Using a technique that illuminates subtle changes in individual proteins, chemistry researchers at Cornell University have uncovered new insight into the underlying causes of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS). Brian Crane, professor of chemistry and chemical biology, led one study and co-authored a follow-up on a spectroscopic method that detects subtle changes to copper-containing proteins in solution. He and Jack Freed, professor of physical chemistry, have developed the method together with Petr Borbat, associate director of Cornell's National Biomedical Center for Advanced ESR Technology. The first study, which proved the principle of the technique -- pulsed dipolar electron spin resonance (ESR) spectroscopy -- was published Oct. 7 in Biophysical Journal; the second paper, which used the technique and others to connect ALS symptoms with protein aggregation was authored with collaborators from The Scripps Research Institute and appeared Oct. 14 in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS). A complex neurodegenerative disease, ALS often has a genetic component -- genetic defects that cause it can be inherited. Scientists have long known that one of the culprit genes codes for the protein "superoxide dismutase 1" or SOD1 -- a critical copper-containing enzyme that protects cells against oxidative damage by destroying free radicals. … Continue reading →

Aside from its depiction in the hit series Breaking Bad, chemistry has long gotten a bad rap as the least sexy of the sciences. A new digital media project aims to change all that, starting with a series of eerily alluring videos that capture what happens when two chemical substances combine. The scientists behind the project, which they've aptly named Beautiful Chemistry, used a special camera to zoom in on some of the most common chemical reactions and provide a new perspective on what's really going on inside those beakers. Say, for example, a researcher were to run a typical precipitation reaction a run-of-the-mill test typically used to uncover a hidden element in a solution. Here's what she'd normally see in her test tube: A clear solution would turn cloudy when a few drops of another solution were added. Snore. So, Chinese researchers thought, what would happen if someone were to take that everyday reaction and run it outside of a test tube, with a camera lens that could zoom in on all the action taking place at a super small scale? That's precisely what they did, and the results are stunning. Here's what happened when the researchers put a … Continue reading →