Using X-ray techniques, scientists are developing an analysis tool that can more accurately predict how sulfur compounds in a batch of crude oil might corrode equipment– an important safety issue for the oil industry.
Eat too much without exercising and you'll probably put on a few pounds. As it turns out, plant leaves do something similar. In a new study at the U.S. Department of Energy's Brookhaven National Laboratory, scientists show that retaining sugars in plant leaves can make them get fat too. In plants, this extra fat accumulation could be a good thing.
Pearls’ Tough Structures Hold Clues for Creating Hardy Materials, With Possibilities from Dentistry to Aerospace
In a recent experiment conducted at the Department of Energy’s SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, a research team used bright, ultrafast X-ray pulses from SLAC’s X-ray free-electron laser to create a high-speed movie of a fluorescent protein in action. With that information, the scientists began to design a marker that switches more easily, a quality that can improve resolution during biological imaging.
In a study published Sept. 20 in Nature, UChicago and Cornell University researchers describe an innovative method to make stacks of semiconductors just a few atoms thick. The technique offers scientists and engineers a simple, cost-effective method to make thin, uniform layers of these materials, which could expand capabilities for devices from solar cells to cell phones.
The National Science Foundation’s Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research, or EPSCoR, announced Wednesday that Lauren Greenlee, assistant professor of chemical engineering, will receive a fellowship award of $267,507 to continue her work characterizing metal-based catalysts to improve the next generation of fuel cells and batteries.
Researchers in the United States and Germany have just discovered a previously overlooked part of protein molecules that could be key to how proteins interact with each other inside living cells to carry out specialized functions.
Under conventional magnification, the crystals Aaron Robart grows in his West Virginia University lab may look like simple rock salt, but by bombarding them with X-rays, he and his research team can build computational models that reveal the molecules within.
Playdough and Legos are among the most popular childhood building blocks. But what could you use if you wanted to create something really small—a structure less than the width of a human hair? It turns out, a team of chemists has found, this can be achieved by creating particles that have both playdough and Lego traits.
Sandia National Laboratories engineer Mark Tucker has spent much of the past 20 years thinking about incidents involving chemical or biological warfare agents, and the best ways to clean them up. Tucker’s current project focuses on cleaning up a subway system after the release of a biological warfare agent such as anthrax.
The proteins in human cells are extensively decorated with different types of sugars, a phenomenon called glycosylation. These modifications greatly increase the diversity of protein structure and function, affecting how proteins fold, how they behave, and where they go in cells. New research that will be published in the Journal of Biological Chemistry on Sept. 22 demonstrates that a rare type of glycosylation profoundly affects the function of a protein important for human development and cancer progression.
University of Adelaide researchers have confirmed that abnormalities in a common brain chemical are linked to sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS).
PNNL researchers have measured the forces that cause certain crystals to assemble, revealing competing factors that researchers might be able to control. The work has a variety of implications in both discovery and applied science. In addition to providing insights into the formation of minerals and semiconductor nanomaterials, it might also help scientists understand soil as it expands and contracts through wetting and drying cycles.
A new chemical principle discovered by scientists at Indiana University has the potential to revolutionize the creation of specially engineered molecules whose uses include the reduction of nuclear waste and the extraction of chemical pollutants from water and soil.
Helping bacteria become more efficient when breaking down fibrous plant waste into biofuel could result in more affordable biofuels for our gas tanks and sustainable products such as bioplastics. One way to achieve this goal is to re-engineer the bacterial enzyme complexes, called cellulosomes, which serve as catalysts in the degradation process. Researchers discuss one method to produce cellulosomes in The Journal of Chemical Physics.
Scientists at the University of Chicago studied a massive set of genetic variants of an ancient protein, discovering a myriad of other ways that evolution could have turned out and revealing a central role for chance in evolutionary history.
Using cryo-electron microscopy (cryo-EM), Berkeley Lab scientists have obtained 3-D models of a human transcription factor at near-atomic resolutions. The protein complex is critical to gene expression and DNA repair, and could aid research in targeted drug development.
Detecting cancer could be as easy as a home pregnancy test. Platinum-coated gold nanoparticles developed by Michigan Technological University researchers could make cheap and simple test strip detection a reality.
A bite of bad yogurt or sip of spoiled milk could be a thing of the past thanks to a new sensor developed by Clarkson University Professor Silvana Andreescu. The innovative “smart label” is a low-cost, portable, paper-based sensor that can determine when food or cosmetics spoil.
Chemical engineers at the University of Notre Dame will contribute their expertise in materials development and modeling to a new research center that will focus on new methods of converting shale gas reserves into chemicals and transportation fuel.
The simple new technique could offer vastly superior predictions of disease severity in a huge range of conditions with a genetic component, including Alzheimer’s, autism, cancer, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, obesity, schizophrenia and depression.
Saint Louis University scientist Mee-Ngan F. Yap, Ph.D.,has uncovered the way a bacterial ribosome moves from an inactive to an active form, and how that "wake up call" is key to its survival.
Researchers at University of California San Diego School of Medicine and collaborators discovered a new kind of glycan (sugar chain) that survives even in a 4 million-year-old animal fossil from Kenya, under conditions where ancient DNA does not. While ancient hominin fossils are not yet available for glycan analysis, this proof-of-concept study, published September 11 in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, sets the stage for unprecedented explorations of human origins and diet.
A team of researchers from the National University of Singapore has successfully designed a novel organic material of superior electrical conductivity and energy retention capability for use in battery applications. This invention paves the way for the development of ultra-stable, high capacity and environmental friendly rechargeable batteries.
