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Category: chemistry

Deep learning creates virtual multiplexed immunostaining to improve cancer diagnosis

Researchers at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), in collaboration with pathologists from Hadassah Hebrew University Medical Center and the University of Southern California, have developed a deep learning–based method that can digitally generate multiple immunohistochemical stains from a single, unstained tissue section.

The work is published in the journal BME Frontiers.

The approach enables accurate assessment of vascular invasion—a key indicator of cancer aggressiveness—without the need for conventional chemical staining procedures.

Modeling human embryo implantation in vitro

The new 3D model system looks to replicate the complex physiological properties and cellular composition of the endometrium. The model is built in a step-by-step process by bringing together the different components of endometrial tissue. The team isolated two essential cell types that form endometrial tissue – epithelial cells and stromal cells – from tissue donated by healthy people who had endometrial biopsies.

As well as the cell types, the researchers sought to recreate the structure of the womb lining. Information from donated endometrial tissue was used to identify the tissue components that give the womb lining its structure. The researchers were able to incorporate these components together with the stromal cells into a special type of gel to support the growth of the cells in a thick layer. On top of this, they added the epithelial cells, which spread out over the surface of the stromal cells.

Once assembled, this formed an advanced replica of the womb lining, matching a biopsy of endometrial tissue in terms of cellular architecture, and showing responses to hormone stimulation that indicate the engineered womb lining’s receptivity for embryo implantation.

The team tested their model using donated early-stage human embryos from IVF procedures, and found that the embryo – at this point a compact ball of cells – underwent the expected stages expected of adhesion and invasion into the endometrial scaffold. Following implantation, the embryos increased secretion of human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG), a biochemical marker used in pregnancy tests to confirm pregnancy, and other pregnancy-associated proteins.

Furthermore, the system supported post-implantation development of the embryo, enabling the analysis of embryo stages (12−14 days post fertilisation) that have been largely unexplored. The researchers observed that implanted embryos reached several developmental milestones, such as the appearance of specialist cell types in the embryo and also the establishment of precursor cell types important for the development of the placenta.

Using single cell analysis of implantation sites, the researchers were able to profile cells at the interface between the embryo and endometrium model, effectively listening in to the molecular communication between the tissues. Their results provide new insight into the complex interactions between the embryo and endometrial environment that underpin embryo development immediately after implantation.

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Manganese gets its moment as a potential fuel cell catalyst

The road to a more sustainable planet may be partially paved with manganese. According to a new study by researchers at Yale and the University of Missouri, chemical catalysts containing manganese—an abundant, inexpensive metallic element—proved highly effective in converting carbon dioxide into formate, a compound viewed as a potential key contributor of hydrogen for the next generation of fuel cells.

The new study appears in the journal Chem. The lead authors are Yale postdoctoral researcher Justin Wedal and Missouri graduate research assistant Kyler Virtue; the senior authors are professors Nilay Hazari of Yale and Wesley Bernskoetter of Missouri.

Sunlight-driven nanoparticles enable cleaner ammonia synthesis at room temperature

Ammonia (NH3) is a colorless chemical compound comprised of nitrogen and hydrogen that is widely used in agriculture and in industrial settings. Among other things, it is used to produce fertilizers, as well as cleaning products and explosives.

Currently, ammonia is primarily produced via the so-called Haber-Bosch process, an industrial technique that entails prompting a reaction between nitrogen and hydrogen at very high temperatures and pressure. Despite its widespread use, this process is known to be highly energy-intensive and is estimated to be responsible for approximately 3% of global greenhouse gas emissions.

Researchers at Stanford University School of Engineering, Boston College and other institutes have identified new promising catalysts (i.e., materials that speed up chemical reactions) that could enable the sunlight-driven synthesis of ammonia at room temperature and under normal atmospheric pressure.

Microplastics Are Leaking Invisible Chemical Clouds Into Rivers and Oceans

Researchers have mapped the molecular changes that unfold as sunlight causes plastics to leach dissolved organic matter, findings that could reshape understanding of ecosystem health, water quality, and global carbon cycling. Scientists have found that microplastics drifting through rivers, lakes

Water’s enigmatic surface: X-ray snapshots reveal atoms and molecules at work

Water is all around us, yet its surface layer—home to chemical reactions that shape life on Earth—is surprisingly hard to study. Experiments at SLAC’s X-ray laser are bringing it into focus.

