Tag Archives: toxic

A Welcome Predictability

By Guest PostOctober 9, 2012Scienceadam arkin, adaptor, advanced phase, bacteria, bacterial, berkeley lab, carbon, cell, chang liu, code, composability, computer hardware, criteria, denise wang, dna nucleotides, element, energy fuel, Environment, escherichia coli, fluorescence microscopy, function, gene, genetic engineering, global cycle, higher order, image, julius lucks, lei qi, medical drug, microbial component, molecules, non coding, plasmid pair, radioactive waste, rna, sustainable production, synthesize protein, synthetic biology, synthetic circuit, thomas segall shapiro, toxic, transcriptional elongation, translational regulator, utrs, vivek mutalik

Berkeley Lab Researchers Develop New Tool for Making Genetic Engineering of Microbial Circuits Reliably Predictable

Synthetic biology is the latest and most advanced phase of genetic engineering, holding great promise for helping to solve some of the world’s most intractable problems, including the sustainable production of energy fuels and critical medical drugs, and the safe removal of toxic and radioactive waste from the environment. However, for synthetic biology to reach its promise, the design and construction of biological systems must be as predictable as the assembly of computer hardware.

An important step towards attaining a higher degree of predictability in synthetic biology has been taken by a group of researchers with the U.S. Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) under the leadership of computational biologist Adam Arkin. Arkin and his team have developed an “adaptor” that makes the genetic engineering of microbial components substantially easier and more predictable by converting regulators of translation into regulators of transcription in Escherichia coli. Transcription and translation make up the two-step process by which the coded instructions of genes are used to synthesize proteins. (more…)

Super-Strong, High-Tech Material Found to be Toxic to Aquatic Animals by Researchers at MU and USGS

By Guest PostAugust 27, 2012Scienceaquatic animal, baolin deng, carbon nanotube, chironomus dilutes, chromium, cnts, crustaceans, earth, Environment, epa, flies larvae, hao li, hyalella azteca, joseph mwangi, lumbriculus variegatus, mass production, metal, mussels, nickel, pure carbon, strongest material, tennis racket, toxic, united states, university of missouri, villosa iris, waste management, worms

Carbon nanotubes hold promise for industry but need monitoring, say researchers

COLUMBIA, Mo. — Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) are some of the strongest materials on Earth and are used to strengthen composite materials, such as those used in high-performance tennis rackets. CNTs have potential uses in everything from medicine to electronics to construction. However, CNTs are not without risks. A joint study by the University of Missouri and United States Geological Survey found that they can be toxic to aquatic animals. The researchers urge that care be taken to prevent the release of CNTs into the environment as the materials enter mass production.

“The great promise of carbon nanotubes must be balanced with caution and preparation,” said Baolin Deng, professor and chair of chemical engineering at the University of Missouri. “We don’t know enough about their effects on the environment and human health. The EPA and other regulatory groups need more studies like ours to provide information on the safety of CNTs.” (more…)

Exciting New Field of Bioorthogonal Chemistry Owes a Debt to Curiosity-Driven Research from Previous Eras

By Guest PostApril 11, 2012Scienceacs, aza ylide, azide, berkeley lab, biomolecule, bioorthogonal chemistry, carolyn bertozzi, cell, difluorinated cyclotoctyne, difo, dipolar cycloaddition, fluorophore, german chemist, glycans, glycoproteins, hhmi, immune system, irmgard chu, kavli foundation, organism, san diego, toxic

*Carolyn Bertozzi’s Kavli Lecture Highlights Promise of Biorothogonal Chemistry and Its Links to Basic Research From the Past*

“Bioorthogonal chemistry is literally chemistry for life,” said Carolyn Bertozzi, an internationally acclaimed leader and founder of this emerging and highly promising field of science that could fundamentally change drug development and disease diagnostics. In delivering the Kavli Foundation Innovations in Chemistry Lecture at this year’s Spring Meeting of the American Chemical Society (ACS) in San Diego, Bertozzi described how her own ground-breaking research made use of experiments nearly a century ago by two German chemists whose work was driven primarily by scientific curiosity as opposed to the more problem-driven research of today.

Bertozzi is a senior faculty scientist with the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) and the T.Z. and Irmgard Chu Distinguished Professor of Chemistry and Professor of Molecular and Cell Biology at the University of California (UC) Berkeley. She is also an investigator with the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI). The Kavli Foundation is a philanthropic organization that supports basic scientific research. Its ACS lectures are designed to address “the urgent need for vigorous, outside the box thinking by scientists.” (more…)

Sediment Chemicals in Coastal Rivers Overall Lower in U.S. than Worldwide Averages

By Guest PostApril 8, 2012Environmentarthur j horowitz, atlantic, blackwater stream, carbon, chemical concentration, climate change, coastal zone, economic resource, elements, environmental quality, gulf coast, gulf of mexico, heavy metal, inorganic carbon, major, marcia mcnutt, mississippi river basin, nitrogen, nutrient, nutrient phosphorus, ocean, organic carbon, organic matter, pacific, sediment, sulfur, suspended sediment, toxic, trace, urbanization, usgs

Almost all the sediment-associated chemical concentrations found in 131 of the nation’s rivers that drain to the Atlantic, Pacific and Gulf Coasts are lower than worldwide averages, according to a new study by the USGS. These coastal rivers are a significant pathway for the delivery of sediment-associated chemicals to the world’s coastal zones and oceans.

