I developed the idea that there was a natural molecule that must exist and be capable of forcing embryonic stem cells into becoming cones,
COCO, a"recombinational"human molecule that is normally expressed within photoreceptors during their development. In 2001, he launched his laboratory at Maisonneuve-Rosemont Hospital
and immediately isolated the molecule. But it took several years of research to demystify the molecular pathways involved in the photoreceptors development mechanism.
In collaboration with theoretical physicists from the University of Kiel the researchers were able to identify the origin of the resistance change in the magnetic whirl:
it is due to the canting between the atomic magnets from one atom to the next. The larger the angle between the adjacent atomic magnets, the stronger is the change in electrical resistance.'
'Electrons have a spin, and thus they interact with magnetic structures, 'says Prof. Stefan Heinze from the University of Kiel.
When the electrons are travelling through a magnetic whirl, they feel the canting between the atomic magnets,
#Physicists shrink particle accelerator An interdisciplinary team of researchers has built the first prototype of a miniature particle accelerator that uses terahertz radiation instead of radio frequency structures.
A single accelerator module is just 1. 5 centimetres long and one millimetre thick. The terahertz technology holds the promise of miniaturising the entire setup by at least a factor of 100,
as the scientists surrounding DESY's Franz Kärtner from the Center For free-Electron Laser Science (CFEL) point out.
The authors see numerous applications for terahertz accelerators, in materials science, medicine and particle physics, as well as in building X-ray lasers.
In the electromagnetic spectrum, terahertz radiation lies between infrared radiation and microwaves. Particle accelerators usually rely on electromagnetic radiation from the radio frequency range;
DESY's particle accelerator PETRA III, for example, uses a frequency of around 500 megahertz. The wavelength of the terahertz radiation used in this experiment is around one thousand times shorter."
"The advantage is that everything else can be a thousand times smaller too, "explains Kärtner, who is also a professor at the University of Hamburg and at MIT,
as well as being a member of the Hamburg Centre for Ultrafast Imaging (CUI), one of Germany's Clusters of Excellence.
For their prototype the scientists used a special microstructured accelerator module, specifically tailored to be used with terahertz radiation.
The physicists fired fast electrons into the miniature accelerator module using a type of electron gun provided by the group of CFEL Professor Dwayne Miller, Director at the Max Planck Institute for the Structure and Dynamics
of Matter and also a member of CUI. The electrons were accelerated then further by the terahertz radiation fed into the module.
This first prototype of a terahertz accelerator was able to increase the energy of the particles by seven kiloelectronvolts (kev."
"This is not a particularly large acceleration, but the experiment demonstrates that the principle does work in practice,
"This is more than ten times what can be achieved with the best conventional accelerator modules available today. Plasma accelerator technology,
which is also at an experimental stage right now, promises to produce even higher accelerations, however it also requires significantly more powerful lasers than those needed for terahertz accelerators.
The physicists underline that terahertz technology is of great interest both with regard to future linear accelerators for use in particle physics,
and as a means of building compact X-ray lasers and electron sources for use in materials research,
as well as medical applications using X-rays and electron radiation.""The rapid advances we are seeing in terahertz generation with optical methods will enable the future development of terahertz accelerators for these applications,
"says first author Emilio Nanni of MIT. Over the coming years, the CFEL team in Hamburg plans to build a compact,
experimental free-electron X-ray laser (XFEL) on a laboratory scale using terahertz technology. This project is supported by a Synergy Grant of the European Research Council.
So-called free-electron lasers (FELS) generate flashes of laser light by sending high-speed electrons from a particle accelerator down an undulating path,
a process of aligning atoms inside a diamond so they create a signal detectable by an MRI SCANNER."
"By attaching hyperpolarised diamonds to molecules targeting cancers the technique can allow tracking of the molecules'movement in the body,
"This is a great example of how quantum physics research tackles real-world problems, in this case opening the way for us to image
Graphene is a two-dimensional sheet of carbon atoms, just one atom thick. Its flexibility, optical transparency and electrical conductivity make it suitable for a wide range of applications,
"Hasan's method, developed at the University's Nanoscience Centre, works by suspending tiny particles of graphene in a'carrier'solvent mixture,
The researchers also used an analytic technique to determine the fractionation of the stable isotopes of one of these contaminants,
Light goes infinitely fast with new on-chip material Electrons are so 20th century. In the 21st century, photonic devices,
or waveguide to emit photons which are always in phase with one another, "said Philip Munoz,
and infinitely long, enabling even distant particles to be entangled.""""This on-chip metamaterial opens the door to exploring the physics of zero index
and our molecules as salt and pepper shakers: We change the flavor of the DNA PROBE by salting it with a little more stoichiometry
"In one of many successful tests, the lab designed molecules to detect mutation sequences in historic biopsy samples preserved in wax from cancer patients.
since most other vaccine candidate molecules tested so far confer protection against only a single species of parasite, due to the species and strain specific nature of these molecules."
