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SOFS Take to Water

By Guest PostJanuary 5, 2014Science2d honeycomb, aka chemistry, berkeley lab, chemical signals, DNA, double helix, emergence of nanotechnology, force, metal organic frameworks, mofs, molecule, non covalent bonds, saxs, sofs, solubility in water, supramolecular chemistry, supramolecular organic frameworks, van der waals, xin zhao, yi liu, zhan ting li

Researchers at Berkeley Lab’s Molecular Foundry Create First Soluble 2D Supramolecular Organic Frameworks

Supramolecular chemistry, aka chemistry beyond the molecule, in which molecules and molecular complexes are held together by non-covalent bonds, is just beginning to come into its own with the emergence of nanotechnology. Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) are commanding much of the attention because of their appetite for greenhouse gases, but a new player has joined the field – supramolecular organic frameworks (SOFs). Researchers with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) have unveiled the first two-dimensional SOFs that self-assemble in solution, an important breakthrough that holds implications for sensing and separation technologies, energy sciences, and, perhaps most importantly, biomimetics. (more…)

MU Research Sheds Light on Nerve Regeneration Following Spinal Cord Injury

By Guest PostDecember 6, 2013Healthactivation, andrew mcclellan, chemical signals, cyclic amp, eel like fish, emily frisch, group of molecules, level of injury, locomotion, mammals, molecule, nerve cell, nerve regeneration, neurons, reticulospinal neurons, sea lamprey, second messengers, spinal cord injury, timothy pale, university of missouri, vertebrate

COLUMBIA, Mo. – Fish, unlike humans, can regenerate nerve connections and recover normal mobility following an injury to their spinal cord. Now, University of Missouri researchers have discovered how the sea lamprey, an eel-like fish, regrows the neurons that comprise the long nerve “highways” that link the brain to the spinal cord. Findings may guide future efforts to promote recovery in humans who have suffered spinal cord injuries.

“There is a lot of attention to why, following a spinal cord injury, neurons regenerate in lower vertebrates, such as the sea lamprey, and why they don’t in higher vertebrates, such as humans,” said Andrew McClellan, professor of biological sciences in the College of Arts and Science and director of the UM Spinal Cord Injury Research Program (SCIRP). (more…)

Birds choose sweet-smelling mates

By Guest PostSeptember 19, 2013Nature, Sciencebird, bird odor, chemical signals, danielle whittaker, dark eyed juncos, female like odor, genetic background, hormone levels, indiana university, michigan state university, nicole gerlach, odor eschewing luddites, potential mates, reproductive health, reproductive success, scent based communications, sweet smelling mates

For most animals, scent is the instant messenger of choice for quickly exchanging personal profiles. Scientists, however, have long dismissed birds as odor-eschewing Luddites that don’t take advantage of scent-based communications.

In a first-of-its-kind study, however, a Michigan State University researcher has demonstrated that birds do indeed communicate via scents, and that odor reliably predicts their reproductive success. The study appears in the current issue of Animal Behaviour and focuses on volatile compounds in avian preen secretions. (more…)

Nitrogen From Humans Pollutes Remote Lakes For More Than A Century

By Guest PostJanuary 4, 2012Environmentacid rain, agricultural fertilizers, alexander wolfe, Anthropocene, aquatic archeology, atmosphere, atmospheric currents, biologically active nitrogen, bottom deposits, carbon, chemical composition, chemical signals, climate, daniel schindler, double whammy, earth, effects of pollution, excess nitrogen, fertilizer use, fingerprint, global biogeochemical cycles, gordon holtgrieve, high lake, historical changes, human activities, human derived nitrogen, journal science, lakes, natural sources of nitrogen, new geological era, nitrogen, nitrogen characteristics of lake sediments, nitrogen cycle, nitrogen pollution, northern europe, northern hemisphere, peter leavitt, planetary scale changes, remote ecosystems, smog, southwest alaska, statistical models, university of Alberta, university of washington, us rocky mountains, vital nutrient for life, water pollution

Nitrogen derived from human activities has polluted lakes throughout the Northern Hemisphere for more than a century and the fingerprint of these changes is evident even in remote lakes located thousands of miles from the nearest city, industrial area or farm.

The findings, published in the journal Science Dec. 16, are based on historical changes in the chemical composition of bottom deposits in 36 lakes using an approach similar to aquatic archeology. More than three quarters of the lakes, ranging from the U.S. Rocky Mountains to northern Europe, showed a distinctive signal of nitrogen released from human activities before the start of the 20^th century, said Gordon Holtgrieve, a postdoctoral researcher at University of Washington School of Aquatic and Fishery Sciences and lead author of the report. The UW and a dozen other research institutions contributed to the research. (more…)

Berkeley Lab Scientists Develop New Tool for the Study of Spatial Patterns in Living Cells

By Guest PostNovember 2, 2011Scienceartificial membranes, berkeley lab, biology is a game of nanometers, breast cancer cells, cancer and the immune system, cancer metastasis, cellular molecules, chemical signals, chemist, fluid bilayer of lipid molecules, football, game of inches, geoff o donoghue, gold nanoparticles, golden membranes, hhmi, howard hughes medical institute, impact of spatial patterns on living cells, jay groves, lawrence berkeley national laboratory, mda mb 231, michael coyle, nanoparticles, natural lipid bilayer membranes, qian xu, sara triffo, spacing of proteins, substrate of solid silica, t cell immunology, theobald lohmuller

*Golden Membranes Pave the Way for a Better Understanding of Cancer and the Immune System*

Football has often been called “a game of inches,” but biology is a game of nanometers, where spatial differences of only a few nanometers can determine the fate of a cell – whether it lives or dies, remains normal or turns cancerous. Scientists with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) have developed a new and better way to study the impact of spatial patterns on living cells.

Berkeley Lab chemist Jay Groves led a study in which artificial membranes made up of a fluid bilayer of lipid molecules were embedded with fixed arrays of gold nanoparticles to control the spacing of proteins and other cellular molecules placed on the membranes. This provided the researchers with an unprecedented opportunity to study how the spatial patterns of chemical and physical properties on membrane surfaces influence the behavior of cells. (more…)

Tag Archives: chemical signals

SOFS Take to Water

MU Research Sheds Light on Nerve Regeneration Following Spinal Cord Injury

Birds choose sweet-smelling mates

Nitrogen From Humans Pollutes Remote Lakes For More Than A Century

Berkeley Lab Scientists Develop New Tool for the Study of Spatial Patterns in Living Cells