News articles
ENW-XL and ENW-M: Christmas presents for Dutch science
The Open Competition ENW-XL offers funding for groundbreaking fundamental research projects set up by collaborative consortia of scientists from various universities and institutes. In this round, 21 proposals have been granted, ranging from €1-3 million per project. Here, we present those that involve members from the KNCV and/or NVBMB.
UK launches £37m programme to uncover cultural heritage through chemistry
The Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) will fund 31 innovative projects designed to protect and grow the UK’s £29 billion heritage sector.
Small variations, serious consequences
Genetic variants of the BIM protein increase therapy resistance in leukaemia cells, researchers in Singapore show. Important findings for East Asian populations, where these variants are relatively common.
Banned pigments found in tattoo inks sold in the EU
Several common tattoo inks sold and used in Europe contain pigments banned under the region’s chemicals regulatory framework, according to a new analysis.
One-electron covalent bond between two carbons pushes limits of bonding
Scientists in Japan have made a groundbreaking discovery: they have identified a covalent bond between two carbon atoms that share only a single electron.
€5 million for better imaging
Amsterdam-based Confocal.nl has received a €5 million investment to make its live cell imaging more accessible. As a foretaste of what is possible, they have produced this stunning image of a mouse ear.
3D printed sustainable cat
A team from Amsterdam has 3D printed a catalyst made entirely of stainless steel and aluminium that works extremely well for borohydride hydrolysis.
Biophotonic ‘windows’ enable symbiosis
Several molluscs have developed benificial relationships with symbiotic, photosynthetic algae. Heart cockles boast advanced biophotonic structures in their shells that operate like optic fiber cables to catch and transmit the incoming sunlight.
Making square drug fragments under pressure
1,2-substituted cyclobutanes can be easily prepared under high pressure and are interesting building blocks for drug development.
Biocompatible labelling for PET scans
A Franco-Belgian team has developed a gallium-18F complex for PET scans that can also be attached to biomolecules. It could be turned into an 18F radiolabelling kit.
Pure iron carbide phase nurtures alpha-olefins
Careful pretreatment of your iron catalyst enables the highly efficient production of chemical building blocks in a Fischer-Tropsch reactor, an Eindhoven-Beijing team reports in Nature (after a 5-year reviewing period).
Biosurfactant synthesis in deep eutectic solvents
Natural deep eutectic solvents can be used to produce an interesting biosurfactant in a more sustainable way without organic solvents, Antwerp researchers write in the European Journal of Organic Chemistry.
Biochemical alchemy, greasy proteins and quantum molecules: Vidi grants have been announced
A variety of molecular science project can take off thanks to an NWO Vidi grant. Ranging from CO2 fixation and supramolecular materials capable of learning to AI and sweet molecules.
Clumping pests
A team from Umeå University in Sweden has been studying how bacteria pass on their resistance genes to each other, resulting in a beautiful picture.
KNCV Gold Medal 2024 awarded to Caroline Paul
Jury praises her pioneering and creative research on biocatalysis, which opens new technological routes towards sustainable chemical production.
Artificial cell communication: protein on demand
Researchers in Eindhoven have developed an artificial cell system that mimics the mutual communication of biological cells.
Reducing enzyme can also oxidise
NADPH dehydrogenase can not only reduce but also oxidise by simply raising the pH, as researchers from Delft show in ChemCatChem.
Nobel Prize in Chemistry goes to protein folding computer
The Nobel Prize in Chemistry goes to the prediction of protein structure and folding.
Nobel Prize in physics goes to machine learning
The Nobel Prize in Physics has been awarded for ‘fundamental discoveries and innovations that enable machine learning with artificial neural networks’.
Nobel Prize in Physiology for microRNA discovery
Victor Ambros and Gary Ruvkun are awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology for their discovery of microRNA and its role in post-transcriptional gene regulation.
