Effects of chemical mixtures: Neurotoxic effects add up

Study demonstrates for the first time the toxicological relevance of chemical mixtures as they occur in humans

22-Oct-2024 - Chemicals are omnipresent today: they enter our bodies through food, air or the skin. But how do these complex mixtures of chemicals affect our health? In a study published in the journal Science, a research team from the Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research (UFZ) has shown that chemicals ...

A miniature magnetic resonance imager made of diamond

Quantum sensors make microscale NMR spectroscopy possible

23-Oct-2023 - The development of tumors begins with miniscule changes within the body's cells; ion diffusion at the smallest scales is decisive in the performance of batteries. Until now the resolution of conventional imaging methods has not been high enough to represent these processes in detail. A research ...

Genetically harmful compounds detected in vegetable oils

Genotoxins discovered for the first time using a novel method

06-Mar-2023 - Vegetable oils rich in unsaturated fatty acids are highly recommended for a healthy diet. But these oils are not as healthy as thought: Prof. Dr. Gertrud Morlock, holder of the Chair of Life Sciences at Justus Liebig University Giessen (JLU), together with PhD student Daniel Meyer, has for the ...

New findings could pave the way to detecting the building blocks of life in our solar system

Detecting biomolecules on ocean moons

07-Dec-2022 - It would be technically possible for future space missions to detect DNA, lipids, and other bacterial components on ocean moons in our solar system – provided that these building blocks of life do exist beyond Earth. This is the conclusion that has now been reached by an international team of ...

Mirror image molecules reveal drought stress in forests

Ecosystem changes can be more accurately predicted by emissions of chiral compounds

09-Sep-2022 - Worldwide, plants emit about 100 million tonnes of monoterpenes into the atmosphere each year. These volatile organic molecules include many fragrances such as the molecule pinene – known for its pine fresh scent. Since these molecules are highly reactive and can form tiny aerosol particles that ...

Artificial intelligence helps to find new natural substances

New method enables fast and confident identification of previously unknown small molecules

18-Oct-2021 - More than a third of all medicines available today are based on active substances from nature and a research team from the University of Jena has developed a procedure to identify small active substance molecules much more quickly and easily. Secondary natural substances that occur in numerous ...

analytica conference 2020 for the first time virtual

Topics in focus: Antibiotic resistance and the “laboratory of the future”

09-Oct-2020 - Current questions and approaches in analysis are in the focus of the analytica conference, which will take place from October 19 to 23, 2020, in the context of analytica virtual in a purely digital manner. In 31 sessions, which will be broadcast repeatedly in order to enable participation in all ...

Determining the atomic structure of natural products more rapidly and accurately

23-Jan-2020 - Many drugs are derived from natural products. But before natural products can be exploited, chemists must first determine their structure and stereochemistry. This can be a major challenge, particularly when the molecules cannot be crystallized and contain only few hydrogen atoms. A new NMR-based ...

Detailed insight into stressed cells

Researchers develop new protoeomics procedure

06-Dec-2019 - When cells are stressed, they initiate a complex and precisely regulated response to prevent permanent damage. One of the immediate reactions to stress signals is a reduction of protein synthesis (translation). Until now, it was difficult to measure such acute cellular changes. As reported in the ...

The recipe for making a fruit fly

Scientists use mass spectrometry to determine the absolute copy number of nuclear proteins and histone marks

21-Oct-2019 - Currently, most if not all of the proteins that are required for constructing a multicellular organism are known. However, it is largely unclear how many copies of each protein species are present and needed to permit an animal to develop into a complete organism. Researchers at the Max Planck ...