Feature Channels: Chemistry

• share
• favorite_border

“Biofuel” is a global buzzword, with cars and trucks powered by fuel made from corn, switchgrass and waste cooking oil, envisioned as a way to stretch out supplies of crude oil and cope with global warming. A symposium being held here today at the 246th National Meeting & Exposition of the American Chemical Society considers: What are the health and environmental effects of alternative fuels, and how do they compare with conventional fuels?

• share
• favorite_border

With the “Valley of Death” looming as an increasingly serious obstacle to introducing better ways of preventing, diagnosing and treating diseases, a noted scientist today described a new approach for moving promising drug compounds out of laboratories and into the hands of patients and physicians. He spoke at the 246th National Meeting & Exposition of the American Chemical Society, the world’s largest scientific society, being held here this week.

• share
• favorite_border

In an advance toward providing mosquito-plagued people, pets and livestock with an invisibility cloak against these blood-sucking insects, scientists today described discovery of substances that block mosquitoes’ ability to smell and target their victims. The presentation was among almost 7,000 scheduled this week at the 246th National Meeting & Exposition of the American Chemical Society, the world’s largest scientific society.

• share
• favorite_border

Unlikely as it may sound, giant pandas Ya Ya and Le Le in the Memphis Zoo are making contributions toward shifting production of biofuels away from corn and other food crops and toward corn cobs, stalks and other non-food plant material. Scientists presented an update today on efforts to mine Ya Ya and Le Le assets for substances that could do so during the 246th National Meeting & Exposition of the American Chemical Society.

• share
• favorite_border

In an advance in determining the role of environmental agents in causing cancer, scientists described discovery of a long-sought way to use biopsy samples from cancer patients to check on human exposure to substances that damage the genetic material DNA in ways that can cause cancer. Their report on the method, which taps into a treasure trove of information left by biopsy patients, was part of the 246th National Meeting of the American Chemical Society.

• share
• favorite_border

Chemical processes are involved in production of almost 96 percent of all manufactured goods, and some of the latest advances in efforts to redesign those processes from the ground up with “green chemistry” are on the agenda here today at the 246th National Meeting & Exposition of the American Chemical Society, the world’s largest scientific society.

• share
• favorite_border

Electronic sutures that monitor surgical incisions for healing and infection. Electronic films that cling to the heart, monitoring the heartbeat and alerting the patient and cardiologist when medical attention is needed. Flexible plastic electronic appliques that stick to the skin like temporary tattoos and monitor hydration in athletes. Those and other futuristic advances are on the agenda here today at a symposium during the 246th National Meeting & Exposition of the American Chemical Society.

• share
• favorite_border

How will emerging 21st century toxicity testing technologies impact agricultural products?  How do they fit in the life cycle of discovery, regulatory registration and product defense or product stewardship? What’s the outlook for improved, science-informed hazard prediction and risk assessment? Those and other topics are on the agenda here today at a symposium during the 246th National Meeting & Exposition of the American Chemical Society, the world’s largest scientific society.

• share
• favorite_border

An historic shift is occurring in traditional innovation in chemistry — which touches more than 96 percent of all the world’s manufactured goods — away from large companies and toward smaller entrepreneurs and startups. Amid that new landscape for transforming ideas and inventions into goods and services, the American Chemical Society, the world’s largest scientific society, today hosts a special symposium on innovation and entrepreneurship at its 246th National Meeting & Exposition.

• share
• favorite_border

The diets of people in North America shed almost 1.5 billion pounds of unhealthy saturated and trans fat over the last six years thanks to a new phase in the agricultural revolution, an expert said here today. In an interview before his address at the 246th National Meeting & Exposition of the American Chemical Society, Daniel Kittle, Ph.D., cited the achievement as part of an expanded mission for agricultural science and biotechnology.

• share
• favorite_border

Mention purple sweet potatoes, black carrots or purple carrots, and people think of dining on exotic veggies. But those plants and others have quietly become sources of a new generation of natural food colorings that are replacing traditional synthetic colors and colors derived from beetles. That back-to-the-future trend is on the agenda today at the 246th National Meeting & Exposition of the American Chemical Society, the world’s largest scientific society.

• share
• favorite_border

New discoveries from the labs of several Nobel laureates will be presented here this week during the 246th National Meeting & Exposition of the American Chemical Society, the world’s largest scientific society. Research from the laureates’ teams will be among almost 7,000 presentations during the event.