They have designed a surface that enhances low frequency thermal radiation, which is easier than higher frequencies to"harvest"directly out of the air
compared to the tens of trillions of oscillations per second for most thermal radiation from hot objects.
the researchers found they could"spectrally tune"a surface to emit more radiation at 1 THZ frequency.
faster and more accurate to apply to plants than previous breeding techniques (like radiation-induced mutations).
#New computational strategy finds brain tumor-shrinking molecules Patients with glioblastoma, a type of malignant brain tumor,
San diego researchers developed a new computational strategy to search for molecules that could be developed into glioblastoma drugs.
In mouse models of human glioblastoma, one molecule they found shrank the average tumor size by half.
The newly discovered molecule works against glioblastoma by wedging itself in the temporary interface between two proteins
associate project scientist at UC San diego, developed a computational strategy to search databases of 3d molecular structures for those small molecules that might engage the hotspot between two OLIG2 transcription factors.
With this approach, the researchers identified a few molecules that would likely fit the OLIG2 interaction.
They then tested the molecules for their ability to kill glioblastoma tumors in the Moores Cancer Center lab of the study's senior author
The most effective of these candidate drug molecules, called SKOG102, shrank human glioblastoma tumors grown in mouse models by an average of 50 percent."
a change in electrical resistance, also known as magnetoresistance, occurs as the electrons are deflected. The discovery of magnetoresistance paved the way for magnetic field sensors used in hard disk drives and other devices,
The particles, described in Nature Communications, are enhanced an version of a naturally occurring, weakly magnetic protein called ferritin."
This eliminates the need to tag cells with synthetic particles and allows the particles to sense other molecules inside cells.
The paper's lead author is former MIT graduate student Yuri Matsumoto. Other authors are graduate student Ritchie Chen and Polina Anikeeva, an assistant professor of materials science and engineering.
Magnetic pull Previous research has yielded synthetic magnetic particles for imaging or tracking cells, but it can be difficult to deliver these particles into the target cells.
In the new study Jasanoff and colleagues set out to create magnetic particles that are encoded genetically.
With this approach, the researchers deliver a gene for a magnetic protein into the target cells,
which carries a supply of iron atoms that every cell needs as components of metabolic enzymes.
VRAC is regulated a volume anion channel that allows negatively charged ions (anions) and amino acids into the cell and back out again.
"ORNL researchers tracked the molecular transition in labeling experiments with deuterium, a hydrogen isotope, to confirm the hydrocarbon pool mechanism.
In the future, these infections will be prevented thanks to a new plasma implant coating that kills pathogens using silver ions.
and during that time they continuously release small quantities of antimicrobial silver ions, which kill bacteria.
and the outermost layer releases the ions. This is beneficial because it prevents direct contact between the tissue and the silver particles,
which can be exposed toxic when,"says developer Dr. Dirk Salz. Researchers can tailor the silver concentration as well as the thickness of the layers and their porosity.
This allows the silver ions to penetrate the outermost plasma polymer layer over a set period of time deemed necessary to properly integrate the implant.
no more silver ions are released, thus avoiding any long-term toxic effects. In trials using finished implants and titanium test samples
The probe combines a peptide that recognises heparin as well as a fluorogen signalling componentn the presence of heparin the probe molecules aggregate
Other biological molecules do not appear to interfere with the probe. Wei says the ethod could
absorb silver ions and, as a result, end up dying. t UVA Dankovich and her colleagues started to test their filter pages in Limpopo province in South africa in 2013.
additional energy is constantly being generated by stars as they fuse elements like hydrogen and helium together,
the innovation harnesses tiny electron waves called plasmons. It a step towards enabling computers to process information hundreds of times faster than today machines.
When light waves interact with electrons on a metal surface, strong fields with dimensions far smaller than the wavelength of the original light can be createdlasmons.
