Elevated Carbon Dioxide Changes Soil Microbe Mix Below Plants

A detailed analysis of soil samples taken from a forest ecosystem with arificially elevated levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide reveals distinct changes in the mix of microorganisms living in the soil below trembling aspen. Biochemists Niels van der Lelie, Safiyh Taghavi, Sean McCorkle, and coauthors argue that these changes could increase the availability of essential soil nutrients and thereby increase plant growth.

New DNA-Based Technique For Assembly of Nano- and Micro-sized Particles

Brookhaven scientists, including biochemist Daniel van der Lelie, have developed a new method for controlling the self-assembly of nanometer and micrometer-sized particles. The method, based on designed DNA shells that coat a particle's surface, can be used to manipulate the structure and properies of numerous materials of interest to industry.

Zinc Transporter Protein Structure Deciphered

Biochemists Dax Fu and Min Lu have deciphered the atomic-level of a cell membrane protein that regulates the movement of zinc ions into and out of cells. Details of the structure may help scientists better understand the crucial role zinc plays in many biological processes from nerve cell communication to insulin regulation.

Potent Peptides Inhibit HIV Entry Into Cells

Scientists at the University of Utah in collaboration with biophysicist Annie Héroux have developed and determined the crystallographic structure of new peptides that appear to be significantly more effective at blocking HIV's entry into cells than other drugs in their class.

Brookhaven Lab's NASA Summer School Helps Create Pipeline of Space Scientists

Students and scientists from around the globe and from througout the US participated in the fourth annual NASA Space Radiation Summer School at Brookhaven's NASA Space Radiation Laboratory (NSRL).The program has three scientific modules: physics, biology, and experimental methods, a module tought by Betsy Sutherland.

"Combination" Lyme Disease Vaccine Proteins Patented

Senior biochemist John Dunn and collaborators at Stony Brook University have received U.S. Patent Number 7,179,448 for developing chimeric, or "combination" proteins that may advance the development of vaccines and diagnostic tests for Lyme disease.

New Success in Engineering Plant Oils

Using genetic manipulation to modify the activity of a plant enzyme biochemist John Shanklin and coworkers have converted an unsaturated oil in the seeds of a temperate plant to the more saturated kind usually found in tropical plants.