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Category: chemistry – Page 22

Simple blood test on a chip could help diagnose lung cancer

Researchers at Tel Aviv University have developed a new method for diagnosing lung cancer: a simple, fast, low-cost blood test that does not require DNA sequencing. The method identifies a chemical fingerprint of cancer cells in the blood by analyzing cell-free DNA originating from those cells. In the study, the test distinguished between lung cancer patients and healthy individuals with a sensitivity of 93.1% and a specificity of 90.3% for patients with stage 2–4 disease.

The study was led by Prof. Yuval Ebenstein of the School of Chemistry at the Faculty of Exact Sciences, the Department of Biomedical Engineering and the Zimin Institute at Tel Aviv University, in collaboration with researchers from JaxBio Technologies, Bnai Zion Medical Center and Sheba Medical Center. The paper is published in the journal npj Precision Oncology.

DNA repair enzymes favor specific sequences, shaping mutation patterns in the human genome

When a wound does not heal properly, it leaves a scar. Similarly, mutations—which are permanent changes to genetic code—are often the result of damaged DNA that has not been properly repaired. Mutations can impede the function of genes and lead to disease and aging, but they are also the source of genetic variation, which allows new traits to emerge and facilitates the evolutionary process. Scientists still do not fully understand why some damaged DNA segments are successfully repaired while others are not.

In a new study published in Nature Communications, researchers from the Weizmann Institute of Science succeeded in identifying which DNA sequences and structures are the preferred targets for several of the most important DNA repair enzymes. The findings from the laboratory of Dr. Ariel Afek suggest that these preferences shaped the human genome and could even help explain how cells become cancerous.

Every day, thousands of chemical reactions take place in every living cell, damaging the genome. “When DNA repair systems work properly, they repair most of the damage, but not all of it,” Afek explains. “Therefore, the rate at which mutations accumulate is a balance between the rate of damage and the rate of repair.

Engineered enzymes forge carbon-carbon and carbon-nitrogen bonds with high selectivity

Researchers from the Manchester Institute of Biotechnology, including Dr. Zachary Birch-Price and professor Anthony Green, have developed a new family of engineered enzymes that can create several different types of chemical bonds used to build complex molecules. This work demonstrates how artificial enzymes can be adapted to carry out a broad range of carbon-carbon (C-C) and carbon-nitrogen (C-N) bond-forming reactions with high selectivity, offering new possibilities for biocatalysis.

Published in Nature Catalysis, the research addresses a long-standing challenge in chemistry: developing biological catalysts that can selectively construct complex molecular architectures. Carbon-carbon and carbon-nitrogen bonds are fundamental building blocks in many chemicals, pharmaceuticals and advanced materials.

“Biocatalysis has transformed our ability to carry out many chemical reactions using enzymes, but there are still important areas of chemistry that remain difficult to access. In this work, we show that artificial enzymes can be engineered to perform a wide variety of bond-forming reactions. What is particularly exciting is that the same underlying catalytic strategy can be adapted to work with many different reaction partners. This versatility gives us a foundation for developing new enzyme platforms capable of producing a wide range of valuable chemical structures,” said Green, professor of chemical biology and director of the MIB.

A Common Cholesterol Treatment May Also Remove PFAS And Microplastics From Blood

A filter used to clear excess fats from the blood of people with cardiovascular disease may also trap much smaller stowaways: some persistent synthetic chemicals and microplastics.

The treatment, known as therapeutic apheresis, passes a patient’s blood through a machine, filters out targeted substances, and returns the blood to the body.

It was not developed to remove environmental pollutants. It is generally used in severe cases where medication alone cannot sufficiently remove cholesterol – fat-carrying particles linked to cardiovascular disease risk.

Chemists set electrons free and break a decades-old chemistry barrier

Chemists have developed a catalyst that breaks a long-standing rule governing which molecules receive electrons during chemical reactions. By releasing electrons directly into solution, the technique could unlock reactions—and potentially useful new molecules—that were previously out of reach.

Scientists Find Two New Ways To Break Down “Forever Chemicals” in Water

An HZDR research team has developed methods for breaking down “forever chemicals.”

The carbon-fluorine bonds inside PFAS are among the strongest in chemistry, allowing these industrial pollutants to persist in water for years. Researchers at the Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf (HZDR) are testing two ways to break those bonds: hydrodynamic cavitation and cold atmospheric plasma combined with gas dispersion.

Analyses by experts at the Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research (UFZ) confirmed that both processes degraded per-and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) and released fluoride. If developed into practical industrial systems, the methods could help limit the amount of these highly persistent chemicals entering rivers, lakes and oceans.

A jar of honey sealed inside an Egyptian tomb around 1000 BCE was opened by archaeologists in the 20th century and found still edible

Sealed honey from ancient Egyptian burial contexts is reported to remain edible after millennia — a claim whose specific instances are hard to source, but whose underlying chemistry, driven by low water content, acidic pH and bee-made hydrogen peroxide, is real and well-documented.

Repurposing deep-Earth tools in the hunt for practical superconductors

If scientists could find a material that acts as a superconductor—that is, one that transmits energy with zero resistance—at normal pressures and relatively high temperatures, it would open up a vast number of possibilities. These include medical imaging, quantum computing and numerous other fields. So, yes, it would be a big deal.

“Right now, almost 50% of the energy in transmission is just heat in copper wires,” said Shomeek Mukhopadhyay. “If you can transmit electricity through wires without dissipating energy, that’s a huge economic benefit. I would say it’s equivalent to having thermonuclear fusion.”

Mukhopadhyay, a research scientist in Chemical & Environmental Engineering, is on the third floor of the Kline Geology Laboratory. Nearby, Natalia Nevskaya, a postdoctoral associate in Earth & Planetary Sciences, prepares a massive device called the Kawai multi-anvil press.

AI and ‘Ramanomics’ could eliminate a major obstacle to studying living cells

Fluorescent dyes have long been used in biological research to identify and visualize structures within living cells. Although effective, they have several drawbacks, including altering the cells under study, limiting the number of structures that can be examined at once and reducing measurement accuracy.

A team led by University at Buffalo researchers has developed a new method that draws on advances in artificial intelligence and Raman spectroscopy to overcome the limitations of dye-based imaging.

The approach combines AI with “Ramanomics,” a UB-pioneered optical technology that measures the biochemical makeup of cells without altering them. Rather than relying on fluorescent labels, which are dyes that bind to specific cellular components and glow under specialized lighting, it identifies cellular structures by their unique biochemical signatures.