Two-thirds of Earth’s surface is covered in water, most of it in oceans so deep and vast that only one-fifth of their total volume has been explored. Surprisingly, though, the most accessible part of this watery realm—the water’s surface, exposed on wave tops, raindrops and ponds full of skittering water striders—is one of the hardest to get to know.

Just a few layers of atoms thick, the surface plays an outsized role in the chemistry that makes our world what it is—from the formation of clouds and the recycling of water through rainfall to the ocean’s absorption of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.

Quantum calculations expose hidden chemistry of ice

When ultraviolet light hits ice—whether in Earth’s polar regions or on distant planets—it triggers a cascade of chemical reactions that have puzzled scientists for decades.

Now, researchers at the University of Chicago Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering (UChicago PME) and collaborators at the Abdus Salam International Center for Theoretical Physics (ICTP) have used quantum mechanical simulations to reveal how tiny imperfections in ice’s crystal structure dramatically alter how ice absorbs and emits light. The findings, published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, pave the way for scientists to better understand what happens at a sub-atomic scale when ice melts, which has implications including improving predictions of the release of greenhouse gases from thawing permafrost.

“No one has been able to model what happens when UV light hits ice with this level of accuracy before,” said Giulia Galli, Liew Family Professor of Molecular Engineering and one of the senior authors of the new work. “Our paper provides an important starting point to understand the interaction of light with ice.”

Two-step flash Joule heating method recovers lithium‑ion battery materials quickly and cleanly

A research team at Rice University led by James Tour has developed a two-step flash Joule heating-chlorination and oxidation (FJH-ClO) process that rapidly separates lithium and transition metals from spent lithium-ion batteries. The method provides an acid-free, energy-saving alternative to conventional recycling techniques, a breakthrough that aligns with the surging global demand for batteries used in electric vehicles and portable electronics.

Published in Advanced Materials, this research could transform the recovery of critical battery materials. Traditional recycling methods are often energy intensive, generate wastewater and frequently require harsh chemicals. In contrast, the FJH-ClO process achieves high yields and purity of lithium, cobalt and graphite while reducing energy consumption, chemical usage and costs.

“We designed the FJH-ClO process to challenge the notion that battery recycling must rely on acid leaching,” said Tour, the T.T. and W.F. Chao Professor of Chemistry and professor of materials science and nanoengineering. “FJH-ClO is a fast, precise way to extract valuable materials without damaging them or harming the environment.”

Year-round edamame: Hydroponic LED plant factories redefine sustainable cultivation

Artificial light-type plant factories are an emerging agricultural innovation that enables crops to be grown year-round in precisely controlled environments. By adjusting factors such as light, temperature, humidity, carbon dioxide concentration, and nutrient delivery, these facilities can produce stable yields independent of climate conditions. They offer a promising way to reduce pesticide use and minimize the impacts of climate change.

However, legumes like edamame have long been considered difficult to cultivate in such settings because of their long growth periods, short storage periods, complex flowering, and pod-setting processes.

Against this backdrop, the research group, led by Professor Toshio Sano from the Faculty of Bioscience and Applied Chemistry, Hosei University, Japan, and Associate Professor Wataru Yamori of the Graduate School of Agricultural and Life Sciences, The University of Tokyo, Japan, had previously gained attention for successfully cultivating tomatoes under LED lighting in a plant factory.

Commercially viable biomanufacturing: Designer yeast turns sugar into lucrative chemical 3-HP

Using a tiny, acid-tolerant yeast, scientists have demonstrated a cost-effective way to make disposable diapers, microplastics, and acrylic paint more sustainable through biomanufacturing.

A key ingredient in those everyday products is acrylic acid, an important industrial chemical that gives disposable diapers their absorbency, makes water-based paints and sealants more weather-proof, improves stain resistance in fabric, and enhances fertilizers and soil treatments.

Acrylic acid is converted from a precursor called 3-hydroxypropanoic acid, or 3-HP, which is made almost exclusively from petroleum through chemical synthesis—an energy-intensive process. But 3-HP can also be produced from renewable plant material by using engineered microbes to ferment plant sugars into this high-value chemical. Until now, however, the biomanufacturing process has not proven profitable.

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