Feature Channels: Chemistry

• share
• favorite_border

Proteins are huge molecules whose function depends on how they fold into intricate structures. To understand how these molecules work, researchers use computer modeling to calculate how proteins fold. Now, a new algorithm can accelerate those vital simulations, enabling them to model phenomena that were previously out of reach. The results can eventually help scientists better understand and treat diseases like Alzheimer's. The work is described this week in The Journal of Chemical Physics.

• share
• favorite_border

UT Southwestern Medical Center researchers have identified a chemical that suppresses the lethal form of a parasitic infection caused by roundworms that affects up to 100 million people and usually causes only mild symptoms.

• share
• favorite_border

Iowa State's Robbyn Annand is studying how a hybrid of electrochemical and microfluidic technologies could be used to improve the dialysis equipment that cleans salt, waste and water from blood. That technology could enable a wearable, artificial kidney.

• share
• favorite_border

Two researchers in the department of anatomy and cell biology in the UIC College of Medicine have received a seed grant to develop a new drug delivery method that holds promise in the treatment of multiple sclerosis.

• share
• favorite_border

Human sperm may hold the potential to serve as biomarkers of the future health of newborn infants, according to a new study by a Wayne State University School of Medicine research team.

• share
• favorite_border

Though most “low molecular weight polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons” (LMW PAHs) have not been shown to cause cancer alone, the study shows that in common combinations, these chemicals can help to spark the disease.

• share
• favorite_border

In a study led by the University of Delaware and the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, researchers discovered a "brake" that interferes with HIV's development into an infectious agent. This mechanism prevents the capsid - the protein shell covering the virus - from forming.

• share
• favorite_border

Metal-organic frameworks with chains of iron centers adsorb and release carbon monoxide with very little energy input.

• share
• favorite_border

Researchers at the California Institute of Technology have developed an approach to overcome a major stumbling block in testing new drug targets. The research is reported in a Nov. 24 paper in the Journal of Biological Chemistry.

• share
• favorite_border

A cross-disciplinary research team from Washington University in St. Louis discovered both a framework to predict where neutrons will inhabit a nucleus and a way to predict the skin thickness of a nucleus.

• share
• favorite_border

In a rare honor for an American university, three Northwestern University scientists — Sir Fraser Stoddart, Chad Mirkin and Yonggang Huang — have been elected foreign members of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. The three were selected for their scientific achievements and contributions to promoting the development of science and technology in China.

• share
• favorite_border

This “semi-synthetic” strain of E. coli is the first to both contain unnatural bases in its DNA and use the bases to instruct cells to make a new protein.

• share
• favorite_border

University of Colorado Boulder researchers are developing new techniques for faster, more cost-effective single-molecule DNA sequencing that could have transformative impacts on genetic screening.

• share
• favorite_border

A research drive at the University of Kansas School of Engineering is working toward the design and marketing of a low-cost, easy-to-use device that would filter up to 99 percent of sulfites from wine when it’s poured from the bottle.

• share
• favorite_border

• share
• favorite_border

Simple paper-strip testing has the potential to tell us quickly what’s in water, and other liquid samples from food, the environment and bodies — but current tests don’t handle solid samples well. Now researchers have developed a way to make these low-cost devices more versatile and reliable for analyzing both liquid and solid samples using adhesive tape. They report their approach in the journal ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces.

• share
• favorite_border

Research led by scientists at the University of Birmingham shows more precisely how G protein-coupled receptors, which are the key target of a large number of drugs, work.

• share
• favorite_border

Qi-Qun Tang, a professor of in the department of biochemistry and molecular biology at the Fudan University School of Basic Medical Sciences in Shanghai, China, has joined the Journal of Biological Chemistry as an associate editor.

• share
• favorite_border

Researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Ames Laboratory have developed germanium nanoparticles with improved photoluminescence, making them potentially better materials for solar cells and imaging probes. The research team found that by adding tin to the nanoparticle’s germanium core, its lattice structure better matched the lattice structure of the cadmium-sulfide coating which allows the particles to absorb more light.

• share
• favorite_border

A team of Department of Energy (DOE) scientists at the Joint Center for Energy Storage Research (JCESR) has discovered the fastest magnesium-ion solid-state conductor, a major step towards making solid-state magnesium-ion batteries that are both energy dense and safe.