http://phys.org/ en-us Phys.org internet news portal provides the latest news on science including: Physics, Nanotechnology, Life Sciences, Space Science, Earth Science, Environment, Health and Medicine. Researchers from ETH Zurich have mapped the coordinates for all the proteins of the tuberculosis pathogen Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Thanks to this "atlas", scientists are now able to easily find and accurately measure every protein of this bacterium that causes dangerous lung diseases. http://phys.org/news287824101.html Biology Wed, 15 May 2013 12:00:05 EST news287824101 (Phys.org) —UOW chemistry researchers have revealed what turns free radicals on...and off again in an article recently published in Nature Chemistry. http://phys.org/news285926420.html Chemistry Tue, 23 Apr 2013 09:00:30 EST news285926420 (Phys.org) —When it comes to understanding how proteins perform their amazing cellular feats, it is often the case that the more one knows the less one realizes they know. For decades, biochemists and biophysicists have worked to reveal the relationship between protein structural complexity and function, only to discover more complexity. One challenging aspect of protein behavior has been the speed with which they change shape and interact with their neighboring biomolecules. Until recently, researchers have relied on a somewhat static approach, using freeze-trapping to capture protein intermediates at various steps along a biochemical pathway. But exciting breakthroughs now allow us to watch proteins changing in real time. http://phys.org/news282557306.html Chemistry Fri, 15 Mar 2013 09:08:32 EST news282557306 The unexpected diversity of metallic nanoclusters' inner structure has now been catalogued into families. Physicists have gained new insights into the inner intricacies of the structural variations of metallic nanoclusters. This work by Luca Pavan, Cono Di Paola and Francesca Baletto from King's College London, UK, is about to be published in European Physical Journal D. It takes us one step closer to tailoring on-demand characteristics of metallic nanoparticles. Indeed, the geometric structure of these nanoclusters influences their chemical and physical properties, which differ from those of individual molecules and of bulk metals. http://phys.org/news280577009.html Nanotechnology Wed, 20 Feb 2013 10:03:40 EST news280577009 (Phys.org)—Biotechnologists at the National Physical Laboratory (NPL) specialise in the measurement of biomolecules in solution, at interfaces and in cells and tissues. They examine the benefits and limitations of different measurement techniques and improve them so that measurements are more robust, comparable, sensitive and accurate. http://phys.org/news280052632.html Physics Thu, 14 Feb 2013 08:25:26 EST news280052632 All living organisms consist of cells that have arisen from other living cells by the process of cell division. However, it is not yet fully understood just how this important process takes place. http://phys.org/news277389275.html Biology Mon, 14 Jan 2013 12:34:56 EST news277389275 High-speed atomic force microscopy (HS-AFM) is providing the means to produce dramatic footage of moving biomolecules, and scientists at Kanazawa University leading the field. http://phys.org/news276512530.html Nanotechnology Fri, 04 Jan 2013 09:02:28 EST news276512530 (Phys.org)—Agribusiness and medicine are constantly seeking more efficient methods for detecting biomolecules. To meet this need, a novel concept of miniaturized sensors has been developed by researchers from LAAS-CNRS and the Université Toulouse III - Paul Sabatier in collaboration with HEMODIA, a company specialized in the development of medical devices. These sensors can measure the concentration in solution of a range of substances such as glucose, lactate and glutamate, which can help in making medical diagnosis or which are of interest in the food processing industry. This device, known as ElecFET, combines, for the first time, an acidity microsensor and an enzyme specific to the molecule studied, placed on the surface of a metal microelectrode. The integration of these two components on an electronic silicon chip at the micrometric scale represents a real technological advance. This work is published on 8 November 2012 in the journal Biosensors & Bioelectronics. http://phys.org/news273219305.html Chemistry Tue, 27 Nov 2012 06:17:36 EST news273219305 (Phys.org)—Atoms have been thoroughly researched, but they are still good for a surprise. Researchers of the Max Planck Advanced Study Group (ASG) at the Hamburg Center for Free-Electron Laser Science (CFEL) have now produced atoms of the noble gas xenon with an extraordinarily high charge. With only one flash of the world's most powerful X-ray laser, an international team headed by Daniel Rolles ejected 36 electrons from a xenon atom and thus stripped the atom of more than two of its highest energy shells. This record charge significantly surpasses the greatest possible ionization which the physicists estimated for the X-ray energy used. This only becomes possible due to a resonance effect, which the team discovered. In the future, researchers will have to take into account these results when they use the extremely