/ en-us Â鶹ÒùÔº internet news portal provides the latest news on science including: Â鶹ÒùÔºics, Nanotechnology, Life Sciences, Space Science, Earth Science, Environment, Health and Medicine. In the medicine market, most newly introduced drugs and drug candidates show poor water solubility, which prevents their absorption in the body. This, in turn, limits their therapeutic efficiency. Solubilizing agents such as cyclodextrins (CDs) are commonly employed to enhance their solubility. /news/2023-05-methylated-cyclodextrin-effectively-crystallization-supersaturated.html Biochemistry Analytical Chemistry Mon, 15 May 2023 15:22:04 EDT news603382922 Certain molecules bind tightly to the surface of ice, creating a curved interface that can halt further ice growth. Some insects, plants, and sea-dwelling creatures contain protein molecules of this type that act as natural antifreeze agents, allowing the organisms to withstand freezing temperatures. /news/2020-11-ice-binding-molecules-ice-growth-natural.html Materials Science Tue, 03 Nov 2020 11:00:05 EST news523611104 Alzheimer's disease (AD) is one of the biggest global public health challenges. However, the pathogenesis of AD is still unclear. /news/2020-07-liposome-based-inhibitors.html Biochemistry Thu, 09 Jul 2020 09:37:46 EDT news513506264 Intense sunlight damages the chloroplasts that are essential for photosynthesis, and generates toxic products that can lead to cell death. LMU biologists have now identified a signaling pathway which mitigates the effects of light stress. /news/2020-03-safeguarding-chloroplasts-sunburn.html Plants & Animals Biotechnology Thu, 12 Mar 2020 11:03:45 EDT news503229822 Living organisms form biological minerals during biomineralization, where inorganic elements can selectively deposit on specific organic macromolecules under precise control. The process can be divided into biocalcification or biosilicification based on the inorganic component, with collagen used as a universal template. During intrafibrillar mineralization, collagen matrices that are destined for mineralization in vertebrates contain surface bound matrix proteins. Understanding the complex mechanisms of intrafibrillar mineralization to form hard collagenous tissue such as bone and dentin is of significant interest in biomechanics, with decades of studies conducted to mimic or model the process in lab. In a recent study, now published in Science Advances, Q. Song and co-workers at the interdisciplinary Departments of Biology, Applied Â鶹ÒùÔºics, Materials Science and Engineering, Biomedical Sciences and Dental Medicine, in China, the U.S. and Italy, have developed a biomechanical model to examine the collagen-ligand interactions contributing to intrafibrillar mineralization. /news/2019-04-biomimetic-collagen-ligand-interactions-intrafibrillar-mineralization_1.html Biochemistry Materials Science Mon, 08 Apr 2019 09:30:04 EDT news473929336 The unicellular parasite that causes sleeping sickness differs from other eukaryotes in the mode of regulation of an essential cellular signaling pathway. This provides a promising point of attack for drug development. /news/2019-04-exotic-mechanism-pathogens.html Cell & Microbiology Wed, 03 Apr 2019 07:55:41 EDT news473496933 Bacteria, plants, insects and fish use antifreeze proteins to protect themselves from the cold. The proteins block the growth of ice crystals. In a new study, a German-Israeli research team has confirmed that these proteins also possess an unusual second property: at low temperatures, they can promote rather than inhibit the growth of ice crystals. /news/2019-03-antifreeze-proteins-ice-crystals.html Condensed Matter Fri, 08 Mar 2019 07:59:26 EST news471254351 Early in the course of Alzheimer's disease—long before future patients begin to notice symptoms—neurofibrillary tangles composed of tau protein aggregates begin to form in their brain cells. How toxic these aggregates are and how well they spread depend on their size. However, scientists studying tangle formation have not been able to explain why different sizes of cable-like tau aggregates appear in disease. /news/2019-02-protein-tangles-alzheimer.html Biochemistry Mon, 11 Feb 2019 13:12:01 EST news469113103 Most of us don't think about our teeth and bones until one aches or breaks. A team of engineers at Washington University in St. Louis looked deep within collagen fibers to see how the body forms new bone and teeth, seeking insights into faster bone healing and new biomaterials. /news/2018-04-cellular-insights-bone.html Materials Science Fri, 06 Apr 2018 11:08:31 EDT news442231699 Researchers from North Carolina State University have found that diffusion plays an unexpected role in cell differentiation during the early stages of development in the embryos of Drosophila, or fruit flies. Instead of spreading a molecular signal out, it was found that diffusion, facilitated through a carrier molecule, actually concentrates the signal in one place. This "facilitated diffusion" mechanism has previously been found in other systems, and the new finding indicates it may be more widespread than previously thought. /news/2017-11-diffusion-unusual-role-drosophila-embryos.html Cell & Microbiology Thu, 16 Nov 2017 09:40:03 EST news430047169 Freezing and reanimating your body is still science fiction, but cryopreserving cells and certain tissues for future use is a reality. Still, the process could use some improvements to make it more useful in emergencies. In a recent study in the journal ACS Omega, scientists take a close look at a new class of small molecules with the potential to make the process more practical and give the cells and tissues a longer shelf life. /news/2016-11-cryopreservation-longer-lasting-blood.html Materials Science Wed, 16 Nov 2016 10:51:30 EST news398515882 Microtubules, one component of a cell's skeleton, are hollow tubes formed from the polymerization of α- and β-tubulin, which are themselves important structural proteins of the mitotic spindle that equally separates chromosomes during cell division. As such, several α/β-tubulin inhibitory agents are used as therapeutic drugs against cancer cells, which are undergoing vigorous cell division. However, microtubules perform important work even outside of cell division, and normal cells not undergoing division can be harmed as well, so the side effects of such treatments have become problematic. A wide variety of research has shown that γ-tubulin activates during cell division and that it is overexpressed in a portion of cancer cells, so it holds potential as a target protein for new anticancer agents with few side effects. Despite this research, no specific inhibitors have thus far been discovered. /news/2016-01-success-gamma-tubulin-specific-inhibitor.html Cell & Microbiology Wed, 20 Jan 2016 09:20:04 EST news372499462 Under laboratory conditions, mineral growth is a well understood physical process, and has been for a number of decades. In nature however, outside of the controlled confines of a lab, mineral formation is far more complex and scientists are struggling to understand how crystalline minerals can form at all. Workers in the fields of mineralogy, geochemistry and biomineralization have long faced an apparent contradiction: Natural minerals are formed under conditions that should, according to existing models of crystal growth, prohibit their formation. /news/2016-01-tsunamis-crystal-impurity-effects.html Condensed Matter Wed, 20 Jan 2016 06:18:27 EST news372492953 University of Oregon biochemists have determined how tiny synthetic molecules disrupt an important actin-related molecular machine in cells in one study and, in a second one, the crystal structure of that machine when bound to a natural inhibitor. /news/2013-07-team-actin-filament-growth-cells.html Cell & Microbiology Mon, 29 Jul 2013 05:47:01 EDT news294295548 Researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, have turned back the clock on mature muscle tissue, coaxing it back to an earlier stem cell stage to form new muscle. Moreover, they showed in mice that the newly reprogrammed muscle stem cells could be used to help repair damaged tissue. /news/2011-09-bioengineers-reprogram-muscles-combat-degeneration.html Biotechnology Thu, 22 Sep 2011 12:20:47 EDT news235912558