Biochemistry news

Researchers identify a scaffold regulating protein disposal

Chemistry / Biochemistry

1hour ago | not rated yet | 0

How does a cell manage to identify and degrade the diverse types of defective proteins and thus protect the body against serious diseases? The researchers Sabine C. Horn, Professor Thomas Sommer, Professor Udo Heinemann and ...

Synthetic protein mimics structure, function of metalloprotein in nature

Chemistry / Biochemistry

Dec 10, 2009 | not rated yet | 0

Scientists have designed a synthetic protein that is both a structural model and a functional model of a native protein, nitric-oxide reductase.

Older dental fillings contain form of mercury unlikely to be toxic

Chemistry / Biochemistry

Dec 09, 2009 | not rated yet | 0

A new study on the surface chemistry of silver-colored, mercury-based dental fillings suggests that the surface forms of mercury may be less toxic than previously thought. It appears online in ACS' journal ...

New platinum compound shows promise in tumor cells

Chemistry / Biochemistry

Dec 07, 2009 | 4.8 / 5 (6) | 1

(PhysOrg.com) -- MIT chemists have developed a new platinum compound that is as powerful as the commonly used anticancer drug cisplatin but better able to destroy tumor cells.

Researchers restore some function to cells from cystic fibrosis patients

Chemistry / Biochemistry

Dec 06, 2009 | 5 / 5 (1) | 0

In an encouraging new development, a team led by Scripps Research Institute scientists has restored partial function to lung cells collected from patients with cystic fibrosis. While there is still much work to be done before ...

New therapy targets for amyloid disease

Chemistry / Biochemistry

Dec 04, 2009 | not rated yet | 0

A major discovery is challenging accepted thinking about amyloids - the fibrous protein deposits associated with diseases such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's - and may open up a potential new area for therapeutics.

Case Western Reserve researchers' new pathway discovery published as 'Paper of the Week'

Chemistry / Biochemistry

Dec 04, 2009 | 2 / 5 (1) | 0

Case Western Reserve University researchers, from the School of Medicine's Department of Nutrition, discovered two new metabolic pathways by which products of lipid peroxidation and some drugs of abuse, known as 4-hydroxyacids, ...

Blood Enzyme Could Help Realize Clean Coal

Chemistry / Biochemistry

Dec 03, 2009 | 4 / 5 (5) | 0

(PhysOrg.com) -- An enzyme in our blood that enables our lungs to exhale carbon dioxide could be the key to isolating carbon dioxide emissions from coal plants in order to store them safely underground. A ...

Green tea chemical combined with another may hold promise for treatment of brain disorders

Chemistry / Biochemistry

Dec 03, 2009 | 4.8 / 5 (5) | 2

Scientists at Boston Biomedical Research Institute (BBRI) and the University of Pennsylvania have found that combining two chemicals, one of which is the green tea component EGCG, can prevent and destroy a variety of protein ...

Stopping MRSA before it becomes dangerous is possible, researchers find

Chemistry / Biochemistry

Dec 03, 2009 | 5 / 5 (3) | 0

Most scientists believe that staph infections are caused by many bacterial cells that signal each other to emit toxins. The signaling process is called quorum sensing because many bacteria must be present ...

Smokeless tobacco called 'moist snuff' is contaminated with harmful substances

Chemistry / Biochemistry

Dec 03, 2009 | 1.5 / 5 (2) | 0

A new study on the smokeless tobacco product called moist snuff — placed between lip and gum — has led scientists in Minnesota to urge the tobacco industry to change manufacturing practices to reduce snuff's ...

Researchers Identify Key Molecules in Photosynthesis

Chemistry / Biochemistry

Dec 02, 2009 | 5 / 5 (8) | 0

(PhysOrg.com) -- Chemistry professor Harry Frank led an international group of researchers that identified the molecules in algae which direct the organisms to convert sunlight into oxygen. The findings may ...

The hidden lives of proteins

Chemistry / Biochemistry

Dec 02, 2009 | 5 / 5 (2) | 0

An important Brandeis study appearing in the December 3 issue of Nature raises the curtain on the hidden lives of proteins at the atomic level. The study reports that for the first time, researchers used x ...

Soy peptide lunasin has anti-cancer, anti-inflammatory properties

Chemistry / Biochemistry

Dec 02, 2009 | not rated yet | 0

Two new University of Illinois studies report that lunasin, a soy peptide often discarded in the waste streams of soy-processing plants, may have important health benefits that include fighting leukemia and blocking the inflammation ...

Nervy research: Researchers take initial look at ion channels in a model system

Chemistry / Biochemistry

Dec 02, 2009 | 5 / 5 (1) | 0

Before one of your muscles can twitch, before the thought telling it to flex can race down your nerve, a tiny floodgate of sorts -- called an ion channel -- must open in the surface of each cell in these organs ...

All decked out: Networks of chitin filaments are integral components of diatom silica shells

Chemistry / Biochemistry

Dec 01, 2009 | 5 / 5 (1) | 0

(PhysOrg.com) -- A whole microcosm of various bizarrely shaped life forms opens up when you look at diatoms, the primary component of ocean plankton, under a microscope. The regularly structured silica shells of these tiny ...

Researchers discover biological basis of 'bacterial immune system'

Chemistry / Biochemistry

Nov 30, 2009 | 4.8 / 5 (4) | 1

(PhysOrg.com) -- Bacteria don’t have easy lives. In addition to mammalian immune systems that besiege the bugs, they have natural enemies called bacteriophages, viruses that kill half the bacteria on Earth every two days.

First live targeting of tumors with RNA-based technology

Chemistry / Biochemistry

Nov 30, 2009 | 4 / 5 (1) | 0

(PhysOrg.com) -- Finding and treating a tumor without disturbing normal tissue presents challenges - sometimes the most effective therapies can be invasive and harsh.