A method developed in the TransEvo research training group saves time and costs when analysing complex microbiological samples. In medical research and diagnostics, the microbiome, i.e. the microbial colonisation of the intestine, is increasingly gaining attention. A stool sample can be used to precisely analyse the complex microbial ecosystem of the gut. There are basically two methods for this: traditional cultivation on plates with specific culture media or the quite expensive DNA analysis of the stool sample. Both methods on…
Will enable powerful AI in your portable devices. Everyone is talking about the newest AI and the power of neural networks, forgetting that software is limited by the hardware on which it runs. But it is hardware, says USC Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering Joshua Yang, that has become “the bottleneck.” Now, Yang’s new research with collaborators might change that. They believe that they have developed a new type of chip with the best memory of any chip thus…
… associated with cancer progression using a selective dye. M1 and M2 are activated macrophages that protect our immune system and maintain homeostasis. Interestingly, they are characterized by distinct and opposing phenotypes. M1 macrophages are known for their bactericidal and tumoricidal properties by secreting pro-inflammatory cytokines, while M2 macrophages facilitate immunosuppressive responses and help cancer progression. As such, reprogramming macrophages from M2 to M1 phenotype has been regarded as a significant interest in the view of potential cancer treatment methods….
Assessing how energy-generating synthetic organelles could sustain artificial cells. Energy production in nature is the responsibility of chloroplasts and mitochondria and is crucial for fabricating sustainable, synthetic cells in the lab. Mitochondria are not only “the powerhouses of the cell,” as the middle school biology adage goes, but also one of the most complex intracellular components to replicate artificially. In Biophysics Reviews, by AIP Publishing, researchers from Sogang University in South Korea and the Harbin Institute of Technology in China…
A team of scientists led by the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory designed a molecule that disrupts the infection mechanism of the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus and could be used to develop new treatments for COVID-19 and other viral diseases. The molecule targets a lesser-studied enzyme in COVID-19 research, PLpro, that helps the coronavirus multiply and hampers the host body’s immune response. The molecule, called a covalent inhibitor, forms a strong chemical bond with its intended protein target and thus…
“Seven, one, nine, …”: A human voice pronounces digits, a physical material recognizes them with about 97 percent accuracy. This pattern recognition system was developed by physicists at the University of Duisburg-Essen (UDE) in collaboration with Ghent University (Belgium). The development enables multidimensional problems to be solved quickly and without energy-consuming training. The scientific journal Advanced Intelligent Systems published the results. Is it possible for an inanimate material to recognize patterns quickly and efficiently? That was the question asked by…
Material scientists develop nano-structured and reusable substrate for ultra-sensitive detection of low-concentration analytes. Surface-Enhanced Raman Scattering (or Spectroscopy), known as SERS, is an advanced analysis method that extends the range of Raman applications to trace analysis such as part per million level detection of a pollutant in water or different liquids. SERS has a high potential to be used in the fields of biochemistry, forensics, food safety, threat detection, and medical diagnostics. But before the method can be applied at…
If climate change causes more rain, this promotes the weathering of rocks and thus the erosion of the soil. The dissolved substances reach the sea via rivers. A new model from Helmholtz-Zentrum Hereon shows: The process has an impact on CO2 storage there. If global emissions of greenhouse gases increase sharply, as they have in the past, this increases the ability to bind them. When emissions are low, the opposite happens. The study looked at the factors that favor sequestration…
Infection and immunity status of the population are considered key parameters for handling pandemics. For this purpose, detecting antigens and antibodies is of great importance. The devices currently used for this purpose – what are known as point-of-care (POC) devices- are one option for rapid screening. Their sensitivity, however, needs further improvement. Scientists at the Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf (HZDR) have been successful in such improvement by developing a nanobiosensor based on gold nanowires. Originally only intended for the detection of COVID-19-associated…
… inspired by C3N4 for photosynthesis of hydrogen peroxide with high quantum efficiency. H2O2 is not only a green oxidant that widely used in environmental remediation, industrial synthesis, and medical healthcare, etc., but also an emerging energy carrier with a high energy density comparable to compressed H2. At present, anthraquinone oxidation is still the primary route for large-scale H2O2 production, which requires a high energy input and creates a lot of harmful pollutants. As an alternative, photosynthesis of H2O2 from…
Scientists at the Universities of Würzburg and Ottawa have solved the decades-old problem of distinguishing between single and multiple light excitations. They present their new method in the journal Nature. The construction of the first laser in 1960 ushered in commercial applications with light that have become an integral part of our everyday lives. At the same time, this development opened up the scientific field of laser spectroscopy – a technique that is central to the analysis of materials and…
Plasma physicists from Ukraine, Germany and Japan collaborate to spark fusion power. Lead author Yurii Victorovich Kovtun, despite being forced to evacuate the Kharkiv Institute of Physics and Technology amid the current Russia-Ukraine war, has continued to work with Kyoto University to create stable plasmas using microwaves. Getting plasma just right is one of the hurdles to harnessing the massive amounts of energy promised by nuclear fusion. Plasmas — soups of ions and electrons — must be held at the right density, temperature,…
Graphene is the strongest of all materials. On top of that, it is exceptionally good at conducting heat and electrical currents, making it one of the most special and versatile materials we know. For all these reasons, the discovery of graphene was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2010. Yet, many properties of the material and its cousins are still poorly understood – for the simple reason that the atoms they are made up of are very difficult to…
Detailed PSMA PET mapping of cancer recurrence in the prostate bed shows that current radiotherapy contouring guidelines—which determine the target areas for treatment—miss a significant number of lesions and may irradiate healthy tissues unnecessarily. In a new study published online by The Journal of Nuclear Medicine, researchers are calling for the redefinition of prostate bed contouring guidelines to improve outcomes for patients. Approximately one-third of prostate cancer patients who undergo radical prostatectomy experience disease progression within 10 years. Salvage radiation therapy…
A new SISSA study proposes an array of interferometers in space to detect subtle fluctuations in the background gravitational signals that may reveal the secrets of black hole mergers. Every year, hundreds of thousands of pairs of black holes merge in a cosmic dance that emits gravitational waves in every direction. Since 2015, the large ground-based LIGO, Virgo and KAGRA interferometers have made it possible to detect these signals, although only about a hundred such events, an infinitesimal fraction of…
LMS instrument will study electrical conductivity of the Moon’s interior. Southwest Research Institute recently delivered the Lunar Magnetotelluric Sounder (LMS) to Firefly Aerospace in Cedar Park, Texas, for integration into the Blue Ghost 1 lunar lander scheduled to arrive at the Moon in 2024. The sounder will determine the electrical conductivity of the interior of the Moon by measuring low-frequency electric and magnetic fields. “For more than 50 years, scientists have used magnetotelluric techniques, which use natural characteristics of the…
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