Biochemistry

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Unique Chemical Fingerprints Offer New Weapon Against Counterfeit Medicines

Medicines have a unique chemical fingerprint, according to a new study from the University of Copenhagen. Researchers say this knowledge can be used to trace counterfeit or stolen medicine.

8 Aug 2025

Simple Peptides Mimic Natural Protein Protection to Revolutionize Biomolecule Stability

A new study from researchers at the Advanced Science Research Center at the CUNY Graduate Center (CUNY ASRC) reveals that extremely simple peptides can mimic a biological process that protects sensitive proteins from environmental stress.

6 Aug 2025

Small Changes in Brain Enzyme May Have Shaped Modern Human Behavior

The evolutionary success of our species may have hinged on minute changes to our brain biochemistry after we diverged from the lineage leading to Neanderthals and Denisovans about half a million years ago.

5 Aug 2025

Living Bacterial Sensors Translate Environmental Signals into Electrical Data

Researchers at Rice University have engineered E. coli to act as living multiplexed sensors, allowing these genetically modified cells to detect and respond to multiple environmental toxins simultaneously by converting their biological responses into readable electrical signals.

30 Jul 2025

Bacterial Battle Strategies Involve Durable Amyloid Armor

Amyloids are perhaps best known as a key driver of Alzheimer's disease.

30 Jul 2025

Injectable Hydrogels Use Milk-Derived Vesicles to Promote Tissue Regeneration

Researchers from Columbia Engineering have established a framework for the design of bioactive injectable hydrogels formulated with extracellular vesicles (EVs) for tissue engineering and regenerative medicine applications.

29 Jul 2025

Tiny Artificial Cells Demonstrate Reliable 24-Hour Rhythms

A team of UC Merced researchers has shown that tiny artificial cells can accurately keep time, mimicking the daily rhythms found in living organisms.

29 Jul 2025

New Method Enables Precise Fatty Acid Delivery Without Albumin

Fatty acids (FAs) are essential to cell membrane formation, energy storage, and lipid metabolism. Yet, delivering them for research remains a challenge due to their insolubility in water and the reliance on albumin to facilitate transport.

23 Jul 2025

New Chemical Tool Protects Mitochondrial DNA from Environmental Damage

When environmental stress harms DNA, it can set off a cascade of failures linked to heart conditions, neurodegeneration, and chronic inflammation.

22 Jul 2025

Chemists Discover Safer Way to Create Powerful Chemical Building Blocks

Chemists have developed a novel way to generate a variety of highly useful chemical building blocks by harnessing metal carbenes, suggests new research.

21 Jul 2025

Plants Reveal Backup Route for Managing Toxic Byproducts

A newly discovered pathway in a plant process could help farmers grow more successful crops, particularly in places where harsh, high light stresses plants.

18 Jul 2025

Synthetic Cells Offer New Clues About the Origins of Life

At some point during the evolution of life on Earth, inorganic matter became organic, nonliving matter became living. How this happened is one of humankind's greatest mysteries.

18 Jul 2025

Improved Bacterial Rubisco Offers Hope for Enhancing Plant Photosynthesis

During photosynthesis, an enzyme called rubisco catalyzes a key reaction - the incorporation of carbon dioxide into organic compounds to create sugars.

8 Jul 2025

Combining AI with Robotics and Synthetic Biology to Improve Industrial Enzymes

By combining artificial intelligence with automated robotics and synthetic biology, researchers at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign have dramatically improved performance of two important industrial enzymes - and created a user-friendly, fast process to improve many more.

2 Jul 2025

Global Effort to Preserve Microbial Diversity Enters New Phase

A global effort to create a "microbial Noah's Ark" to preserve the world's diverse collection of healthy microbes before they disappear is now entering an active growth phase.

30 Jun 2025

Yeast Model Offers Insight Into Proteasome and Mitochondria Interplay

A study by the Center for Redox Processes in Biomedicine (Redoxoma) led by Marilene Demasi from the Butantan Institute (São Paulo, Brazil) presents a valuable new experimental model for investigating the interaction between the proteasome and mitochondrial function.

30 Jun 2025

LMU Study Reveals How Life Could Begin Without Cell Membranes

LMU researchers have demonstrated a possible mechanism for metabolic processes without cell membranes in water-filled pores.

27 Jun 2025

Natural Compound from Propolis Alters Membrane Fluidity

A new study by Professor José Villalaín, Chair of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at the Miguel Hernández University of Elche (UMH), provides a detailed description of how nymphaeol A - a compound found in propolis - behaves when interacting with cell membranes.

26 Jun 2025

Researchers Use Biology to Convert Human Urine into a Valuable Product

Researchers from the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab), UC Irvine, and the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC), have used biology to convert human urine into a valuable product.

24 Jun 2025

New Research Highlights Vascular Role in Alzheimer’s

The Aβ/fibrinogen complex is implicated in Alzheimer's progression, highlighting vascular health's role and offering new avenues for therapeutic intervention.

23 Jun 2025