Chemistry – Lifeboat News: The Blog

Nov 14
2022

Beer Ingredient May Inhibit Clumping of Alzheimer’s Protein

Cheers!

𝐁𝐞𝐞𝐫 𝐈𝐧𝐠𝐫𝐞𝐝𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐌𝐚𝐲 𝐈𝐧𝐡𝐢𝐛𝐢𝐭 𝐂𝐥𝐮𝐦𝐩𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐨𝐟 𝐀𝐥𝐳𝐡𝐞𝐢𝐦𝐞𝐫’𝐬 𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐭𝐞𝐢𝐧

𝘽𝙚𝙚𝙧 𝙞𝙨 𝙤𝙣𝙚 𝙤𝙛 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙤𝙡𝙙𝙚𝙨𝙩 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙢𝙤𝙨𝙩 𝙥𝙤𝙥𝙪𝙡𝙖𝙧 𝙗𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙧𝙖𝙜𝙚𝙨 𝙞𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙬𝙤𝙧𝙡𝙙, 𝙬𝙞𝙩𝙝 𝙨𝙤𝙢𝙚 𝙥𝙚𝙤𝙥𝙡𝙚 𝙡𝙤𝙫𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙤𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙧𝙨 𝙝𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙙𝙞𝙨𝙩𝙞𝙣𝙘𝙩, 𝙗𝙞𝙩𝙩𝙚𝙧 𝙩𝙖𝙨𝙩𝙚 𝙤𝙛 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙝𝙤𝙥𝙨 𝙪𝙨𝙚𝙙 𝙩𝙤 𝙛𝙡𝙖𝙫𝙤𝙧 𝙞𝙩𝙨 𝙢𝙖𝙣𝙮 𝙫𝙖𝙧𝙞𝙚𝙩𝙞𝙚𝙨. 𝘽𝙪𝙩 𝙖𝙣 𝙚𝙨𝙥𝙚𝙘𝙞𝙖𝙡𝙡𝙮 “𝙝𝙤𝙥𝙥𝙮” 𝙗𝙧𝙚𝙬 𝙢𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙩 𝙝𝙖𝙫𝙚 𝙪𝙣𝙞𝙦𝙪𝙚 𝙝𝙚𝙖𝙡𝙩𝙝 𝙗𝙚𝙣𝙚𝙛𝙞𝙩𝙨. 𝙍𝙚𝙘𝙚𝙣𝙩 𝙧𝙚𝙨𝙚𝙖𝙧𝙘𝙝 𝙥𝙪𝙗𝙡𝙞𝙨𝙝𝙚𝙙 𝙞𝙣 𝘼𝘾𝙎 𝘾𝙝𝙚𝙢𝙞𝙘𝙖𝙡 𝙉𝙚𝙪𝙧𝙤𝙨𝙘𝙞𝙚𝙣𝙘𝙚 𝙧𝙚𝙥𝙤𝙧𝙩𝙨 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙘𝙝𝙚𝙢𝙞𝙘𝙖𝙡𝙨 𝙚𝙭𝙩𝙧𝙖𝙘𝙩𝙚𝙙 𝙛𝙧𝙤𝙢 𝙝𝙤𝙥 𝙛𝙡𝙤𝙬𝙚𝙧𝙨 𝙘𝙖𝙣, 𝙞𝙣 𝙡𝙖𝙗 𝙙𝙞𝙨𝙝𝙚𝙨, 𝙞𝙣𝙝𝙞𝙗𝙞𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙘𝙡𝙪𝙢𝙥𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙤𝙛 𝙖𝙢𝙮𝙡𝙤𝙞𝙙 𝙗𝙚𝙩𝙖 𝙥𝙧𝙤𝙩𝙚𝙞𝙣𝙨, 𝙬𝙝𝙞𝙘𝙝 𝙞𝙨 𝙖𝙨𝙨𝙤𝙘𝙞𝙖𝙩𝙚𝙙 𝙬𝙞𝙩𝙝 𝘼𝙡𝙯𝙝𝙚𝙞𝙢𝙚𝙧’𝙨 𝙙𝙞𝙨𝙚𝙖𝙨𝙚 (𝘼𝘿).

Beer is one of the oldest and most popular beverages in the world, with some people loving and others hating the distinct, bitter taste of the hops used to flavor its many varieties. But an especially “hoppy” brew might have unique health benefits. Recent research published in ACS Chemical Neuroscience reports that chemicals extracted from hop flowers can, in lab dishes, inhibit the clumping of amyloid beta proteins, which is associated with Alzheimer’s disease (AD).

AD is a debilitating neurodegenerative disease, often marked by memory loss and personality changes in older adults. Part of the difficulty in treating the disease is the time lag between the start of underlying biochemical processes and the onset of symptoms, with several years separating them. This means that irreversible damage to the nervous system occurs before one even realizes they may have the disease. Accordingly, preventative strategies and therapeutics that can intervene before symptoms appear are of increasing interest.

