In a new study published in Nature Chemistry, UNC-Chapel Hill researcher Ronit Freeman and her colleagues describe the steps they took to manipulate DNA and proteins—essential building blocks of life—to create cells that look and act like cells from the body. This accomplishment, a first in the field, has implications for efforts in regenerative medicine, drug delivery systems, and diagnostic tools ..read more

Plastic is a very complex material that can contain many different chemicals, some of which can be harmful. This is also true for plastic food packaging ..read more

Molecular dynamics (MD) simulations have become a powerful tool in the ever-growing fields of molecular biology and drug development. While many MD simulation techniques exist, parallel cascade selection MD (PaCS-MD) is a particularly useful one when studying the folding (or "conformation") of proteins or the interactions between proteins and ligands ..read more

Texas A&M AgriLife Research scientists are looking for a better way to remove or degrade stubborn pollutants, also called forever chemicals, from waste before they impact human and animal health ..read more

Many plant-based meats have seemingly done the impossible by recreating animal products ranging from beef to seafood. But beyond just the taste and texture, how do these products compare to the real thing in nutritional value? A small-scale study published in Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry shows that while some "plant steaks" and "plant cold cuts" might be comparable to meats on some fronts, their amino acid content and protein digestibility fall short ..read more

A research team has made progress in understanding benzylisoquinoline alkaloids (BIAs) in lotus (Nelumbo nucifera), highlighting their presence in various tissues and their potential for novel drug development ..read more

Understanding how proteins interact with each other is crucial for developing new treatments and understanding diseases. Thanks to computational advances, a team of researchers led by Assistant Professor of Chemistry Alberto Perez have developed an algorithm to identify these molecular interactions ..read more

How mutations impact protein stability and structure dynamics is crucial for understanding the molecular mechanism of the disease and the targeted drug design. However, probing the molecular details of mutation-induced subtle structure dynamics is still challenging ..read more

The field of bone tissue engineering (BTE) is a promising avenue for addressing bone injuries and defects by constructing artificial scaffolds with bionic functionalities. Due to its unique 3D network structure, impressive mechanical properties, and excellent biocompatibility, bacterial cellulose (BC) has emerged as a captivating area of research in the realm of scaffold fabrication ..read more

Researchers have discovered ways to convert inhibitor-style targeted cancer drugs into small molecules known as degraders, which help destroy cancer-promoting proteins in cells ..read more