unique partnership between MTSU and the Centre of Molecular and Macromolecular Studies at the Polish Academy of Sciences will allow MTSU undergraduate students to interact daily with European scientists as the students conduct National Science Foundation-funded research on liquid crystals.

22-May-2017 4:45 PM EDT
UW Engineers Borrow From Electronics to Build Largest Circuits to Date in Living Eukaryotic Cells
University of Washington

UW synthetic biology researchers have demonstrated a new method for digital information processing in living cells, analogous to the logic gates used in electric circuits. In a key step in the ability to program living cells, the team built the largest circuits published to date in eukaryotic cells, using DNA instead of silicon and solder.

Released: 24-May-2017 4:05 PM EDT
Labeling a Bacterial Cell 'Jacket'
University of Delaware

A team of researchers from the University of Delaware have discovered how to label and light the sugar backbone of a bacterial cell wall. The findings will advance immune system research.

   
Released: 24-May-2017 3:05 PM EDT
Penn Medicine Biochemist Awarded $2.5 Million Grant for New Microscope Technology
Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania

Ronen Marmorstein, PhD, a professor of Biochemistry and Biophysics in the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, is one of five investigators who received a grant from the Arnold and Mabel Beckman Foundation for the creation of a state-of-the-art cryogenic electron microscopy (cryo-EM) facility. The investment supports research in chemistry and the life sciences and will also go towards maintaining the cryo-EM facilities and hiring of new faculty skilled in its uses.

Released: 24-May-2017 1:05 PM EDT
Report Challenges Perception of Mineral Scarcity
Cornell University

The common perception that many of the world’s most valuable minerals, such as copper and aluminum, are becoming scarce is challenged report that also highlights the environmental and social keys to unlocking future resources.in a new

Released: 24-May-2017 12:00 PM EDT
TSRI Scientists Find Simple Copper Complex Shuts Down Botulinum Neurotoxin Poisoning
Scripps Research Institute

Clostridium botulinum is the bacterium that causes the neurointoxication, which produces one of the most potent toxins on earth and is classified as a potential bioterrorism threat. While no cure exists—and botulism treatment options are limited—a serendipitous discovery by scientists at The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) may provide a new therapy that can stop the neurotoxin even in its more severe, advanced stages of action.

   
Released: 23-May-2017 10:05 AM EDT
Carcinogenic Soot Particles From Petrol Engines
Empa, Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology

First, diesel vehicles tainted their reputation with soot particles, then high nitric oxide emissions. So are owners of new gasoline cars environmentally friendly? Not always, says a new study led by Empa scientists: some direct-injection gasoline engines emit just as many soot particles as unfiltered diesel cars did in the past. Particle filters can remedy this.

Released: 22-May-2017 4:30 PM EDT
A Possible Alternative to Antibiotics
American Technion Society

Technion researchers say a combination of metals and organic acids is an effective way to eradicate cholera, salmonella, pseudomonas, and other pathogenic bacteria. The combination also works on bacteria that attack agricultural crops.

Released: 19-May-2017 3:05 PM EDT
A Fresh Math Perspective Opens New Possibilities for Computational Chemistry
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory

A new mathematical “shortcut” developed by Berkeley Lab researchers is speeding up molecular absorption calculations by a factor of five, so simulations that used to take 10 to 15 hours to compute can now be done in approximately 2.5 hours. These algorithms will be incorporated in an upcoming release of the widely used NWChem computational chemistry software suite later this year.

Released: 18-May-2017 1:05 PM EDT
Deconstructing Osmosis Provides Insight for Medical and Industrial Use
American Institute of Physics (AIP)

New research into osmosis-driven behavior now provides a more granular theoretical understanding of the deterministic mechanisms, appearing as a pair of publications this week in The Journal of Chemical Physics. The first paper deconstructs the molecular mechanics of osmosis with high concentrations, and generalizes the findings to predict behavior for arbitrary concentrations. The second piece of the study then simulates via molecular modeling two key forms of osmotic flow in a broadly utilizable way.

Released: 17-May-2017 10:05 PM EDT
Designing Better Drugs to Treat Type 2 Diabetes
University of Adelaide

Research led by the University of Adelaide is paving the way for safer and more effective drugs to treat type 2 diabetes, reducing side effects and the need for insulin injections.

Released: 17-May-2017 2:50 PM EDT
Exposure to BPA Potentially Induces Permanent Reprogramming of Painted Turtles’ Brains
University of Missouri Health

Bisphenol A (BPA) is a chemical that is used in a variety of consumer products, such as food storage containers, water bottles and certain resins. In previous studies, Cheryl Rosenfeld, an investigator in the Bond Life Sciences Center, along with other researchers at the University of Missouri, Westminster College and the Saint Louis Zoo, determined that BPA can disrupt sexual function and behavior in painted turtles. Now, the team has identified the genetic pathways that are altered as a result of BPA exposure during early development.

