Biology Biochemistry
News
12 Apr 2024
Zika virus vaccine targets brain cancer, 120-year quest to farm lobsters, Arctic nightlife bursts with sound, Eating a robot, Molecular orientation is key & New treatment for ALS and dementia. Read all in the latest Editor's Choice.
11 Apr 2024
Researchers have identified 14 genes that thale cress express more when responding to five specific stressors, as well as eight genes that the plant suppresses.
29 Mar 2024
The lipids in some herbal teas have been identified in detail for the first time, preparing the ground for investigating their contribution to the health benefits of the teas.
18 Mar 2024
Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) and Frontotemporal Dementia (FTD) are neurodegenerative diseases that commonly occur in middle-aged people. FTD is second only to Alzheimer's disease in terms of dementia prevalence. Both ALS and FTD arise from neuronal degeneration through mechanisms that remain unclear. Dr. Yun-Ru (Ruby) Chen's team in the Genomics Research Center (GRC), Academia Sinica recently discovered a new pathological mechanism for neuronal degeneration using synthetic peptides. They also discovered that a disaccharide can increase neuronal survival and reduce degeneration. The result provides therapeutic strategies for future treatment of these neurodegenerative diseases. The study was published in the top international journal "Science Advances" on February 23, 2024.
05 Mar 2024
A novel method for studying genes in testicular cells of living animals could lead to breakthroughs in male contraception and fertility treatments.
28 Feb 2024
A new user-friendly tool helps researchers explore how gene activity is influenced by chemical modifications, providing insights into disease and paths to new treatments.
27 Feb 2024
Applied Microbiology International has announced it will be launching a new series of educational online content called The Microbiologist Masterclass.
16 Feb 2024
Researchers at Kanazawa University report in Journal of Cell Science on a novel role of the small Ca2+-binding protein S100A11 in focal adhesion disassembly.
29 Jan 2024
A new technology to increase visibility of cancer cells to the immune system using CRISPR has been developed, and could lead to a new way to treat cancer.
13 Dec 2023
A previously mysterious small RNA molecule in mice is found to play a crucial role in gene expression, and may be the first identified member of a new class of regulatory RNAs.
30 Nov 2023
An international team of researchers led by Osaka Metropolitan University has elucidated the process by which the major flavonoids naringenin, apigenin, and genistein are metabolized in the body. These findings are fundamental in elucidating the correlation between the metabolism of flavonoids in the body and their potential health benefits.
09 Nov 2023
New shrimp species in ancient hot spring, Super sprouts, How "warm-ups" work, New antiviral candidate, Solving voltage decay and from our blog: A sustainable future shines in TIE 2023. Read all in the latest Editor's Choice.
02 Nov 2023
⢠Duke-NUS scientistsâ study shows metabolic elasticity is driven by genes.
⢠It is also dependent on diet, declining with a high-fat diet, while improving with intermittent fasting.
16 Oct 2023
New research reveals how disrupted energy production in the kidneys contributes to progressive kidney disease in diabetes.
05 Oct 2023
Hunting for supermassive black holes, Coastal survival at risk, Calcium and dead cell clean-up, Two naps are better than one & Pineapple leaf prosthetics. Read all in the latest Editor's Choice.
14 Sep 2023
Scientists have found that extracellular calcium mediates the activation of a membrane protein that waves the flag signalling cell death
21 Aug 2023
Anti-estrogenic therapies can suppress the growth of cancer that does not express estrogen receptors; when combined with immune checkpoint inhibitor therapies, they halt tumor progression in mice models.
11 Jul 2023
The entire biosynthetic pathway of actinopyridazone has been unveiled, revealing that an unprecedented carrier protein-mediated ring-forming step is key to its synthesis.
15 May 2023
Researchers at Kanazawa University report in Nano Letters how high-speed atomic force microscopy leads to insights into processes relevant to Alzheimerâs disease. Moreover, the technique is shown to be an excellent tool for studying the effect of drugs against the disease.
15 May 2023
Researchers at Kanazawa University report in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America (PNAS) high-speed atomic force microscopy experiments that show how ligands associated with stimulating and suppressing activation of the TRPV1 protein increase and decrease the moleculeâs structural variations. The observations provide insights into how these heat- and chilli-sensing proteins function.
28 Mar 2023
A group including Osaka Metropolitan University researchers discovered that the rhodopsinâa protein in the eye that detects lightâof whale sharks has changed to efficiently detect blue light, which penetrates deep-sea water easily. The amino acid substitutionsâone of which is counterintuitively associated with congenital stationary night blindness in humansâaid in detecting the low levels of light in the deep-sea. Although these changes make the whale shark rhodopsin less thermally stable the deep-sea temperature, allows their rhodopsin to keep working. This suggests that the unique adaptation evolved to function in the low-light low-temperature environment where whale sharks live.
