May 09, 2023 (Nanowerk News) University of Minnesota Twin Cities researchers have developed a groundbreaking new diagnostic technique that will allow for faster and more accurate detection of neurodegenerative diseases. The method will likely open a door for earlier treatment and mitigation of various diseases that affect humans, such as...
Scientists create the first CRISPR-based drug candidate targeting the microbiome
May 09, 2023 (Nanowerk News) A new drug candidate targeting E. coli in the gut is in phase 1 clinical trials. According to a new paper published in Nature Biotechnology ("Engineered phage with antibacterial CRISPR–Cas selectively reduce E. coli burden in mice"), it may improve the well-being of blood cancer...
Scientists develop gene silencing DNA enzyme that can target a single molecule
May 09, 2023 (Nanowerk News) Researchers from the University of California, Irvine have developed a DNA enzyme – or DNAzyme – that can distinguish between two RNA strands inside a cell and cut the disease-associated strand while leaving the healthy strand intact. This breakthrough “gene silencing” technology could revolutionize the...
We know that carbon capture from the atmosphere is possible. But how do we get there?
May 09, 2023 (Nanowerk News) Direct Air Capture (DAC) technologies offer new opportunities for getting closer to our climate change mitigation targets. However, we still have a long way to go before DAC can be fully rolled out as a mitigation measure. The UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has...
A flexible sweat sensor based on photonic cellulose nanocrystals
May 08, 2023 (Nanowerk News) Cellulose nanocrystals (CNCs), an emerging bio-based material, have found extensive applications in industries such as electronics, bioplastics, and energy. However, the functional failure of these materials in wet or liquid environments hinders their progress in fields like biomedicine, membrane separation, environmental monitoring, and wearable devices....
Using nanopore single-molecule sensing to identify glycans
May 08, 2023 (Nanowerk News) Glycans play diverse and critical roles in numerous cellular activities, but their highly complex structures make their analysis a challenge. These structures arise from differences in composition, branching, regio- and stereochemistry, and modification, resulting in unparalleled structural diversity. Recently, a joint research team led by...
Tiny microbes could brew big benefits for green biomanufacturing
May 08, 2023 (Nanowerk News) A research team led by Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) and UC Berkeley has engineered bacteria to produce new-to-nature carbon products that could provide a powerful route to sustainable biochemicals. The advance – which was recently announced in the journal Nature ("Complete integration of...
A perfect interface between free-space and integrated optical systems
May 08, 2023 (Nanowerk News) Researchers at Columbia Engineering have developed a new class of integrated photonic devices--“leaky-wave metasurfaces”--that can convert light initially confined in an optical waveguide to an arbitrary optical pattern in free space (Nature Nanotechnology, "Leaky-wave metasurfaces for integrated photonics"). These devices are the first to demonstrate...
X-ray beams help researchers learn new tricks from old metals
May 08, 2023 (Nanowerk News) A research team led by the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Argonne National Laboratory used powerful X-ray beams to unlock a new understanding of materials important to the production and use of hydrogen. The goal is to make hydrogen production and usage more efficient and...
Webb looks for Fomalhaut’s asteroid belt and finds much more
May 08, 2023 (Nanowerk News) Astronomers used NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope to image the warm dust around a nearby young star, Fomalhaut, in order to study the first asteroid belt ever seen outside of our solar system in infrared light. But to their surprise, the dusty structures are much...