Liverpool chemists make breakthrough in solving long-standing puzzle in polymer science. New research by the University of Liverpool’s Chemistry Department represents an important breakthrough in the field of polymer science. In a paper published in the journal Nature Chemistry and featuring on the front cover, Liverpool researchers use mechanochemistry to characterise how a polymer chain in solution responds to a sudden acceleration of the solvent flow around it. This new approach allows a fundamental and technological question that has preoccupied…

From toxin to medicine in one go. The Vilsmeier reagent is necessary for producing a large range of pharmaceuticals, but its unstable nature and toxic precursor phosgene are challenges for its use. A new process that efficiently produces phosgene, the Vilsmeier reagent and the desired products in one flow is poised to make the industry greener and safer. For the production of many active pharmaceutical ingredients, a chemical called Vilsmeier reagent is necessary, but it is extremely unstable. That’s why…

Language is one aspect that makes us human. Other animals can learn words or calls and communicate, but the ability to generate an infinite number of utterances based on a small number of syntactic rules is unique to humans. A team of researchers led by Angela Friederici from MPI CBS in Leipzig, together with scientists from the Universities of Texas and Washington (USA), have now published a study in the journal PLOS Biology in which they directly compared the region…

The device contains encapsulated cells that produce insulin, plus a tiny oxygen-producing factory that keeps the cells healthy. One promising approach to treating Type 1 diabetes is implanting pancreatic islet cells that can produce insulin when needed, which can free patients from giving themselves frequent insulin injections. However, one major obstacle to this approach is that once the cells are implanted, they eventually run out of oxygen and stop producing insulin. To overcome that hurdle, MIT engineers have designed a…

NIH clinical trial of universal flu vaccine candidate begins. Enrollment in a Phase 1 trial of a new investigational universal influenza vaccine candidate has begun at the National Institutes of Health’s Clinical Center in Bethesda, Maryland. The trial is sponsored by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the NIH, and will evaluate the investigational vaccine for safety and its ability to elicit an immune response. Currently available seasonal influenza (or “flu”) vaccines are effective at…

Mitochondrial genome editing technique yields useful traits. North Carolina State University researchers have successfully transferred an important gene from one compartment of a plant cell to another to produce tobacco plants that lack pollen and viable seeds, while otherwise growing normally. Their findings could lead to better ways of producing hybrid seeds to maximize crop productivity, or to introduce seedlessness in fruit species lacking the often-desired trait, such as raspberries, blackberries or muscadine grapes. The researchers began the work in…

Depression is a common but serious mental disorder that requires early diagnosis and treatment; however, it is currently difficult to do so. Electroencephalogram (EEG) is a test that easily measures electrical activity, and the equipment is relatively inexpensive, such that it may be used to promote the early detection and treatment of depression. However, such a method has not been developed. The participants of this study were instructed to measure their EEG for 1 min every day at home across…

New research improves understanding of the molecular mechanisms behind why some cancers respond to immunotherapy and others don’t. A new study has shed light on why immunotherapy does not always work in certain types of cancer. Led by researchers at EMBL’s European Bioinformatics Institute (EMBL-EBI), Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL), and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), the work focuses on understanding why some tumours fail to respond to immune checkpoint blockade (ICB) therapy, an approved immunotherapy that harnesses the…

… may be key to slowing the progression of breast tumors. A study led by the IBEC demonstrates that laminin, a protein present in healthy breast tissues, prevents the effects of stiffening, protecting cells against tumor growth. Cells are capable of translating mechanical changes into biological responses. This process is known as mechanotransduction and plays a fundamental role in the progression of solid tumors, such as breast cancer. It is well-established that a common mechanical alteration in cancer progression involves…

SARS-CoV-2 lineage EG.5.1 has an advantage at evading neutralizing antibodies. As a result of vaccination or infection, our immune system produces antibodies that attach to the spike protein of SARS-CoV-2, preventing the virus from entering and replicating within cells. In response, the virus develops mutations that cause antibodies to bind less effectively to the spike protein. Since May 2023, the EG.5 lineage of SARS-CoV-2, known as Eris, has been spreading globally and was classified as a “Variant of Interest” by…

Researchers at TU Dresden create pioneering approaches for the detection of viral antigens. The outbreak of the COVID pandemic in 2020 has once again shown how important reliable and rapid detection methods are to initiate effective measures to combat a pandemic. Scientists from the Chair of Materials Science and Nanotechnology at TU Dresden (TUD) have made considerable progress in the development of highly innovative solutions for the detection of viral pathogens in two studies they presented recently. The results of…

The project coordinated by Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia has been funded with 3 million euro by the European Union. A tool that uses light to study biological molecules without interfering with their nanometric structure and that allows scientists to image basic living mechanisms with sub-millisecond acquisition time. It is the new generation microscope Micro4PAP, which is able to perform in-vivo imaging of the cell mechanical properties (rigidity, stiffness, viscosity), which is under development within the EU-funded project Micro4PAP led by…

The vertebral bones that form the spine are derived from a distinct type of stem cell that secretes a protein favoring tumor metastases, according to a study led by researchers at Weill Cornell Medicine. The discovery opens up a new line of research on spinal disorders, helps explain why solid tumors so often spread to the spine, and could lead to new orthopedic and cancer treatments. In the study, published Sept. 13 in Nature, the researchers discovered that vertebral bone is…

Researchers at Utah State University have successfully demonstrated that hagfish slime proteins can accurately replicate membranes in the human eye. Professor Elizabeth Vargis and her team study a condition called age-related macular degeneration that causes damage to the retina, making it difficult to see. They study in vitro models, or a model developed in a laboratory setting, of Bruch’s membrane, a layer in the retina of the eye, to compare the natural aging process to the effects of AMD. They…

Scientists find evolutionary clues while examining microbes in far-flung hot springs. Oak Ridge National Laboratory scientists studied hot springs on different continents and found similarities in how some microbes adapted despite their geographic diversity. The findings yield clues to the evolution of life and whether some of the hardiest microbes may be harnessed for biotechnology. The study was the first of its kind to sample hot springs on three continents with water temperatures above 65 C (149 F) in the United States, Iceland and…

Scientists combine Bessel beam two-photon microscopy with high throughput analysis for faster and more precise measurements of blood flow. The brain is perhaps the most sensitive organ with respect to changes in blood flow and oxygen supply. Even brief interruptions in capillary flow (or “stalling”) can indicate acute neurological issues; evidence suggests that chronic conditions like Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases are closely related to stalling events. Thus, investigating the effects of stalling could lead to the development of therapies for…