Learning from the past: Are catalyst design principles transferrable between hydrodesulfurization and deoxygenation?

Molybdenum‐oxide (MoO₃) is a promising catalyst candidate for hydrodeoxygenation (HDO) of pyrolysis vapor or liquefaction products to renewable fuels or value‐added chemicals. Density functional theory is used to study the mechanism and active site requirements for HDO of furan over the MoO₃(010) facet and contrast our results with prior work on hydrodesulfurization (HDS) of thiophene over MoS₂ model catalysts. The potential energy diagram for HDO over a realistically terminated MoO₃(010) surface facet reveals that the elementary reaction steps for deoxygenation are facile, but the formation of oxygen‐vacancies is slow and endothermic. In general, HDO over MoO₃ and HDS over MoS₂ exhibit mechanistic similarities, which suggests that knowledge transfer from the mature HDS system to the emerging field of HDO catalysis is possible. For example, transition metal promotion of MoO₃ resulted in an improvement of the kinetics and thermodynamics of oxygen vacancy formation, similar to Co and Ni promotion of MoS₂. © 2018 American Institute of Chemical Engineers AIChE J, 64: 3121–3133, 2018     

Lessons from a Minimal Genome: What Are the Essential Organizing Principles of a Cell Built from Scratch?

One of the primary challenges facing synthetic biology is reconstituting a living system from its component parts. A particularly difficult landmark is reconstituting a self-organizing system that can undergo autonomous chromosome compaction, segregation, and cell division. Here, we discuss how the syn3.0 minimal genome can inform us of the core self-organizing principles of a living cell and how these self-organizing processes can be built from the bottom up. The review underscores the importance of fundamental biology in rebuilding life from its molecular constituents.     

Where Are We with RPE Replacement Therapy? A Translational Review from the Ophthalmologist Perspective

The retinal pigmented epithelium (RPE) plays a pivotal role in retinal homeostasis. It is therefore an interesting target to fill the unmet medical need of different retinal diseases, including age-related macular degeneration and Stargardt disease. RPE replacement therapy may use different cellular sources: induced pluripotent stem cells or embryonic stem cells. Cells can be transferred as suspension on a patch with different surgical approaches. Results are promising although based on very limited samples. In this review, we summarize the current progress of RPE replacement and provide a comparative assessment of different published approaches which may become standard of care in the future.     

Are the parameters of various stabilization factors estimated from mutant human lysozymes compatible with other proteins?

The various factors which contribute to protein stability havebeen extensively examined using mutant proteins, but the samekinds of substitutions have given different results dependingon the substitution sites. Recently, the contributions of somestabilization factors have been quantitatively derived as parametersby a unique equation, considering the conformational changesdue to the mutations using mutant human lysozymes [Funahashiet al. (1999) Protein Eng. 12, 841–850]. To evaluate theseparameters estimated from the mutant human lysozymes, stability–structuredatasets for the mutant T4 lysozymes were selected. The stabilitiesfor the mutant T4 lysozymes could be roughly estimated usingthese parameters. Notable differences between the estimatedand experimental stabilities were caused by the uncertaintyin part of the structures due to some Arg and Lys residues fluctuatingon the surface of the T4 lysozyme. Excluding these atoms fromthe estimation gave a good correlation between the estimatedand experimental stabilities. These results suggest that theparameters of the various stabilization factors derived fromthe mutant human lysozymes are compatible with the mutant T4lysozymes, although they should be improved with respect tosome points using more information.     

How much of the target for biofuels can be met by biodiesel generated from residues in Ireland?

This study focuses on biodiesel production from residues in particular tallow and used cooking oil (UCO). Ireland has 8% of the EU cattle herd with less than 1% of the EU population. Thus a significant quantity of slaughter residues is available for energy production. The total energy potential associated with slaughter wastes and UCO is estimated to be 7.07 PJ/a; 61% of which is suitable for biodiesel production. The potential quantity of biodiesel is equivalent to 2.1% of predicted transport fuel use in 2010; three quarters of the 2010 biofuels target. Biodiesel production from these two residue streams may be expressed as equivalent to 22% of arable land in Ireland under oilseed rape.     

Growth of (K0.5Na0.5)NbO3–SrTiO3 lead-free piezoelectric single crystals by the solid state crystal growth method and their characterization

Lead zirconate titanate (PZT) piezoelectric ceramics are commonly used in various applications, e.g. gas igniters, high-voltage generators and microbalances. However, due to increasing health and environmental concerns over their high lead content, lead-free piezoelectric ceramics are being developed. Lead-free piezoelectric single crystals offer superior performance over their polycrystalline counterparts but are difficult to grow by conventional methods. In this paper, (K_0.5Na_0.5)NbO₃–SrTiO₃ (KNN–ST) single crystals are grown for the first time by the solid state crystal growth (SSCG) method. 〈100〉 KTaO₃ single crystal seeds are buried in the center of pellets of pressed KNN-ST powder. The single crystal grows from the seed crystal during sintering at 1100 °C for 20 h. The grown single crystals contain porosity, which is incorporated from the matrix during growth. The effect of SrTiO₃ addition on single crystal growth behavior, chemical composition and structure is evaluated.     

Multitargeting the Action of 5-HT6 Serotonin Receptor Ligands by Additional Modulation of Kinases in the Search for a New Therapy for Alzheimer’s Disease: Can It Work from a Molecular Point of View?

In view of the unsatisfactory treatment of cognitive disorders, in particular Alzheimer’s disease (AD), the aim of this review was to perform a computer-aided analysis of the state of the art that will help in the search for innovative polypharmacology-based therapeutic approaches to fight against AD. Apart from 20-year unrenewed cholinesterase- or NMDA-based AD therapy, the hope of effectively treating Alzheimer’s disease has been placed on serotonin 5-HT₆ receptor (5-HT₆R), due to its proven, both for agonists and antagonists, beneficial procognitive effects in animal models; however, research into this treatment has so far not been successfully translated to human patients. Recent lines of evidence strongly emphasize the role of kinases, in particular microtubule affinity-regulating kinase 4 (MARK4), Rho-associated coiled-coil-containing protein kinase I/II (ROCKI/II) and cyclin-dependent kinase 5 (CDK5) in the etiology of AD, pointing to the therapeutic potential of their inhibitors not only against the symptoms, but also the causes of this disease. Thus, finding a drug that acts simultaneously on both 5-HT₆R and one of those kinases will provide a potential breakthrough in AD treatment. The pharmacophore- and docking-based comprehensive literature analysis performed herein serves to answer the question of whether the design of these kind of dual agents is possible, and the conclusions turned out to be highly promising.