powerful pulses to bombard proteins or other biomolecules, for example, whose structure can only be clarified with the aid of an X-ray laser. http://phys.org/news272878308.html Physics Fri, 23 Nov 2012 07:50:01 EST news272878308 (Phys.org)—A University of Michigan biophysical chemist and his colleagues have discovered the smallest and fastest-known molecular switches made of RNA, the chemical cousin of DNA. The researchers say these rare, fleeting structures are prime targets for the development of new antiviral and antibiotic drugs. http://phys.org/news268836478.html Biology Sun, 07 Oct 2012 13:48:19 EST news268836478 European scientists investigated the dynamic unfolding of DNA during replication by generating a tool that could subsequently be applied to screen helicase-targeting drugs for infection and oncologic applications. http://phys.org/news268556503.html Biology Thu, 04 Oct 2012 08:20:02 EST news268556503 In order to assemble novel biomolecular machines, individual protein molecules must be installed at their site of operation with nanometer precision. Ludwig Maximilian University researchers have now found a way to do just that. Green light on protein assembly. http://phys.org/news268050403.html Nanotechnology Fri, 28 Sep 2012 11:27:26 EST news268050403 (Phys.org) -- Label free optical biosensors enable the monitoring of biomolecules and their interactions in often highly sensitive diagnostic assays. Several methods have been employed for this purpose, including Whispering Gallery Mode (WGM) biosensing, which offers a particularly sensitive approach to quantify the mass loading of biomolecules on the resonator surface with ultimate sensitivity estimated on the single molecule level. The simplest WGM biosensor is a glass microsphere (typically 50–100 mm in diameter) where the resonant light remains confined by total-internal reflection. http://phys.org/news264416535.html Nanotechnology Fri, 17 Aug 2012 10:50:05 EST news264416535 Certain metallic nanostructures are known to exhibit a distinctly asymmetric spectral feature. This characteristic feature, known as a Fano resonance, has attracted a considerable amount of attention due to its potential in sensing applications. http://phys.org/news259403854.html Nanotechnology Wed, 20 Jun 2012 10:10:01 EST news259403854 An international team led by SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory has proved how the world's most powerful X-ray laser can assist in cracking the structures of biomolecules, and in the processes helped to pioneer critical new investigative avenues in biology. http://phys.org/news257689199.html Physics Thu, 31 May 2012 14:00:16 EST news257689199 In a fjord in Canada scientists have found a landscape similar to one of Jupiter's icy moons: Europa. It consists of a frozen and sulphurous environment, where sulphur associated with Arctic bacteria offer clues for the upcoming missions in the search for traces of life on Europa. http://phys.org/news257590123.html Space & Earth Wed, 30 May 2012 09:48:56 EST news257590123 A new quantum mechanical-based biosensor designed by a team at University of California, Santa Barbara offers tremendous potential for detecting biomolecules at ultra-low concentrations, from instant point-of-care disease diagnostics, to detection of trace substances for forensics and security. http://phys.org/news253851927.html Physics Tue, 17 Apr 2012 03:26:08 EST news253851927 When it comes to checking for trace levels of chemicals that could be the early warning signs of disease or chemical exposure, doctors and patients want to use as small of blood samples as possible. This drive for small samples is spurring the scientific community to examine graphene: durable, conductive, and easy-to-tailor two-dimensional carbon sheets. Two articles on graphene biosensors by scientists at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory and Princeton University have proven quite popular. The articles are being regularly accessed online and are amassing citations. http://phys.org/news252142016.html Nanotechnology Wed, 28 Mar 2012 08:27:04 EST news252142016 At the heart of the immune system that protects our bodies from disease and foreign invaders is a vast and complex communications network involving millions of cells, sending and receiving chemical signals that can mean life or death. At the heart of this vast cellular signaling network are interactions between billions of proteins and other biomolecules. These interactions, in turn, are greatly influenced by the spatial patterning of signaling and receptor molecules. The ability to observe signaling spatial patterns in the immune and other cellular systems as they evolve, and to study the impact on molecular interactions and, ultimately, cellular communication, would be a critical tool in the fight against immunological and other disorders that lead to a broad range of health problems including cancer. Such a tool is now at hand. http://phys.org/news251737324.html Nanotechnology Fri, 23 Mar 2012 16:02:13 EST news251737324 Scientists have made many important discoveries in biology and medicine through studying the internal contents of cells. Some have isolated or identified nucleic acids or proteins with special functions, while