• share
• favorite_border

How many breakthrough new drugs never reach patients because tests in clinical trials suggested a high risk of liver damage when the drug actually was quite safe? That question underpins major international research efforts to modernize tests for drug-induced liver injury, mentioned here today at the 246th National Meeting & Exposition of the American Chemical Society, the world’s largest scientific society.

• share
• favorite_border

A revolutionary new solar energy technology that turns water into steam without boiling the entire container of water has become the basis for new devices to sanitize medical and dental instruments and human waste in developing countries, scientists said here today. Prototypes of the devices, which need no electricity or fuel, were the topic of one of the keynote addresses at the opening of the 246th National Meeting & Exposition of the American Chemical Society.

• share
• favorite_border

Glimpses of the nursery of life on Earth more than 3.5 billion years ago are coming from an unlikely venue almost 1 billion miles away, according to the leader of an effort to understand Titan, one of the most unusual moons in the solar system. In the talk here today at the 246th National Meeting & Exposition of the American Chemical Society, he said that Titan is providing insights into the evolution of life.

• share
• favorite_border

Scientists at the University of Illinois at Chicago College of Pharmacy have discovered a new role for nitric oxide, a gas molecule crucial for cellular signaling and health.

• share
• favorite_border

In the August 6, 2013 online edition of Chemical Science, a team of scientists describes a testbed for light-harvesting antennas, the structures that capture the sun’s light in plants and bacteria. Prototype designs built on the testbed soak up more of the sun’s spectrum and are far easier to assemble than synthetic antennas made entirely from scratch. They offer the best of both worlds, combining human synthetic ingenuity with the repertoire of robust chemical machinery selected by evolution.

• share
• favorite_border

Thousands of scientists and others will get a first-hand look at some of the latest innovations in laboratory instruments today and tomorrow during the 246th National Meeting and Exhibition of the American Chemical Society, the world’s largest scientific society. Those encounters, plus live equipment demonstrations, previews of new books and journals, and other attractions will come at the exposition part of the meeting.

• share
• favorite_border

Advance news media registration for onsite coverage of the American Chemical Society’s 246th National Meeting & Exposition, Sept. 8-12, 2013, in Indianapolis remains open for two more weeks. After Aug. 30, journalists must register onsite in the ACS Press Center, Room 211, of the Indiana Convention Center.

• share
• favorite_border

Stephen J. Lippard, Ph.D., Arthur Amos Noyes Professor of Chemistry at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and associate editor of the Journal of the American Chemical Society, will receive the 2014 Priestley Medal, awarded by the American Chemical Society. It is the highest honor bestowed by the world’s largest scientific society.

• share
• favorite_border

One scientist is pioneering a new field in medicine — curing diseases by replacing the missing proteins that cause certain disorders, almost like an artificial hand replaces the function of a hand lost to injury. Another is an internationally known leader in research on using artificial photosynthesis to make energy from sunlight and water. They will deliver the next lectures in the Kavli Foundation Lecture series at the 246th National Meeting and Exposition of the American Chemical Society.

• share
• favorite_border

Scientists at The Scripps Research Institute have discovered the molecular mechanism by which the deadly Ebola virus assembles, providing potential new drug targets. Surprisingly, the study showed that the same molecule that assembles and releases new viruses also rearranges itself into different shapes, with each shape controlling a different step of the virus’s life cycle.

• share
• favorite_border

Chemists at Indiana University Bloomington have produced detailed descriptions of human folate receptor proteins, a key development for designing new drugs that can target cancer and inflammatory diseases.

• share
• favorite_border

Scientists from the Jupiter campus of The Scripps Research Institute have shown a novel way to dramatically raise the potency of drug candidates targeting RNA, resulting in a 2,500-fold improvement in potency and significantly increasing their potential as therapeutic agents.

• share
• favorite_border

University of Arkansas organic chemist Nan Zheng is investigating the development of environmentally sustainable methods for amine synthesis.

• share
• favorite_border

PNNL chemists have unexpectedly made two differently colored crystals - one orange, one blue - from one chemical in the same flask while studying a special kind of molecular connection called an agostic bond. The discovery provides new insights into important industrial chemical reactions such as those that occur while making plastics and fuels.

• share
• favorite_border

Researchers at the University of Washington and Rice University have developed a new method that can look at a specific segment of DNA and pinpoint a single mutation, which could help diagnose and treat diseases such as cancer and tuberculosis.

• share
• favorite_border

The results of a new study by neurological researchers at Rush University Medical Center show that a sudden decrease of testosterone, the male sex hormone, may cause Parkinson’s like symptoms in male mice.

