Towards understanding nanotoxicology
28 Oct 2011
Nanoparticles have been incorporated in many consumer products, however their safety and toxicity have not been clearly identified. This is made worse by difficulty in measuring how biological systems Find out more...

Aiding the development of an anti-cancer drug
08 Jun 2011
Flavopiridol was discovered to have anti-cancer properties in 19921, specifically by binding to cyclin-dependant kinases  (CDKs) and inhibiting ATP binding. Since then it has been involved in a number Find out more...

EfeUOB a novel bacterial iron transporter
01 Jun 2011
Iron is necessary for many cellular reactions and is therefore an essential nutrient for all living organisms. However, insolubility and toxicity of iron make its acquisition and processing a great challenge Find out more...

CD spectroscopy of DNA nano-materials
11 Oct 2010
Dr Eugen Stulz, University of Southampton The structure determination of biomolecules, in particular of DNA and of proteins, is of utmost importance to understand their function in chemistry and biology. Find out more...

Establishing the conformational preference of a novel α,β-peptoid backbone
07 Oct 2010
Peptoids are analogues of α-peptides where the backbone is achiral due to the proteinogenic side chains being relocated from the α-C to the amide nitrogen. In the peptoids discussed here, chiral Find out more...

A key biological signalling system promises new routes to intervention in medically important processes
06 Oct 2010
Dr Edwin Yates, University of Liverpool The two prototypical members of the Fibroblast growth factors (FGF) family, FGF-1 and-2, have fundamentally distinct binding requirements and the secondary structures Find out more...

Furthering Alzheimer’s disease studies
16 Sep 2009
The self-assembly of peptides into fibrils is commonly observed. Such fibrils may have biological roles and may also be useful in nanotechnology applications, as scaffolds to create metal nanowires or Find out more...