Spectroscopy News and Research

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Spectroscopy is the study of the interaction between radiation (electromagnetic radiation, or light, as well as particle radiation) and matter.

An atomic view of protein behind hereditary cerebral amyloid angiopathy

For the first time, researchers have peered deeply at the atomic level into the protein that causes hereditary cerebral amyloid angiopathy (CAA) -- a disease thought to cause stroke and dementia.

22 Apr 2008

Nanoparticles provide detailed view inside living animals

Using nanoparticles designed specifically to produce a bright Raman spectroscopic signal, a team of investigators at the Center for Cancer Nanotechnology Excellence Focused on Therapy Response (Stanford CCNE) has shown that it can produce whole-body images in small animals that can reveal the location of tumors and track how these nanoparticles traffic through the body.

18 Apr 2008

Measurement technology to investigate neurovascular coupling

Every two minutes in Germany, one person suffers a stroke. About one third of the affected do not survive the sudden lack of blood in the brain, many others are left with serious disabilities.

17 Apr 2008

Sleeping sickness metabolic 'fingerprint' could lead to earlier diagnosis

Sleeping sickness creates a metabolic 'fingerprint' in the blood and urine, which could enable a new test to be developed to diagnose the disease, according to new research published today in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

15 Apr 2008

Potential blood test for chronic sinusitis identified

A protein profile has been identified in the blood of chronic sinusitis sufferers that may enable physicians to objectively diagnosis and treat the disease, researchers say.

15 Apr 2008

Molecule delivery method improves stem cell differentiation

Embryonic stem cell therapies have been proposed for regenerative medicine and tissue replacement after injury or disease.

10 Apr 2008

Method to deliver molecules within embryonic stem cells improves differentiation

Embryonic stem cell therapies have been proposed for regenerative medicine and tissue replacement after injury or disease.

10 Apr 2008

New type of imaging system illuminates tumors to nearly one-trillionth of a meter

Doctors' quest to see what is happening inside a living body has been hampered by the limits on detecting tiny components of internal structures and events.

1 Apr 2008

Femtogram-level chemical measurements now possible

Finding a simple and convenient technique that combines nanoscale structural measurements and chemical identification has been an elusive goal.

31 Mar 2008

Anticancer siRNA therapy advances, thanks to nanoparticles

Small pieces of nucleic acid, known as siRNAs (short interfering RNAs), can turn off the production of specific proteins, a property that makes them one of the more promising new classes of anticancer drugs in development. Indeed, at least two siRNA-based anticancer therapies, both delivered to tumors in nanoparticles, have begun human clinical trials. Now, three new reports highlight the progress that researchers are making in developing broadly applicable, nanoparticle-enabled siRNA anticancer therapeutics.

28 Mar 2008

Discovery alters long standing concept of fixed protein structure

The thousands of proteins found in nature are simply strings of amino acids, assembled by genes, and scientists have long believed that they automatically fold themselves into uniquely fixed, 3-dimensional shapes to fire the engine of life.

19 Mar 2008

New discovery alters longstanding concept of fixed protein structure

18 Mar 2008

Different use of brain areas may explain memory problems in schizophrenics

The enduring memory problems that people with schizophrenia experience may be related to differences in how their brains process information, new research has found.

13 Mar 2008

Pain in fibromyalgia is linked to changes in brain molecule

Researchers at the University of Michigan Health System have found a key linkage between pain and a specific brain molecule, a discovery that lends new insight into fibromyalgia, an often-baffling chronic pain condition.

10 Mar 2008

Clearer understanding on how allergy symptoms are triggered

A team of Penn State University researchers is the first to demonstrate that lipid molecules in cell membranes participate in mammals' reactions to allergens in a living cell.

10 Mar 2008

Curing cancer with natural products - a case for shamans and herb women?

Not at all, for many chemotherapies to fight cancer applied in modern medicine are natural products or were developed on the basis of natural substances. Thus, taxanes used in prostate and breast cancer treatment are made from yew trees. The popular periwinkle plant, which grows along the ground of many front yards, is the source of vinca alkaloids that are effective, for example, against malignant lymphomas. The modern anti-cancer drugs topotecan and irinotecan are derived from a constituent of the Chinese Happy Tree.

6 Mar 2008

New nanotube findings give boost to potential biomedical applications

Carbon nanotubes have shown real promise as highly accurate vehicles for delivering antitumor agents into malignant cells, but a dearth of data about what happens to the tubes after they discharge their medical payloads has been a major stumbling block to progress.

3 Mar 2008

Zero-field remote detection of NMR with a microfabricated atomic magnetometer

A super-sensitive mini-sensor developed at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) can detect nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) in tiny samples of fluids flowing through a novel microchip.

21 Feb 2008

People with manic depression have a distinct chemical signature in their brains

People with manic depression have a distinct chemical signature in their brains, according to a new study. The research, published in the journal Molecular Psychiatry, may also indicate how the mood stabilisers used to treat the disorder counteract the changes in the brain that it appears to cause.

5 Feb 2008

Chemists track how amantadine drug changes, blocks flu virus

An anti-virus drug attacks influenza A by changing the motion and structure of a proton channel necessary for the virus to infect healthy cells, according to a recently published research paper by two Iowa State University chemists.

5 Feb 2008