Top 14 Biochemistry News, Innovations & Breakthroughs In 2017

The first and most important biochemistry news in 2017 is Moosy 32Enose. Researchers developed a technology that can help sniff disease, called the Moosy 32eNose. This new device can help differentiate between patients with Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis. In the future, the electronic nose could be used to detect pancreatic cancer or to detect microbial contamination of water.

Reference: “Electronic Nose capable of distinguishing diseases of the colon”. Accessed January 02, 2018. Link.

A team of scientists at the Ulsan National Institute of science and technology (UNIST) has developed a new system for efficient hydrogen production. This new technology called the Hybrid-SOEC system produces hydrogen in a highly efficient and cost-effective way compared to its predecessor. Its efficiency is known to be four-fold higher than existing water-electrolysis based methods.

Reference: “Hybrid-solid oxide electrolysis cell: A new strategy for efficient hydrogen production”. Accessed January 02, 2018. Link.

The next breakthrough Biochemistry news in 2017 was an intelligent device called Microneedle. Researchers have developed an intelligent device that can monitor blood sugar levels and in response, release biochemical to regulate blood glucose levels. These are essentially dissolvable microneedles arranged in a patch that can manage blood glucose levels for a few days.

Reference: “Microneedle-array patches loaded with dual mineralized protein/peptide particles for type 2 diabetes therapy | Nature Communications”. Accessed January 02, 2018. Link.

A group of scientists at the city college of New York has developed new methods of manipulating nucleosides to form complex analog efficiently and easily.

Reference: “Pd‐Catalyzed versus Uncatalyzed, PhI(OAc)2‐Mediated Cyclization Reactions of N6‐([1,1′‐Biaryl]‐2‐yl)Adenine Nucleosides – Satishkumar – 2017 – ChemCatChem – Wiley Online Library”. Accessed January 02, 2018. Link.

Researchers at the University of McGill have merged DNA with polymer particles. This new hybrid technique can further be used in biomedicine, the creation of porous membranes, etc.

Reference: “Site-specific positioning of dendritic alkyl chains on DNA cages enables their geometry-dependent self-assembly | Nature Chemistry”. Accessed January 02, 2018. Link.

The next exciting Biochemistry news for 2017 is Nup98 Protein. In a new study, the blood cell maturation mechanism was elucidated, and how they differentiate into specialized cells. This research was found to be mediated by a protein called Nup98, which functioned as a control point for the movement of molecules from the nucleus. Also, the mechanism that disrupts this process to give way to the development of leukemia was uncovered.

Reference: “Nup98 recruits the Wdr82–Set1A/COMPASS complex to promoters to regulate H3K4 trimethylation in hematopoietic progenitor cells”. Accessed January 02, 2018. Link.

Scientists have further developed the synthetic DNA molecule not only to perform replication within cells but also to translate and produce proteins. This innovation may allow the creation of novel and augmented proteins different from those found in organisms and can be used for various types of treatment.

Reference: “A semi-synthetic organism that stores and retrieves increased genetic information | Nature”. Accessed January 02, 2018. Link.

The next biochemistry breakthrough in 2017 is that researchers at Harvard University have studied how gut bacteria interact with each other and their hosts. The production of Digoxin by gut bacteria, thus protecting the heart, was discovered. They also went on to elucidate how a certain protein produced by gut microbes was able to break down an amino acid present in eukaryotes but rare in bacteria.

Reference: “Asymmetric Catalysis of the Transannular Diels-Alder Reaction | Science”. Accessed January 02, 2018. Link.

Computation tools that helped collect a wide range of protein sequence data allowed researchers to predict and model the structure of 600 previously unknown protein structures.

Reference: “Protein structure determination using metagenome sequence data | Science”. Accessed January 02, 2018. Link.

Researchers at the Scripps research institute have found novel structural features in a fundamental protein used in drug designing. This discovery can now enable scientists to study new ways to target diseases. About 40% of drug targets are based on this protein. The study describes details into the structure of this protein to reveal its signaling mechanism.

Reference: “Allosteric Coupling of Drug Binding and Intracellular Signaling in the A2A Adenosine Receptor”. Accessed January 02, 2018. Link.

Scientists at the Linkoping University in Sweden have developed shining molecules in the brain to differentiate between different proteins. This novel technology can be used as a diagnostic tool for neurodegenerative disorders. The technology is based on tracer molecules that recognize and bind to particular proteins, following which they emit light, thus illuminating a shine.

Reference: “Synthesis of Thiophene‐Based Optical Ligands That Selectively Detect Tau Pathology in Alzheimer’s Disease – Shirani – 2017 – Chemistry – A European Journal – Wiley Online Library”. Accessed January 02, 2018. Link.

Researchers at the University of Zurich have identified the detailed structure of a chloride channel that is a common target for the development of drugs for cystic fibrosis, using cryo-electron microscopy.

Reference: “UZH -Protein Structure Could Unlock New Treatments for Cystic Fibrosis”. Accessed January 02, 2018. Link.

The next ground-breaking biochemistry news in 2017 is that a novel high accuracy diagnostic test for biomarkers was developed by researchers at Georgetown University that could potentially identify which compounds can cause DNA damage leading to cancer in humans.

Reference: “New Test Provides Accurate Measure of DNA Damage from Chemical Compounds | Georgetown University Medical Center | Georgetown University”. Accessed January 02, 2018. Link.

The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences has chosen to confer the Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2017 to three brilliant scholars namely Jacques Dubochet, Joachim Frank, and Richard Henderson for developing cryo-electron microscopy for the high-resolution structure determination of biomolecules in solution. This development of cryo-electron microscopy enables and improves the imaging of biomolecules, which in turn advances the biochemistry to the new era.

Reference: “The 2017 Nobel Prize in Chemistry – Press Release”. Accessed January 02, 2018. Link.