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. From microscopes to MRI scanners, imaging technology is growing ever more vital in the world's hospitals, whether for the diagnosis of illness or for research into new cures. Imaging technology requires dyes or contrast agents of some sort. Current contrast agents and dyes are expensive, difficult to work with and far from ideal. Now, Danish chemists have discovered a new dye and proved its worth against any of the dyes currently available. http://phys.org/news287552048.html Chemistry Sun, 12 May 2013 05:13:03 EST news287552048 (Phys.org) —Researchers have found a way to see synthetic nanostructures and molecules using a new type of super-resolution optical microscopy that does not require fluorescent dyes, representing a practical tool for biomedical and nanotechnology research. http://phys.org/news286479607.html Physics Mon, 29 Apr 2013 18:40:14 EST news286479607 Methoxybenzene, commonly known as 'anisole' because of its aniseed aroma, is an important compound in organic chemistry. Anisole-type frameworks are found in numerous molecules ranging from pheromones to fluorescent dyes. New findings from Zhaomin Hou and colleagues from the Organometallic Chemistry Laboratory at the RIKEN Advanced Science Institute now promise to make the construction of these substances more efficient thanks to unique rare-earth catalysts that direct synthetic reagents to specific sites on anisole rings. http://phys.org/news281954515.html Chemistry Fri, 08 Mar 2013 09:20:01 EST news281954515 Quantum dots—tiny particles that emit light in a dazzling array of glowing colors—have the potential for many applications, but have faced a series of hurdles to improved performance. But an MIT team says that it has succeeded in overcoming all these obstacles at once, while earlier efforts have only been able to tackle them one or a few at a time. http://phys.org/news279185394.html Nanotechnology Mon, 04 Feb 2013 07:30:05 EST news279185394 A new super resolution fluorescence structured illumination microscopy system, or fluorescence SIM, is now available at EMSL as part of the lab's Cell Isolation and Systems Analysis capabilities. http://phys.org/news275120311.html Nanotechnology Wed, 19 Dec 2012 06:20:53 EST news275120311 (Phys.org)—Acidity (pH) and its changes play an important role in many physiological processes, including protein folding, and can act as indicators of cancer. In the journal Angewandte Chemie, American researchers have now introduced an unconventional pH sensor that makes it possible to monitor changes in pH values in living cells over longer periods of time, with previously unobtainable spatial resolution. This is possible through the combination of fluorescent nanocrystals with mobile molecular "arms" that can fold or unfold depending on the pH of their environment. http://phys.org/news274691571.html Nanotechnology Fri, 14 Dec 2012 07:13:06 EST news274691571 (Phys.org)—Early detection of soft-tissue diseases, such as breast cancer, typically requires invasive biopsies. Now, a new self-assembled nanoparticle developed by Bin Liu at the A*STAR Institute of Materials Research and Engineering and co-workers may soon make biopsies obsolete. The team's material significantly enhances the safety of two-photon microscopy (TPM)—a technique that uses fluorescent probes to generate three-dimensional pictures of cancer cell structures in living tissue. http://phys.org/news270294323.html Nanotechnology Wed, 24 Oct 2012 10:47:11 EST news270294323 (Phys.org)—An international team of scientists led by Indiana University chemist Michael S. VanNieuwenhze and biologist Yves Brun has discovered a revolutionary new method for coloring the cell wall of bacterial cells to determine how they grow, in turn providing a new, much-needed tool for the development of new antibiotics. http://phys.org/news269076843.html Chemistry Wed, 10 Oct 2012 08:34:12 EST news269076843 Blood tests convey vital medical information, but the sight of a needle often causes anxiety and results take time. A new device developed by a team of researchers in Israel, however, can reveal much the same information as a traditional blood test in real-time, simply by shining a light through the skin. This optical instrument, no bigger than a breadbox, is able to provide high-resolution images of blood coursing through our veins without the need for harsh and short-lived fluorescent dyes. http://phys.org/news256818055.html Physics Mon, 21 May 2012 11:21:24 EST news256818055 (Phys.org) -- Lanrong Bi and Nazmiye Yapici are shining new light on the hidden processes within cells. For their groundbreaking research, Bi, an assistant professor of chemistry at Michigan Technological University, and PhD candidate Yapici have received the Bhakta Rath Research Award. http://phys.org/news256382637.html Chemistry Wed, 16 May 2012 10:24:08 EST news256382637 The precise blending of tiny particles and multicolor dyes transforms gelatin into a realistic surrogate for human tissue. These tissue mimics, known as "phantoms," provide an accurate proving ground for new photoacoustic and ultrasonic imaging technologies. "The ability to provide phantoms that are capable of mimicking desired properties of soft tissue is critical to advance the development of new, more-accurate imaging technologies," said Stanislav Emelianov of the University of Texas at Austin and co-author of a paper appearing in the Optical Society's (OSA) open-access journal Biomedical Optics Express that describes an improved method for fabricating tissue phantoms. http://phys.org/news241878789.html Physics Wed, 30 Nov 2011 12:34:16 EST news241878789 Developing drugs to combat or cure human disease often involves a phase of testing with mice, so being able to peer clearly into a living mouse's innards has real value. http://phys.org/news225719573.html Nanotechnology Fri, 27 May 2011 12:53:38 EST news225719573 Shining a laser light on cells and then clicking off the light makes the cells "breathe in" surrounding water, providing a potentially powerful delivery system for chemotherapy drugs, as well as a non-invasive way to target anti-Alzheimer's medicines to the