Scientists studying the conversion of carbon dioxide (CO2) to carbon monoxide (CO) — a crucial step in transforming CO2 to useful organic compounds such as methanol — are trying to mimic what plants do when they convert CO2 and water to carbohydrates and oxygen in the presence of chlorophyll and sunlight. Such “artificial photosynthesis” could produce inexpensive fuels and raw materials for the chemical industry from renewable solar energy. But achieving this goal is no simple task.

“Natu

The humble yeast can teach us vital lessons in coping with stress, according to researchers from the University of Newcastle upon Tyne.

Speaking tomorrow, Thursday 11 September 2003, at the Society for General Microbiology’s meeting at UMIST in Manchester, Dr Jan Quinn will explain how she and colleagues have tracked stress responses in yeast to give a new understanding of how cells cope with oxidative stress.

Reactive oxygen chemicals occur naturally through respiration (breathing

Spotting disease causing germs has just become a lot easier with a new technique developed by researchers from Newcastle upon Tyne, scientists learned today, Wednesday 10 September 2003, at the Society for General Microbiology’s meeting at UMIST in Manchester.

“Knowing exactly which bacteria and micro-organisms are around at any given time is vital if you want to be able to kill the dangerous ones,” says Dr Olivier Sparagano, from the School of Agriculture, Food and Rural Development at the

People with weakened immune systems, including patients with cystic fibrosis, could be better protected in future from a highly resilient bacteria thanks to work by medical scientists from the University of Leeds. The research is presented today, Wednesday 10 September 2003, at the Society for General Microbiology’s meeting at UMIST in Manchester.

“British soldiers stationed in South East Asia and North Australia, as well as local people, can be exposed to infection by a dangerous bacterium

How fat contributes to high blood pressure is the focus of a new study at the Medical College of Georgia that is part of a National Institutes of Health initiative to understand the relationship between obesity and cardiovascular disease.

“You have obesity and you have hypertension. Where is the link?” says Dr. Gregory A. Harshfield, principal investigator on the $1.4 million grant from the NIH’s National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute that will study 160 adolescents, half lean and ha

The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), one of the National Institutes of Health, has reached a milestone in its efforts to support accelerated development of malaria vaccines. Working with an international group of public and private partners, NIAID has launched its first trial of a candidate malaria vaccine in a country where malaria is endemic. The Phase I trial, taking place in Mali, seeks to confirm the safety and immunogenicity in adults of a candidate vaccine called

By taking advantage of techniques developed in the search for Alzheimer’s treatments, a team of researchers has discovered that a molecule called Notch is essential for the development of critical kidney cells. The study, published online and in the Oct. 15 issue of the journal Development, provides key information about kidney development that could have implications for tissue regeneration.

“Tissue transplantation is fantastic but it would be so much better if we could instead raise o

When a plane arrives late to an airport, it affects more than just the frustrated passengers on the tardy plane – the ripple effects could throw the entire day’s timetable off schedule.

Similarly, in a new study, North Carolina State University geneticists have found that changes to genes regulating olfactory behavior in the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster, a popular insect model for genetics, have far greater implications than previously appreciated.

The study is presented in a p

Scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Brookhaven National Laboratory have used a new way to isolate and study an important intermediate in the epoxidation of olefins such as ethylene: They run the reaction in reverse. By starting with the final products (epoxides) and placing them on the surface of a model catalyst, the scientists are able to use surface chemistry techniques to “catch” the intermediate. Understanding this intermediate may ultimately help the scientists develop improved o

Just like the manufacturers of silicon electronics, a team of Penn State chemical engineers wants to assemble circuit boards in place, but these circuits are made of conducting organic polymers that pose major fabrication roadblocks.

“We want to build electronic devices like transistors and flexible circuits,” says Dr. Seong Kim, assistant professor of chemical engineering.

Kim and Sudarshan Natarajan, graduate student in chemical engineering, looked at fabricating circuits from po

Making sugar coated proteins for use in medicines is a step closer thanks to a chance discovery by scientists from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. The research is presented today, Tuesday 9 September 2003, by Professor Brendan Wren at the Society for General Microbiology’s meeting at UMIST in Manchester.

“We were trying to find out exactly how a particular bacteria, Campylobacter jejuni, causes severe diarrhoea,” says Professor Wren, “and discovered that it can also make

A Duke University research collaboration has identified a likely route for “leakage” of therapeutic gene-bearing viruses out of tumors in experimental anti-cancer gene therapy experiments in laboratory animals. The group also found this toxic leakage can be avoided by using a chemical extracted from common brown algae.

Their work was described in a 9:30 a.m. Sept. 8 presentation at the American Chemical Society’s national meeting in New York, as well as in a research paper accepted for

Two short protein segments, called peptides, have been identified by researchers at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) School of Medicine, for their ability to recognize and bind to beta-amyloid-containing plaques that accumulate abnormally in the brains of Alzheimer’s disease patients, providing a possible “Trojan horse” mechanism to diagnose and treat the disorder.

“These peptide sequences are potential new tools for the delivery of medication to the amyloid plaques that are fo

Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer death in both men and women. To successfully fight the disease, doctors use a variety of techniques to diagnose the cancer and determine the extent of its spread throughout the body. When using positron emission tomography (PET) as a diagnostic tool, 18F-FDG has proven to be a reliable and accurate tracer, but false positives have been noted in areas of inflammation. Recently, German researchers conducted a study comparing the results of 18F-FDG PET and 18F-

Test for EZH2 protein reveals how aggressive — and deadly — breast tumors will be

U-M, Harvard team shows EZH2 helps cancer cells form colonies and invade tissue

Like a killer charged with more than one murder, a tiny protein that has already been linked to deadly prostate cancer is now being implicated in lethal breast cancer. And it may soon help doctors tell cancer patients just how dangerous their tumors are.

The double-duty offender, called EZH2, appears to hel

A gel-like material being developed by scientists at the VA Hospital and Washington University in St. Louis could eventually mean the end of bifocals and contacts for millions of middle age and older people who suffer from presbyopia — literally “old vision.” The material, which could be used to replace old hardened lenses in patients, including those with cataracts, was described today at the 226th national meeting of the American Chemical Society, the world’s largest scientific society.