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Category: chemistry

New eye drops with oxysterol compound (VP1-001) may treat cataracts without surgery

A study from Anglia Ruskin University showed that eye drops with oxysterol compound (VP1-001) may treat cataracts without surgery. The study’s results were published on May 2nd, 2022, in the peer-reviewed journal Investigative Ophthalmology and Visual Science. A cataract is an eye disorder in which clouding of the eye lens worsens over time and disrupts the quality of vision. A cataract is a disorder in which the proteins in the lens accumulate & make a cluster or cloud. This cloud scatters light and significantly limits its transmission to the retina. Cataract is the most common cause of visual loss in the world. According to the report of WHO (10 August 2023), 17% of people are globally affected with vision impairment due to cataracts at age 40 or older. At present, cataract surgery is the only way for the treatment of cataracts. In this surgical procedure the hazy lens is replaced with an artificial intraocular lens. Including economical burdens, cataract surgery has many complications like inflammation, xerophthalmia macular oedema, and posterior capsular opacificationHowever, a few scientists at Anglia Ruskin University under the supervision of Prof. Barbara, Deputy Dean in the Faculty of Health, Education, Medicine, and Social Care, conducted optical tests on an oxysterol compound that is considered an anti-cataract drug. They prepared new eye drops that could get rid of cataracts without surgery. VP1-001 is a chemical that is in these drops. It works by repairing the protein clumps in the eye lens that make it cloudy. A single drop increased the lens’s clarity and focusing capacity when tested on mice with cataracts. The study’s results were published on May 2nd, 2022, in the peer-reviewed journal Investigative Ophthalmology and Visual Science. Outcomes of optical tests with eye drops The outcomes were good: 61% of the eyes that were treated were better able to focus due to the improvement in the refractive index profiles 46% of them became clearer and more transparent. Results: This is a huge advance since it means that some cataracts might be able to be cured with drugs instead of surgery. But the drops didn’t work on all kinds of cataracts, so additional research is needed to find therapies that work for everyone. Moreover, these drops aren’t available for individuals now. More research is needed These drops aren’t available for individuals now, but this is a big step forward, especially in countries where eye surgery is hard to get. This study is a hope towards non-surgical treatment of cataracts with the oxysterol compound (VP1-001). Cataract surgery is a safe and effective solution, as it completely replaces the clouded lens with an artificial one. The oxysterol compound (VP1-001) is still in the preclinical stage and not approved for human use. It’s under clinical trials. Moreover, safety testing will be confirmed before public availability. 📌 Published in: Investigative Ophthalmology and Visual Science (May 2, 2022) by Anglia Ruskin University Frequently asked questions 1. What are the types of cataracts? Caract can be classified by many wayss; however, it can be categorised into three types, on the basis of cloud location/formation, that are Posterior subcapsular cataract Age-related cataracts. Cortical cataracts. Nuclear Cataracts. 2. What are the risk factors of cataracts? Age is the major factor of cataracts, especially at 40 or above. other factors include diabetes, smoking, obesity, hypersensitivity, excessive exposure to sunlight, eye injury or inflammation, etc. 3. Are there any eye drops or drugs to treat cataracts without surgery? As of now (2025), there is no approved eye drop or drug that can treat or reverse cataracts without surgery, but research at Anglia Ruskin University showed that the experimental drug VP1-001 (oxysterol-based eye drops) works as an anti-cataract in animal trials. 4. What are the complications of cataract surgery? Many complications, like inflammation, xerophthalmia, and macular oedema, can occur as post-surgical conditions. 5. What is the oxysterol compound VP1-001? Oxysterol compound VP1-001, also known as compound 29, has shown a significant effect on the treatment of cataracts in a trial on mice. It reduces the opaqueness of the lens that may occur due to risk factors like ageing & mutation. Premium SEO Backlinks

Lab-grown brain organoids power biocomputers

A feature story authored by Simon Spichak, MSc investigates how biotech companies like Cortical Labs and FinalSpark harness human brain cells to electrodes, performing computational functions and testing the cells’ responses to electrical and chemical stimuli. To create biocomputers, scientists grow organoids—small spheres of, in this case, neural tissue—on top of multi-electrode arrays in a hardware shell, which can then be used for everything from testing medications to playing video games. The work is published in the Journal of Medical Internet Research.

Spin wave signals used in computing boosted more than 5,000 times in Z-shaped path approach

A research team from Tohoku University, Shin-Etsu Chemical Co., Ltd., and École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) has invented a new way to efficiently guide spin waves around sharp corners with minimal loss—representing an exciting discovery for energy-efficient computing. Using a two-dimensional magnonic crystal—a copper (Cu) film with a hexagonal array of tiny holes placed on a magnetic garnet film—the team showed through calculations that spin waves travel along a Z-shaped path more than 5,000 times more efficiently than in conventional waveguides.

As artificial intelligence and data centers consume ever more electricity, heat from conventional electronics has become a serious problem. Spin waves are ripples of magnetization in a magnetic material that can carry information with far less heat than moving electrons, making them promising for reduced-energy computing. However, spin waves weaken quickly as they travel, especially when a waveguide is bent. This signal loss has long been the biggest obstacle to building practical spin wave circuits.

