news 2024

Researchers at the University of Würzburg have discovered a new function of the oncoprotein MYCN: It not only helps cancer cells to grow stronger, but also makes them more resistant to drugs. Oncoproteins are actually vital to human survival: thousands of them in our bodies ensure that cells grow and divide.

A European research team has developed a novel spectroscopic method that can be used to observe ultrafast dynamic processes of electrons and vibrations within molecules - with atomic resolution and in real time. A team from the University of Jena supported the experimental team in Barcelona in the theoretical description of the processes.

Research team involving the University of Göttingen decodes molecular function . As humans, we are constantly accompanied by billions of microorganisms that live on our skin or in our airways in the form of our microbiome. The relationships between these microorganisms are a rich source of previously unknown metabolic products that are beneficial to humans.

For over 100 years, the chemical industry has been using explosive aryl diazonium salts to produce paints, for example. A team from the Max Planck Institute for Coal Research has now discovered a safer alternative for the processes in which the chemical is used. The researchers are mimicking a reaction that plants use to reduce nitrate, using chemicals that the chemical industry uses to produce fertilizers - which could also make the processes more cost-effective.

Electromobility and portable electronic devices such as laptops and cell phones are unthinkable without the use of lithium-ion batteries. The problem: highly toxic materials such as cobalt are often used for the cathodes of these batteries, which endanger the environment and the health of people in the countries where they are mined.

Peptides are organic compounds that play a crucial role in many biological processes, for example, as enzymes. A research team led by Dr Serge Krasnokutski from the Astrophysics Laboratory at the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy at the University of Jena had already demonstrated that simple peptides can form on cosmic dust particles.

Scientists have found new paths to steer and optimize electrochemical processes. Optimizing electrochemical reactions is essential for the transition to renewable energies. In electrochemical reactions, electric currents and potential differences are used to binding and induce reactions. Electrochemistry is a pre-requisite for hydrogen production, and for batterie technology, and thus for sustainable chemistry.

Team from the University of Münster presents computer-aided method / Counteracting subjective bias in studies on the production of new chemical compounds Chemists often develop and optimise new chemical reactions using so-called model systems, i.e. simple, easily accessible substrates.

Scientists found for the first time a natural protein that follows a mathematical pattern of self-similarity An international team of researchers led by groups from the Max Planck Institute in Marburg and the Philipps University in Marburg has stumbled upon the first regular molecular fractal in nature.

Hydrogen chloride can now be stored, processed, and electrolyzed safely thanks to breakthrough by research team at Freie Universität Berlin A research team at Freie Universität Berlin led by Professor Sebastian Hasenstab-Riedel has successfully developed a method for storing and electrolyzing gaseous hydrogen chloride in the form of an ionic liquid.

Researchers gain new insights into how the first cells on Earth were able to use hydrogen gas as an energy source Hydrogen gas (H2) is seen as a key to sustainable energy for the future. Yet it is an ancient form of energy. Even the very first cells on earth lived on H2, which was produced in hydrothermal vents.

Research team led by Göttingen University make extremely fast, precise images for first time From solar panels on our roofs to the new OLED TV screens, many everyday electronic devices simply wouldn't work without the interaction between light and the materials that make up semiconductors. A new category of semiconductors is based on organic molecules, which largely consist of carbon, such as buckminsterfullerene.

Research team redesigns phenoxyl radicals with improved oxidation capacity in the lab. Nature uses enzymes for various metabolic processes. These biological catalysts are extremely efficient. Biomimetic catalysts based on inexpensive starting materials from the laboratory that can reproduce the efficiency of the natural enzymes and can function at ambient conditions are therefore of great interest to research and industry.

Team of researchers at Freie Universität Berlin develops new technique to release and study individual proteins in cells / Study published in "Nature Methods" A research team led by biochemist Professor Helge Ewers from Freie Universität Berlin has developed a new technique for the light-mediated release and investigation of proteins in live cells.

Felix H. Schacher, Dr Purushottam Poudel, Dr Sarah Walden & Isabelle Staude (l.t.r. Combining Two Established Systems to Create Something New "Both meta-surfaces and light-switchable polymers have been known in principle for decades," explains Sarah Walden from the Institute of Solid State Physics, who now leads a research group in Australia.

University of Bonn chemists invent technique for producing variants of natural substances To synthesize potential drugs or natural products, you need natural substances in specific mirror-image variants and with a high degree of purity. For the first time, chemists at the University of Bonn have succeeded in producing all'eight possible variants of polypropionate building blocks from a single starting material in a relatively straightforward process.

Research team at Göttingen University develops environmentally friendly iron catalysis using light as an energy source A research team at the University of Göttingen has discovered an innovative strategy in chemical synthesis that combines iron-mediated carbon-hydrogen bond conversion with the concept of photocatalysis.

The 'ten electron rule' provides guidance for the design of single-atom alloy catalysts for targeted chemical reactions. A collaborative team from three British universities and from Humboldt-Universität have discovered a very simple rule to design single-atom alloy catalysts for chemical reactions.

Researchers see detergent residues as the cause Industrially produced orange juice sometimes smells unpleasantly of cloves. A research team led by the Leibniz Institute for Food Systems Biology at the Technical University of Munich (TUM) has now solved the mystery surrounding this undesirable off-odor.

GPT-3, the language model behind the well-known AI system ChatGPT, can also be utilised in chemistry to solve various scientific tasks. This was demonstrated by a team of researchers at the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Friedrich Schiller University Jena, and the Helmholtz Institute for Polymers in Energy Applications (HIPOLE) Jena.