A group of researchers found that when light was exposed to the surface of a tetracene alkanethiol-modified gold nanocluster, which they developed themselves, twice as many excitons could be converted compared to the number of photons absorbed by the tetracene molecules. These findings are expected to contribute to areas such as solar energy conversion, electronics, life sciences, and medical care in the future.
Read moreScientists have succeeded in designing a compound to hook onto the pocket of the enzyme FTase and GGTase I, thereby inhibiting K-Ras. Scientists have worked to concoct an effective drug to target K-Ras proteins which cause cancer when they mutate. It is difficult to infiltrate K-Ras due to a lack of interactive pockets, so a strategy was devised to attack the necessary enzyme in the lipid modification of K-Ras.
Read moreA new platform brings together CRISPR genome editing with magnetic cell sorting to reveal new drug targets for cancer and regenerative medicine.
Read moreSeparating pure ethylene from ethane is a difficult and costly process, but one that new research is poised to streamline. The technique would avoid liquefaction and distillation by designing a material that only binds ethylene molecules, thus separating them from ethane.
Read moreAn international research team has observed in real time how football molecules made of carbon atoms burst in the beam of an X-ray laser. The study shows the temporal course of the bursting process, which takes less than a trillionth of a second, and is important for the analysis of sensitive proteins and other biomolecules, which are also frequently studied using bright X-ray laser flashes.
Read moreNew approach to producing indolent scaffolds could streamline development and production of small-molecule pharmaceuticals, which comprise the majority of medicines in use today.
Read moreScientists have developed a technique to observe how radiation damages molecules over time-frames of just one quadrillionth of a second — or a femtosecond.
Read more'DNA mechanotechnology' is a new field to engineer DNA machines that generate, transmit and sense mechanical forces at the nanoscale.
Read moreA Research group reports a way of constructing DNA-based microcapsules that hold great promise for the development of new functional materials and devices. They showed that tiny pores on the surface of these capsules can act as ion channels. Their study will accelerate advances in artificial cell engineering and molecular robotics, as well as nanotechnology itself.
Read moreBio-engineering researchers have created a biocompatible, protein-based hydrogel that could serve as a drug delivery system durable enough to survive in the body for more than two weeks while providing sustained medication release. The research advances an area of biochemistry that is also critical to tissue engineering and regenerative medicine. Protein hydrogels are more biocompatible than synthetic ones and do not require potentially toxic chemical crosslinkers.
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