A sustainable fuel and chemical from the robotic lab

Peer-Reviewed Publication

ETH ZURICH

 

IMAGE: 

THIS ROBOTIC ARM TRANSFERS GLASS VIALS INTO A CENTRIFUGE. IT IS PART OF A ROBOT UNIT THAT PRODUCES CATALYSTS COMPLETELY AUTONOMOUSLY ACCORDING TO THE SPECIFICATIONS OF AN AI MODEL.

view more 

CREDIT: ETH ZURICH / MICHEL BÜCHEL

Catalysts are chemistry’s hard-​working little helpers. They accelerate reactions and reduce the energy required for a reaction to take place. The more specific and effective a catalyst is, the more effectively any undesirable side reactions are suppressed. In nature, enzymes have the job of specifically boosting the required metabolic processes from among the almost infinite reaction possibilities of the chemical soup within cells. In chemical plants, metal catalysts are usually employed to increase product yield.

The researchers working on the Swiss Cat+ technology platform at ETH Zurich, led by Paco Laveille, have now developed a fully digitalised and automated method that enables them to find new and better metal catalysts much faster than before. Their process consists of a combination of artificial intelligence (AI) for calculating promising catalyst compositions and an automated synthesis and test laboratory.

With this infrastructure, it took the team less than six weeks to successfully develop around 150 catalysts compositions for producing methanol from CO2. The best catalysts are cost-​effective and exhibit high conversion rates with a low proportion of byproducts. “This new method saves a huge amount of time,” Laveille says. “With a conventional approach, our experiments would have taken years.”

Methanol is regarded as one of the key elements for a sustainable hydrocarbon economy. A close chemical relative of ethanol (i.e. drinking alcohol), the substance can be used both as a fuel and as a raw material for the production of organic compounds such as medicines, plastics or paints. Because it is a liquid, methanol is much easier to transport and store than gaseous hydrogen and methane, two other sources of energy. What’s more, using methanol in the existing supply infrastructure and engines of today’s petrol technology requires only minor modifications.

Narrowing down the possibilities through clever preselection

In the search for optimum catalysts for methanol production, there’s one big problem: theoretically, atoms can be combined in an almost infinite number of ways to form a catalyst. “The chemical space in which we’re searching for catalysts comprises around 1020 possibilities – that’s one hundred billion billion. So we’re literally looking for a needle in the chemical haystack,” explains Christophe Copéret, a professor at the Laboratory of Inorganic Chemistry at ETH Zurich and co-​initiator of the Swiss Cat+ project.

To narrow down the huge range of possibilities, the researchers made a preselection based on experience and economic requirements. A catalyst that can be used on a large scale needs to be not only effective but also inexpensive. For that reason, the main active ingredients for the catalyst were limited to three comparatively cheap metals: iron, copper and cobalt.

In addition to these main metals, the researchers considered three elements that are traditionally added to catalysts in small quantities for the purposes of doping, as well as potassium, which is also contained in many catalysts. As to carrier materials, the researchers limited themselves to four typical metal oxides. Multiplied by the different mixing ratios, this still resulted in 20 million possible combinations.

Taking iterative steps with AI-​supported statistics

At this point, the researchers brought an AI algorithm into play that uses what is known as Bayesian optimisation to find the best possible solutions. This special form of statistics is particularly suitable when only a small amount of data is available. Unlike in classical statistics, the probability doesn’t derive from the relative frequency as calculated from numerous experiments. Instead, the calculation takes into account the probability that can be expected based on the current state of knowledge.

In the initial round, the algorithm randomly selected 24 catalyst compositions that met the specifications drawn up for the purposes of limiting the complexity. These catalysts were produced directly using the Swiss Cat+ automated laboratory infrastructure and then tested.

Delivering lots of highly reliable results quickly

The results of this initial selection served the researchers as the starting point for an AI prediction; the catalyst compositions thus predicted were in turn automatically synthesised and tested. For this first demonstration test, the scientists had their integrated system complete a total of six such rounds.

