Science Highlights

An intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH) stroke occurs when a blood vessel bursts inside the brain and blood leaks into brain tissue. Secondary damage is caused by hemoglobin iron making free radicals that cause oxidative damage to brain cells.  While prompt rehabilitative therapies have been shown to limit damage, the mechanism for this is unknown.

Coal-ash spills in Tennessee and North Carolina rivers have prompted concerns that toxic trace elements like arsenic could be concentrated in the food web to potentially affect humans. At the base of these freshwater food webs are periphyton biofilms, which contain a complex ecosystem of micro-organisms including bacteria, fungi, diatoms, and algae.

Microtubules (MTs) are sub-cellular structures made of the protein tubulin. They have important roles in moving organelles around the cell and in chromosome segregation before cell division. MTs can exist in two states, either a dynamic state of growing and shrinking MTs or a stable state. MTs can also form complex bundles that can be found in neuronal axons.

Lithium ion batteries are critical to many portable consumer electric devices, but they still do not have a high enough energy storage capacity for some applications, such as electric cars. Researchers and engineers are working to improve these batteries by changing the materials used.

The presence of the receptor tyrosine kinase Axl on tumor cells is correlated with disease severity and thus is an important oncology target.  Developing inhibitors to Axl has been met with limited success due to the tight affinity with which Axl binds its ligand, growth arrest-specific 6 (Gas6).

Over the past three years a collaboration between researchers from Korea, Australia, Germany and SLAC have worked to understand the thermodynamic transitions in the antiferromagnetic ferroelectric BiFeO₃ with La substitutions in relation to a new strategy for finding the ultimate magnetoelectric single phase material.

RNA molecules, often bound to protein in complexes, play essential roles in many basic cellular processes in all life. Like with proteins, often these roles depend on the distinct 3-dimensional shapes the RNA molecules adopt.

Researchers are evaluating the use of organic semi-conductive polymers instead of inorganic semiconductors for use in solar cells. Polymer semiconductors are more flexible and more easily applied, which could allow for more uses and lower production costs.

Rare earth magnetic materials have many applications, such as MRI scanners, Maglev trains, and electric vehicles. Scientists are researching improvements to these magnets through optimizing the component materials.

In materials science, the creation of composites by mixing of materials with different properties can lead to a new set of properties.