   
3-May-2017 8:55 AM EDT
New Blood Test Technology Reduces False Readings, Saves Costs, and Improves Care - Live Virtual Press Briefing with Researcher May 16
Newswise

Research findings to be published about new blood test technology that will greatly reduce errors in labwork and improve care in public health and infectious disease. Press briefing scheduled for May 16, reserve press access to live virtual event now.

Released: 17-May-2017 9:00 AM EDT
Study Shows Novel Device Significantly Reduces Blood Draw Contamination, Reduces Risks to Patients
University of Nebraska Medical Center (UNMC)

A study at the University of Nebraska Medical Center (UNMC) found that a novel device can significantly reduce contamination of blood cultures, potentially reducing risky overtreatment and unnecessary use of antibiotics for many patients. This approach could also substantially reduce healthcare costs, according to the study. Thousands of U.S. patients get their blood drawn every day for blood cultures in order to diagnose serious infections such as sepsis, which can be a deadly condition. A small but significant percentage of the blood cultures are contaminated, due in part to skin fragments containing bacteria that are dislodged during a blood draw. This leads to false results that can mislead clinicians into thinking a patient has a potentially serious bloodstream infection. The consequences are costly and put patients at risk.

Released: 17-May-2017 9:00 AM EDT
Virtual Press Briefing: Novel Device Reduces Blood Sample Contamination, Could Save Billions in Health Care Costs
Newswise

Newswise hosts a virtual live press briefing on upcoming journal study with research results concerning a new blood collection technique that reduces contamination of blood samples and improves treatment outcomes.

Released: 17-May-2017 9:00 AM EDT
Polymerases Pause to Help Mediate the Flow of Genetic Information
Stowers Institute for Medical Research

Stop-and-go traffic is typically a source of frustration, an unneccesary hold-up on the path from point A to point B. But when it comes to the molecular machinery that copies our DNA into RNA, a stop right at the beginning of the path may actually be helpful. Recent research from the Stowers Institute for Medical Research shows that this stop prevents another machine from immediately following the first, presumably to better control the traffic and avoid later collisions.

Released: 16-May-2017 4:05 PM EDT
Scientists Show How Defects in Blood-Brain Barrier Could Cause Neurological Disorder
Cedars-Sinai

Scientists for the first time have assembled a "disease in a dish" model that pinpoints how a defect in the blood-brain barrier can produce an incurable psychomotor disorder, Allan-Herndon-Dudley syndrome. The findings point to a path for treating this syndrome and hold promise for analyzing other neurological diseases.

Released: 16-May-2017 12:50 PM EDT
Inflammatory Signature of Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Disease
Children's Hospital Los Angeles

A team of investigators led by Rohit Kohli, MBBS, MS, of Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, has identified key inflammatory cells involved in nonalcoholic fatty liver disease.

Released: 16-May-2017 8:05 AM EDT
Mountains of Waste Could Lead to New U.S. Manufacturing, Jobs
Texas A&M AgriLife

Waste material from the paper and pulp industry soon could be made into anything from tennis rackets to cars. Texas A&M AgriLife Research scientist discovers how to make good quality carbon fiber from lignin waste.

Released: 16-May-2017 8:05 AM EDT
UF-Developed Mandarin Shows Increased Tolerance to Greening
University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences

UF/IFAS researchers have discovered that a mandarin hybrid developed by colleagues contains cellular activity – known as metabolites -- that makes it more able to fend off greening than most other types of citrus.

Released: 15-May-2017 9:00 AM EDT
Endocrine Society Applauds New Push to Regulate Chemicals in Personal Care Products
Endocrine Society

The Endocrine Society praised the reintroduction of a Senate bill to ensure consumers are protected from hazards associated with exposure to chemicals in personal care products such as cosmetics and lotions.

Released: 12-May-2017 8:05 AM EDT
Michele Parrinello Wins the Dreyfus Prize for Advances in Theoretical and Computational Chemistry
Camille and Henry Dreyfus Foundation

/PRNewswire/ -- The Camille and Henry Dreyfus Foundation has announced that Michele Parrinello, Professor at USI Università della Svizzera italiana and ETH Zurich, has won the 2017 Dreyfus Prize in the Chemical Sciences, conferred this year in Theoretical and Computational Chemistry. The international prize, awarded biennially, consists of $250,000, a medal, and a citation. The award ceremony will be held at USI Università della Svizzera italiana in Lugano, Switzerland, in the fall and will include a lecture by Parrinello.

Released: 9-May-2017 1:05 PM EDT
Three San Diego Researchers Honored by Royal Society of Chemistry
Scripps Research Institute

Three chemists from The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI)—Dale Boger, Jin-Quan Yu and Phil Baran—have received awards from the Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC), a renowned professional organization for chemists based in the United Kingdom, with more than 54,000 members worldwide.

8-May-2017 2:05 PM EDT
‘Inverse Designing’ Spontaneously Self-Assembling Materials
American Institute of Physics (AIP)

Researchers are exploring how molecular simulations with the latest optimization strategies can create a more systematic way of discovering new materials that exhibit specific, desired properties. More specifically, they did so by recasting the design goal to the microscopic, asking which interactions between constituent particles can cause them to spontaneously “self-assemble” into a bulk material with a particular property. To find the answer, reported this week in The Journal of Chemical Physics, they decided to zero in on how composite particles spatially organize themselves.

