Researchers at the Max Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces (MPICI) have designed a carbohydrate sequence capable of folding into a stable secondary structure. Until now, such self-folding biopolymers had only been developed for DNA and proteins, and sugars were previously considered too flexible to assume a stable conformation. Folded carbohydrates could open up completely new perspectives in biomedicine and materials science. Carbohydrates make up about 80 percent of the earth’s biomass – half on land and half in the…

Researchers have developed a metallic gel that is highly electrically conductive and can be used to print three-dimensional (3D) solid objects at room temperature. “3D printing has revolutionized manufacturing, but we’re not aware of previous technologies that allowed you to print 3D metal objects at room temperature in a single step,” says Michael Dickey, co-corresponding author of a paper on the work and the Camille & Henry Dreyfus Professor of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at North Carolina State University. “This…

How a molecular switch controls lipid metabolism. Our body’s fat metabolism plays a vital role in energy production in our body. A research team at the University of Basel, has discovered a molecular switch that regulates lipid metabolism in our cells. This switch controls the storage or conversion of lipids into energy. All organisms need energy to live. We get energy from various components of our food. Our body uses a part of this energy directly and stores the rest….

HITS researchers publish new findings on collagen, the most abundant protein in our body: So-called “sacrificial bonds” in collagen break faster than the basic structure and thus protect the tissue as a whole because they track down harmful radicals that are produced during mechanical stress. The work was published in “Nature Communications.” One of the more unusual ways objects can increase longevity is by sacrificing a part of themselves: From dummy burial chambers used to deceive tomb raiders, to a…

… by capturing cancer DNA using nanowires. A group led by researchers at Nagoya University in Japan has developed a technology to capture and release cell-free DNA (cfDNA) on nanowire surfaces from urine. By extracting this DNA, they were able to successfully detect IDH1 mutation, a characteristic genetic mutation of gliomas, a type of brain tumor. Their findings increase the effectiveness of cancer detection tests using urine. They published their results in the journal Biosensors and Bioelectronics.   Brain tumors are…

Tubulin is a protein that plays a crucial role in the structure and function of cells. It is the main component of microtubules, which are long, hollow fibers that provide structural support, help the cell divide, give it its shape, and act as tracks for moving molecular cargo around inside the cell. There are two types of tubulin: alpha-tubulin and beta-tubulin. Together, they form dimeric (two-part) building blocks, spontaneously assembling into microtubules that undergo further continuous cycles of assembly and…

Since the mid-1600s, chemists have been fascinated with brightly colored, coral-like structures that form by mixing metal salts in a small bottle. Until now, researchers have been unable to model how these deceptively simple tubular structures —called chemical gardens — work and the patterns and rules that govern their formation. In a paper published this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Florida State University researchers lay out a model that explains how these structures grow upward,…

FAU researchers develop an intelligent suit that recognizes movement intent. An intelligent suit is hoped to significantly improve rehabilitation after a serious spinal cord injury. The AI-supported solution will be developed over the next three years by researchers from Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU) working in collaboration with Heidelberg University and Heidelberg University Hospital. It combines electrical simulation of muscles with support for movement using artificial tendons, and reacts to patients’ intended movements. The German Research Foundation has provided a total of…

FAU researcher awarded 1.3 million euros for two medical engineering projects. Patients with limited hand function are soon set to benefit from an intelligent neuro-orthosis that will enable them to lead independent lives again. Prof. Dr. Alessandro Del Vecchio, a neuroscientist at Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU), is working on this aim in two new projects and has received over 1.3 million euros of funding from the Free State of Bavaria. The main focus of this research during the next three years…

How the motion of DNA controls gene activity. Despite being densely packed to fit into the nucleus, chromosomes storing our genetic information are always in motion. This allows specific regions to come into contact and thereby activate a gene. A group of scientists from the Institute of Science and Technology Austria (ISTA), Princeton University, and the Institut Pasteur in Paris now visualized this dynamic process and give novel insights into the physical characteristics of DNA. Performing cutting-edge science requires thinking…

Multiple sclerosis (MS) affects millions of people worldwide, and there is currently no cure for this disease of the central nervous system. Damage to the nerve fibres, also called axons, is responsible for the severity of MS in patients and for the course of the disease. And myelin, which is the protective layer around axons, plays a key role in this process. Researchers at Leipzig University and Max Planck Institute for Multidisciplinary Sciences in Göttingen have discovered that myelin, which…

UC Riverside-led study could have applications in sensing and anti-counterfeit technology. Some molecules exist in two forms such that their structures and their mirror images are not superimposable, like our left and right hands. Called chirality, it is a property these molecules have due to their asymmetry. Chiral molecules tend to be optically active because of how they interact with light. Oftentimes, only one form of a chiral molecule exists in nature, for example, DNA. Interestingly, if a chiral molecule…

The genetic plans within our DNA come to functional fruition through proteins, which underlie our bodies’ structure and activity. Yet, the proteome – all the proteins within a cell or given area – remains relatively mysterious because protein landscapes are incredibly complex. Humans, for example, make tens of thousands of different proteins. To help decipher this complexity, a team of Stanford University researchers has led the development of a new method, called TransitID, for tracking the complete activity of proteins…

…to accelerate development of new antivirals and drug discovery. This breakthrough has the potential to get drugs to people faster in the next crisis and bring treatments for urgent, life-threatening illnesses within reach. In a new study, researchers from IBM, Oxford University and Diamond Light Source show that IBM’s AI Model,  MoLFormer, can generate antiviral molecules for multiple target virus proteins, including SARS-CoV-2, that can accelerate the drug discovery process..  The results, are laid out in a new paper in Science Advances,  and…

With a flick of a switch, current technologies allow you to quickly change materials from being dark to light, or cold to hot, just by blocking or transmitting specific wavelengths. But now, inspired by squid skin, researchers in ACS Nano report a soft film that can regulate its transparency across a large range of wavelengths — visible, infrared and microwave — simultaneously. They demonstrated the material in smart windows and in health monitoring and temperature management applications. Unique to the…

Simple molecular liquids such as water or glycerol are of great importance for technical applications, in biology or even for understanding properties in the liquid state. Researchers at the MPSD have now succeeded in observing liquid glycerol in a completely unexpected rubbery state. Writing in PNAS, they report how they created rapidly expanding bubbles on the surface of the liquid in vacuum using a pulsed laser. However, the thin, micrometers-thick liquid envelope of the bubble did not behave like a…