With the ability to map dozens of biomarkers at once, a new method could transform testing for conditions including heart disease and cancer.
Bio & Medicine
Sep 25, 2023
0
11
Boosting virtual screening with machine learning allowed for a 10-fold time reduction in the processing of 1.56 billion drug-like molecules. Researchers from the University of Eastern Finland teamed up with industry and supercomputers ...
Analytical Chemistry
Sep 22, 2023
0
12
MicroRNAs are small molecules that regulate gene activity by binding to and destroying RNAs produced by the genes. More than 60% of all human genes are estimated to be regulated by microRNAs; therefore, it is not surprising ...
Cell & Microbiology
Sep 21, 2023
0
23
RNA modifications are dynamic and reversible chemical modifications on substrate RNA that regulate mRNA stability, translation, and localization. This review is designed by Dr. Junhong Han and written by his postdoctoral ...
Cell & Microbiology
Sep 7, 2023
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10
Ion channels are attractive drug targets due to their importance in health and disease, but finding ways to target a specific ion channel selectively is a major challenge. Now, researchers at Weill Cornell Medicine and RMIT ...
Biochemistry
Aug 31, 2023
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8
Cocaine use continues to be a public health problem, yet despite concerted efforts, no drugs have been approved to resolve cocaine addiction. Research suggests that the attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder drug methylphenidate ...
Biochemistry
Aug 30, 2023
0
48
Triplons are tricky little things. Experimentally, they're exceedingly difficult to observe. And even then, researchers usually conduct the tests on macroscopic materials, in which measurements are expressed as an average ...
Condensed Matter
Aug 23, 2023
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3334
NASA's Lunar Trailblazer is nearing completion now that its second and final cutting-edge science instrument has been added to the small spacecraft. Built by the University of Oxford in England and contributed by the UK Space ...
Space Exploration
Aug 16, 2023
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9
A world-first instrument, High-energy electron Xtallography Instrument (HeXI), combining the power of electron diffraction with X-ray beamline expertise is being built by a team at Diamond Light Source, the UK's national ...
General Physics
Aug 9, 2023
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8
It's a mold that causes billions in crop losses every year, infecting berries, tomatoes and most other fruits and vegetables. Now, researchers have found a way to defeat the mold without showering toxic chemicals on the crops.
Cell & Microbiology
Aug 3, 2023
0
53
In pharmacology and biochemistry, a small molecule is an organic compound that is not a polymer. Biopolymers such as nucleic acids, proteins, and polysaccharides (such as starch or cellulose) are not small molecules, although their constituent monomers—ribo- or deoxyribonucleotides, amino acids, and monosaccharides, respectively—are often considered to be. Very small oligomers are also usually considered small molecules, such as dinucleotides, peptides such as the antioxidant glutathione, and disaccharides such as sucrose.
While small molecules almost always have a lower molecular weight than biopolymers, a very small protein with a defined fold, such as the artificial ten-amino-acid protein chignolin[1], can indeed be smaller than some exceptionally large small molecules such as triglycerides.
Small molecules can have a variety of biological functions, serving as cell signalling molecules, as tools in molecular biology, as drugs in medicine, and in countless other roles. These compounds can be natural (such as secondary metabolites) or artificial (such as antiviral drugs); they may have a beneficial effect against a disease (such as FDA approved drugs) or may be detrimental (such as teratogens and carcinogens).
This text uses material from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA
