Biochemistry

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Light-powered reaction gives discarded drug compounds new potential

Throughout the drug development process, which can take a decade or more, tens of thousands of chemical compounds are produced that never go on to become medicines.

6 Nov 2026

New workflow tracks lipid changes in oil-producing yeast species

A research team led by Profs. XU Guowang and LIU Xinyu from the Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics (DICP) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), in collaboration with researchers from Dalian University of Technology, has developed a high-coverage lipidomics workflow and integrated it with transcriptomics to investigate lipid accumulation and compositional changes in Rhodosporidium toruloides under nitrogen limitation.

4 Nov 2026

Plant metabolite shows strong promise as a natural human sunscreen

Research in Photochemistry and Photobiology indicates that a plant metabolite that can block the effects of ultraviolet (UV) light has promising potential as a natural sunscreen when applied to human skin.

4 Nov 2026

Light-activated molecular cages offer precise control over protein degradation

Researchers have created a molecular "cage" that keeps protein-degrading drug molecules inactive until they are exposed to low-energy red light.

30 Oct 2026

Evolutionary changes in key enzyme help bacteria fine-tune protein synthesis

Evolutionary changes in key protein synthesis enzyme, isoleucyl-tRNA synthetase (IleRS), may help bacteria fine-tune how quickly proteins are made, report researchers from Institute of Science Tokyo, Japan; the University of Zagreb Faculty of Science, Croatia; and ETH Zürich, Switzerland.

29 Oct 2026

Insights into enzyme selectivity open new pathways for pharmaceutical synthesis

Enzymes are the molecular tools of life. They accelerate chemical reactions and are able to distinguish very precisely between molecules that are similar to one another. The high selectivity of many enzymes is key to the production of important medicines such as penicillin and cyclosporine. But how did enzymes develop this ability to distinguish between similar chemical functionalities with such precision.

29 Oct 2026

Ancient protein model shows early steps in energy metabolism

Researchers in Japan engineered ancestral nucleoside diphosphate kinase variants with restricted amino acid repertoires to explore alternative catalytic functions. One variant, Arc1-12KR, retained its protein fold despite lacking catalytic histidine and unexpectedly converted two ADP molecules into ATP and AMP. The findings reveal alternative catalytic potential in simplified proteins and offer clues to possible routes of energy metabolism during early protein evolution.

29 Oct 2026

Vegan honey could match powerful antimicrobial properties of mānuka

Vegan honey alternatives could be engineered to have similar antimicrobial properties to prized mānuka honey from New Zealand, according to research at Aston University.

15 Oct 2026

Chemists develop blueprint for designing powerful fluorescent materials for better disease detection

Chemists at the University of Bath have discovered how tiny molecular changes can transform the color and brightness of fluorescent probes based on the blue molecule azulene, paving the way for more powerful imaging tools for detecting diseases such as Alzheimer's, Parkinson’s and cancer.

14 Oct 2026

New research links water source type to antibiotic resistance

Aquatic environments are recognized as reservoirs and pathways for antimicrobial resistance, receiving antibiotic residues and resistant microorganisms from sewage, livestock farming, and aquaculture.

12 Oct 2026

Real time molecular movie unlocks secrets of penicillin biosynthesis

Researchers from the University of Oxford and international collaborators have revealed previously unseen rapid chemical stages in the formation of β-lactam antibiotics like penicillin, offering insights that can support future antibiotic development.

9 Oct 2026

New fluorescent paper strips make vitamin B12 testing simpler

Measuring vitamin B12 in food usually means bringing the sample to the laboratory. A new fluorescent sensor could help move part of that process onto something much simpler: a paper strip or cotton swab.

1 Oct 2026

Simulations reveal how changing enzyme shapes affect molecular recognition

Enzymes are often described as molecular machines that recognize and process specific molecules. However, they are not rigid structures. Their shapes can change, and these changes can affect how molecules enter, interact with, and remain within their active sites.

29 Sep 2026

New study explains how TMEM63B protein regulates cell membranes

An autoinhibitory domain in the C-terminal tail of the TMEM63B, a mechanosensitive lipid scramblase, helps maintain its inactive state under resting conditions, report researchers from Institute of Science Tokyo.

29 Sep 2026

New AI tool predicts hydrogen positions to speed up drug discovery

New York University researchers have trained an AI model to learn chemical patterns associated with stability in drug-like molecules and accurately predict where their hydrogen atoms should be positioned.

23 Sep 2026

Salt-purified seaweed compound suppresses inflammatory and allergic reactions

Food allergies affect an estimated 3%–4% of the global population, yet no definitive cure is currently available.

22 Sep 2026

Submicron IR for pharmaceutical research, development, and quality

The pharmaceutical and biopharmaceutical industries increasingly require rapid, accurate, and high-resolution analytical tools to characterize complex materials, ensure product quality, and accelerate innovation.

From Photothermal Spectroscopy Corp 22 Sep 2026

Galimedix establishes Scientific Advisory Board for Alzheimer’s disease to guide development of novel oral drug candidate, GAL-101

Galimedix Therapeutics, Inc., a Phase 2 clinical-stage biotechnology company developing novel oral and topical neuroprotective therapies with the potential to revolutionize the treatment of serious brain and eye diseases, today announced the establishment of a dedicated Alzheimer's Disease Scientific Advisory Board (SAB).

From Galimedix Therapeutics, INC. 22 Sep 2026

Largest neuroimaging study of bulimia nervosa finds structural brain differences linked to diagnosis and binge-eating severity

Researchers at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai found that individuals with bulimia nervosa have structural differences in brain regions involved in reward and motivation, as well as social and sensory processing, and that more frequent binge eating is associated with more widespread differences in brain structure, according to research published today in JAMA Psychiatry.

18 Sep 2026

Wildfire smoke may be more harmful than other air pollution, two Mount Sinai studies find

As climate change drives more frequent and intense wildfires, researchers at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai have published two large-scale studies showing that wildfire smoke may pose greater health risks than other sources of air pollution, with higher risks of hospitalization for cardiovascular and respiratory disease and poorer survival among patients with lung cancer.

18 Sep 2026