AL | Science News


Mass Spectrometric Detection Technique Reveals New Lipid Biology to Aid in Drug Design


A new mass spectrometric method allows scientists to closely monitor HDL kinetics and could help pharmaceutical companies design and test lipid modulators. Te research team, comprised of Masanori Aikawa, M.D., Ph.D., director of the Center for Interdisciplinary Cardiovascular Sciences at Brigham and Women’s Hospital; Frank Sacks, M.D., professor at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health; and colleagues, identified 58 proteins in HDL that were shared among three humans. Te researchers followed up on seven of these proteins, monitoring their kinetics to better understand apolipoprotein metabolism and the formation of HDL particles. Teir results suggest that the traditional view of the role of HDL in reverse-cholesterol transport may oversimplify the roles of various components of HDL.


“Our study demonstrates the feasibility of closer monitoring of HDL kinetics. We believe that establishing new, high-resolution methods that can monitor HDL kinetics is critical to examine the desired effects of new drugs,” Aikawa said. Sacks underscored the importance of the technique for future drug development. “Tis approach not only revealed novel evidence for the formation of HDL particles, but also found that each HDL subfraction has a unique proteome, which may help to discover new therapeutic targets.”


Pathogen-Resistant, Environmentally Friendly Resin Could be used as Construction Paste


An antibacterial geopolymer called Antibac, developed by researchers at the Universidad Michoacana de San Nicolás de Hidalgo, inhibits growth, reproduction and transfer of yeast and fungi, and can adhere to metal surfaces, glass and ceramics.


Te lifetime of the resin is about 100 years, said Dr. Jose Carlos Rubio, creator of the technology. It is resistant to acids and water and does not discolor because it endures solar radiation. Te material’s antibacterial effect makes it ideal for hospitals, restaurants or the food processing industry, but it can also be used in the home because it costs less than $10 per square meter, making it lower in cost than current synthetic coatings. Placed on any surface like a construction paste, the material sets in just 24 hours.


During the manufacturing process, no volatile organic compounds are generated, only water vapor, making the material safe for the environment.


Ultrafast Electron Microscopy Shows Heat Moving Through Materials at the Speed of Sound


New research provides unique insight into the roles of individual atomic and nanoscale features that may aid in the design of more efficient materials, with applications from personal electronics to alternative-energy technologies. Te work comprised an FEI Tecnai Femto ultrafast electron microscope capable of examining the dynamics of materials at the atomic and molecular scales over time spans measured in femtoseconds (one millionth of a billionth of a second). A brief laser pulse was used to excite electrons and rapidly heat crystalline semiconducting materials of tungsten diselenide and germanium. Te researchers then captured slow-motion videos (www.youtube.com/watch?v=KVo9Nx1GT4U) (slowed by over a billion times the normal speed) of the resulting waves of energy moving through the crystals.


David Flannigan, assistant professor of chemical engineering and materials science at the University of Minnesota, said the movement of heat through the material looks like ripples on a pond aſter a pebble is dropped in the water. Mapping the oscillations of energy at the nanoscale is critical to developing a detailed understanding of the fundamentals of thermal- energy motion. “In many applications, scientists


AMERICAN LABORATORY 8 MAY 2016


and engineers want to understand thermal- energy motion, control it, collect it and precisely guide it to do useful work or very quickly move it away from sensitive components,” Flannigan said. “Because the lengths and times are so small and so fast, it has been very difficult to understand in detail how this occurs in materials that have imperfections, as essentially all materials do. Literally watching this process happen would go a very long way in building our understanding, and now we can do just that.”


Viscosity Measurement Course


Brookfield AMETEK (Middleboro, Mass.) offers its Practical Course on Viscosity Measurements, designed to help Brookfield AMETEK viscometer users comprehend the functionality of the instrument, understand fluid behavior and rheology, and create successful and repeatable viscosity test methods for use in R&D and QA/QC environments.


Te course is offered at Brookfield AMETEK’s headquarters in Middleboro, Mass. and at major cities across the United States. Please visit www.brookfieldengineering.com/services/ educational-programs for information.


Increased Dietary Fiber Can Help Restore Microbial Diversity


Insufficient nutrients for gut microbes have been associated with a loss of certain beneficial bacterial species in industrialized societies and are likely impacting our immunological and metabolic health, say researchers. As a means to restore microbial biodiversity, they recommend an increase in dietary fiber intake.


According to Jens Walter of the University of Alberta, “Tere is a lot of epidemiological evidence that fiber is beneficial, and food products containing dietary fiber have FDA- approved health claims for both colon cancer and coronary heart disease. Tere is also quite a bit of clinical evidence (although it is less consistent). … Te most pressing issue at the moment that neither consumption of fiber in society nor the doses used in clinical research are high enough.”


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