The Alchemist Newsletter: September 15, 2010

Mass spec prostate test

A new mass spectrometry technique that uses so-called "shifter" markers to boost the signal can be used to detect multiple proteins simultaneously and could improve prostate cancer detection rates. Brax Ltd, a company based in Cambridge, UK, has developed the shifters to improve sensitivity and to allow PSA (prostate-specific antigen) and several other markers, including interleukins. Prostate Specific Antigen (PSA) is the marker used to detect prostate cancer, but 70% of men with raised levels of PSA haven’t actually got the disease. False positives can mean unnecessary medical and surgical intervention.

Prostate cancer test

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Fat issues

20 new hormones and other substances not previously known to be secreted into the blood by human fat cells have been discovered by scientists in The Netherlands. The proteomics research suggests that excess fat tissue is not the dormant storage it was once thought to be and instead plays an active role in sending out chemical signals to other parts of the body that might increase the risk of heart disease, diabetes and cancer. The research adds to considerably to the short list of hormones, including appetite-controlling leptin, that were previously known to science.

New evidence that fat cells are not just dormant storage depots for calories

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Carbohydrate camouflage

An unusual carbohydrate structure on bacterial cell surface acts as camouflage against fungal defenses, according to a team led by Antonio Molinaro at the University of Naples and Christian Hertweck at the Leibniz Institute for Natural Product Research and Infection Biology in Jena. The unusual carbohydrate allows a symbiosis to exist between a bacterium and a fungus that affects rice plants. Without it the symbiosis breaks down and the bacteria succumb to the fungi making the molecule a potential target for agrochemicals to prevent fungal infection an important crop plant.

Unusual lipopolysaccharide enables symbiosis between bacterium and fungus

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Expatriate chemical award

The Chemical Research Society of India has awarded Ayusman Sen, Distinguished Professor of Chemistry at Penn State University, its second medal. The CRSI Medal is awarded exclusively to outstanding chemists of Indian origin who work outside of India. Sen's research encompasses the twin themes of catalysis and new materials, with one of the goals being the development of new catalysts that will enable the synthesis of polymers and related materials with novel combinations of properties.

Penn State chemist Ayusman Sen awarded the medal of the Chemical Research Society of India

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