28 Mar 2023
A research group at Osaka Metropolitan University has succeeded in simply creating an artificial metalloenzyme with the common metal-binding motif 2-his-1-carboxylate, which is found in natural non-heme metalloenzymes. They created a library of 12 different proteins and screened the library and found that the H52A/H58E variant had the best stereoselectivity. It is expected that this research can be expanded to produce a variety of biocatalysts that work under mild conditions.
10 Mar 2023
Osaka Metropolitan University scientists successfully quantified the total reactive polysulfide content of 22 different types of vegetables, including onions and garlic. They also revealed that reactive polysulfides are not only found in the leek genus (Allium), such as onions and garlic but also in the cruciferous family of vegetables (Brassicaceae), such as broccoli and cabbage.
02 Mar 2023
Osaka Metropolitan University researchers have used 100 seconds of laser irradiation to generate convection currents that selectively accelerate biochemical reactionsâdue to the photothermal effectâby concentrating biofunctional molecules at the cell surface. Using this method, useful molecules can be transported into cells at concentrations a hundred to a thousand times lower than with conventional methods. Furthermore, they also succeeded in selectively introducing small molecules into intracellular organelles usually impossible at low concentrations (hundreds of pmol/L) as well as inducing cell death in targeted cells by concentrating anticancer active peptides into them at concentrations so low that they would not be conventionally effective (several tens of nmol/L).
16 Feb 2023
Osaka Metropolitan University scientists found that 2-oxo-imidazole-containing dipeptides (2-oxo-IDPs) exhibit very high antioxidant activity. Furthermore, they established a method to selectively and sensitively detect very small amounts of 2-oxo-IDPs and revealed for the first time that several types of 2-oxo-IDPs are contained in meat, including beef, pork, and chicken.
12 Feb 2023
In hepatic steatosis, hepatocytes "die," resulting in liver damage. Severe steatosis increases hepatocellular deaths, thus aggravating liver damage. The mechanism is unclear. Using mice, we show that mild steatosis causes apoptosis whereas severe steatosis predominantly causes necroptosis leading to cell rupture. This induces strong inflammation and new cell death, producing further liver damage. We reveal the transcription factor ATF3 to be involved in this process. Our results are expected to contribute to therapeutic method development.
22 Dec 2022
Osaka Metropolitan University scientists discovered the principle of light-induced acceleration of antigenâantibody reaction, allowing for simple, ultrafast, and highly sensitive detection of proteins. The researchers introduced target proteins and probe particles with modified antibodies selectively binding to the target proteins into a small channel and applied irradiation with infrared laser light. They achieved, for the first time, the rapid measurement of trace amounts of attogram-level target proteins after only 3 minutes of laser irradiation. These findings will potentially contribute to breakthroughs in the development of systems for ultra-early diagnosis of various diseases.
14 Dec 2022
Using cryogenic electron microscopy, a research team from the Research Center for Artificial Photosynthesis (ReCAP) at Osaka Metropolitan University has revealed, for the first time, the structures and binding environments of pigments bound to a protein called a photosynthetic antenna of the marine green macroalga Codium fragile. The teamâs results extend our knowledge about the molecular mechanism by which blue-green lightâthe only light available in deep seawaterâis efficiently utilized for photosynthesis.
12 Dec 2022
Revelations about the mechanisms of two key proteins which maintain the asymmetric distribution of cholesterol within the cell membrane could help understand and treat diseases linked to its imbalance
25 Nov 2022
A research group at the Osaka Metropolitan University Graduate School of Science has revealed a new system that allows them to control the behavior of the nematode worm Caenorhabditis elegans, using two different animal opsins, a type of light-sensitive protein. The first opsin was expressed in the wormsâ sensory cells responsible for triggering avoidance behavior, making the worms move. This opsin was found to be approximately 7,000 times more sensitive to white light than the commonly used optogenetic protein channelrhodopsin-2. Likewise, a UV-sensitive opsin was expressed in the wormsâ motor neurons, causing the worms to stop when exposed to UV light and start moving again when exposed to green light. Both opsins tested can be switched on and off repeatedly without breaking down, making them robust tools for future research, including the field of drug discovery.
Events
30 Jul 2021
The International Union of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (IUBMB), the Federation of Asian and Oceanian Biochemists and Molecular Biologists (FAOBMB) and the College of Biochemists of Sri Lanka (CBSL), will conduct the 1st Virtual Education Symposium themed âThe âNew Normalâ Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Educationâ, on the 30thof July 2021.
