Archive for the ‘proteins’ tag
New laser method reproduces art masterworks to protein patterns
The research team reproduced the masterwork Girl with a Pearl Earring in the miniature dimension of 200 microns wide or about the thickness of two hairs.
According to a new study published in the journal Lab on a Chip, scientists from Université de Montréal have developed a laser technology that can mimic the protein patterns that surround cells in vivo and that could lead to great advances in neuroscience.
To illustrate the precision of their protein patterning technique, the research team reproduced a masterwork of Dutch painter Johannes Vermeer, specifically Girl with a Pearl Earring, in the miniature dimension of 200 microns wide or about the thickness of two hairs. The researchers also used their novel technology to replicate the brain’s complex cellular environment. It’s a major discovery, since the new laser technology can encourage and guide the growth of finicky nerve cells.
“We have created a system that can fabricate complex methods to grow cells,” says Santiago Costantino, the study’s lead author and a scientist at the Université de Montréal and Maisonneuve-Rosemont Hospital Research Centre.
Read more on: Bio Tech, nerve cells, proteinsCompound effectively targets cancer cells
Researchers at the University of Washington have developed a compound said to be more than 1,200 times more specific in killing certain kinds of cancer cell than currently available drugs.
The new compound puts a novel twist on the common anti-malarial drug artemisinin, which is derived from the sweet wormwood plant (Artemisia annua L). The scientists attached a chemical homing device to artemisinin that targets the drug selectively to cancer cells, sparing healthy cells.
The challenge faced by cancer drug designers is that cancer cells develop from normal cells, this means that most ways of poisoning cancer cells also kill healthy cells. Most available chemotherapies are very toxic, destroying one normal cell for every five to 10 cancer cells killed, which is why the side effects of chemotherapy are so devastating.
The compound developed by Professor Tomikazu Saski and his collegues, kills 12,000 cancer cells for every healthy cell, meaning it could be turned into a drug with minimal side effects. A cancer drug with low side effects would be more effective than currently available drugs, since it could be safely taken in higher amounts.
Read more on: Bio Tech, cells, compound, iron, proteinsTechnology helps identify proteins from within
A technology that enables scientists to map the energy flow inside a protein for identification purposes has been developed.
The new research outlines how an imaging technique known as coherent two-dimensional infrared spectroscopy, 2DIR, has been used to successfully identify proteins in laboratory tests. The technique uses an ultra short pulse of infra-red laser light to cause a vibration in one part of the protein molecule. The researchers then track the movement of energy from this vibration as it moves through the protein, building up an energy flow map of the protein which enables them to identify what kind of protein it is.
Read more on: Bio Tech, DNA, Energy, Energy, genetic, molecules, proteinsScientists make protein scanning breakthrough
A new method for making biological ‘chips’ has been developed by scientists at The University of Manchester. It is hoped that this new technology could lead to quick testing for serious diseases, fast detection of MRSA infections and rapid discovery of new drugs.
Researchers working at the Manchester Interdisciplinary Biocentre (MIB) and The School of Chemistry have unveiled a new technique for producing functional ‘protein chips’ in a paper in the Journal of the American Chemical Society (JACS).
Protein chips – or ‘protein arrays’ as they are more commonly known – are objects such as slides that have proteins attached to them and allow important scientific data about the behaviour of proteins to be gathered.
Functional protein arrays could give scientists the ability to run tests on tens of thousands of different proteins simultaneously, observing how they interact with cells, other proteins, DNA and drugs.
As proteins can be placed and located precisely on a ‘chip’, it would be possible to scan large numbers of them at the same time but then isolate the data relating to individual proteins. These chips would allow large amounts of data to be generated with the minimum use of materials – especially rare proteins that are only available in very small amounts.
Read more on: Bio Tech, biological, chips, Design, DNA, proteinsResearchers hope to build a moving protein picture
Researchers at Imperial College London, hope to reveal the miniscule movements of proteins which help carry out important biological processes in people, animals, insects and plants.
The one million Euro study, funded by the European Research Council, will focus on light receptor proteins. Researchers will examine what happens when the proteins are hit with a pulse of bright laser light, and will record moving images of the results.
Read more on: Bio Tech, Imperial College, proteins