Spectrometry News and Research

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Study sheds light on complex design of tears

It's no secret why we shed tears. But exactly what our tears are made of has remained a mystery to scientists.

28 Jan 2007

Coating characterisation of polymer-coated cardiovascular stents

Coating characterisation of polymer-coated cardiovascular stents has been undertaken utilising ToFSIMS, DSIMS and 3DP.

16 Jan 2007

Surface analysis of stents

The fastest growing market for surface analysis techniques is in the development and manufacture of vascular stents.

16 Jan 2007

100% of banknotes in Dublin contaminated with cocaine

An ongoing research project into the detection of illicit drug use has shown that of a sample of bank notes in current circulation in the greater Dublin area - Euro 5, 10, 20 and 50 denominations - 100% of them showed contamination with cocaine.

10 Jan 2007

Nanogen announces new patents for inventions related to diabetes and Alzheimer's disease biomarkers

Nanogen has announced that it has been issued four patents by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office for inventions related to diabetes and Alzheimer's disease biomarkers.

30 Oct 2006

New test on hair can reveal eating disorders

All too often women with eating disorders cannot recognise they have a problem, or go to great lengths to disguise the problem from others.

17 Oct 2006

Phase separation of lipid membranes analyzed with high-resolution secondary ion mass spectrometry

Understanding the chemical composition and organization of cell membranes - what components reside next to each other, how many of each there are and how they respond to their environment - may reveal the secret lives of cells in both health and disease.

9 Oct 2006

Fat droplets play protective role inside cells

Too much body fat may be a bad thing, but there is increasing evidence that too little fat also may have some surprisingly negative consequences.

19 Sep 2006

Scientists identify novel central nervous system proteins affected by chronic alcohol exposure

Researchers at the University at Buffalo studying the effects of alcohol on the brain, using zebrafish as a model, have identified several novel central nervous system proteins that are affected by chronic alcohol exposure.

31 Aug 2006

Dual-mode nanoscale imaging yields new details of cellular events

To create drugs capable of targeting malignancies, scientists must first decode exactly how a cell or a group of cells communicates with other cells and reacts to a broad spectrum of complex biomolecules surrounding it.

21 Aug 2006

Structural alterations in breast stromal and epithelial DNA

Researchers have uncovered a pattern of DNA damage in connective tissues in the human breast that could shed light on the early stages of breast cancer.

3 Aug 2006

FDA develops cost-effective way to identify bioterror agents used in hoax incidents

Researchers at the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) National Center for Toxicological Research (NCTR) are developing a quick, cost-effective way to screen for and identify bioterror agents and other substances used in hoax incidents.

3 Aug 2006

Celiac success: New enzyme efficiently degrades gluten

A new enzyme originally developed for commercial food processing turns out to also quickly and nearly-completely break down whole gluten molecules as well as the T cell stimulatory peptides that cause celiac disease, a digestive disease with no current effective treatment other than avoiding wheat, barley or rye products.

5 Jul 2006

Scientists map the entire active protein inventory in cells

Scientists have shown how cutting-edge methods can be used to catalogue the entire inventory of active proteins in cell organelles at a particular moment. Their work sheds considerable light on how cells use proteins.

29 May 2006

Gene silencing protein discovered

A team of researchers, including biologists at Washington University in St. Louis, has discovered the key role one protein plays in a major turn-off -in this case, the turning off of thousands of nearly identical genes in a hybrid plant.

8 May 2006

Researchers recommend national uniform newborn screening tests

In a new study, conducted for the federal government and published in a supplement to the May issue of the journal Pediatrics, Stephen M. Downs, M.D. and Aaron E. Carroll, M.D., of the Indiana University School of Medicine, recommend a national uniform panel of newborn screening tests which they found to be cost saving as well as life saving.

3 May 2006

Proteomic mass spectrometry helps identify viruses

Scientists have used mass spectrometry for decades to determine the chemical composition of samples but rarely has it been used to identify viruses, and never in complex environmental samples.

13 Apr 2006

Simple screening process opens door to treating rare metabolic diseases such as Tay-Sachs, Fabry and Gaucher syndromes

Rare metabolic diseases such as Tay-Sachs, Fabry and Gaucher syndromes are caused by enzyme deficiencies and typically have crippling, even fatal, consequences starting at very early ages.