others have unravelled the working and regulatory mechanisms underlying biochemical or pharmaceutical components within cells. Dave Ow and co-workers at the A*STAR Bioprocessing Technology Institute and Institute of High Performance Computing have now developed a novel method to expose the internal contents of cells for biochemical analysis. http://phys.org/news251023201.html Chemistry Thu, 15 Mar 2012 09:50:02 EST news251023201 (PhysOrg.com) -- A key element of both biotechnology and nanotechnology is – perhaps unsurprisingly – computational modeling. Frequently, in silico nanostructure design and simulation precedes actual experimentation. Moreover, the ability to use modeling to predict biomolecular structure lays the foundation for the subsequent design of biomolecules. Historically, the problem has been that most modeling software presents a tradeoff between being general purpose (in being able to model systems at high/atomic resolution) but limited in scope (i.e., only explores a small fraction conformational space around the initial structure). Recently, however, Stanford University scientists have developed an algorithm – implemented in a modeling program known as MOSAICS (Methodologies for Optimization and SAmpling In Computational Studies) – that achieves nanoscale modeling at the resolution required without being limited by the scope/size dilemma. In addition, the researchers successfully modeled – and benchmarked the new computation modeling technique with – RNA-based nanostructures. http://phys.org/news250772901.html Nanotechnology Mon, 12 Mar 2012 13:40:01 EST news250772901 The origin of life is seen as the formation of the first biomolecules which may be subject to multiplication and further development. Hitherto it was unclear, which reactions could have triggered the evolution of this ur-metabolism. Now scientists at the Technische Universitaet Muenchen revealed mechanisms, by which a few biomolecules may bring forth new products in the style of an avalanche to initiate a self-expanding metabolism. Chemistry - A European Journal now published their results. http://phys.org/news246191331.html Chemistry Thu, 19 Jan 2012 10:29:10 EST news246191331 Most scientists who study the origin of life assume that it occurred in the ocean. But a minority view is that ions in seawater may interfere with prebiotic chemistry, making a freshwater environment more likely. http://phys.org/news246181738.html Chemistry Thu, 19 Jan 2012 07:49:24 EST news246181738 In biology, what molecules are located where dictates much about how any biological system functions. http://phys.org/news245493041.html Chemistry Wed, 11 Jan 2012 08:30:55 EST news245493041 Researchers of the University of Zurich have discovered a new substance for labeling and visualization of DNA synthesis in whole animals. Applications for this technique include identifying the sites of virus infections and cancer growth, due to the abundance of DNA replication in these tissues. This approach should therefore lead to new strategies in drug development. http://phys.org/news242994293.html Chemistry Tue, 13 Dec 2011 10:25:19 EST news242994293 Aiming to take "clean" to a whole new level, researchers at the University of California at Berkeley and the University of Maryland at College Park have teamed up to study how low-temperature plasmas can deactivate potentially dangerous biomolecules left behind by conventional sterilization methods. Using low-temperature plasmas is a promising technique for sterilization and deactivation of surgical instruments and medical devices, but the researchers say its effectiveness isn't fully understood yet. The researchers will present their findings at the AVS Symposium, held Oct. 30 – Nov. 4, in Nashville, Tenn. http://phys.org/news239275941.html Physics Mon, 31 Oct 2011 10:33:24 EST news239275941 (PhysOrg.com) -- Proteins – the building blocks of life – come in so many different shapes and sizes that it’s easy to think nature must have already exhausted all possible combinations.  But, despite millions of years of evolution, it seems there are some forms that nature couldn’t quite reach. http://phys.org/news239258730.html Chemistry Mon, 31 Oct 2011 05:45:48 EST news239258730 For the first time, researchers have found a way to inject a precise dose of a gene therapy agent directly into a single living cell without a needle. http://phys.org/news237980308.html Nanotechnology Sun, 16 Oct 2011 13:00:18 EST news237980308 (PhysOrg.com) -- DNA and protein sequencing have forever transformed science, medicine, and society. Understanding the structure of these complex biomolecules has revolutionized drug development, medical diagnostics, forensic science, and our understanding of evolution and development. But, one major molecule in the biological triumvirate has remained largely uncharted: carbohydrate biopolymers. http://phys.org/news237553399.html Chemistry Tue, 11 Oct 2011 12:03:30 EST news237553399 The science world is abuzz with news of a new platform technology developed by physicists at the University of Sydney - technology that can be used in areas as diverse as disease detection through to biofuel production. http://phys.org/news232796374.html Physics Wed, 17 Aug 2011 11:30:05 EST news232796374