Researchers
Sarfraz Ahmed is working as a Scientist at Harvard Medical School's Mass General Hospital. His research interests include Diseases and Therapeutics especially focus on Cancer and Therapeutics, Cancer Immunology, Photomedicine, Photo compounds and Photodevices for Cancer, Cancer and Natural agents, Nanomedicine and Nanotechnology for Cancer, Drugs resistance, Microbiology (Bacteriology & Virology) and Drugs resistance
Prof. Ann Marie Chacko lead the translational efforts for a portfolio of in vivo PET, SPECT, CT and optical imaging agents that span key therapeutic areas including oncology, immunology, infectious disease and neurobiology.
Prof. Chenâs current research covers research on bacterial antimicrobial resistance, virulence and tolerance in the veterinary, food and medical microbiology fields
Dr Yap is currently a senior lecturer and course coordinator for the Bachelor of Medical Bioscience at Monash University Malaysia. She is dedicated to toxin pharmacology and toxicology research. She has strong background in biomolecular modelling, proteomics, immunological and molecular pharmacology of bioactive toxins. She leads the Toxin Pharmacology Research Group. Her research group now focuses on molecular mechanisms of cytotoxin with the ultimate goal of developing next-generation biotherapeutics. Her research works have been featured in prominent media outlets, including the International Snakebite Awareness Day campaign. Besides active in research, she is also an education innovator who adopts various active learning strategies with technology. She teaches undergraduate units with an emphasis on student-cantered learning using the andragogy approach. Dr Michelle enjoys promoting STEM education to the public. She has organized and hosted several workshops and forums to advance the disciplines in medical sciences through research and education.
Dr. Indika Neluwa-Liyanage is a lecturer in Biochemistry at the Faculty of Medical Sciences of University of Sri Jayewardenepura. His research focuses on the metabolic alterations underlying autism spectrum disorders and inherited metabolic disorders.
Dr NK Prasanna is currently working as Sr. Scientist & Editor, Indian Journal of Biochemistry & Biophysics, Research Journals Division at CSIR-National Institute of Science Communication and Policy Research, New Delhi. Before joining CSIR (NIScPR), she was at IIT Guwahati. Dr Prasanna completed her Ph.D from Institute of Medical Sciences, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi.
In CSIR-NIScPR, She served one important flagship journals viz. Indian journal of Biochemistry and Biophysics (IJBB; ISSN: 0301-1208) It is pertinent to mention that the journal ranks first among all the NIScPR journals as per the available Journal Metrics by international agencies such as Thomson Reuters and Scopus. Details of remarkable academic achievements of IJBB which she spearheading, both nationally and globally. The Indian journal of Biochemistry and Biophysics (IJBB) is a premier SCI-indexed bimonthly peer-reviewed research journal that publishes original research articles in the subject area of biochemistry and biophysics
Giants in history
Chinese biochemist Chi Che Wang (1894 - 1979), one of the first Chinese women to study abroad, advanced to prominent research positions at American institutions including the University of Chicago and the Northwestern University Medical School.
By isolating soil microorganisms and studying the compounds they produce, Satoshi Omura (born 1935) discovered almost 500 organic compounds with unique properties that were produced by these microorganisms, including many new antibiotics.
A pioneer of bio-organic chemistry, Darshan Ranganathan (4 June 1941 â 4 June 2001) is remembered for developing a protocol for synthesising imidazole, a compound used to make antifungal drugs and antibiotics. Widely considered Indiaâs most prolific researcher in chemistry, she also published dozens of papers in renowned journals on protein folding, molecular design, chemical simulation of key biological processes, and the synthesis of functional hybrid peptides and nanotubes.
Chinese biochemist Cao Tianqin (5 December 1920 â 8 January 1995) discovered the myosin light chain, a subunit of myosin, a protein crucial for muscle contraction.
In 1939, biochemist Kamala Sohonie (18 June 1911 â 28 June 1998) became the first woman to be accepted into the Indian Institute of Science (IISc).
Hsien Wu (24 November 1893 â 8 August 1959) is widely regarded as the founder of biochemistry and nutrition science in China. He was the first to propose that protein denaturation was caused by the unfolding of the protein, instead of chemical alteration.
Julian Arca Banzon (13 March 1908 â 13 September 1988) was a biochemist from the Philippines who was a pioneer in alternative fuel research. Banzon investigated the use of indigenous crops as sources of renewable fuels and chemicals.
Michiyo Tsujimura (17 September 1888 â 1 June 1969) was a Japanese agricultural scientist and biochemist recognized for her research of green tea components.