Scientists achieve breakthrough in laser-alignment for macromolecular single-particle imaging

Visualization of molecular structures with unprecedented detail

15-Apr-2025 - Single-particle diffractive imaging (SPI) using X-ray free-electron lasers allows researchers to reconstruct the structure of nanoparticles and biomolecules. However, the technique often requires imaging up to several billion nanoparticles to produce the image and imposes limitations on its ...

Innovative Methods for Biomolecular Mass Spectrometry

Fresenius Award for Kathrin Breuker

12-Feb-2025 - The German Chemical Society (GDCh) is awarding Associate Professor Dr. Kathrin Breuker, University of Innsbruck, the Fresenius Award. She will receive the award, which includes a gold medal and prize money of 7,500 euros, for special services to analytical chemistry. With her scientific work, ...

Polymer editing can upcycle waste into higher-performance plastics

More valuable properties than the raw material

22-Jan-2025 - By editing the polymers of discarded plastics, chemists at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory have found a way to generate new macromolecules with more valuable properties than those of the starting material. Upcycling may help remedy the roughly 450 million tons of plastic ...

Rethinking packaging: strengthening paper - with bio-based and biodegradable additives

French start-up FunCell receives 4.8 million euros

08-May-2024 - The Grenoble-based company, a spin-off from the CNRS research institute, has already proven its expertise. Just as importantly, they have also gained the trust of investors who are hoping for a growing market. In an investor round a few months ago, the inventors from Grenoble were able to raise ...

New technique paves way for imaging individual molecules

Pioneering experiment exploits quantum properties of X-ray light

04-May-2023 - An international research team has succeeded for the first time in using X-rays for an imaging technique that exploits a particular quantum property of light. As the researchers describe in their work just published in the journal Physical Review Letters, this technique could enable imaging of ...

Calculating the "fingerprints" of molecules with artificial intelligence

16-Jun-2022 - With conventional methods, it is extremely time-consuming to calculate the spectral fingerprint of larger molecules. But this is a prerequisite for correctly interpreting experimentally obtained data. Now, a team at HZB has achieved very good results in significantly less time using self-learning ...

Researchers first to link silicon atoms on surfaces

First time to produce a silicon polymer

01-Apr-2021 - A team consisting of various working groups from the fields of chemistry and physics are now the first to have linked silicon atoms on surfaces. From silicon polymers, the researchers hope for innovative material properties and new, promising candidates for potential applications. Materials such ...

Secret messages hidden in light-sensitive polymers

06-Sep-2019 - DNA is a long chemical sequence that carries genetic information. Inspired by this biological system, in recent years many research teams have been exploring how to store and then decode information within synthetic macromolecules, also called polymers. In a leap forward in this field, ...

Mastering metastable matter

13-Mar-2018 - Be it snow on a slope that can sit there for days before being sent descending by an overambitious skier or bonds in macromolecules that change dramatically upon appropriate activation -- systems that reside for extended periods of times in one state before switching rapidly to another, ...

The Making of Biorelevant Nanomaterials

05-Jan-2018 - The interactions of biological macromolecules such as nucleic acids, proteins, and polysaccharide–protein conjugates can be mimicked by artificial polyelectrolytes. Such synthetic polyionic complexes are expected to serve as novel platforms to stabilize and deliver drugs, proteins, or nucleic ...