• share
• favorite_border

A team led by William Fenical at Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego has discovered a new chemical compound from an ocean microbe in a preliminary research finding that could one day set the stage for new treatments for anthrax and other ailments such as methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA).

• share
• favorite_border

Chemists from North Carolina State University have performed a DNA-based logic-gate operation within a human cell. The research may pave the way to more complicated computations in live cells, as well as new methods of disease detection and treatment.

• share
• favorite_border

Researchers at the University of Arkansas have identified that water, when chilled to a very low temperature, transforms into a new form of liquid.

• share
• favorite_border

A normally staid University of Chicago scientist has stunned many of his colleagues with his radical solution to a 135-year-old mystery in cosmochemistry. At issue is how numerous small, glassy spherules had become embedded within specimens of the largest class of meteorites—the chondrites.

• share
• favorite_border

University of Adelaide research has produced a potential new antibiotic which could help in the battle against bacterial resistance to antibiotics.

• share
• favorite_border

A discovery at the University of Wisconsin-Madison may represent a significant advance in the quest to create a "hydrogen economy" that would use this abundant element to store and transfer energy.

• share
• favorite_border

Scientists have discovered the role of the membrane protein TonB in bacteria that cause a wide variety of diseases, including typhoid fever, plague, meningitis and dysentery. Results may lead to new and improved human and animal antibiotics.

• share
• favorite_border

New research reveals that the likely culprit behind Alzheimer's has a different molecular structure than current drugs' target -- perhaps explaining why current medications produce little improvement in patients.

• share
• favorite_border

In the world, there are a lot of small molecules people would like to get rid of, or at least convert to something useful, according to University of Wisconsin-Madison chemist Robert J. Hamers.

• share
• favorite_border

A mother's prolonged use of antibacterial soaps containing the chemical triclocarban may harm nursing babies, according to a recent study from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville.

• share
• favorite_border

Researchers discover way to use iron as catalyst for widely used chemical process, replacing heavy metals.

• share
• favorite_border

Using biochemistry and mass spectrometry, researchers “trapped” scores of new candidate substrates of the protease ClpXP to reveal how protein degradation is critical to cell cycle progression and bacterial development. The new understanding could lead to identifying new antibiotic targets.

• share
• favorite_border

University of Delaware chemist Joel Rosenthal and doctoral student John DiMeglio have developed an inexpensive catalyst that uses the electricity generated from solar energy to convert carbon dioxide into synthetic fuels.

• share
• favorite_border

In this week’s issue of Nature, scientists at The Scripps Research Institute report their discovery of an important trick that a well-known intrinsically disordered protein uses to expand and control its functionality.

• share
• favorite_border

A chemical hormone released in the body as a reaction to stress could be a key trigger of the mechanism for the late onset of Alzheimer’s disease.

• share
• favorite_border

Memory improved in mice injected with a small, drug-like molecule discovered by UCSF San Francisco researchers studying how cells respond to biological stress.

• share
• favorite_border

In an article published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) a research team from University of North Carolina at Charlotte announced that they had uncovered a previously unknown surveillance mechanism, known as a DNA damage checkpoint, used by cells to monitor oxidatively damaged DNA. The finding, first-authored by UNC Charlotte biology graduate student Jeremy Willis and undergraduate honors student Yogin Patel, was also co-authored by undergraduate honors student Barry L. Lentz and assistant professor of biology Shan Yan.

• share
• favorite_border

Monell researchers identified odorants from human skin cells that can be used to identify melanoma, the deadliest form of skin cancer. In addition a nanotechnology-based sensor could reliably differentiate melanoma cells from normal skin cells. Non-invasive odor analysis may be a valuable technique in the detection and early diagnosis of human melanoma.

• share
• favorite_border

Begun over 20 years ago at The University of Alabama in Huntsville (UAH) to study medicinal properties of Costa Rican plants, the Natural Products Drug Discovery Group has branched out to Africa, Australia, the Bahamas, Yemen and Cuba.

• share
• favorite_border

Scientists at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory have designed and tested an all-solid lithium-sulfur battery with approximately four times the energy density of conventional lithium-ion technologies that power today’s electronics.

• share
• favorite_border

Researchers are targeting a possible new weapon in the fight against malaria, science that could also be applied in the fight against other devastating mosquito-borne illnesses, according to a Vanderbilt study published in PLOS ONE.

• share
• favorite_border

Chemical engineers have discovered a new chemical process to make p-xylene, an important ingredient of plastics for products such as soda bottles and packaging, at 90 percent yield from lignocellulosic biomass, the highest yield achieved to date. Details are in the current issue of Green Chemistry.