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The need for speed

Coherent Raman scattering methods have one key advantage over spontaneous Raman microscopy: speed. The (sub-)microsecond pixel dwell times offered by narrowband CRS imaging methods have initiated a new era ...

Chemistry / Biochemistry

created May 29, 2012 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

Cell membrane is patterned like a patchwork quilt

(Phys.org) -- As the interface between the cell and its environment, the cell membrane, which consists of fats and proteins, fulfils a variety of vital functions. Scientists at the Max Planck Institute of ...

Biology / Cell & Microbiology

created May 05, 2012 | popularity 4.5 / 5 (13) | comments 3 | with audio podcast

Simulated digestion: Nanomaterial made from lipids and silicon dioxide improves absorption of pharmaceuticals

(Phys.org) -- Some medicines have to be taken either before, after, or during a meal because food ingredients can affect its absorption or bioavailability. Australian researchers have now encapsulated drugs ...

Chemistry / Materials Science

created Apr 27, 2012 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

Avocado oil: The 'olive oil of the Americas'?

Atmospheric oxygen facilitated the evolution and complexity of terrestrial organisms, including human beings, because it allowed nutrients to be used more efficiently by those organisms, which in turn were able to generate ...

Chemistry / Biochemistry

created Apr 23, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 2

Lactating tsetse flies models for lactating mammals?

An unprecedented study of intra-uterine lactation in the tsetse fly, published 18 April 2012 in Biology of Reproduction's Papers-in-Press, reveals that an enzyme found in the fly's milk functions similarly in ...

Biology / Plants & Animals

created Apr 18, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (3) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Scientists discover new fat over lunch

Uncovering new fats, or lipids, with links to diseases in the human lens is as easy as taking a lunch break, according to chemists from the ARC Centre of Excellence for Free Radical Chemistry and Biotechnology at the University ...

Chemistry / Analytical Chemistry

created Apr 09, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (3) | comments 0

Quantum dots provide quantitative profile of pancreatic cancer biomarkers on single cells

(Phys.org) -- With the aid of a novel set of lipid-coated, targeted quantum dots, researchers at Johns Hopkins University have developed a method for quantifying multiple specific biomarkers on the surfaces of individual ...

Nanotechnology / Bio & Medicine

created Apr 06, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Red wine, fruit compound could help block fat cell formation

(PhysOrg.com) -- A compound found in red wine, grapes and other fruits, and similar in structure to resveratrol, is able to block cellular processes that allow fat cells to develop, opening a door to a potential ...

Chemistry / Biochemistry

created Apr 04, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (3) | comments 1 | with audio podcast

Researchers present a shiny new tool for imaging biomolecules

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 ...

Nanotechnology / Nanophysics

created Mar 23, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (4) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Possible new route to fight dengue virus pointed

Researchers have identified enzymes and biochemical compounds called lipids that are targeted and modified by the dengue virus during infection, suggesting a potential new approach to control the aggressive ...

Biology / Cell & Microbiology

created Mar 22, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (3) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Cell protein interactions favor fats

For cells to signal each other to carry out their vital work, could the cell membrane's lipids -- or fats -- play a role in buttering-up the process? A research group led by University of Illinois at Chicago chemistry professor ...

Biology / Cell & Microbiology

created Mar 22, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

New findings awaken age-old anesthesia question

(PhysOrg.com) -- Why does inhaling anesthetics cause unconsciousness? New insights into this century-and-a-half-old question may spring from research performed at the National Institute of Standards and Technology. ...

Chemistry / Biochemistry

created Mar 21, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (7) | comments 1 | with audio podcast

Studying slimy substances for a cleaner environment

Extracellular polymeric substances, or EPS, are the slimy material that bacteria excrete and surround themselves with as they form biofilms. EPS are mostly water (up to 95%), but the remaining ingredients ...

Biology / Cell & Microbiology

created Mar 20, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0

How muscle cells seal their membranes

Every cell is enclosed by a thin double layer of lipids that separates the distinct internal environment of the cell from the extracellular space. Damage to this lipid bilayer, also referred to as plasma membrane, ...

Biology / Cell & Microbiology

created Mar 14, 2012 | popularity 4 / 5 (1) | comments 0

New study sheds light on genetics of rice metabolism

A large-scale study analyzing metabolic compounds in rice grains conducted by researchers at the RIKEN Plant Science Center (PSC) and their collaborators has identified 131 rice metabolites and clarified the ...

Biology / Biotechnology

created Feb 08, 2012 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

Lipid

Lipids are a broad group of naturally-occurring molecules which includes fats, waxes, sterols, fat-soluble vitamins (such as vitamins A, D, E and K), monoglycerides, diglycerides, phospholipids, and others. The main biological functions of lipids include energy storage, as structural components of cell membranes, and as important signaling molecules.

Lipids may be broadly defined as hydrophobic or amphiphilic small molecules; the amphiphilic nature of some lipids allows them to form structures such as vesicles, liposomes, or membranes in an aqueous environment. Biological lipids originate entirely or in part from two distinct types of biochemical subunits or "building blocks": ketoacyl and isoprene groups. Using this approach, lipids may be divided into eight categories: fatty acyls, glycerolipids, glycerophospholipids, sphingolipids, saccharolipids and polyketides (derived from condensation of ketoacyl subunits); and sterol lipids and prenol lipids (derived from condensation of isoprene subunits).

Although the term lipid is sometimes used as a synonym for fats, fats are a subgroup of lipids called triglycerides. Lipids also encompass molecules such as fatty acids and their derivatives (including tri-, di-, and monoglycerides and phospholipids), as well as other sterol-containing metabolites such as cholesterol. Although humans and other mammals use various biosynthetic pathways to both break down and synthesize lipids, some essential lipids cannot be made this way and must be obtained from the diet.

For more information about Lipid, read the full article at Wikipedia.
This text uses material from Wikipedia and is available under the GNU Free Documentation License.