A bright spot for microbiological diagnostics

Researchers develop molecular probes to detect pathogens in clinical samples

17-May-2022 - The detection of bacterial pathogens in clinical samples is an important prerequisite for successful antimicrobial treatment. A team from the Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research (HZI) in Braunschweig, the German Center for Infection Research (DZIF) and Tel Aviv University, Israel, has now ...

Method to safely study COVID-19, other contagious diseases developed

SARS-CoV-2 nanoparticle probes are used to study fundamental interactions between SARS-CoV-2 Spike proteins and human cells

22-Sep-2020 - Scientists and researchers at the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory and National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS), submitted their findings to ACS Nano on their collaboration to develop SARS-CoV-2 nanoparticle probes that are used to study fundamental interactions between ...

It's not an antibody, it's a frankenbody: A new tool for live-cell imaging

Antibody-based probe works in living systems and targets the classic HA tag

05-Jul-2019 - Antibodies are the biomolecules our immune systems deploy to find, tag and destroy invading pathogens. They work by binding to specific targets, called epitopes, on the surfaces of antigens - like locks to keys. For many decades, scientists have cleverly exploited this selective tagging mechanism ...

Metal-based probes for detection of dopamine receptors, a cancer biomarker

Discovery can be potentially developed as a novel early cancer detection technology

22-May-2018 - A team led by Dr Edmond Ma Dik-lung, Associate Professor of the Department of Chemistry of Hong Kong Baptist University (HKBU) has developed the world's first iridium(III)-based probes for imaging dopamine receptors in living cells. The discovery has enhanced the understanding of dopamine ...

GLUT5 fluorescent probe fingerprints cancer cells

23-Apr-2018 - Determining the presence of cancer, as well as its type and malignancy, is a stressful process for patients that can take up to two weeks to get a diagnosis. With a new bit of technology--a sugar-transporting biosensor--researchers at Michigan Technological University hope to reduce that ...

Forces that align crystals and help them snap together measured

03-May-2017 - Like two magnets being pulled toward each other, tiny crystals twist, align and slam into each other, but due to an altogether different force. For the first time, researchers have measured the force that draws them together and visualized how they swivel and align. Called van der Waals forces, ...

Precise technique tracks dopamine in the brain

07-Mar-2017 - MIT researchers have devised a way to measure dopamine in the brain much more precisely than previously possible, which should allow scientists to gain insight into dopamine's roles in learning, memory, and emotion. Dopamine is one of the many neurotransmitters that neurons in the brain use to ...

Improving DNA-Detecting Transistors

Graphene-based transistors could soon help diagnose genetic diseases

28-Feb-2017 - Researchers in India and Japan have developed an improved method for using graphene-based transistors to detect disease-causing genes.Graphene field-effect transistors (GFETs) can detect harmful genes through DNA hybridization, which occurs when a 'probe DNA' combines, or hybridizes, with its ...

Peptides as tags in fluorescence microscopy

Advance in biomedical imaging

01-Dec-2016 - The Biocenter of the University of Würzburg in close collaboration with the University of Copenhagen has developed an alternative approach to fluorescent tagging of proteins. The new probes are practicable and compatible with high-resolution microscopic procedures. Fluorescence microscopy ...

Vibrational molecular pathology

11-Dec-2013 - IR and Raman spectral imaging can distinguish between tissue types, disease types and stages, and even identify the primary tumors from spectral patterns observed in metastatic cells. Furthermore, these techniques can be used in the detection of circulating tumor cells. Spectral histopathology ...