“The integration of robotics and AI is poised to revolutionize science labs”

By automating routine tasks, scientists can focus on higher-level research questions, paving the way for faster breakthroughs

28-Oct-2024 - Science laboratories across disciplines—chemistry, biochemistry and materials science—are on the verge of a sweeping transformation as robotic automation and AI lead to faster and more precise experiments that unlock breakthroughs in fields like health, energy and electronics, according to ...

New gene expression mechanism with possible role in human disease

25-Jun-2018 - When cells grow and divide to ensure a biological function - such as a properly working organ - DNA must be unwound from its typical tightly packed form and copied into RNA to create proteins. When this process goes awry - if too little or too much RNA is produced - then the result could be ...

The science of fluoride flipping

25-Aug-2017 - So much of what happens inside cells to preserve health or cause disease is so small or time-sensitive that researchers are just now getting glimpses of the complexities unfolding in us every minute of the day. UNC School of Medicine researchers have discovered one such complexity -- a previously ...

A gene's journey from covert to celebrated

25-Jan-2017 - Like a bank robber on the lam, Gpr182 had assumed a variety of identities over several decades: G10D, HrhAMR, Gamrh, 7TMR, ADMR. Unable to put a finger on what exactly the gene does, scientists largely left it alone. The protein it codes for was designated an "orphan" receptor -- a lock on the ...

It's how you splice it

Possible origin of muscle, heart defects discovered

18-Nov-2016 - Muscular dystrophies, congenital heart muscle defects, and other muscle disorders often arise for reasons that scientists don't fully understand. Now researchers from the UNC School of Medicine and Baylor College of Medicine have discovered an important process in muscle cells whose disruption ...

Smaller and Sharper: Nanoscale Metal–Organic Frameworks (NMOFs) as MRI Contrast Agents

12-Jul-2010 - Developing more sensitive methods of biomedical imaging that are effective with minimal amounts of contrast agents is an important challenge in the early and accurate diagnosis of illnesses. A new class of materials that appear promising in this quest were introduced in 2006 by Prof. Wenbin Lin ...

Technique enables precise control of protein activity in living cells

28-Jun-2010 - Cancer occurs when human cells move and multiply inappropriately. Within cells, a process called phosphorylation serves as an on/off switch for a number of cellular processes that can be involved in cancer, including metabolism, transcription, configuration, movement, cell death and ...

UNC scientists develop promising new X-ray device using carbon nanotubes

13-May-2005 - Scientists at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and a UNC start-up company, Xintek, Inc., have invented a new X-ray device based on carbon nanotubes that emits a scanning X-ray beam composed of multiple smaller beams while also remaining stationary. As a result, the device can ...