News by Subject Biology

Researchers at NSLS-II used ultrabright x-rays to generate 3D nanoscale maps of a single bacteria's chemical composition with unparalleled spatial resolution.

Freiburg scientists elucidate the mechanism for the transport of water-insoluble protein molecules in mitochondria

Polymer pelts made of the finest of fibers are suitable for many different applications, from coatings that adhere well and are easy to remove to highly sensitive biological detectors. Researchers at KIT together with scientists in the United States have now developed a cost-effective process to allow customized polymer nanofibers to grow on a solid substrate through vapor deposition of a liquid crystal layer with reactive molecules.

Researchers from Würzburg and Toyama have discovered that a compound isolated from tropical rainforest vines inhibits the growth of pancreatic cancer cells in the lab.

KAIST chemists have synthesized seven different iboga and post-iboga natural products from commercially available catharanthine by mirroring nature's biosynthetic post-modification of the iboga skeleton. They devised a novel strategy to biosynthesize the natural products via a series of selective and efficient oxidation and rearrangement reactions.

More and more bacteria are resistant to available antibiotics. A team of chemists from the Technical University of Munich now presents a new approach: they have identified important enzymes in the metabolism of staphylococci. Blocking these enzymes in a targeted manner would allow the pathogens to be starved.

The Peptides and Proteins lab at the Institute for Research in Biomedicine (IRB Barcelona) has published a paper in Chemical Communications describing the capacity of a small protein (a peptide) derived from chlorotoxin, found in scorpion venom (Giant Yellow Israeli scorpion), to carry drugs across the blood-brain barrier (BBB).

Researchers at Shinshu University in Japan have discovered that editing the chemical properties of fusicoccins, a kind of toxic organic compound produced by fungus to blight plants, can transform them into chemicals with anti-tumor properties in cells. "We are hoping to be able to develop a new clinically relevant anti-cancer agent based on fusicoccins, which selectively control protein-protein interactions that are critical for cell survival."