A team of scientists led by the University of Southampton has demonstrated a groundbreaking new method of gene synthesis – a vital research tool with real-world applications in everything from growing transplantable organs to developing treatments for cancer.
University of Delaware researchers have invented a more efficient process for extracting sugars from wood chips, corn cobs and other organic waste. This biorenewable feedstock could serve as a cheaper, sustainable substitute for petroleum used to make tons of consumer goods annually.
ZOWEEEE!! Kennesaw State University’s Office of Research recorded a big first: 4 DIFFERENT researchers garnered 4 NSF grants over 4 days. “This is a really cool story for us,” said Jonathan McMurry, associate vice president for research. “It was almost surreal, every day a new grant coming in!”
New study identifies a handful of molecular machines that run circadian clocks, biomechanical oscillators that control physiology, metabolism and behavior on a 24-hour cycle. Findings dispel traditional view that key clock proteins act individually and provide the first structural glimpse of the body’s circadian machine. Identifying protein complexes that operate the circadian clock could eventually lead to new treatments for disorders stemming from malfunctions in the system, including sleep problems, metabolic problems and cancer.
A new study provides further evidence that a simple scratch-and-sniff test could predict Parkinson’s disease even earlier than previously thought. According to Michigan State University researcher Honglei Chen, lead author and professor of epidemiology, the test could identify certain people who are at an increased risk of developing the disease up to 10 years before they are actually diagnosed.
An antimicrobial compound made by honeybees could become the basis for new antibiotics, according to new research at the University of Illinois at Chicago.
A team of researchers including Marina Alberti of the University of Washington has devised a new classification scheme for the evolutionary stages of worlds based on "non-equilibrium thermodynamics" — a planet's energy flow being out of synch, as the presence of life could cause.
West Virginia University biologists Kevin Daly and Andrew Dacks are working to uncover the mystery of corollary discharge functions for the sense of smell. Funded by a four year, $1.4 million Air Force grant, Daly and Dacks are studying an animal with one of the most sensitive senses of smell—moths.
A $2.4 million award from the National Science Foundation will enable a multidisciplinary team of researchers at the University of Arkansas and their colleagues at two other institutions to develop a chemical process that converts nitrogen and phosphorous from wastewater into commercial fertilizer.
Michigan State University scientists now have early proof that an antidepressant drug that’s been around for more than 50 years could slow the progression of Parkinson’s. In a proof-of-concept study, published in the journal Neurobiology of Disease, the drug nortriptyline, which has been used to treat depression and nerve pain, stopped the growth of abnormal proteins that can build up in the brain and lead to the development of the disease.
Relatively little is known about the effects of extreme negative pressure on water molecules. Exploring a significant region of negative pressure through molecular dynamic simulations, researchers have now theoretically discovered a new family of ice phases. Called aeroices, these ices have the lowest density of all known ice crystals. The researchers report their findings this week in The Journal of Chemical Physics.
The discovery of boron on Mars gives scientists more clues about whether life could have ever existed on the planet, according to a paper published today in the journal Geophysical Research Letters.
Humans, like other animals, become more sensitive to cold with age. Now, scientists from University of Utah Health report that delivering a single dose of a nutritional supplement called L-carnitine to older mice restores a youthful ability to adapt to the cold. After treatment, they tolerate chilly conditions that would ordinarily trigger hypothermia. As reported online in Cell Metabolism, the supplement works by boosting levels of a newly discovered fuel source for brown fat, or “good fat”.
A toxin produced by a bacterium that causes urinary tract infections is related to, yet different in key ways from, the toxin that causes whooping cough, according to new research. The findings, which will be published in the Sept. 8 issue of The Journal of Biological Chemistry, could aid in the development of new vaccines.
How proteins evolved billions of years ago, when Earth was devoid of life, has stumped many a scientist. A little do-si-do between amino acids and their chemical lookalikes may have done the trick. Evolutionary chemists tried it, and got results by the boatload.
Scientists at HHMI’s Janelia Research Campus have developed a new method for fine-tuning the structure of rhodamine dyes, and can now create a colorful palette of fluorescent molecules.
Berkeley Lab scientists have discovered the details of an unconventional coupling between a bacterial protein and a mineral that allows the bacterium to breathe when oxygen is not available.
A team of biologists has found an unexpected source for the brain’s development, a finding that offers new insights into the building of the nervous system.
Leaders of the Center for Biorenewable Chemicals are proposing a new model for creating, applying and commercializing chemicals made from biomass. The model calls for identifying “bioprivileged molecules” that offer unique properties.
Hengbin Wang and colleagues describe a key role for a protein called RSF1 in silencing genes. Besides the molecular biology details, the researchers also showed that disruption of RSF1 expression in the embryos of African clawed frogs caused severe developmental defects in the tadpoles.
A simple, sturdy graphene-based hybrid desalination membrane can provide clean water for agriculture and possibly human consumption.
Argonne and Columbia researchers reveal new significance to a decades-old chemical reaction theory, increasing our understanding of the interaction of gases, relevant to combustion and planetary atmospheres.
A group of researchers has developed an approach to efficiently produce antibodies that can bind to two different target molecules simultaneously, a long-desired innovation in the field of cancer immunotherapy. The details will be published in the Sept. 1 issue of the Journal of Biological Chemistry.
Ian A. Blair, PhD, an internationally recognized expert on applying mass spectrometry, has won the 2017 Founders’ Award from the Division of Chemical Toxicology of the American Chemical Society.
With this breakthrough, the high-performance polymer now could theoretically be used in any shape, size, or structure. And not just within the aerospace industry. The same material can be found in scores of electronic devices, including cell phones and televisions.
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