A new way to control the positioning of individual molecules on the surface of materials that are only a single layer of atoms thick has been discovered by a team of scientists from the LCN at UCL in the U.K.; the Japan Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (JAIST) and the Institute for Solid State…
DNA Changes from Twofold to Fourfold to Battle Cancer
Watson and Crick proposed the DNA double-helix structure over 60 years ago, but DNA is not always arranged in a double helix, also forming other structures. One such structure is fourfold DNA, which is found near DNA-encoded genes that are key in causing cancer. By the formation of such quadruplex DNA, the expression of cancer-related…
A New, Faster Way to Kill Bacteria
Scientists from the London Centre for Nanotechnology (LCN) and National Physical Laboratory (NPL) have engineered a new way to kill bacteria, and subsequently visualized in real time how the bacteria under attack were stripped of their protective membranes and died. These findings could provide a physical basis for designing more-effective antibiotics. In the search for…