https://phys.org/chemistry-news/biochemistry/ en-us The latest news on biochemistry A team led by chemist Frank Glorius, a professor at the Institute of Organic Chemistry at the University of Münster, has developed a new light-driven reaction sequence. In this triple catalysis, one reaction step triggers the next like three dominoes in a row, toppling one after the other. The molecular transformations occur sequentially in a single reaction vessel. Such one-pot synthesis is considered an ideal process because it is particularly resource- and energy-efficient. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-visible-triggers-cascade-3d-drug.html Biochemistry Fri, 10 Jul 2026 14:40:02 EDT news702907999 Cells sitting side by side in the same tissues are not identical. Each cell carries its own subtly different chemical signature—a hidden individuality that can reveal how diseases take root and spread. Now, researchers from the University of Osaka have developed a technique sensitive enough to capture this cell-by-cell diversity within tissues with unprecedented precision and stability. Their study is published in the journal Analytical Chemistry. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-probe-alzheimer-linked-lipids-cell.html Biochemistry Wed, 08 Jul 2026 21:20:02 EDT news702724793 With careful recipe and process design, non-alcoholic beer can be made more resistant to foodborne pathogens, according to a new study that provides practical guidance on pH, carbonation and hops. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-carbonation-ph-safer-alcoholic-beer.html Biochemistry Tue, 07 Jul 2026 15:00:03 EDT news702647035 Researchers at the University of Bayreuth and Forschungszentrum Jülich have demonstrated that specific light-sensitive enzymes—so-called sensor histidine kinases (SHKs)—transmit their signal through a light-controlled change in asymmetry. With their new study, the researchers contribute to a better understanding of a central mechanism of bacterial signal processing. This may help develop new tools for biomedicine or biotechnology. The findings are reported in the journal Science Advances. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-flips-bacterial-enzyme.html Biochemistry Thu, 02 Jul 2026 16:00:01 EDT news702217862 Researchers at The University of Manchester and Hebei University of Technology have identified how a new class of catalyst can break down lignin into useful chemical building blocks, offering a more sustainable route to replace fossil-based materials. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-atom-catalyst-lignin-valuable-chemicals.html Biochemistry Wed, 01 Jul 2026 13:40:07 EDT news702125161 Sialic acid is a natural sugar building block found on the surfaces of our cells. It acts as a protective and recognition molecule and plays a central role in the development of the nervous system. Following the modular principle, individual components can be swapped for new building blocks, thereby altering the properties of the sugar. Researchers at Hannover Medical School (MHH) have investigated how these building blocks reach their target. These fundamental findings are also significant because certain influenza and coronavirus strains specifically use modified sialic acids as receptors to enter host cells. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-sugar-block-viral.html Biochemistry Tue, 30 Jun 2026 14:20:05 EDT news702036482 Pioneering research has developed a new way of creating carbohydrate-based medicines that could ultimately replace costly drugs for common health conditions, using two cheap basic ingredients—table sugar and vinegar. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-table-sugar-cheaper-quicker-key.html Biochemistry Mon, 29 Jun 2026 17:00:09 EDT news701956748 Antibiotic resistance is becoming an accelerating crisis because of the overuse and misuse of antibiotics over many years. The problem is exacerbated when antibiotics wipe out susceptible bacteria but leave resistant bacteria behind to multiply, further spreading resistance. There is an ongoing search for new treatments to fight resistant bacteria, and now researchers may have found a way to successfully treat at least one type of resistant bacteria. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-compound-antibiotic-resistant-bacteria-defense.html Biochemistry Mon, 29 Jun 2026 12:20:06 EDT news701953801 Researchers at the Terasaki Institute for Biomedical Innovation have developed an injectable hydrogel, a water-based gel material, made from silk proteins and a plant-derived compound. In laboratory tests, the material promoted complete wound closure within 72 hours, suggesting a potential new approach to minimally invasive soft tissue repair. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-silk-kudzu-hydrogel-wound-closure.html Biochemistry Sun, 28 Jun 2026 15:00:01 EDT news701361407 Enzymes are regarded as the key to sustainable chemistry. Despite major advances in protein design, creating artificial enzymes from scratch has so far remained a grand challenge. A research team at the University of Bayreuth, in collaboration with scientists from the University of Ottawa, has now demonstrated how nonfunctional protein scaffolds can be transformed into highly active enzymes. The researchers report their findings in Nature Chemical Biology. