Complex solid solution electrocatalyst discovery by computational prediction and high‐throughput experimentation

18-Feb-2021

Finding the best material composition among thousands of possibilities is like looking for a needle in a haystack. An international team is combining computer simulations and high-throughput experiments to do this. Catalysts consisting of at least five chemical elements could be the key to ...

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Predator-prey relationships between bacteria could provide ideas for new antibacterial strategies

18-Feb-2021

The research team led by Dr. Christine Kaimer from the Microbial Biology department at Ruhr-Universität Bochum (RUB) has taken a close look at predatory bacteria, which feed on other bacteria. Through microscopic examinations and protein analyses, they characterized the strategies used by the ...

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The discovery may make it possible to use oxygen-stable enzymes as hydrogen producers

04-Feb-2021

An international research team from the Photobiotechnology Research Group at Ruhr-Universität Bochum (RUB) led by Professor Thomas Happe and the Laboratoire de Bioénergétique et Ingénierie des Protéines (CNRS) in Marseille has been able to get to the bottom of this unique feature. They describe ...

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Memory deficit is a normal side effect of aging. At what point does memory loss become pathological?

08-Jan-2021

Using a blood test, a German-Dutch research team has predicted the risk of Alzheimer’s disease in people who were clinically diagnosed as not having Alzheimer’s disease but who perceived themselves as cognitively impaired (Subjective Cognitive Declined, SCD). The researchers analyzed blood ...

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Materials science: Combined efforts of experiment and simulation pave the way to new applications.

19-Nov-2020

Materials consisting of inorganic and organic components can combine the best of two worlds: under certain circumstances, the so-called MOFs – short for metal-organic frameworks – are structured in the same order as crystals and are at the same time porous and deformable. This opens up the ...

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Therapy and diagnostics of tumours in only one step is possible with the aid of so-called theranostic agents

04-Sep-2020

The combination of a biomolecule and a metal complex can target, bind, mark and damage cancer cells. A German-Spanish team has manufactured such a theranostic agent that visualises tumour cells by irradiation with visible light, and proved its effectiveness against lung cancer cells. Andres ...

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The findings should help to develop more efficient miniaturised hydrogenase catalysts in the future

18-Aug-2020

In hydrogenase enzymes, the transports of protons and electrons have been considered to be separate events until now. However, coupling is the key to success here. Hydrogenases can convert hydrogen just as efficiently as expensive platinum catalysts. In order to make them usable for ...

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In the future, MOFs could form the basis of programmable chemical molecules

10-Aug-2020

In DNA, information is stored in the sequence of chemical building blocks; in computers, information consists of sequences of zeros and ones. Researchers want to transfer this concept to artificial molecules. Artificial molecules could one day form the information unit of a new type of computer ...

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05-Aug-2020

In the past, the catalyst for the production of methanol had eluded all attempts to clarify its surface structure. Now researchers have learned more about its active site. Methanol is one of the most important basic chemicals used, for example, to produce plastics or building materials. To render ...

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An endogenous protein prevents the virus from fusing with host cells: This raises hopes for new therapeutic approaches

30-Jul-2020

A protein produced by the human immune system can strongly inhibit corona viruses, including Sars-Cov-2, the pathogen causing Covid-19. An international team from Germany, Switzerland and the USA successfully showed that the LY6E-Protein prevents coronaviruses from causing an infection. “This ...

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