A "molecular" compass shows the way to reducing animal testing

Scientists develop intelligent software tool for assessing chemical risks

22-Aug-2024 - In recent years, machine learning methods have become increasingly important for the risk assessment of chemical compounds. However, they are also a "black box" due to a lack of traceability and transparency, which leads to skepticism among experts and regulatory authorities. In order to increase ...

For shorter approval times: New process simulates decomposition of too long stored drugs in 15 minutes

New approach represents a paradigm shift in the application of mechanochemical processes in organic chemistry

31-May-2023 - Before their approval, pharmaceuticals not only have to be tested for their effectiveness and safety, but also for their stability, since they are usually stored in pharmacies and private households for years and are not allowed to change. To test their stability, a process is needed that ...

Presence of nicotine and antidepressants detected in Antarctic waters

A study with the participation of IDAEA and IGME locates organic contaminants derived from human activity in inland and coastal waters of the frozen continent

30-May-2023 - Human activity is negatively impacting Antarctic water quality. This is the conclusion of a study carried out by the Institute of Environmental Diagnosis and Water Studies (IDAEA-CSIC) and the Geological and Mining Institute of Spain (IGME-CSIC), in collaboration with the University of Granada ...

Determining the atomic structure of natural products more rapidly and accurately

23-Jan-2020 - Many drugs are derived from natural products. But before natural products can be exploited, chemists must first determine their structure and stereochemistry. This can be a major challenge, particularly when the molecules cannot be crystallized and contain only few hydrogen atoms. A new NMR-based ...

Musical sensor shows bad medicine plays false note

Inspired by a musical instrument, the simple sensor can be constructed from common materials and used to detect adulterated or counterfeit drugs

17-Sep-2018 - What if a single musical note could mean the difference between life and death? A new sensor based on a 3,000 year old African musical instrument can be used to identify substances, including a poisonous chemical sometimes mistakenly added to medicines. The mbira sensor, which can be constructed ...

Don't Give the Slightest Chance to Toxic Elements in Medicinal Products

New high-accuracy reference solutions for the SI-traceable measurement

27-Mar-2018 - Lead, cadmium, mercury, and arsenic do not belong in medicinal products. International requirements for the quality of medicines have therefore become more stringent and introduced new control requirements. Hence, it makes sense to use high-accuracy reference solutions with defined contents of ...

Biosensors will be inexpensive, do more, go everywhere

09-Feb-2018 - When it comes to biometric sensors, human skin isn't an ally. It's an obstacle. The University of Cincinnati is developing cutting-edge methods to overcome this barrier without compromising the skin and its ability to prevent infection and dehydration. By making better noninvasive tests, ...

Challenging counterfeit products with rare earths

New marking technique could halt product piracy

29-Jan-2018 - Researchers at the University of Copenhagen have developed the world's most secure marking system for combatting pirated goods including pirated pharmaceuticals, foodstuffs, designer merchandise and artwork. The system could be on the market in a year and because the markings are random, it ...

How to switch liver cancer cell growth from 2-D to 3-D structures

17-Nov-2017 - Paving the way for testing experimental drugs in more realistic environments, scientists at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have discovered how to make tiny colonies of cells grow in useful new ways inside petri dishes. The research team's discoveries might help ...

Google provides open source library for quantum chemistry

Platform-independent solution to integrate future developments

26-Oct-2017 - Since physicists have been dealing with the theoretical description of molecules, the solving of quantum mechanical equations has been a major obstacle. This is supposed to be a thing of the past with the release of an open source based system. Google has introduced such a system to the public ...