Chemistry

Dumbbell-like sequences in DNA during interphase suggest several unseen aspects of chromosome configuration and function. (Credit: Illustration by Ryan Cheng/CTBP)

At our cores, we’re all strengthened by ‘dumbbells’

Scientists at Rice’s Center for Theoretical Biological Physics detail the structure of dumbbell-like sequences in DNA during interphase that suggest several unseen aspects of chromosome configuration and function.

Kolomeisky Research Group

There’s a reason bacteria stay in shape

A primal mechanism in bacteria that keeps them in their personal Goldilocks zones -- that is, just right -- appears to depend on two random means of regulation, growth and division, that cancel each other out. The same mechanism may give researchers a new perspective on disease, including cancer.

Artist's impression of aluminum nanocatalysts of different shapes

Shape matters for light-activated nanocatalysts

Points matter when designing nanoparticles that drive important chemical reactions using the power of light, according research from Rice University's Laboratory for Nanophotonics.

Welch Foundation

Largest gift in Rice history establishes The Welch Institute

The Robert A. Welch Foundation announces the largest single gift in the history of Rice University, $100 million, to establish The Welch Institute for world-leading advanced materials research.

Scientists at Rice University and the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth) uncovered new clues in the protein CPEB3 as part of their dogged pursuit of the mechanism that allows humans to have long-term memories. Researchers at Rice University modeled the binding structures of actin and associated proteins they believe are responsible for the formation of longterm memory. Here, the beta hairpin form of zipper sequence is a potential core for the formation of intramolecular beta she

Protein ‘chameleon’ colors long-term memory

Researchers model the binding structures of actin and associated proteins they believe are responsible for the formation of longterm memory.

"Backward" Design Flow Chart

Remote control: CTE’s Adaptive Course Design Institute prepares professors for teaching online

Rice professors set it all aside this summer to learn all about the best new tools for teaching online.

The cross-section of a fiber produced at Rice University contains tens of millions of carbon nanotubes. The lab continually improves its method to make fibers, which tests show are now stronger than Kevlar. Courtesy of the Pasquali Research Group

No limit yet for carbon nanotube fibers

Rice University researchers report advances in their quest to make the best carbon nanotube fibers for industry.

Martí named fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry

Laser-induced silicon oxide for lithium metal batteries

Tale of the tape: Sticky bits make better batteries

Rice University scientists use an industrial laser to turn adhesive tape into a component for safer, anode-free lithium metal batteries.

Artificial enzymes made of treated charcoal, seen in this atomic force microscope image, could have the power to curtail damaging levels of superoxides, toxic radical oxygen ions that appear at high concentrations after an injury. (Credit: Tour Group/Rice University)

Charcoal a weapon to fight superoxide-induced disease, injury

Artificial enzymes made of treated charcoal could have the power to curtail damaging levels of superoxides that appear after an injury.

A model by Rice University scientists shows how two positively charged spheres attached to springs are attracted to the electric field of light. Due to the motion of the spheres, the spring system scatters light at different energies when irradiated with clockwise and anticlockwise trochoidal waves. (Credit: Link Research Group/Rice University)

Cartwheeling light reveals new optical phenomenon

Researchers at Rice University have discovered details about a novel type of polarized light-matter interaction with light that literally turns end over end as it propagates from a source.

James Tour

Tour scores prestigious Centenary Prize

Rice University chemist James Tour has been named a winner of this year’s Royal Society of Chemistry Centenary Prize.

Naomi Halas is a Rice University engineer and chemist who's spent more than 25 years pioneering the use of light-activated nanomaterials.

Purifying water with a partly coated gold nanoparticle

Rice's Naomi Halas has collaborated with Yale University engineers on the creation of a light-activated nanoparticle for clearing water of pollutants. The research is part of an effort by NEWT, the Rice-based Nanosystems Engineering Research Center for Nanotechnology-Enabled Water Treatment.

Figure depicting the action of an aluminum-palladium antenna-reactor nanocatalyst that harnesses light energy to break chemical bonds in fluorocarbons

Fluorocarbon bonds are no match for light-powered nanocatalyst

Rice University engineers have created a light-powered catalyst that can break the strong chemical bonds in fluorocarbons, a group of synthetic materials that includes persistent environmental pollutants.

Rice University scientists’ simple model of T cell activation of the immune response shows the T cell binding, via a receptor (TCR) to an antigen-presenting cell (APC). If an invader is identified as such, the response is activated, but only if the “relaxation” time of the binding is long enough. (Credit: Hamid Teimouri/Rice University)

‘Relaxed’ T cells critical to immune response

Rice University researchers model the role of relaxation time as T cells bind to invaders or imposters, and how their ability to differentiate between the two triggers the body’s immune system.