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-workflow-nonfunctional-protein-scaffolds-enzymes.html Biochemistry Sat, 27 Jun 2026 12:00:01 EDT news701682571 Aniline can now be transformed into pyridine without adding any catalysts, oxidants or toxic reagents. In a recent study published in the Journal of the American Chemical Society, researchers achieved skeletal editing, involving the reorganization of the carbon-nitrogen bonds within an aromatic ring, by turning an aqueous solution of aniline into a mist of microdroplets. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-tiny-droplets-transmutate-aniline-pyridine.html Biochemistry Thu, 25 Jun 2026 09:20:09 EDT news701593618 Sugars are not just a source of energy—they also play a crucial role in how cells communicate, how proteins interact and how materials behave in medicine and industry. But studying these processes is challenging because sugar molecules are structurally complex and difficult to control. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-scientists-tunable-biomolecules-probe-sugars.html Biochemistry Wed, 24 Jun 2026 15:40:03 EDT news701524741 When many of us think about how drugs work in the body, we may first think about how a drug gets into the body, such as a pill versus an injection. In the Gellman Group at the UW–Madison Department of Chemistry, researchers are instead thinking about how a drug behaves after it reaches its target, which is critical for effective drug performance. The cells in our bodies must receive and respond to information from their environment for healthy function, and when information flow is disrupted, illness can result. Most of the information is contained in molecules that engage with receptor proteins on cell surfaces. Many medicines work by modifying information transfer at specific receptor proteins. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-drug-peptides-defy-receptors-full.html Biochemistry Tue, 23 Jun 2026 18:40:01 EDT news701446743 Developing new medicines can require thousands of chemistry experiments to identify the right recipe for a safe, effective and ideally affordable drug. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-ai-drug-discovery.html Biochemistry Mon, 22 Jun 2026 17:40:03 EDT news701358901 The main reason for sealing wine bottles with a cork is to protect the liquid from oxygen. However, it is not an impermeable barrier, and a small amount of air leaks in, which is not always entirely bad news. The gas helps the wine mature and develop a more complex flavor. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-oxygen-corked-wine-bottle.html Biochemistry Mon, 22 Jun 2026 10:40:06 EDT news701342311 Aptamers are short DNA or RNA strands that can recognize and bind to a specific target molecule with high precision. Similar to antibodies, they can be used to detect these molecules or modulate their activity. Unlike antibodies, they are much more stable, can be produced synthetically and can be chemically modified to achieve the desired properties. As a result, they can offer capabilities that cannot be achieved with antibodies. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-faster-aptamer-screening-synthetic-alternatives.html Biochemistry Sat, 20 Jun 2026 12:00:01 EDT news701014712 A chance discovery at Nagoya University in Japan has shown that a well-known brain enzyme has a hidden ability: It builds a sugar chain on itself, becomes secreted from the cell and deactivates, then switches on outside the cell once the chain is removed. The finding, published in the Journal of Biological Chemistry, overturns a decades-old assumption about how polysialic acid, a sugar chain critical for brain development and function, is produced and shows a new way an enzyme can regulate its own activity. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-brain-enzyme-caught-unexpected-polysialic.html Biochemistry Thu, 18 Jun 2026 21:40:01 EDT news701017871 Compostable plastics could be part of a solution to the world's plastic waste problem. But currently these materials need industrial composting facilities to break down. In a step toward making a home-compostable plastic, researchers reporting in ACS Central Science have augmented polylactide (PLA)—a widely used biobased and compostable polymer—with a small amount of an additive. Tests show it helps the material degrade substantially faster without sacrificing critical qualities like strength or transparency. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-additive-faster-bioplastic-biodegradation-transparency.html Biochemistry Thu, 18 Jun 2026 16:10:01 EDT news701016961 Our food and our bodies are full of tiny protein fragments called peptides. These small chains of amino acids act as biological messengers, influencing processes ranging from sensory perception to physiological functions. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-method-enables-accurate-sequencing-short.html Biochemistry Tue, 16 Jun 2026 20:00:07 EDT news700834139 Researchers at the University of Notre Dame and collaborators have discovered a key process in how the outer membrane of gram-negative bacteria attaches to the cell wall, advancing the understanding of how these bacteria frequently develop resistance to antibiotics. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-bacteria-reveal-protein-antibiotic-resistant.html Biochemistry Mon, 15 Jun 2026 19:20:04 EDT news700759981 Advances in structural biology have allowed scientists to determine molecular structures with atomic-level detail, sometimes yielding static snapshots that do not reflect the dynamism of proteins. However, these motions are often crucial for biological function. Researchers from the Institute of Science and Technology Austria (ISTA), together with international collaborators, have now combined several methods to shed light on how proteins "breathe" and how some experimental techniques freeze their motion. The findings—which could boost protein design approaches and improve AI-based structural prediction tools—are published in Nature Chemistry. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-frozen-snapshots-protein-view-combined.html Biochemistry Mon, 15 Jun 2026 18:20:08 EDT news700759022 For more than a century, chemists have been building complex molecules step by step—bond by bond, atom by atom. But what if, instead of painstakingly reassembling molecules, they could be directly "rewritten"? This is exactly what a research team led by organic chemist Nuno Maulide from the University of Vienna has now achieved. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-chemists-reveal-alkyl-swap-rewrites.html Biochemistry Mon, 15 Jun 2026 11:40:04 EDT news700735977 Steel and metal production are among the largest contributors to global greenhouse gas emissions, accounting for approximately 10% of global CO2 emissions. At the same time, modern technology relies on tailored steels and metals for applications in fields such as mobility, energy, infrastructure, safety and medicine. Hydrogen-based metal production offers a promising CO2-free alternative and goes even further by integrating reduction, alloying and microstructure design into a single production step. However, hydrogen-based metal production still faces a number of challenges on its path to widespread adoption, one of which is the relatively slow reduction kinetics of metal ores at temperatures below 800°C (1,472°F). https://phys.org/news/2026-06-hydrogen-based-steelmaking-2x-boost.html Biochemistry Sun, 14 Jun 2026 16:00:01 EDT news700414341 Most people have seen nylon listed as a material on their clothing tags, but nylon is used in an array of other products, too, including automotive parts, wire insulation and medical supplies. Unfortunately, one of the building blocks of nylon, adipic acid, is produced from petroleum-derived benzene through energy-intensive processes and has a rather high carbon footprint. However, there may be a better way to produce this ubiquitous polymer. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-years-overlooked-material-poised-reshape.html Biochemistry Sun, 14 Jun 2026 12:40:01 EDT news700402907 Researchers have developed a solar-driven catalyst material that harnesses the energy of a single photon to reduce carbon dioxide and oxidize organic waste at the same time, producing valuable chemicals in both reactions. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-photon-reactions-catalyst-biowaste-simultaneously.html Biochemistry Fri, 12 Jun 2026 05:00:03 EDT news700385161 Plants are undeniably one of nature's most promising sources of new medicines, with monoterpenoid indole alkaloids (MIAs) being a great example. Some intricate compounds are built from multiple-linked chemical units that form highly complex three-dimensional structures. Because of their size and shape, scientists believe such oligomeric MIAs may be able to interfere with specific protein–protein interactions inside cells—a biological target that conventional small-molecule drugs often struggle to reach. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-chemists-total-synthesis-rare-alkaloid.html Biochemistry Mon, 08 Jun 2026 18:30:03 EDT news700157041 For many of us, a warm cup of coffee is how we start our day. For Texas A&M Health researchers, it may also offer a new way to control engineered cells in future medicines. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-ai-brews-caffeine-powered-safety.html Biochemistry Fri, 05 Jun 2026 12:40:02 EDT news699880081 The building‐block chemicals behind everyday products—like shampoo bottles, food containers, and kitchen spatulas—are largely derived from oil. Researchers are now working to replace those fossil‐fuel‐based inputs with materials sourced from renewable biological systems, a shift with implications for health, economic resilience, and national security. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-gold-palladium-catalysis-mechanism-advance.html Biochemistry Thu, 04 Jun 2026 05:00:05 EDT news699717002 Though decaf fans might disagree, caffeine is a critical component of a cup of joe. This compound is incredibly bitter on its own, but regular coffee itself is not. A team reporting in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry has investigated why and explains that the answer may lie within interactions between caffeine and other coffee molecules called melanoidins that are produced during the roasting process. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-doesnt-coffee-caffeine.html Biochemistry Wed, 03 Jun 2026 17:50:01 EDT news699723901 Potent drugs like chemotherapy can be life-saving, but often with life-threatening side effects. Notably, they can be indiscriminate, killing both cancer cells and healthy cells in one swoop. Increasing a drug's on-target efficiency can reduce side effects and enable healthier outcomes for patients. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-programmable-chemistry-drugs-cells-aiming.html Biochemistry Wed, 03 Jun 2026 17:40:02 EDT news699718108