News

A recent collaborative effort between the Derbyshire lab at Duke and Prof. Jacquin Niles’ lab at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology discovered a mechanism that helps Plasmodium falciparum parasites survive hostile thermal conditions recapitulating malaria fever. The study shows that P. falciparum, the deadliest of the human malaria parasites, uses the lipid PI(3)P and heat shock protein 70 to stabilize the parasite’s digestive vacuole under heat stress. Read more about their discovery… read more about Derbyshire Lab Illuminates How Malaria Parasites Withstand Feverish Temperatures »

DURHAM, N.C. -- Even when a person suffering from malaria is burning up with fever and too sick to function, the tiny blood-eating parasites lurking inside them continue to flourish, relentlessly growing and multiplying as they gobble up the host’s red blood cells. The single-celled Plasmodium parasites that cause 200 million cases of malaria each year can withstand feverish temperatures that make their human hosts miserable. And now, a Duke University-led team is beginning to understand how they do it. Assistant professor… read more about Duke Researchers Discover How Malaria Parasites Withstand a Fever’s Heat »

DURHAM, N.C. -- A study published this week in the journal Nature Communications offers some good news in the search for antiviral drugs for hard-to-treat diseases. Researchers have identified a potential new drug candidate against enterovirus 71, a common cause of hand, foot and mouth disease in infants and young children. The compound of interest is a small molecule that binds to RNA, the virus’s genetic material, and changes its 3-D shape in a way that stops the virus from multiplying without harming its human host.… read more about New Drug Candidate Found for Hand, Foot and Mouth Disease »

Professor Weitao Yang delivered the Introductory Lecture at the Royal Society of Chemistry's Faraday Discussion “New Horizons in Density Functional Theory”. Professor Yang's lecture, “When the Density of the Noninteracting Reference System is not the Density of the Physical System in Density Functional Theory”, began the discussion earlier this week. As the Introductory Lecturer, Professor Yang set the scene for the discussion by providing a perspective on the state of the field.… read more about Weitao Yang Delivers Introductory Lecture at Faraday Discussion »

The signs of change were all around: Students walking around campus wearing face masks, talking to new friends in distanced circles.  Socializing tents scattered around campus. Seminars in large rooms with seats spaced out. But the first day of classes also had much that was familiar. Students strolled along pathways with coffee and food-for-later in hand. Groundskeepers zipped past on riding mowers while joggers circled the East Campus loop, albeit giving each other plenty of room. Most importantly, there was… read more about The First Day of Classes Start With Masks, Distancing and Vigorous Classrooms »

The Warren Lab has demonstrated a simple optical measurement method to evaluate the efficacy of masks to reduce the transmission of respiratory droplets during regular speech. In proof-of-principle studies, they compared a variety of commonly available mask types and observed that some mask types approach the performance of standard surgical masks, while some mask alternatives, such as neck fleece or bandanas, offer very little protection. Read about Dr. Fischer's findings in a recent issue of Science Advances… read more about A Box, a Laser, a Lens, and a Cell Phone: Visual Proof that Face Masks Work in the COVID Fight »

Professor Matthew Becker has been named as a Fellow of the American Chemical Society!  This designation is awarded to members who, in some capacity, have made exceptional contributions to the science or profession and have provided excellent volunteer service to the ACS community.  Chemistry alumnus Rudy Baum (C&EN, Retired) joins Matt as a 2020 Fellow. Congratulations!   read more about Becker Named ACS Fellow »

Measuring the behavior of single molecules enables the discovery of states and dynamics obscured by bulk measurements. However, molecules in solution rapidly diffuse in three dimensions, precluding long-duration and high-temporal resolution measurement. In a new breakthrough, Dr. Shangguo Hou of the Welsher Lab has developed 3D single-molecule active real-time tracking (3D-SMART), which can “lock-on” to freely diffusing single molecules in solution for up to minutes at a time! This new single molecule tracking can be… read more about Untethering Single Molecule Spectroscopy with 3D-SMART »

The thin, slippery layer of cartilage between the bones in the knee is magical stuff: strong enough to withstand a person’s weight, but soft and supple enough to cushion the joint against impact, over decades of repeat use. That combination of soft-yet-strong has been hard to reproduce in the lab. But now, Duke University researchers say they’ve created an experimental gel that’s the first to match the strength and durability of the real thing. The material may look like a distant cousin of Jell-O -- which it is -- but it’s… read more about From the Lab, the First Cartilage-Mimicking Gel That’s Strong Enough for Knees »

We invite each member of the department, especially faculty, to join us to take this time to reflect on our own actions and the ways for us as individuals, labs and a department to do better at "eradicating racism in our midst” as challenged by the Chair. We encourage authentic conversations around these topics within our community and will also be having them as faculty.   Resources: https://www.shutdownstem.com/ and https://www.particlesforjustice.org/   read more about Duke Chemistry Participates in #ShutDownSTEM »

Emily Derbyshire wants to help people—and she wants to do it at scale. Derbyshire became a professor because she felt the university setting offered opportunities she wouldn’t get elsewhere: pursuing research on diseases that drug companies wouldn’t fund and mentoring a diverse group of future chemists to expand access to the field. In April, the assistant professor of Chemistry was named a 2020 Camille Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar in recognition for her work on both fronts. “I definitely felt honored and humbled,” Derbyshire… read more about Fighting Malaria in the Classroom and the Lab »

DURHAM, N.C. -- Electrolysis, passing a current through water to break it into gaseous hydrogen and oxygen, could be a handy way to store excess energy from wind or solar power. The hydrogen can be stored and used as fuel later, when the sun is down or the winds are calm. Unfortunately, without some kind of affordable energy storage like this, billions of watts of renewable energy are wasted each year. For hydrogen to be the solution to the storage problem, water-splitting electrolysis would have to be much more affordable… read more about Flow-Through Electrodes Make Hydrogen 50 Times Faster »

We are thrilled to announce that Prof. Charlie Cox will join the Department to further expand Chemical Education in Chemistry! Professor Cox will promote active learning, including the use of flipped classrooms and case studies to improve learning and retention as an Associate Professor of the Practice. Charlie was born in North Carolina and completed his undergraduate program at NC State where he explored research in biophysical chemistry. He completed his doctoral study at Clemson with… read more about Charlie Cox to Join on August 1! »

Fifteen Duke Ph.D. students have received prestigious awards from the National Science Foundation’s Graduate Research Fellowship Program (NSF GRFP) for 2020. Launched in 1952, the GRFP is the oldest graduate fellowship of its kind. It supports outstanding graduate students in NSF-supported science, technology, engineering, and mathematics disciplines who are pursuing Ph.D. or research-based master’s degrees. Fellows receive a three-year stipend, coverage of tuition and fees, and opportunities for international research and… read more about 15 Ph.D. Students Receive Prestigious NSF Fellowships »