Home > News > Sugar synthesis speeds up
August 28th, 2010
Sugar synthesis speeds up
Abstract:
When biologists need a particular peptide or strand of DNA, they ask a machine to make it for them. Automation gives fast, inexpensive access to these molecules, and it has helped turbocharge biology.
But constructing complex carbohydrates from sugar building blocks still needs expert chemists, with researchers spending weeks and tens of thousands of dollars forging molecules by hand.
Two groups of chemists now say they have independently developed automated carbohydrate synthesizers with the aim of making the molecules on demand.
Seeberger says that 90% of known mammalian carbohydrates can be constructed using just 35 building blocks, which he plans to supply in bulk.
Seeberger presented the early fruits of research using his machines at this week's American Chemical Society meeting in Boston, Massachusetts. For example, he is imaging sugar-covered bacterial cells and targeting drugs at them by attaching a variety of glycans to nanoparticles.
Source:
nature.com
Bookmark:
News and information
Sound waves precisely position nanowires June 19th, 2013
Scientists Use Nanotechnology to Increase Thermal Stability of Essential Oils June 19th, 2013
Production of Bioactive Material for Quick Treatment of Bone Damages June 19th, 2013
Nanometrics Announces Participation in 5th Annual CEO Investor Summit: Accredited Investor and Publishing Research Analyst Event to be Held Concurrently With SEMICON West and Intersolar 2013 in San Francisco June 19th, 2013
Possible Futures
Space Solar Power: Key to a Livable Planet Earth June 10th, 2013
Global Nanotechnology Drug Delivery Market 2012-2016 June 10th, 2013
Nanorobot tetanus treatment animation June 9th, 2013
New horizons to drive the future of Medicine: European Technology Platform on Nanomedicine intends to lead the domain June 8th, 2013
Academic/Education
CNSE Welcomes Record Number of Students, Majority of Whom are New Yorkers, for Prestigious Summer Internship Program June 12th, 2013
FEI and University of Oklahoma Begin Collaboration Research Agreement for Understanding and Developing Unconventional Oil and Gas Reservoirs: Collaboration effort will focus on new methods to classify shales in the economic assessment of tight resource plays June 7th, 2013
Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz obtains new Collaborative Research Center on "Nanodimensional polymer therapeutics for tumor therapy" June 2nd, 2013
Lorraine University uses Nanoparticle Tracking Analysis to characterize biomolecules for agrichemicals, pharmacology and cosmetics May 28th, 2013
Announcements
Sound waves precisely position nanowires June 19th, 2013
Scientists Use Nanotechnology to Increase Thermal Stability of Essential Oils June 19th, 2013
Production of Bioactive Material for Quick Treatment of Bone Damages June 19th, 2013
Nanometrics Announces Participation in 5th Annual CEO Investor Summit: Accredited Investor and Publishing Research Analyst Event to be Held Concurrently With SEMICON West and Intersolar 2013 in San Francisco June 19th, 2013
Nanobiotechnology
Iranian Scientists Produce Dynamometer for Nanoparticles, Biocells June 15th, 2013
Shape of nanoparticles points the way toward more targeted drugs: A collaboration of scientists at Sanford-Burnham and the University of California, Santa Barbara, finds that rod-shaped particles, rather than spherical particles, appear more effective at adhering to cells June 10th, 2013
Catching individual molecules in a million with optical antennas inside nano-boxes June 10th, 2013
Whispering light hears liquids talk: University of Illinois researchers build first-ever bridge between optomechanics and microfluidics June 7th, 2013