Microorganisms can help to extract dangerous heavy metals from wastewater. A research team at the Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf (HZDR) has managed to purify water containing uranium using a special kind of bacteria known as magnetotactic bacteria. The name derives from their ability to react to magnetic fields. They can accumulate dissolved heavy metal in their cell walls. These research findings (DOI: 10.1016/j.jhazmat.2022.129376) also shed new light on the interaction between uranium and bioligands. “Our experiments are geared towards potential industrial applications…
… is suitable for packaging and food products. The innovative and universally applicable barrier layer is both impermeable to water and heat-resistant, mechanically resilient and also suitable for consumption or compostable. It is suitable for packaging, but also to separate individual components in food from each other. Sustainability is also a major challenge in the food and packaging industry. Plastic packaging is being replaced by organic-based and biodegradable materials, but it must still fulfill high functional requirements. For example, both…
Research team investigates links between molecular structure, function, and dynamics in enzymes. Professor Nicolas Doucet and his team at Institut national de la recherche scientifique (INRS) made a major breakthrough earlier this year in the field of evolutionary conservation of molecular dynamics in enzymes. Their work, published in the journal Structure, points to potential applications in health, including the development of new drugs to treat serious diseases such as cancer or to counter antibiotic resistance. As a researcher specializing in…
One of the most basic and crucial embryonic processes to unfold in virtually every living organism is the formation of hollow, tubular structures of various kinds. These tubes may form blood vessels or a digestive tract, and through branching and differentiation, complex organs including the heart, kidneys, and mammary glands. Abnormalities in these processes can cause congenital disorders such as dysfunctional, displaced, or non-symmetrical organs, as well as regeneration defects in blood vessels or in other regenerative organs. Despite its…
Animals can synthesize phytosterols. Phytosterols are good for your health, but humans and other animals are not able to make them themselves. To acquire phytosterols, humans are increasingly turning to supplements, green smoothies, or a Mediterranean diet with plenty of plant-based foods. Researchers from the Max Planck Institute for Marine Microbiology in Bremen, Germany have now discovered that tiny gutless worms from the Mediterranean can synthesize phytosterols on their own. Their study, now published in Science, provides evidence that many…
By using deep learning-generated ‘fingerprints’ to characterize millions of protein fragments, EPFL researchers have computationally designed novel protein binders that attach seamlessly to key targets, including the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein. In 2019, scientists in the joint School of Engineering and School of Life Sciences Laboratory of Protein Design and Immunoengineering (LPDI) led by Bruno Correia developed MaSIF: a machine learning-driven method for scanning millions of protein surfaces within minutes to analyze their structure and functional properties. The researchers’ ultimate goal…
Breakthroughs in ancient genome reconstruction and biotechnology are now revealing the rich molecular secrets of Paleolithic microorganisms. In a new study published in Science, a transdisciplinary team of researchers led by the Leibniz Institute for Natural Product Research and Infection Biology, the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, and Harvard University reconstructed bacterial genomes of previously unknown bacteria dating to the Pleistocene. Using their genetic blueprints, they built a biotechnology platform to revive the ancient bacteria’s natural products. Microbes are…
Scientists from four research institutes in the Science City Hamburg Bahrenfeld have joined forces to develop a ground-breaking experimental setup. Their new Spitrobot greatly simplifies observing changes in proteins as they carry out their functions. This makes time-resolved crystallography accessible for non-specialist research groups, as samples can now be prepared in standard labs and processed by automated established high-throughput methods elsewhere. The device will accelerate fundamental research in health and disease. The team has now presented the concept behind the…
Idiopathic CD4 lymphocytopenia leaves immune system vulnerable to other diseases, cancers. In an 11-year study, researchers at the National Institutes of Health have further characterized idiopathic CD4 lymphocytopenia (ICL), a rare immune deficiency that leaves people vulnerable to infectious diseases, autoimmune diseases and cancers. Researchers observed that people with the most severe cases of ICL had the highest risk of acquiring or developing several of the diseases associated with this immune deficiency. This study, published in the New England Journal…
Cocoa plays an important role in Brazilian agriculture. However, the fruit of the cacao tree (cocoa pods) is prone to fungal diseases. In the 1990s, a fungal epidemic caused cocoa production in Brazil to collapse. Nowadays, pest infestations are responsible for crop losses of up to 40 percent worldwide. In collaboration with the State University of Campinas, Brazil, researchers at the Fraunhofer IVV are looking to establish new ways of using damaged cocoa pods as part of the Damaged Beans…
Harmful PFAS chemicals can now be detected in many soils and bodies of water. Removing them using conventional filter techniques is costly and almost infeasible. Researchers at the Fraunhofer Institute for Interfacial Engineering and Biotechnology IGB are now successfully implementing a plasma-based technology in the AtWaPlas joint research project. Contaminated water is fed into a combined glass and stainless steel cylinder where it is then treated with ionized gas, i.e. plasma. This reduces the PFAS molecular chains, allowing the toxic…
Scientists of the Princess Máxima Center for pediatric oncology and Hubrecht Institute in the Netherlands have revealed new scientific insights into the features of fibrolamellar carcinoma (FLC), a rare type of childhood liver cancer. Their findings, published today in Nature Communications, may help in developing new drug therapies in the future. Mini organs and the ‘molecular scissor’ system CRISPR-Cas9, allowed the researchers to better understand tumor biology and biological consequences of different DNA changes. It also uncovered the probable cell-of origin of…
Greenlandic ice is teeming with life, both on the surface and underneath. There are microscopic organisms that until recently science had no idea existed. There is even evidence to suggest that the tiny creatures colour the ice and make it melt faster. There are no plants, and only very few animals: people rarely come here. The large glaciers in Greenland have long been perceived as ice deserts. Gigantic ice sheets where conditions for life are extremely harsh. But now, it…
A previously unknown form of hydrogel formation has been elucidated: chemists found unusual interactions between polymers. Hydrogels? Many people use these substances without knowing it. As superabsorbents in nappies, for example, hydrogels absorb a lot of liquid. In the process, the initially dry material becomes Jelly-like, but it does not wet. Some people place the swellable material on their eyeballs – soft contact lenses are also just hydrogels. The same goes for jelly and other everyday materials. Hydrogels also play…
An intrinsic limitation in AFM imaging is that only the surface topography can be acquired, and the AFM tip is too large to resolve details below the nanometer scale. To facilitate the interpretation and understanding of HS-AFM observations, post-experimental analysis and computational methods play an increasingly important role. In their review paper published in the Current Opinion in Structural Biology journal Holger Flechsig (NanoLSI, Computational Science), and Toshio Ando (Distinguished Professor at NanoLSI) provide an overview of developments in this topical…
Multiple myeloma is a rare blood cancer caused by the uncontrolled multiplication of abnormal plasma cells. These plasma cells are a special type of white blood cells that play an important role in the immune system by producing essential antibodies in the bone marrow and lymph nodes. Despite an increasing number of approved drugs and treatment approaches such as immunotherapy becoming available, the disease is still not curable. The average life expectancy of patients after diagnosis is only five years….
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