Zeroing in on Dopamine
Harvard Medical SchoolHarvard Medical School scientists have identified the molecular machinery responsible for secretion of the neurotransmitter dopamine, opening door for new strategies to precision target dopamine release.
Harvard Medical School scientists have identified the molecular machinery responsible for secretion of the neurotransmitter dopamine, opening door for new strategies to precision target dopamine release.
A pair of Argonne scientists uncover fresh insights about the structure of saltwater.
The Endocrine Society called for European regulators to ensure that endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs) can be identified using practical, achievable scientific standards in detailed comments on a draft guidance document for implementing criteria for the identification of EDCs.
Scientists at the Department of Energy’s SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory have discovered a way to triple the amount of power generated by the world’s most powerful X-ray laser. The new technique, developed at SLAC’s Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS), will enable researchers to observe the atomic structure of molecules and ultrafast chemical processes that were previously undetectable at the atomic scale.
University of California, Irvine scientists have created a new chemical tool that can analyze RNA structures within living cells. The technique could facilitate a better grasp of how RNA structures fold and form in cells, as well as help in the design of drugs targeting RNA.
A team of researchers at the University of Georgia has developed a non-invasive method of delivering drugs directly to cancerous tissue using magnetic forces, a form of treatment that could significantly reduce the toxic side effects of chemotherapy.
Chemists have measured the effects of nanoconfinement on catalytic reactions by developing experimental techniques capable of tracking single molecules. Understanding such reactions could help chemists design high-performance catalysts.
Stable, biocompatible microcapsules have gained a new power — the ability to scavenge reactive oxygen species. This may aid microcapsule survival in the body as the tiny polymer capsules carry a drug or other biomolecules, or find use in antioxidant therapy or industrial applications.
Sixteen federal agencies partnered to develop a strategic roadmap that offers a new framework for the safety testing of drugs and chemicals, which aims to provide more human relevant toxicology data while reducing the use of animals. The roadmap was published Jan. 30 by the National Toxicology Program (NTP), a federal interagency program headquartered at the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) in North Carolina. NIEHS is part of the National Institutes of Health.
Lucero Alvarez Vieyra first learned about Sonoma State University as a high schooler through its Upward Bound program. Now, with the help of faculty and staff, she’s on track to graduate and create a better life for her daughter.
The American Cleaning Institute (ACI) launched “Exploration Clean”, an online experience aimed at teaching middle-school students the science and chemistry behind cleaning. This is the first step in creating a platform containing educational modules for children describing the science and engineering that goes into cleaning products
A particular set of chemical reactions governs many of the processes around us—everything from bridges corroding in water to your breakfast breaking down in your gut. One crucial part of that reaction involves electrons striking water, and despite how commonplace this reaction is, scientists still have to use ballpark numbers for certain parts of the equation when they use computers to model them. A study offers a new and better set of numbers, which may help scientists and engineers create better ways to split water for hydrogen fuel and other chemical processes.
Researchers with the University of Chicago have published a concept to use a naturally occurring mineral called calcite to “grow” scales that can attach to soft materials. The setup could one day serve as waterproof implants to reinforce bones or joints.
Nanoengineers at the University of California San Diego have developed an energy-efficient recycling process that restores used cathodes from spent lithium ion batteries and makes them work just as good as new. The process involves harvesting the degraded cathode particles from a used battery and then boiling and heat treating them. Researchers built new batteries using the regenerated cathodes. Charge storage capacity, charging time and battery lifetime were all restored to their original levels.
A team from the University of Delaware and University of California, San Diego recently uncovered new insights about how E. coli bacteria mutate in response to a life-threatening challenge.
A transdisciplinary team examined regulatory impacts on Great Lakes mercury, focusing on an Upper Peninsula tribal community with high fish consumption.
Researchers explain a cell differentiation mechanism in Nature Genetics.
Rutgers scientists have found the “Legos of life” – four core chemical structures that can be stacked together to build the myriad proteins inside every organism – after smashing and dissecting nearly 10,000 proteins to understand their component parts. The four building blocks make energy available for humans and all other living organisms, according to a study published online today in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Plastics are often derived from petroleum, contributing to reliance on fossil fuels and driving harmful greenhouse gas emissions. To change that, Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center (GLBRC) scientists are trying to take the pliable nature of plastic in another direction, developing new and renewable ways of creating plastics from biomass.
Northwestern University researchers have developed a first-of-its-kind technique for creating entirely new classes of optical materials and devices that could lead to light bending and cloaking devices — news to make the ears of Star Trek’s Spock perk up.
Scientists at the University of Washington announced that they have built and tested a new biomaterial-based delivery system — known as a hydrogel — that will encase a desired cargo and dissolve to release its freight only when specific physiological conditions are met.
Northwestern University’s Chad A. Mirkin will receive the prestigious Remsen Memorial Lecture Award for his outstanding discoveries in chemistry.
Astronomers using the Green Bank Telescope have made the first definitive interstellar detection of benzonitrile, an intriguing organic molecule that helps to chemically link simple carbon-based molecules and truly massive ones known as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons. This discovery is a vital clue in a 30-year-old mystery: identifying the source of a faint infrared glow that permeates the Milky Way and other galaxies.
U.S. Department of Energy Secretary Rick Perry visited Argonne National Laboratory yesterday, getting a first-hand view of the multifaceted and interdisciplinary research program laboratory of the Department.
A detailed study of blue salt crystals found in two meteorites that crashed to Earth – which included X-ray experiments at Berkeley Lab – found that they contain both liquid water and a mix of complex organic compounds including hydrocarbons and amino acids.
January 2018 issue of SOT journal honors the publication's 20-year history and features the newest, groundbreaking research in toxicology.