The fact that the results improved between rounds not in a linear fashion, but rather by leaps and bounds, was entirely intentional: not only does the algorithm optimise the results of earlier rounds, it also includes an exploratory component that feeds completely new compositions into each round and learns about the chemical space. This is how the researchers prevented the calculations from getting stuck in an optimisation dead end amongst all the possibilities.

Generating data beyond petrochemicals

In this first project, though, the researchers’ primary concern wasn’t to come up with the best possible catalyst for methanol synthesis. “At present, knowledge about catalysts for fuel production is based predominantly on expertise from the oil industry,” Copéret says. “When it comes to reactions for use in the sustainable energy industry, reliable data is still largely lacking.” However, AI algorithms and human research intelligence need that data before they can search in a more targeted way in the vast space of chemical possibilities. “And that’s precisely the kind of high-​quality, reproducible data our AI-​assisted robot laboratory now delivers. It’s certain to take catalyst research a long way forward,” Laveille adds.

---

JOURNAL

Chem Catalysis

DOI

10.1016/j.checat.2023.100888 

ARTICLE TITLE

Accelerated exploration of heterogeneous CO2 hydrogenation catalysts by Bayesian-optimized high-throughput and automated experimentation

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

15-Feb-2024

 

Using metabolomics for assessing safety of chemicals may reduce the use of lab rats

Peer-Reviewed Publication

UNIVERSITY OF BIRMINGHAM

Scientists have discovered a more robust way of grouping chemicals and using read-across for toxicological data to meet regulatory requirements, which could greatly reduce animal testing.  

The safety of chemicals is taken incredibly seriously by regulators and as such industry must meet certain criteria if they are trying to get a new chemical approved for use, often this is done by testing the chemicals on rats. 

Grouping and read-across is an EU-approved approach, which allows new chemicals that are structurally similar to other already approved chemicals, to have the same toxicology information copied across to them for approval to be brought to market. But this process is unreliable and the majority of new chemical grouping and read-across submissions, are rejected by the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA). 

But now a method using metabolomics, published in Archives in Toxicology, could be the key to making the grouping read-across process more effective.  

The study is from the MATCHING consortium, which is led by the University of Birmingham, in partnership with BASF, BASF Metabolome Solutions, ECHA, Imperial College London, Syngenta, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam and the US Environmental Protection Agency, and funded by the European Chemical Industry Council’s Long-Range Research Initiative (Cefic-LRI). 

Mark Viant, Professor of Metabolomics at the University of Birmingham said: “Chemicals fall into three categories of drugs, pesticides and industrial chemicals, and we are exposed to some of these every single day of our lives. Industrial chemicals are not intended for direct exposure to humans or the environment, but inevitably this will happen, so the toxicology information must be accurate. 

“Instead of only measuring the structural similarity of the chemicals to form groups, we have found that by using metabolomics to measure the biological responses of the chemicals, we can make the grouping and read across more reliable.” 

To see if metabolomics would be more effective, six international labs conducted the same experiment. The researchers were all sent common plasma samples from rats which had been tested with eight chemicals. The teams did not know what the chemicals were and had to correctly group them using metabolomics. 

The scientists looked for diagnostic metabolic biomarkers, which provide a detailed picture of the health of the rat. By using a ‘shotgun approach’ like metabolomics, scientists could measure thousands of markers like amino acids and lipids, using mass spectrometry. This helped the labs group the eight chemicals into two groups of three and one of two chemicals.  

All the results were then sent to the European Chemicals Agency who compiled them before the findings were revealed to the whole consortium. The five labs whose data passed quality control all discovered the same grouping. This is the first time that the use of metabolomics for grouping has been proven to be a reproducible method. 

Katherine Santizo from Cefic-LRI: “This is a massive step forward to improve the existing grouping and read-across approach. The fact that five labs from different countries all got the same, correct results while using different methods and instruments, their own procedures and statistical analysis shows that metabolomics is a reliable method.” 

This is good news for the phasing out of rat testing, as the purpose of grouping and read-across is to reduce the number of chemicals that need to be tested on rats. But, due to the high percentage of chemicals which are currently rejected, this is not always the case.  