One of these strategies involves “nutraceuticals,” or foods that have some type of medicinal or nutritional function. The hop flowers used to flavor beers have been explored as one of these potential nutraceuticals, with previous studies suggesting that the plant could interfere with the accumulation of amyloid beta proteins associated with AD. So, Cristina Airoldi, Alessandro Palmioli and colleagues wanted to investigate which chemical compounds in hops had this effect.

Continue reading “Beer Ingredient May Inhibit Clumping of Alzheimer’s Protein” | >

Nov 14
2022

Researchers discover unique peptides with anti-cancer potential

A new paper published in Nature Communications presents research on unique peptides with anti-cancer potential.

The research was led by Professor Ashraf Brik and post-doctoral fellows Dr. Ganga B. Vamisetti and Dr. Abbishek Saha from the Schulich Faculty of Chemistry at the Technion—Israel Institute of Technology in Haifa, along with Professor Nabieh Ayoub from the Technion’s Faculty of Biology and Professor Hiroaki Suga from the University of Tokyo.

Peptides are short chains of amino acids linked by peptide bonds, the name given to chemical bonds formed between two molecules when the carboxyl group of one molecule reacts with the amino group of the other molecule.

Nov 13
2022

Previously unseen processes reveal path to better rechargeable battery performance

To design better rechargeable ion batteries, engineers and chemists from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign collaborated to combine a powerful new electron microscopy technique and data mining to visually pinpoint areas of chemical and physical alteration within ion batteries.

A study led by materials science and engineering professors Qian Chen and Jian-Min Zuo is the first to map out altered domains inside rechargeable ion batteries at the nanoscale—a 10-fold or more increase in resolution over current X-ray and optical methods.

The findings are published in the journal Nature Materials.

Nov 13
2022

Researchers find why Cancer cells require proteins, copper

Researchers revealed why cancer cells require proteins that fix copper ions in order to develop and spread throughout the human body. Possible novel treatment targets have been discovered as a result of recent research on the connections between proteins and how they bind to metals in cancer-related proteins.

Small amounts of the metal copper are required by human cells to perform essential biological functions. The conclusion drawn from studies demonstrating higher copper levels in tumor cells and blood serum from cancer patients is that cancer cells require more copper than healthy cells. Additionally, more copper-binding proteins are active when copper levels are higher. “Therefore, these proteins are highly important to study when it comes to understanding the development of cancer and deeper knowledge about them can lead to new targets for treatment of the disease,” said Pernilla Wittung-Stafshede, Professor of Chemical Biology at Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden.

Most cancer-related deaths are due to the fact that metastases — secondary tumors — form in several places in the body, for example, in the liver or lungs. A protein called Memo1 is part of the signaling systems that cancer cells use to grow and spread around the body. Previous research has shown that when the gene for Memo1 is inactivated in breast cancer cells, their ability to form metastases decreases. A research group from Chalmers wanted to take a closer look at the connection between Memo1 and copper. In a new study published in the scientific journal PNAS, the researchers examined the Memo1 protein’s ability to bind copper ions through a series of test tube experiments. They discovered that the protein binds copper, but only the reduced form of copper. It is this form of copper ions that is most common in living cells. It’s an important discovery because reduced copper, while it is needed in the body, also contributes to redox-reactions that damage — or even kill — the cells.

Nov 13
2022

Researchers learn to engineer growth of crystalline materials consisting of nanometer-size gold clusters

First insights into engineering crystal growth by atomically precise metal nanoclusters have been achieved in a study performed by researchers in Singapore, Saudi Arabia and Finland. The work was published in Nature Chemistry.

Ordinary solid matter consists of atoms organized in a crystal lattice. The chemical character of the atoms and lattice symmetry define the properties of the matter, for instance, whether it is a metal, a semiconductor or and electric insulator. The lattice symmetry may be changed by ambient conditions such as temperature or high pressure, which can induce structural transitions and transform even an electric insulator to an electric conductor, that is, a metal.

Larger identical entities such as nanoparticles or atomically precise metal nanoclusters can also organize into a crystal lattice, to form so called meta-materials. However, information on how to engineer the growth of such materials from their building blocks has been scarce since the crystal growth is a typical self-assembling process.

Nov 12
2022

Max Plank AI Researchers Have Developed Bio-Realistic Artificial Neurons That Can Work In A Biological Environment And Can Produce Diverse Spiking Dynamics

The development of neuromorphic electronics depends on the effective mimic of neurons. But artificial neurons aren’t capable of operating in biological environments. Organic artificial neurons that work based on conventional circuit oscillators have been created, which require many elements for their implementation. An organic artificial neuron based on a compact nonlinear electrochemical element has been reported. This artificial neuron is sensitive to the concentration of biological species in its surroundings and can also operate in a liquid. The system offers in-situ operation, spiking behavior, and ion specificity in biologically relevant conditions, including normal physiological and pathological concentration ranges. While variations in ionic and biomolecular concentrations regulate the neuronal excitability, small-amplitude oscillations and noise in the electrolytic medium alter the dynamics of the neuron. A biohybrid interface is created in which an artificial neuron functions synergistically with biological membranes and epithelial cells in real-time.