Released: 9-May-2017 10:05 AM EDT
Ames Laboratory and Iowa State University Scientists Develop More Efficient Catalytic Material for Fuel Cell Applications
Ames National Laboratory

Scientists at Ames Laboratory have discovered a method for making smaller, more efficient intermetallic nanoparticles for fuel cell applications, and which also use less of the expensive precious metal platinum.

Released: 9-May-2017 4:00 AM EDT
A New Tool to Decipher Evolutionary Biology
University of Vienna

A new bioinformatics tool to compare genome data has been developed by teams from the Max F. Perutz Laboratories, a joint venture of the University of Vienna and the Medical University of Vienna, together with researchers from Australia and Canada. The program called “ModelFinder” uses a fast algorithm and allows previously not attainable new insights into evolution. The results are published in the influential journal Nature Methods.

Released: 8-May-2017 1:05 PM EDT
Hands-on Chemistry Course Has Students Taking on Rare Cancers
Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania

With graduation just around the corner, a few undergraduates finishing up a hands-on chemistry course will be taking very useful skills with them to the next stop on their career and education path. With robotic arms and moving trays to run automated chemical analyses, the class used advanced screening machines to quickly measure how effective dozens of cancer drugs are against cells found in a rare type of cancer called neurofibromatosis.

     
4-May-2017 11:05 AM EDT
New Plutonium Discovery Lights Way for FSU Chemistry Professor’s Work to Clean Up Nuclear Waste
Florida State University

New research by a Florida State University professor reveals that plutonium's electronic properties are more complex than previously thought and that the element operates more like lighter elements such as iron or nickel.

Released: 5-May-2017 2:05 PM EDT
Brookhaven Lab Chemist Etsuko Fujita to Be Honored at Asian American and Pacific Islander Celebration
Brookhaven National Laboratory

Etsuko Fujita, a senior chemist at the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Brookhaven National Laboratory, will be recognized as a “highly accomplished Asian American professional” at the ninth annual Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month Celebration. The event will take place Saturday, May 13 at Stony Brook University.

Released: 5-May-2017 11:05 AM EDT
Brookhaven's John Shanklin Named a Battelle 'Inventor of the Year'
Brookhaven National Laboratory

John Shanklin, a biochemist investigating the fundamental processes that underlie the production of plant oils at the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Brookhaven National Laboratory, is being honored as an "Inventor of the Year" by Battelle—the global science and technology organization that, together with Stony Brook University, manages Brookhaven Lab through the company Brookhaven Science Associates.

Released: 5-May-2017 8:30 AM EDT
Researchers Shed New Light on Influenza Detection
University of Notre Dame

Notre Dame Researchers have discovered a way to make influenza visible to the naked eye, by engineering dye molecules to target a specific enzyme of the virus.

Released: 4-May-2017 1:00 PM EDT
Video: New Fabric Coating Protects Your Clothes, and the Environment
Cornell University

ITHACA, N.Y. – When you spill pasta sauce on your favorite shirt but there is no trace of it after being washed, you can thank oleophobicity, a resistance to oil commonly applied to textiles. That resistance, however, comes at a price. The coating that makes textiles oil resistant is fluorine-based and breaks down into chlorofluorocarbon gas, a greenhouse gas harmful to the environment.

Released: 4-May-2017 10:00 AM EDT
High Temperature Step-by-Step Process Makes Graphene From Ethene
Georgia Institute of Technology

An international team of scientists has developed a new way to produce single-layer graphene from a simple precursor: ethene – also known as ethylene – the smallest alkene molecule, which contains just two atoms of carbon.

Released: 3-May-2017 12:05 PM EDT
Researchers Develop a New Catalyst for Water Splitting
SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory

Water-splitting systems require a very efficient catalyst to speed up the chemical reaction that splits water into hydrogen and oxygen, while preventing the gases from recombining back into water. Now an international research team, including scientists at the Department of Energy’s SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, has developed a new catalyst with a molybdenum coating that prevents this problematic back reaction and works well in realistic operating conditions.

Released: 3-May-2017 6:05 AM EDT
Researchers Unlock the Mysteries of Fabric Softener Science
American Cleaning Institute

Millions of consumers love the “softness” of their clothing after using liquid fabric softeners. Scientists from the Kao Corporation in Japan have unlocked the mechanism describing how these products work effectively on cloths and yarns, which could pave the way to more effective softening products. Their research was honored with the American Cleaning Institute (ACI) Distinguished Paper Award, recognizing the most outstanding research to appear in 2016 in the Journal of Surfactants and Detergents.

Released: 2-May-2017 2:05 PM EDT
Casting a Wide Net
Department of Energy, Office of Science

Designed molecules will provide positive impacts in energy production by selectively removing unwanted ions from complex solutions.



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