Analysis of the data also indicates that the dust grains orbiting the star are sorted by particle size,
resulting in funneling of glycine into metabolic pathways that generate toxic molecules, such as aminoacetone and methylglyoxal.
in order to bind Pin1. hile it has been shown previously that ATRA ability to degrade the leukemia-causing fusion oncogene PML-RAR causes ATRA to stop the leukemia stem cells that drive APL,
you can degrade this fusion oncogene, thereby stopping cancer stem cells from replicating. This is a critically important discovery that will impact the treatment of other forms of cancer
#Computer-Designed Rocker Protein Worlds First To Biomimic Ion Transport For the first time, scientists recreated the biological function of substrate transportation across the cell membranes by computationally designing a transporter protein.
was shown to transport ions across the membrane, a process crucial to cell and organismal survival in various functions,
designed so that zinc ions and protons can flow in a controlled way across the lipid-membrane barrier around the cell-like vesicle.
A helically-shaped short chain of amino acids was designed to assemble into a four-helix bundle
and to form two special pockets for binding zinc ions and protons along the cavity within the bundle.
One conformation opens up the pocket near one side of the membrane to grab zinc ions or protons.
Once the zinc ion binds to the pocket Rocker changes its shape to close off the pocket,
This allows the ions from the closed pocket to travel to the second pocket before being released to the outside of the membrane.
The catch is that Rocker can have both pockets bind the ions at the same time, nor permit the cavity to open all the way through the membrane at one time
because this would leak down the ion concentration levels important for keeping cells intact and healthy.
Also, Rocker reconstituted in membrane vesicles was tested to show that it really pushed zinc ions from one side of the membrane to the other,
while protons traveled the other direction. esigning this protein is an amazing accomplishment made possible by bringing together scientists with complementary areas of expertise,
using protons. One can imagine in a totally noncellular case that one could potentially harvest this kind of pumping to create things like batteries.
But if you could transport something into the cell such as a toxic ion or small molecule that could be quite interesting,
Grabe said o
#Study: Discrimination has overall health impacts on adolescents Adolescence is hard enough, but adding discrimination to the mix can be deadly.
#Electrolyte Genome Could Be Battery Game-Changer A new breakthrough batteryne that has significantly higher energy,
Think of it as a Google-like database of molecules. A battery scientist looking for a new electrolyte would specify the desired parameters and properties
and the Electrolyte Genome would return a short list of promising candidate molecules, dramatically speeding up the discovery timeline. lectrolytes are a stumbling block for many battery technologies,
Persson said. hat we can do is calculate the properties of a large number of molecules
or with larger solubility for certain redox molecules, if we can solve either of these, you suddenly enable the whole industry,
With a short list of candidate molecules, researchers can then perform more detailed computational evaluations, applying molecular dynamics simulations or other calculations as needed,
she said. e tend to take some base molecule or some idea, then we explore all the variations on that idea.
the researchers can screen hundreds of molecules per day. To date more than 15,000 molecules for electrolytesncluding 10,000 redox active molecules, hundreds of conductive network molecules,
and salts, solvents, and moreave been calculated. Screening such quantities of molecules for suitable properties using traditional synthesis
and testing techniques would take decades. Early success stories The Electrolyte Genome first major scientific findinghat magnesium electrolytes are very prone to forming ion pairs,
which impacts several crucial aspects such as conductivity, charge transfer and stability of the electrolyteas published in February in the Journal of the American Chemical Society.
They had another success screening molecules for redox capabilities for flow batteries for fellow Berkeley Lab scientist Brett Helms. e basically gave us a chemical space of organogelator molecules and asked
an you tell me the best molecule if I want a voltage window that precisely here,?
and the molecule fit the intended purpose perfectly. i
#New transitional stem cells discovered Preeclampsia is a disease that affects 5 to 8 percent of pregnancies in America.
nanowires harvest solar energy and deliver electrons to bacteria, where carbon dioxide is reduced and combined with water for the synthesis of a variety of targeted, value-added chemical products.
photo-excited electron#hole pairs are generated in the silicon and titanium oxide nanowires, which absorb different regions of the solar spectrum.
The photo-generated electrons in the silicon will be passed onto bacteria for the CO2 reduction while the photo-generated holes in the titanium oxide split water molecules to make oxygen.
