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Researchers at the University of Liverpool have revealed the crystal structure of a bacterial enzyme that offers clues on how electrons in the body move from one protein molecule to another. The movement of electrons is called electron transfer (ET) and is essential for all living organisms, as it underpins processes such as respiration, photosynthesis, and detoxification.

Scientists have identified a key molecule responsible for triggering the chemical processes in our brain linked to our formation of memories. The findings, published in the journal Frontiers in Neural Circuits , reveal a new target for therapeutic interventions to reverse the devastating effects of memory loss.

Researchers at Yale School of Medicine have made major discoveries that could lead to new treatments for lung disorders in premature babies. In a mouse study, the team located key molecules that switch on stress pathways in preterm lung disorders, and also found that when parts of these pathways were blocked with a pain drug, lung damage was prevented or reversed.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. Illinois chemists have used DNA to do a protein's job, creating opportunities for DNA to find work in more areas of biology, chemistry and medicine than ever before. Led by Scott Silverman , a professor of chemistry at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Ideally, researchers would like to be able to design and build new catalysts from scratch that can do exactly what they want.

Researchers at Yale University have taken another step toward the development of low-temperature, lower-cost alkaline fuel cells, which are battery-like devices that convert oxygen and hydrogen into electricity and heat. In research recently published in the journal Applied Catalysis B: Environmental, Yale engineers report synthesizing a platinum-free catalyst for use in alkaline fuel cells by substituting less-costly palladium for platinum and combining it with silver.

Study reveals chemical composites of exoplanet atmospheres 128 light years away. Scientists say techniques will "one day provide evidence of life beyond Earth". The really exciting thing is that, one day, the techniques we've developed will give us our first secure evidence of the existence of life on a planet outside our solar system Ian Parry Astronomers have conducted the first remote reconnaissance of a distant solar system, using new telescope imaging techniques to reveal the chemical composition of exoplanets orbiting a star 128 light years from Earth.

ANN ARBOR-Researchers at the University of Michigan have found a new potential benefit of a molecule in green tea: preventing the misfolding of specific proteins in the brain. The aggregation of these proteins, called metal-associated amyloids, is associated with Alzheimer's disease and other neurodegenerative conditions.

Scientists from the University of Sheffield have discovered that a key gene in the womb, which stops labour occurring too early, is switched off by inflammation in the uterus at the time labour begins - a discovery which paves the way for developing new treatments to prevent premature births. In the UK premature birth affects roughly one in 10 deliveries and complications arising from pre-term birth are a leading cause of deaths amongst new-born babies.

It's among the most ancient of questions: What are the origins of life on Earth? A new experiment simulating conditions in deep space reveals that the complex building blocks of life could have been created on icy interplanetary dust and then carried to Earth, jump-starting life. Chemists from the University of California, Berkeley, and the University of Hawaii, Manoa, showed that conditions in space are capable of creating complex dipeptides - linked pairs of amino acids - that are essential building blocks shared by all living things.

Working under Martin Humphries, the Dean of the Faculty of Life Sciences, Mark Morgan and his team at the Wellcome Trust Centre for Cell Matrix Research studied the role of integrins. These molecules are able to grab hold of the fibres surrounding the cell, like hands, allowing the cell to drag its self along.

Researchers with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)'s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) have achieved a major advance in understanding how genetic information is transcribed from DNA to RNA by providing the first step-by-step look at the biomolecular machinery that reads the human genome.

Study of several dozen compounds based on a fungal chemical shows potent anti-tumor activity. Inspired by a chemical that fungi secrete to defend their territory, MIT chemists have synthesized and tested several dozen compounds that may hold promise as potential cancer drugs. A few years ago, MIT researchers led by associate professor of chemistry Mohammad Movassaghi became the first to chemically synthesize 11,11'-dideoxyverticillin, a highly complex fungal compound that has shown anti-cancer activity in previous studies.

When it comes to mating, plants do it in many ways. On one end of the spectrum, there are plants that self-fertilize or mate with relatives (inbreeders); on the other are plants that mate with nonrelatives (outcrossers). The two types of mating styles have evolved very different defense strategies, Cornell researchers have found.

The future of keeping ageing-related diseases at bay lies with the supercomputer according to scientists from the ARC Centre of Excellence for Free Radical Chemistry and Biotechnology at the University of Sydney. The research, led by Leo Radom from the University's School of Chemistry , and Amir Karton, University of Western Australia, has used sophisticated quantum chemistry and powerful supercomputers to design improved antioxidants which will help stave off ageing-related diseases such as heart disease, cancer, diabetes, and Alzheimer's disease.

From providing living cells with energy, to nitrogen fixation, to the splitting of water molecules, the catalytic activities of metalloenzymes - proteins that contain a metal ion - are vital to life on Earth. A better understanding of the chemistry behind these catalytic activities could pave the way for exciting new technologies, most prominently artificial photosynthesis systems that would provide  clean, green and renewable energy.

Chemists at the University of Liverpool have created a new technique that could be used in industry to separate complex organic chemical mixtures. Chemical feedstocks containing benzene are used extensively in industry to create modern materials and polymers. Distillation techniques Their use relies heavily on distillation techniques which separate complex mixtures into more simple molecules used as building blocks to develop drugs, plastics and new materials.

New research by Yale University scientists helps pave the way for the next generation of solar cells, a renewable energy technology that directly converts solar energy into electricity. In a pair of recent papers, Yale engineers report a novel and cost-effective way to improve the efficiency of crystalline silicon solar cells through the application of thin, smooth carbon nanotube films.

Researchers at the Vienna University of Technology show that a recently discovered class of materials can be used to create a new kind of solar cell. Single atomic layers are combined to create novel materials with completely new properties. Layered oxide heterostructures are a new class of materials, which has attracted a great deal of attention among materials scientists in the last few years.

A team of scientists anchored at Yale University has demonstrated a new, highly versatile approach for quickly assembling drug-like compounds, establishing a broad new route to drug discovery and medical treatment. They report their results on Feb 8. Drug molecules interact with their targets, such as proteins or enzymes, by attaching to them in a way that neutralizes the target's undesirable effects in the body.

Integrated biological and computational methods provide insight into why genes are activated. The combined, data-driven approach that includes validation allows researchers to systematically determine when models are too simple, too complex or just right-the "Goldilocks" approach. Many questions arise when two identical twins raised in the same home—fed the same, nurtured the same way—follow disparate paths.