
G Protein Coupled Receptors: Challenges for Drug Discovery
G protein coupled receptors (GPCRs) conduct the majority of cellular responses to hormones and neurotransmitters, and are therefore the largest group of pharmaceutical targets for a broad spectrum of diseases. Identification of genes for GPCRs, ini....
More details | Watch nowAdvances in Olefin Metathesis Employing Molybdenum and Tungsten Catalysts
Olefin metathesis is an irresistible way to make C=C bonds catalytically in organic molecules and polymers, both as a consequence of its very nature, i.e. the synthesis of C=C bonds from C=C bonds, and because of the control that can be exercised thr....
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Curiosity and its Fruits: From Basic Science to Advanced Medicine
Ribosomes, the universal cellular machines that translate the genetic code into proteins, are targeted by many antibiotics that paralyze them by binding to their functional sites. Antibiotics binding modes, inhibitory actions and synergism pathways....
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Structure and Mechanism of Otto Warburg’s Respiratory Enzyme, the Cytochrome c Oxidase
The oxygen, you breathe in, is converted to water by cytochrome c oxidase, using electrons provided by cytochrome c and protons from the aqueous milieu of the body. This fundamental enzyme has been discovered already in 1886, and studied extensivel....
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Drug Development in the 21st Century – Are We Going to Cure All Diseases?
Many important drugs such as penicillin, aspirin, or digitalis, were discovered by serendipity - some by curious researchers who accidentally noted a "strange" phenomenon, and some by isolation of active ingredients form plants known for centuries to....
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Green Chemistry and Catalysis
Much of the chemical industry is based on processes that were developed decades ago. The change in the cost of petroleum carbon and energy sources and the need to control emissions of carbon dioxide and other pollutants will change the rules of the....
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Perspectives in Chemistry – Towards Adaptive Chemistry
Supramolecular chemistry lies beyond molecular chemistry. It aims at implementing highly complex chemical systems from molecular components held together by non-covalent intermolecular forces and effecting molecular recognition, catalysis and trans....
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Single Molecule Studies of Initial Steps in Dye Sensitized Solar Cells and of Quantum Dots – Examples of Electron Transfers and Relation to Ensemble Studies
We consider two fields of single molecule studies of intermittently fluorescing systems. In both fields the intermittency is assumed to involve diffusion controlled electron transfer. One of these studies involves the initial steps in dye-sensiti....
More details | Watch nowConformational Plasticity of G-Protein-Coupled Receptors (GPCRs) studied by NMR in Solution
As an introduction, some principles of nuclear spin physics applying to studies of integral membrane proteins (IMP) will be reviewed. Applications of resulting nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) techniques will then be illustrated with studies of G-p....
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Tickling Worms: Surprises From Basic Research
Research, at least my research, has never been linear. I have found that my lab and I often double back on problems after years of inactivity or go off in entirely new directions as dictated by the work and people's interests. This lack of direct....
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Quasi-Periodic Materials – Crystal Redefined
Crystallography has been one of the mature sciences. Over the years, the modern science of crystallography that started by experimenting with x-ray diffraction from crystals in 1912, has developed a major paradigm that all crystals are ordered and ....
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Communicating Climate Change Science
Climate change represents one of the most serious challenges that society is facing in this century. It is important for humanity to limit its interference with the climate system by profoundly modifying activities such as burning fossil fuels and ....
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Aquaporin Water Channels: From Atomic Structure to Malaria
Aquaporin (AQP) water channel proteins enable high water permeability of certain biological membranes. Discovered in human red cells but expressed in multiple tissues, AQP1 has been thoroughly characterized and its atomic structure is known. Expr....
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Widen Your Scope by Extracurricular Activities: My Example
Some observers might think that fierce scientific competition borders on a rat race. According to Wikipedia: "A rat race is an endless, self-defeating, or pointless pursuit. It conjures up the image of the futile efforts of a lab rat trying to es....
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Cultural Values of Scientific Knowledge
The acquisition of scientific knowledge largely depends on the availability of appropriate research approaches and methodologies. Novel scientific knowledge represents cultural values. On the one hand, it enriches our world-view with impacts on o....
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Proteases and Their Control in Health and Disease
Proteolytic enzymes catalyse a very simple chemical reaction, the hydrolytic cleavage of a peptide bond. Nevertheless, they constitute a most diverse and numerous lineage of proteins. The reason lies in their role as components of many regulatory....
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Four Horsemen of the 21st Century Apocalypse
The ‘Common Sense’ that is needed to survive does not necessarily provide correct answers to the way the Universe works. Science is actually not that old, it really only started in about the 16th Century and was a byproduct of ‘The Enlightenm....
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The Ubiquitin System
The selective degradation of many short-lived proteins in eukaryotic cells is carried out by the ubiquitin-mediated proteolytic system. In this pathway, proteins are targeted for degradation by covalent ligation to ubiquitin, a highly conserved sma....
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What Can We Do with Laser Frequency Combs?
The spectrum of a frequency comb, commonly generated by a mode-locked femtosecond laser consists of several hundred thousand precisely evenly spaced spectral lines. Such laser frequency combs have revolutionized the art measuring the frequency of l....
More details | Watch nowModel Synthesis for Ceramics: Superconductors, Magnets and Others
The discovery of superconductivity in hole doped La2CuO4 was motivated by the interest to find this phenomenon in an oxide. After the discovery near 35 K, copper oxides with transition temperatures of up to 131 K at normal pressure were found, i.e.....
More details | Watch nowThe Energy and Climate Change Challenges and Opportunities
Science and technology has profoundly transformed the world. After giving a few historical examples, beginning with the industrial revolution, I will discuss the challenges, opportunities and necessity for the world to transition to a sustainable e....
More details | Watch nowSuperposition, Entanglement, and Raising Schrödinger’s Cat
In 1935, Erwin Schrödinger, one of the inventors of quantum mechanics, illustrated his discomfort with the theory by pointing out that its extension to the macroscopic world could lead to bizarre situations such as a cat being simultaneously alive a....
More details | Watch nowControlling Photons in a Box and Exploring the Quantum to Classical Boundary
The founders of quantum theory assumed in 'thought experiments' that they were manipulating isolated quantum systems, obeying the counterintuitive laws which they had just discovered. Technological advances have recently turned these virtual experi....
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Powering the Future
Some seeds of what to do in the climate/energy controversy are contained in what will be. In this talk I shall ask everyone to jump over contemporary politics and make a mental journey to a time, several centuries from now, when nobody uses carbon-....
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