Once the forest of nanowire arrays is established, it is populated with microbial populations that produce enzymes known to selectively catalyze the reduction of carbon dioxide.
the Berkeley team used Sporomusa ovata, an anaerobic bacterium that readily accepts electrons directly from the surrounding environment
The yields of target chemical molecules produced from the acetate were also encouraging as high as 26-percent for butanol
and test small molecules that activate the development, differentiation, and thermogenic (heat-producing) activity of human brown fat.
, it has attached negative ions to its surface. It thus attracts small positively charged molecules, whether these are ions or drugs.
When an electrical current is applied to it the flow of electrons generated projects the molecules of interest toward the target area.
To enable validation of this new technique, the researchers reproduced the hyperexcitability of epileptic neurons in mouse brains in vitro.
They then injected GABA, a compound naturally produced in the brain and that inhibits neurons,
he explains. ee able to look at over 35 different functional molecules on the surface of T cells to define their function.
Understanding how multiple molecules function at the same time in a single cell may reveal clues about how brain tumors manage to survive
#Discovery unlocks ion conductor that is 100 times faster than all the others A research group at the Technical University of Denmark (DTU),
Department of energy Conversion and storage (DTU Energy) has discovered a new way to stabilize an ion conducting material with a 100 times faster ion conductivity than all previous known ion conductors. he new
light photo-catalysts and ferroelectric materials in electronics. nalogous to the best metallic conductors such as copper or silver where the current is transported by electron, in d-Bismuth oxide
the current is transported by oxygen ions. There has been enormous interest over the years to use this material in application however;
which exhibit the highest ionic conductivity and was discovered by L. G. Sillén (1916-1970)( Mineralogist,
with the hope that this discovery opens brand new possibilities for usingd-Bismuth as an ion conductor. e have used very advanced fabrication
What we know is that they have gained a new way to access the best ion conductor available.
Structures with these well-defined, atomic-sized gaps could be used to detect single molecules associated with certain diseases
such as photolithography and electron-beam lithography. By comparison, the smallest nanogaps that can be generated using the standard methods are 100 nm wide. aking a nanogap is interesting from a philosophical standpoint,
Scanning electron micrographs of the structures reveal extremely small nanogaps between the gold layers. Nanogap applications One potential application for this technology is in ultra-sensitive detection of single molecules,
particularly those that are characteristic of certain diseases. When light is shined upon structures with extremely small gaps,
This enhanced electromagnetic field, in turn, increases the signal produced by any molecule within the gap. f some disease marker comes in and bridges the gap between the nanostructures
Except it not glass, it a special ceramic called spinel {spin-ELL} that the U s. Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) has been researching over the last 10 years. pinel is actually a mineral,
or a lot of crystal particles all pressed together. Whereas with glass, crack that forms on the surface will go all the way through,
This ixie dustis meant to melt and ubricate the powder particles, so there less friction,
hings like yttria or lutecia and and dope them with rare earth ions. NRL has transitioned both types of laser materials and applications to industry.
This light bounces off air molecules and small particles such as dust, ice and droplets of water in the atmosphere.
The movement of the air molecules, particles or droplets cause this backscattered light to change frequencies slightly.
To this effect, the scientists from Bad Nauheim and Marburg discovered that neighbouring epithelial cells communicate with each other with the help of signal molecules.
The location signal itself consists of a group of signal molecules called semaphorins. Through genetic manipulation, Worzfeld Group switches off individual semaphorins in mice.
and shape of single molecules Scientists have developed a revolutionary new technology that can image and weigh single molecules,
to instantly identify a single virus particle or protein. A microscopic tool, more than 1000 times thinner than the width of a single human hair, uses vibrations to simultaneously reveal the mass and the shape of a single molecule a feat
which has not been possible until now. The work was led by Professor John Sader at the University of Melbourne School of Mathematics and Statistics and Professor Michael Roukes of the California Institute of technology.
Prof Sader says this technique revolutionises molecule detection for biologists or indeed anyone who wants to measure extremely small objects.
To discover what a specimen looks like, researchers attach it to a tiny vibrating device, known as a nanoelectromechanical system (NEMS) resonator. ne standard way to tell the difference between molecules is to weigh them using a technique called mass spectrometry.
The problem is that different molecules can have the same weight. Now, we can tell them apart by identifying their shape,
Prof Sader said. his technology is built on a new mathematical algorithm that we developed, called inertial imaging.
say, a virus or a bacteria particle. In mass spectrometry, molecules are ionised (or electrically charged)
so that an electromagnetic field can interact with them. This interaction is measured then, which gives vital information on the molecule mass-to-charge ratio.
