New synthetic route for biofuel production

A German-Chinese research team has found a new synthetic route to produce biofuel from biomass. The chemists converted the substance 5-hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF) produced from biomass into 2,5-dimethylfuran (DMF), which ...

Hydrogen-producing enzyme protects itself against oxygen

An international research team from the Photobiotechnology Research Group at Ruhr-Universität Bochum (RUB) led by Professor Thomas Happe and the Laboratoire de Bioénergétique et Ingénierie des Protéines (CNRS) in Marseille ...

Newly discovered receptor helps to sneak a peek at evolution

Together with lipids, membrane proteins are a central component of all biological membranes and fulfill important functions in transport and information transfer within and between cells. The majority of membrane proteins ...

New energy conversion layer for biosolar cells

A research team from the Ruhr-Universität Bochum (RUB), together with colleagues from Lisbon, has produced a semi-artificial electrode that could convert light energy into other forms of energy in biosolar cells. The technique ...

How water helps the substrate into the enzyme

Researchers from Bochum and Berkeley have investigated why cages can increase the catalytic activity of enclosed molecules. Using terahertz spectroscopy and complex computer simulations, they showed that water encapsulated ...

What makes peppers blush

Bright red, tasty and healthy, that's how we know and love bell peppers. In a first, the team headed by Professor Sacha Baginsky from the Chair for Plant Biochemistry at Ruhr University (RUB) has deciphered in detail at the ...

Detecting bacteria with fluorescent nanosensors

Researchers from Bochum, Göttingen, Duisburg and Cologne have developed a new method for detecting bacteria and infections. They use fluorescent nanosensors to track down pathogens faster and more easily than with established ...

Measuring pH locally with terahertz spectroscopy

Researchers at Ruhr-Universität Bochum have developed a new method to determine a local pH value near a specific site of a biomolecule. A reliable measurement with a pH meter is only been possible in a larger ensemble, or ...

Metal-organic frameworks become flexible

The application potential of metal-organic frameworks was first discovered around 20 years ago, and almost 100,000 such hybrid porous materials have since been identified. There are great hopes for technical applications, ...

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