Quantum entanglement provides a new framework for understanding chemical bonding

Chemical bonding is one of the central organizing principles of the microscopic world. It determines how atoms combine and thereby governs a wide range of physical and chemical properties of quantum systems across many length scales, ranging from small molecules and biomolecules to macroscopically large solid materials.

Yet, despite its fundamental importance and its prominent role already in high school science education, chemical bonds remain surprisingly elusive from the perspective of quantum mechanics. They are indispensable for describing matter, even though they are not directly observable quantities.

In a recent article published in Nature Communications, the group led by LMU physicist Christian Schilling and member of the MCQST Cluster of Excellence, addresses this long-standing challenge using concepts from quantum information theory.

A versatile self-cleaning fabric coating as a detergent-free laundry product

face_with_colon_three Self cleaning fabric coating. This could reduce the need for detergent and other chemicals that could be harmful to the environment.

Routine household laundry leads to the release of detergent residues and textile-derived microplastics, contributing to water pollution. Here, the authors report a self-cleaning polyelectrolyte multilayer coating that can be applied to both hydrophobic synthetic fibers and hydrophilic cotton textiles to remove food stains, oily residues, and pathogens, providing a detergent-free laundry product requiring reduced rinsing.

Prof. RHO Jun-seok Advances Metalens Technology from Manufacturing to Display Applications in Two Nature Papers

Nanoprinting imprinting metalenses 100x faster than lithography.

Professor RHO Jun-seok from the Departments of Mechanical Engineering and Chemical Engineering at POSTECH has gained international attention for developing a mass-production process for metalenses and a switchable 2D-3D display technology based on them. The two studies were simultaneously published in the April 30 issue of Nature. This marks the first case in Korea of a researcher publishing two separate papers as corresponding author in the same issue of the journal.

A metalens is a flat optical device that controls light using nanoscale structures rather than curved glass. By replacing bulky glass lenses with engineered surface patterns, optical systems become far thinner and lighter. Because this enables control of light at scales smaller than its wavelength, metamaterials are often regarded as a Nobel Prize–worthy field of research.

The first study addressed a key barrier to commercialization: large-scale manufacturing. Production has so far relied on expensive and complex semiconductor fabrication processes due to the extreme precision required, making it slow, costly, and largely limited to laboratory research. To overcome this, Prof. RHO’s team developed a Roll-to-Roll Nanoimprint process enabling continuous production using a cylindrical roller. Instead of fabricating nanoscale structures one by one on rigid molds, flexible polymer molds were used to imprint patterns onto thin films. This shifts fabrication from a one-at-a-time process to continuous factory-scale production. The team produced over 300 metalenses per second, about 100 times faster than conventional methods, while maintaining consistent performance over a 200-meter process.

Researchers capture inception of hydrogen-uranium reaction for the first time

When hydrogen gas interacts with uranium metal, the combination creates a chemically reactive powder and a runaway reaction that is difficult to stop. The result can impact the safety and lifespan of technology critical for fusion energy, hydrogen storage and nuclear fuels.

In a recent study published in npj Materials Degradation, researchers from Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) observed and characterized the beginning stages of hydrogen-uranium corrosion for the first time. The result will lead to more predictive and physically grounded models for how uranium components degrade.

Imagine the hydrogen-uranium interaction like a geyser. Much like surface water seeping through cracks to make its way underground, hydrogen dissolves and diffuses into the uranium metal. This happens silently and invisibly until it becomes too much hydrogen for the uranium to hold. The two materials combine to form a new compound called uranium hydride, which takes up significantly more volume than the original uranium metal.

Single-step 8-9x expansion reveals nanoscale centrioles without electron microscopy

In a study published in ACS Nano, researchers from National Taiwan University report a new expansion microscopy strategy termed high-fold homogeneous expansion microscopy (hiHomoExM), capable of achieving approximately 8–9× isotropic expansion in a single expansion step while preserving delicate ultrastructural organization.

Expansion microscopy works by embedding biological samples within a swellable polymer hydrogel. Following chemical processing, the hydrogel expands uniformly in water, physically separating biomolecules and effectively increasing the spatial resolution achievable by conventional light microscopes.

“To achieve nanoscale imaging faithfully, both high expansion and homogeneous specimen preservation are essential,” explains the research team. “Nonuniform expansion can distort ultrastructural information and limit biological interpretation.”

The nocebo effect: How prior experience and verbal suggestion rewire the brain to make pain worse

Researchers have a better understanding of the nocebo effect and the neuroscience behind it all. Opposite of the better-known placebo effect, where positive expectations trigger genuine pain relief, the nocebo effect is the experience from negative expectations, created by prior experience, verbal suggestion, or social observation, which can drive anxiety and make pain worse.

A new study published in Nature Communications, by researchers at the University of Toronto Mississauga and McGill University, identified a brain pathway through which negative expectations can amplify pain. The findings, generated independently by the two labs without prior coordination, converged on the neurochemical cholecystokinin (CCK), which has previously been linked to nocebo pain responses in humans.

The researchers identified a specific brain pathway through which CCK acts, traveling from the brain’s anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), a region involved in the emotional dimensions of pain, to a midbrain structure called the lateral periaqueductal gray (lPAG), where it increases pain sensitivity.

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