brain. That's the conclusion of a report in ACS's The Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters. http://phys.org/news219496352.html Nanotechnology Wed, 16 Mar 2011 12:12:54 EST news219496352 A brain structure called the habenula is crucial for modifications of fear responses in zebrafish, according to a new study by researchers from the RIKEN Brain Science Institute, Wako. The zebrafish dorsal habenula is subdivided into two regions, each connected to different brain structures, but the function of each, and the significance of their connections, was unclear. http://phys.org/news211807838.html Medicine & Health Fri, 17 Dec 2010 11:31:00 EST news211807838 A paper by researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology may breathe new life into the use of a powerful -- but tricky -- diagnostic technique for cell biology. The paper,* appearing this week in the Biophysical Journal, demonstrates that with improved hardware and better signal processing, a powerful form of molecular vibration spectroscopy can quickly deliver detailed molecular maps of the contents of cells without damaging them. Earlier studies have suggested that to be useful, the technique would need power levels too high for cells. http://phys.org/news206278076.html Physics Thu, 14 Oct 2010 12:28:11 EST news206278076 (PhysOrg.com) -- Far-field optical nanoscopy methods, especially STED (stimulated emission depletion), pose very strict and, at times, contradictory requirements on the utilized fluorescent markers. Photostable fluorescent dyes that absorb in the red optical region are indispensable as labels for various micro- and nanoscopic studies (e.g., with commercially available STED microscopes). Despite many attempts to design novel and improved red-emitting dyes, the number of compounds that perform satisfactorily in fluorescence-based microscopy is still limited. http://phys.org/news197715684.html Chemistry Wed, 07 Jul 2010 10:02:01 EST news197715684 Using an off-the-shelf digital camera, Rice University biomedical engineers and researchers from the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center have created an inexpensive device that is powerful enough to let doctors easily distinguish cancerous cells from healthy cells simply by viewing the LCD monitor on the back of the camera. http://phys.org/news196603942.html Chemistry Thu, 24 Jun 2010 13:12:34 EST news196603942 University College Dublin researchers led by Conway Fellow, Professor David Brayden have shown that a candidate drug delivery polymer may have potential for oral or topical use. These findings were recently published in the Journal of Controlled Release. http://phys.org/news194799884.html Chemistry Thu, 03 Jun 2010 16:20:01 EST news194799884 New research findings suggest that an experimental ultrasensitive medical imaging technique that uses a pulsed laser and tiny metallic "nanocages" might enable both the early detection and treatment of disease. http://phys.org/news190308607.html Nanotechnology Mon, 12 Apr 2010 17:20:01 EST news190308607 (PhysOrg.com) -- The imaging of living cells at the molecular level was barely a dream twenty years ago. Today, however, this dream is close to becoming reality. http://phys.org/news188814154.html Nanotechnology Fri, 26 Mar 2010 09:23:11 EST news188814154 Researchers in Germany show that a classical biological oscillator, the glycolytic oscillator, may increase damage to the heart during acute loss of oxygen (anoxia), and as may occur during ischemia. The study appears online March 15 in the Journal of General Physiology. http://phys.org/news187872464.html Medicine & Health Mon, 15 Mar 2010 12:00:04 EST news187872464 It's been used to dye the Chicago River green on St. Patrick's Day. It's been used to find latent blood stains at crime scenes. And now researchers at Northwestern University have used it to examine the thinnest material in the world. http://phys.org/news180789864.html Nanotechnology Wed, 23 Dec 2009 11:24:48 EST news180789864 (PhysOrg.com) -- Induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells -- adult cells reprogrammed to look and function like versatile embryonic stem cells -- are of growing interest in medicine. They may provide a way to create different kinds of patient-matched stem cells as treatments for disease, while sidestepping many of the ethical questions surrounding stem cells created from embryos. However, the production of iPS cells is often imprecise, yielding many incompletely reprogrammed cells. Now, researchers at Children's Hospital Boston have developed a technique to help distinguish these cells from the desired pure stem cells. http://phys.org/news178310446.html Biology Tue, 24 Nov 2009 18:41:07 EST news178310446 (PhysOrg.com) -- If you wanted to know if your child had a fever or be certain that the roast in the oven was thoroughly cooked, you would, of course, use a thermometer that you trusted to give accurate readings at any temperature within its range. However, it isn’t that simple for researchers who need to measure temperatures in microfluidic systems—tiny, channel-lined devices used in medical diagnostics, DNA forensics and “lab-on-a-chip” chemical analyzers—as their current “thermometer” can only be precisely calibrated for one reference temperature. Now, researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology have proposed a mathematical solution that enables researchers to calibrate the “thermometer” for microfluidic systems so that all temperatures are covered. http://phys.org/news171650163.html Chemistry Tue, 08 Sep 2009 18:20:01 EST news171650163 The molecular machinery that helps brain cells migrate to their correct place in the developing brain has been identified by scientists at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. The finding offers new insight into the forces that drive brain organization in developing fetuses and children during their first years. Disruption of this brain-patterning machinery can cause epilepsy and mental retardation and understanding its function could give new insight into such disorders. http://phys.org/news166887881.html Medicine & Health Wed, 15 Jul 2009 15:20:01 EST news166887881