Latest Scattering Stories

WOBURN, Mass., Feb. 14, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- The M220 Ultrasonicator is the newest DNA shearing system from Covaris. The M220 is designed for Next-Gen sequencing applications. Using highly controlled AFA(TM) (Adaptive Focused Acoustics) technology, the M220 reproducibly shears DNA into random fragments ranging from 100bp to 1.5kb. Compact, cost effective, and easy-to-use, the M220 is the ideal shearing system for MiSeq(TM) and PGM(TM) users. The M220 includes integrated cooling,...

A research group in the Faculty of Medicine & Dentistry at the University of Alberta is hoping its latest discovery could one day be used to develop new therapies that target certain types of cancers. The discovery by Mark Glover, his graduate student Zahra Havali-Shahriari and post-doctoral fellow Nicolas Coquelle has shed light on what happens in cells when DNA is damaged. They solved the structure of a DNA repair enzyme called polynucleotide kinase/phosphatase, or PNKP. This allows...

It's been more than 50 years since James Watson and Francis Crick showed that DNA is a double helix of two strands that complement each other. But how does a short piece of DNA find its match, out of the millions of 'letters' in even a small genome? New work by researchers at the University of California, Davis, handling and observing single molecules of DNA, shows how it's done. The results are published online Feb. 8 by the journal Nature. Defects in DNA repair and copying are strongly...

Scientists at The Scripps Research Institute in California and the Technion–Israel Institute of Technology have developed a “biological computer” made entirely from biomolecules that is capable of deciphering images encrypted on DNA chips. Although DNA has been used for encryption in the past, this is the first experimental demonstration of a molecular cryptosystem of images based on DNA computing. Instead of using traditional computer hardware, a group led by Professor Ehud Keinan...

University of Texas at Austin researchers have cloaked a three-dimensional object standing in free space for the first time. The researchers used a method known as plasmonic cloaking to hide a 7-inch cylindrical tube from microwaves.  During the study, they were able to show how ordinary objects can be cloaked in their natural environment in all directions and from all vantage points. When using the plasmonic cloaking method, light strikes an object, and rebounds off its surface...

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va., Jan. 26, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- ZyGEM Corp. Ltd., a developer and marketer of innovative products for the analysis of DNA and other nucleic acids, today announced that it has signed an OEM agreement with Saudi Diagnostics Limited (SDL) for ZyGEM's DNA and RNA extraction kits. SDL was established by the King Faisal Specialist Hospital & Research Centre (KFSH&RC) as part of the Saudi Arabian government's drive to develop a biotechnology sector in the...

A novel technique has been developed and demonstrated at Penn State University to map the proteins that read and regulate chromosomes -- the string-like structures inside cells that carry genes. The specific order in which these proteins attach DNA-containing nucleosomes along the chromosome determines whether a brain cell, a liver cell, or a cancer cell is formed. Until now, it has been exceedingly difficult to determine exactly where such proteins bind to the chromosome, and therefore how...

To better understand the fundamental behavior of molecules at surfaces, researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory are combining the powers of neutron scattering with chemical analysis. Scientists have a fundamental interest in how molecules behave at solid surfaces because surface interactions influence chemistry, such as in materials for catalysis, drug delivery and carbon sequestration. Understanding these interactions allows researchers to tailor...

In an effort to make data storage more cost-effective, a group of researchers from National Tsing Hua University in Taiwan and the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology in Germany have created a DNA-based memory device that is "write-once-read-many-times" (WORM), and that uses ultraviolet (UV) light to make it possible to encode information. The device, described in a paper accepted to the AIP's Applied Physics Letters, consists of a thin film of salmon DNA that has been embedded with silver...

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va., Jan. 5, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- ZyGEM Corp. Ltd., a developer and marketer of innovative products for the analysis of DNA and other nucleic acids, and the US Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases (USAMRIID), today announced the signing of a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) for the development of simplified sample processing solutions for biothreat agents. The two organizations will collaborate on the development, testing and...