Microbes turn biodiesel byproduct into three nylon building blocks, opening greener route

Jun, Mon, 2026
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Nylon is a representative plastic material used throughout our daily lives, from clothing to automobiles. However, most of its raw materials have been produced through petrochemical processes, resulting in large carbon emissions. KAIST researchers have developed a technology that can produce key nylon precursors in an eco-friendly way using microbes.

Microbes turn biodiesel byproduct into three nylon building blocks, opening greener route
Nylon is a representative plastic material used throughout our daily lives, from clothing to automobiles. However, most of its raw materials have been produced through petrochemical processes, resulting in large carbon emissions. KAIST researchers have developed a technology that can produce key nylon precursors in an eco-friendly way using microbes.
'Molecular movie' technology reveals a better way to thwart environmental pollutant
The latest production from the "molecular movie" imaging technology developed at Oregon State University is a new, inexpensive way of dealing with a common environmental pollutant. Based on short-pulse lasers, the imaging technology allows chemical and biological actions to be measured as they are occurring, one high-speed frame at a time.
Fifty-year protein mystery breaks open as acid-driven water loss comes into view
Proteins systematically lose their protective hydration shell when their environment becomes more acidic. Until recently, this was just a theory. State-of-the-art imaging techniques have helped researchers at Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg (MLU) directly observe this process for the first time at the level of the individual water molecule. This has answered a question in biochemistry that had remained unanswered for 50 years.
Synthesized peptides can slip into cells to block hard-to-target protein interactions
Many diseases are driven by proteins interacting with each other inside cells. But blocking these interactions with drugs is difficult because typical "small-molecule" drugs often prove to be too small to grip the broad, flat surfaces involved in protein-protein interactions.
'Bio-stickers' speed up plastic breakdown in marine environments
Plastic waste poses an urgent problem for the planet's ecosystems, especially in waterways. Millions of tons of plastic waste enter Earth's oceans every year, and plastic has been found in every part of the ocean, including at the bottom of the deepest ocean trenches.