Neurons are the basic units of the nervous system that are used to transmit and process electrochemical signals. They operate in a liquid electrolytic medium and communicate via gaps between the axon of presynaptic neurons and the dendrite of postsynaptic neurons. For effective brain-inspired computing, neuromorphic computing leverages hardware-based solutions that imitate the behavior of synapses and neurons. Neuron like dynamics can be established with conventional microelectronics by using oscillatory circuit topologies to mimic neuronal behaviors. However, these approaches can mimic only specific aspects of neuronal behavior by integrating many transistors and passive electronic components, resulting in a bulky biomemtic circuit unsuitable for direct in situ biointerfacing. Volatile and nonlinear devices based on spin torque oscillators or memristor can increase the integration density and emulate neuronal dynamics.

Nov 12
2022

AI Researchers from the Netherlands Propose a Machine Learning-based Method to Design New Complex Metamaterials with Useful Properties

Combinatorial problems often arise in puzzles, origami, and metamaterial design. Such problems have rare collections of solutions that generate intricate and distinct boundaries in configuration space. Using standard statistical and numerical techniques, capturing these boundaries is often quite challenging. Is it possible to flatten a 3D origami piece without causing damage? This question is one such combinatorial issue. As each fold needs to be consistent with flattening, such results are difficult to predict simply by glancing at the design. To answer such questions, the UvA Institute of Physics and the research center AMOLF have shown that researchers may more effectively and precisely respond to such queries by using machine learning techniques.

Despite employing severely undersampled training sets, Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs) can learn to distinguish these boundaries for metamaterials in minute detail. This raises the possibility of complex material design by indicating that the network infers the underlying combinatorial rules from the sparse training set. The research team thinks this will facilitate the development of sophisticated, functional metamaterials with artificial intelligence. The team’s recent study examined the accuracy of forecasting the characteristics of these combinatorial mechanical metamaterials using artificial intelligence. Their work has also been published in the Physical Review Letters publication.

The attributes of artificial materials, which are engineered materials, are governed by their geometrical structure rather than their chemical makeup. Origami is one such metamaterial. The capacity of an origami piece to flatten is governed by how it is folded, i.e., its structure, and not by the sort of paper it is made of. More generally, the clever design enables us to accurately regulate a metamaterial’s bending, buckling, or bulging. This can be used for many different things, from satellite solar panels that unfurl to shock absorbers.

Nov 12
2022

Scientists use magnets to deliver cancer-killing ‘micro-robots’ into the body

The micro-robots consist of a special kind of bacteria.

Scientists have conceived of a new way to deliver cancer-killing compounds, called enterotoxins, to tumors using bionic bacteria that are steered by a magnetic field, according to a report by Inverse.

“Cancer is such a complex disease, it’s hard to combat it with one weapon,” said Simone Schürle-Finke, a micro-roboticist at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zürich, Switzerland, and one of the authors of the new study.

Wildpixel/iStock.

These bacteria function as “micro-robots” that can hunt down and rally around a specific tumor. They then release their own naturally produced anti-cancer chemicals and shrink the tumor.

Nov 11
2022

Chemists create an ‘artificial photosynthesis’ system ten times more efficient than existing systems

For the past two centuries, humans have relied on fossil fuels for concentrated energy; hundreds of millions of years of photosynthesis packed into a convenient, energy-dense substance. But that supply is finite, and fossil fuel consumption has tremendous negative impact on Earth’s climate.

“The biggest challenge many people don’t realize is that even nature has no solution for the amount of energy we use,” said University of Chicago chemist Wenbin Lin. Not even photosynthesis is that good, he said: “We will have to do better than nature, and that’s scary.”

One possible option scientists are exploring is “artificial photosynthesis”—reworking a plant’s system to make our own kinds of fuels. However, the chemical equipment in a single leaf is incredibly complex, and not so easy to turn to our own purposes.

Nov 10
2022

Injections for diabetes, cancer could become unnecessary

Researchers at UC Riverside are paving the way for diabetes and cancer patients to forget needles and injections, and instead take pills to manage their conditions.

Some drugs for these diseases dissolve in water, so transporting them through the intestines, which receive what we drink and eat, is not feasible. As a result, these drugs cannot be administered by mouth. However, UCR scientists have created a chemical “tag” that can be added to these drugs, allowing them to enter blood circulation via the intestines.

The details of how they found the tag, and demonstrations of its effectiveness, are described in a new Journal of the American Chemical Society paper.