Rice lab draws on nature to create flexible precursors for drug and materials design. Inspired by your liver and activated by light, a chemical process developed in labs at Rice University and in China shows promise for drug design and the development of unique materials. Researchers led by Rice chemist Julian West and Xi-Sheng Wang at the University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, are reporting their successful catalytic process to simultaneously add two distinct functional groups to single alkenes, organic molecules drawn…

Stem cells and progenitor cells play an important role in the renewal of multiple tissues. Professor Jyrki Heino’s research group from the University of Turku together and Professor Fiona Watt´s research group from King’s College London have discovered a molecule called embigin on the surface of epithelia progenitor cells and proven its significance to sebaceous gland function. In biochemical experiments conducted at the University of Turku, researchers were able to demonstrate that embigin binds to the extracellular matrix protein called…

Researchers develop an olfactory sensor for biometric authentication using your breath. Biometric authentication like fingerprint and iris scans are a staple of any spy movie, and trying to circumvent those security measures is often a core plot point. But these days the technology is not limited to spies, as fingerprint verification and facial recognition are now common features on many of our phones. Now, researchers have developed a new potential odorous option for the biometric security toolkit: your breath. In…

The rhizosphere-on-a-chip offers an easier way to study a plant’s influence underground. The Science The rhizosphere is the living ecosystem around plant roots. It is a dynamic ecosystem of plant and microbes that is difficult to study because soil is opaque and complex. By creating a synthetic rhizosphere in the lab, scientists can study underground interactions in a simulated habitat that is less complex but that retains key characteristics of the natural ecosystem. Scientists have developed a rhizosphere-on-a-chip with a…

… using a 3D computational simulation. A team of researchers at Nagoya University in Japan has created a 3-Dimensional computational simulation of the process of genome structure formation in the human cell nucleus. They expect the model to contribute to the understanding of cellular regulatory mechanisms and diseases, such as cancer, that damage the genome. The three-dimensional structure of the genome plays a vital role in regulating the DNA functions of animal and plant cells because it affects its reading…

Open-source program IDs synthetic, naturally occurring gene sequences. It’s a given that certain bacteria and viruses can cause illness and disease, but the real culprits are the sequences of concern that lie within the genomes of these microbes. Calling them out is about to get easier. Years of work by Rice University computer scientists and their colleagues have led to an improved platform for DNA screening and pathogenic sequence characterization, whether naturally occurring or synthetic, before they have the chance…

– with and without water. Studies of a common catalyst suggest strategies for improving the conversion of a natural gas component to useful chemicals. The Science Chemists have been searching for efficient catalysts—substances that speed up chemical reactions—to convert methane into methanol. Methane, a major component of abundant natural gas, is sometimes flared off as waste at wells. Methanol is an easily transported liquid fuel and a building block for making other valuable chemicals. Adding water to the methane conversion reaction…

Genomic analyses of microbes from Canada’s Arctic gives insight into life forms that could survive on Mars. The extremely salty, very cold, and almost oxygen-free environment under the permafrost of Lost Hammer Spring in Canada’s High Arctic is the one that most closely resembles certain areas on Mars. So, if you want to learn more about the kinds of life forms that could once have existed – or may still exist – on Mars, this is a good place to…

Down-regulating TAO2 prevents influenza from replicating in cells and could provide new target for antiviral therapies. A collaborative study from UT Southwestern scientists has identified a new function for a protein called TAO2 that appears to be key to inhibiting replication of the influenza virus, which sickens millions of individuals worldwide each year and kills hundreds of thousands. The findings were published in PNAS. “These results uncover new strategies for interfering with influenza virus replication, providing a potential avenue for the development…

A team of researchers at the Institute of Biochemistry at Münster University discovered that by using so-called FlashCaps they were able to control the translation of mRNA by means of light. The results have been published in the journal “Nature Chemistry”. DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid) is a long chain of molecules composed of many individual components, and it forms the basis of life on Earth. The function of DNA is to store all genetic information. The translation of this genetic information…

Scientists from the 2. Physics Institute at the University of Stuttgart and the Max Planck Institute for Medical Research were now able to take the next step towards synthetic cells: They introduced functional DNA-based cytoskeletons into cell-sized compartments and showed functionality. The results were recently published in Nature Chemistry. Building functional synthetic cells from the bottom-up is an ongoing effort of scientists around the globe. Their use in studying cellular mechanisms in a highly controlled and pre-defined setting creates great…

Intestinal cells and lactic acid bacteria work together against Candida infection. The presence of probiotics such as lactic acid bacteria changes the environment in the intestine and forces the yeast fungus Candida albicans to change its metabolism, making it less infectious. This way, probiotics can contain or prevent the spread of fungal infections in the gut. Researchers at the Leibniz Institute for Natural Product Research and Infection Biology – Hans Knöll Institute (Leibniz-HKI) have also found that intestinal cells actively…

The long-standing challenges to the practical implementation of rechargeable zinc-air batteries (ZABs) are the electrochemical irreversibility of the Zn anode and degradation of the air cathodes in alkaline electrolyte, which eventually results in poor cycle life and low cell voltage. To improve the reversibility of ZABs, exhaustive efforts have been made to exploit highly survivable catalysts for the air cathode while weakening the corrosion of the Zn anode through electrode design or electrolyte additives. These strategies can alleviate but not…

Joint press release by the Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine  and the Berlin Institute of Health at Charité. Blood vessels run throughout the human body and ensure that our organs get all the nutrients and oxygen they need. If these finely woven networks stop working as they should, we risk developing diseases. While age-related cardiovascular conditions frequently cause vessels to atrophy, malignant tumors are characterized by excessive growth of misrouted vessels. Wet macular degeneration is also associated with the…

Researchers at Ruhr-Universität Bochum have been studying the role of the two proteins tenascin C and tenascin R in multiple sclerosis. In this disease, cells of the immune system destroy the myelin sheaths, i.e. the sheaths of the nerve cells. As the Bochum team showed in experiments with mice, the regeneration of the myelin sheaths is inhibited if the two tenascins are present. Dr. Juliane Bauch and Professor Andreas Faissner from the Cell Morphology and Molecular Neurobiology Department in Bochum…

Study on wound healing after heart attack published in Science. More than 300,000 people suffer a heart attack in Germany every year. In this case, the heart muscle is no longer supplied with sufficient blood and oxygen, and part of the heart muscle tissue dies and becomes scarred. The consequences can range from massive cardiac insufficiency to heart failure. Unlike the liver, the heart of an adult human being can hardly regenerate. However, it is able to initiate repair processes….