But this conventional technique has difficulty telling the difference between molecules with similar mass-to-charge ratios,
meaning molecule A and molecule B might be very different, but mass-spectrometry can see this difference. ut
when a molecule lands on a vibrating NEMS device, this extra mass reduces the many vibration frequencies of the device.
The way the frequencies change depends on the mass and shape of the molecule so we can now tell a lot about how it looks
and how much it weighs, Prof Sader added. It a lot like attaching a drop of solder on the string of a guitar it changes its vibration frequency
and also its tone. e can analyse this measurement to get both the mass and shape of the attached particle,
This complicated method involves purifying and crystallising the molecules then firing x-rays through the sample and interpreting the resulting patterns.
because the structure of a molecule in its natural environment can be different. California Institute of technology Professor Michael Roukes says NEMS
Prof Roukes said. his new technique adds another piece of information to aid our identification of molecules,
but now at the single molecule level, which could prove useful in biomedical applications, among other uses. i
Such as the laser ignition of fusion, the phase transition of materials, and the dynamics of a Coulomb explosion.
can we design a particle that can sense its environment with no neural system or biological parts.
In a still bath the beads follow wavering trajectories as the thermal motion of water molecules buffets them from all sides.
The particles encircled the tip of the pipette at a distance where their propulsion was cancelled out by the velocity of the flow.
and predicts the stagnation point where the beads accumulate. hat is really cool is that the mechanism we used to get the particles to go upstream actually exists in nature
and it the way many microbes find food. f you can design particles that can feel their environment
you could think of particles that swim against the blood stream to fix clogged arteries, Palacci says,
We just have to give them a little push by adding a tiny molecule that acts as a can opener to force the viral envelope to expose regions recognized by the antibodies,
By adding a tiny molecule to the cell surfaces of infected patients called JP-III-48
Adding the small molecule forces the viral envelop to open, like a flower. The antibodies that are naturally present after the infection can then target the infected cells
The JP-III-48 molecule was developed by researchers at Harvard university and the University of Pennsylvania;
then kill the infected cells with this molecule and the already present antibodies, argues Finzi,
and using this new family of molecules. Furthermore, this discovery opens the way for the development of strategies to eliminate the viral reservoirs of individuals already infected.
The next step is to test the potential of this can-opener molecule in monkeys
#Promising new X-ray microscope poses technical challenges You may think the aisles in your neighborhood convenience store are crowded,
& Photon Science and LLNL Physical and Life sciences (PLS) Directorate. lot of unique engineering efforts were put into this,
and KBO 3, designed for hardened X-ray cameras for use in high-neutron-yield experiments,
The new technology, developed by a team of scientists from Argonne Center for Nanoscale Materials (CNM) and the Advanced Photon Source (APS), involves a small microelectromechanical system (MEMS) mirror only
The MEMS device acts as an ultrafast mirror reflecting X-rays at precise times and specific angles. xtremely compact devices such as this promise a revolution in our ability to manipulate photons coming from synchrotron light sources,
Associate Laboratory Director for Photon Sciences and Director of the Advanced Photon Source. his is a premier example of the innovation that results from collaboration between nanoscientists and X-ray scientists.
more elaborate X-ray optical schemes for studying the structure and dynamics of matter at atomic length and time scales, added Edgar Weckert, the director of photon science at DESY,
These include newly planned light source facilities such as the Advanced Photon Source Upgrade. uch small sources
The team managed to synthesize a thin film made of densely packed aluminum oxide nanorods blended with molecules of a thrombolytic enzyme (urokinase-type plasminogen activator.
This procedure could improve cancer treatment in the future by using internal radiation. The human immune system forms antibodies that protect the body from pathogens.
For example, antibodies can serve as transport vehicles for radionuclides, with which the affected regions can be visualized
because organs that are affected not by the disease are exposed to radiation. It also makes the exact localization of the tumor in the body more difficult
In various types of tumors, there is an increase in this molecule formation or it might be found in a mutated form,
Previously, scientists believed that additional molecules that bind T cell receptors and help it to perceive this signal were like grapes hanging from a vine,
with molecules rapidly coming and going at different intervals of time, says Lillemeier, who is also the Helen Mcloraine Developmental Chair.
This cycle continues until a second molecule, called Lck, helps it to remain with the T cell receptor.
The new study highlights how ZAP-70 and other molecules communicate in space and time,
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