“I hope that the results of this new study will remind everyone that it is not only river water that can transport chemicals and pollutants, but also the associated sediment load,” said USGS Director Marcia McNutt. “Our citizens expect high environmental quality as compared with worldwide averages, but clean water alone will not suffice if river sediments are host to toxic heavy metals and concentrated organics that can produce dead zones.” (more…)

U of T Discovery Holds Promise of Cheaper, Greener Drugs

By Guest PostMarch 28, 2012Sciencecatalytic agents, environmentally friendly, food industry, functional surface, iron based, jessica sonnenberg, metal, nanoparticle catalysts, nanoparticles, natural flavour, neil coombs, paul dube, polymer, robert morris, toxic, university of toronto

Chemistry team discovers new catalyst

A chemistry team at the University of Toronto has discovered environmentally-friendly iron-based nanoparticle catalysts that work as well as the expensive, toxic, metal-based catalysts that are currently in wide use by the drug, fragrance and food industry.

“It is always important to strive to make industrial syntheses more green, and using iron catalysts is not only much less toxic, but it is also much more cost effective,” said Jessica Sonnenberg, a PhD student and lead author of a paper published this week in the Journal of the American Chemical Society. (more…)

Redder Ladybirds More Deadly, Say Scientists

By Guest PostFebruary 7, 2012Naturearms race, colour, defensive chemical, ecologist, jon blount, ladybird, liverpool, mike speed, pigmentation, poisonous, precoccinelline, predator, redder wings, signals of animals, spot ladybird, toxic, toxicity, universitiy of exeter, warning signal

A ladybird’s colour indicates how well-fed and how toxic it is, according to an international team of scientists.

Research led by the Universities of Exeter and Liverpool directly shows that differences between animals’ warning signals reveal how poisonous individuals are to predators.

Published in the journal Functional Ecology, the research shows that redder ladybirds are more poisonous than their paler peers. The study reveals that this variation is directly linked to diet in early life, with better-fed ladybirds being more visible and more deadly.

Ecologists have long assumed that there are no individual differences between the warning signals of animals of the same species. More recently, scientists have identified variation between individuals’ warning signals, but have not known if these differences were meaningful and linked to levels of toxicity. (more…)

Guidelines Stress Caution When Combining Anti-Epileptic, HIV Drugs

By Guest PostJanuary 7, 2012Healthaeds, aids drugs, aids medication, american academy of neurology, anti hiv drugs, antiretrovirals, arvs, carbamazepine, cerebral malaria, drug interactions, drug resistant hiv, epilepsia, epilepsy, gretchen birbeck, guidelines, hiv, medical guideline, michigan state university, mood disorders, nation, neurological ailments, phenobarbital, phenytoin, seizure drugs, strain, sub sahara africa, toxic, world health organization, zambia

EAST LANSING, Mich. — New guidelines from the American Academy of Neurology will help physicians better choose seizure drugs for people on HIV/AIDS medication, avoiding deadly drug interactions and preventing critical anti-HIV drugs from becoming less effective, possibly leading to a more virulent strain of the disease.

Michigan State University’s Gretchen Birbeck – who spends several months each year in the sub-Sahara African nation of Zambia researching epilepsy, HIV /AIDS and cerebral malaria – is the lead author of the medical guideline, which was co-developed with the World Health Organization through the International League Against Epilepsy. (more…)

New Tool Offers Unprecedented Access for Root Studies

By Guest PostDecember 25, 2011Scienceacidification, biofuels, brachypodium, carbon sequestration, cellular and subcellular level, charles darwin, darkness, david ehrhardt, essential mineral nutrients, foxtail millet, galactose, glucose, guido grossmann, matthias meier, mining companies, nutrient acquisition, optical sensors, plant brain, plant organs, plant physiology, plant roots, power of movement of plants, real-time, rene sit, root growth, root system, rootchip, roots, salinization, seedlings, soil, stephen quake, sugar, toxic, woei jiun guo, wolf frommer

Stanford, CA — Plant roots are fascinating plant organs – they not only anchor the plant, but are also the world’s most efficient mining companies. Roots live in darkness and direct the activities of the other organs, as well as interact with the surrounding environment. Charles Darwin posited in The Power of Movement of Plants that the root system acts as a plant’s brain.

Due to the difficulty of accessing root tissue in intact live plants, research of these hidden parts has always lagged behind research on the more visible parts of plants. But now: a new technology–developed jointly by Carnegie and Stanford University–could revolutionize root research. The findings will be published in the large-scale biology section of the December issue of The Plant Cell. (more…)