Using Argonne’s Advanced Photon Source, researchers analyzed how organic solar cells’ crystal structures develop as they are produced under different conditions. With the APS, researchers learned how certain additives affect the microstructures obtained, providing new insights that can improve the cells’ efficiency.
Methane in shale gas can be turned into hydrocarbon fuels using an innovative platinum and copper alloy catalyst, according to new research led by UCL (University College London) and Tufts University.
Following the chemistry, scientists develop fascinating new theory for how life on Earth may have begun.
Specific compounds are transformed by and strongly associated with specific bacteria in native biological soil crust (biocrust) using a suite of tools called “exometabolomics.” Understanding how microbial communities in biocrusts adapt to harsh environments could shed light on the roles of soil microbes in the global carbon cycle.
Researchers at Johns Hopkins Medicine report they have identified rare genetic variations in a protein called Thorase, which is responsible for breaking down receptors at the connections between neurons in the brain.
Researchers at the University of Georgia have now shown that the enzyme that makes the El Tor family of V. cholerae resistant to those antibiotics has a different mechanism of action from any comparable proteins observed in bacteria so far. Understanding that mechanism better equips researchers to overcome the challenge it presents in a world with increasing antibiotic resistance. The results of this research are published in the Dec. 22, 2017 issue of the Journal of Biological Chemistry.
For the more than 1 million Americans who live with type 1 diabetes, daily insulin injections are literally a matter of life and death. And while there is no cure, a Cornell University-led research team has developed a device that could revolutionize management of the disease.
A first-of-its-kind study published in the Pain Management issue of AACC’s The Journal of Applied Laboratory Medicine shows that a new drug testing approach dramatically improves detection of illicit benzodiazepine use. This could help to curb abuse of these drugs, which are second only to opioids as a cause of prescription drug overdose deaths in the U.S.
Innovative research published in the Obesity issue of AACC’s journal, Clinical Chemistry, demonstrates that people are at greater risk for obesity if they produce higher than normal levels of insulin after eating processed carbohydrates. These findings support the still controversial theory that refined carbs are driving the obesity epidemic.
Laboratory medicine experts are using genomics, metabolomics, and other cutting-edge clinical testing methods to advance the understanding of obesity. A special issue of AACC’s journal Clinical Chemistry, “Obesity: Innovative Approaches to Overcome Obstacles,” highlights the latest innovations in the field that could lead to more effective public health policies to curb this epidemic.
Millions of Asian families use cookstoves and often fuel them with cheap biofuels to prepare food. But the smoke emitted from these cookstoves has a definite, detrimental environmental impact, particularly in India. New research from Washington University in St. Louis offers a clearer picture of the topic’s true scope.
As medicine and pharmacology investigate nanoscale processes, it has become increasingly important to identify and characterize different molecules. Raman spectroscopy, which leverages the scattering of laser light to identify molecules, has a limited capacity to detect molecules in diluted samples because of low signal yield, but researchers in India have improved molecular detection at low concentration levels by arranging silver nanoparticles on silicon nanowires. They describe their work in this week’s Journal of Applied Physics.
So far, the search for catalysts even better than transition metals has been largely based on trial and error, and on the assumption that catalyzed reactions take place on step edges and other atomic defect sites of the metal crystals. An international research team has combined experiments using advanced infrared techniques with quantum theory to explore methane dissociation reactions in minute detail. They report their findings this week in The Journal of Chemical Physics.
Mount Sinai researchers have discovered a new drug combination that could provide the first targeted therapy for some of the deadliest cancers, as well as molecular predictors of tumor response to the therapy, according to a study published in Cell Reports in January.
Research shows that missense mutations in a cluster of just five codons in the NF1 gene are an important risk factor for severe symptoms of the genetic disease neurofibromatosis type 1. Such information is vital to help guide clinical management and genetic counseling in this complex disease.
When viruses infect the body’s cells, those cells face a difficult problem. How can they destroy viruses without harming themselves? Scientists at University of Utah Health have found an answer by visualizing a tiny cellular machine that chops the viruses’ genetic material into bits.
Every day, every inch of skin on your body comes into contact with thousands of molecules — from food, cosmetics, sweat, the microbes that call your skin home. Now researchers can create interactive 3D maps that show where each molecule lingers on your body, thanks to a new method developed by University of California San Diego and European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) researchers.
The findings point the way to targeting diseases where this protein is mutated.
An FDA-approved drug to treat high blood pressure seems to extend life span in worms via a cell signaling pathway that may mimic caloric restriction.
Delivering drugs specifically to cancer cells is one approach researchers are taking to minimize treatment side effects. Stem cells, bacteria and other carriers have been tested as tiny delivery vehicles. Now a new potential drug carrier to treat gynecological conditions has joined the fleet: sperm. Scientistsreport in the journal ACS Nano that they have exploited the swimming power of sperm to ferry a cancer drug directly to a cervical tumor in lab tests.
Silver nanoparticles are being used in clothing for their anti-odor abilities but some of this silver comes off when the clothes are laundered. The wastewater from this process could end up in the environment, possibly harming aquatic life, so researchers have attempted to recover the silver. Now, one group reports in ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering that detergent chemistry plays a significant role in how much of this silver can be removed from laundry wastewater.
A dark exciton can store information in its spin state, analogous to how a regular, classical bit stores information in its off or on state, but dark excitons do not emit light, making it hard to determine their spins and use them for quantum information processing. In new experiments, however, researchers can read the spin states of dark excitons, and do it more efficiently than before. Their demonstration, described in APL Photonics, can help researchers scale up dark exciton systems to build larger devices for quantum computing.