Professor Viant explained: “Rats are not a good model for humans in the first place and reproducibility of rat testing is not great. As well as this, the toxicity tests for just one chemical may require more than 1000 rats. With tens of thousands of chemicals requiring testing in Europe, and while not all of these require the same level of testing, a lot of them will end up being tested on rats. Even without the ethical considerations, this is a costly and slow process. So, by making the grouping and read-across approach more robust by using metabolomics, the number of lab rats being tested could be dramatically cut.” 

Tomasz Sobanski, Team Leader for Alternative Methods in the Computational Assessment and Alternative Methods Unit, ECHA said: “The need to demonstrate the reliability of metabolomics was first identified during one of our workshops in 2016. We are very impressed with the results of this research, and we believe that they will improve the grouping and read-across. We hope that learnings from this research will be included in new guidance for the chemical industry to allow commercial laboratories to provide these services widely. 

“For me personally, this is a model example of how regulatory challenges can be addressed through knowledge, science and collaboration. This achievement was possible because regulators were able to clearly communicate their needs, the scientific community wanted to address them, and the industry was willing to support. I believe that ultimately this research will help us to better protect health and the environment while avoiding unnecessary testing on animals.” 

---

JOURNAL

Archives of Toxicology

DOI

10.1007/s00204-024-03680-y 

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Experimental study

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

Animals

ARTICLE TITLE

Demonstrating the reliability of in vivo metabolomics based chemical grouping: towards best practice

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

18-Feb-2024

 

A new species of rare pseudoscorpion named after the Slovak president

Olpium caputi, named after Zuzana Čaputová, discovered on the island Tahiti in French Polynesia was named after the Slovak president.

Peer-Reviewed Publication

PENSOFT PUBLISHERS

 

IMAGE: 

A FEMALE INDIVIDUAL OF OLPIUM CAPUTI

view more 

CREDIT: KRAJČOVIČOVÁ ET AL.

There are about 25,000 islands in the Pacific Ocean. The most remote of them are in North and East Polynesia, the Hawaiian Islands, and French Polynesia. Biologists have been attracted to these regions since the 18th century, but French Polynesia has received much less attention compared to the Hawaiian Islands.

Contributions to our knowledge of the pseudoscorpions of French Polynesia date from the 1930s and are associated with the Pacific Entomological Survey. Since then, the French Polynesian pseudoscorpion fauna has consisted of only four known species.

Thanks to international cooperation, a team of enthusiastic scientists has published the first discovery of a new species of pseudoscorpion from French Polynesia. Between 2017 and 2020, they studied French Polynesia’s fauna and environment for the French Polynesian Agricultural Service and as a part of a large-scale survey of arthropods. During their research work, they collected a few pseudoscorpion specimens on Huahine and Tahiti in the Society Islands.

Among them is a new species named Olpium caputi, collected by sieving moss at 1,450 m about sea level on the Mont Marau Summit, Tahiti, one of the Society Islands archipelago. Its scientific name honours s, the President of Slovakia.

“As a female leader, she takes a strong stance and supports women and scientists. Even in the 21st century, women in science or top positions are rare. The rarity of the research in French Polynesia, the uniqueness of the discovery, and the fact that the new species is a female, led us to name it after this inspiring woman who can be a role model of courage and perseverance for many women,” says Jana Christophoryová, who led the study.

The paper is published in the open-access, peer-reviewed journal ZooKeys.

 

The team:

Katarína Krajčovičová of Bratislavské regionálne ochranárske združenie – BROZ, Bratislava, and Jana Christophoryová of Comenius University, Bratislava, are both zoologists, who specialize in the taxonomy, distribution, and ecology of pseudoscorpions. Frédéric Jacq, botanist, and Thibault Ramage, entomologist, are independent naturalists who have been working on improving the faunistic and taxonomic knowledge of French Polynesia for over 15 years.

Research article:

Krajčovičová K, Ramage T, Jacq FA, Christophoryová J (2024) Pseudoscorpions (Arachnida, Pseudoscorpiones) from French Polynesia with first species records and description of new species. ZooKeys 1192: 29-43. https://doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.1192.111308

A view of the area where Olpium caputi was found.

CREDIT

Frédéric A. Jacq

JOURNAL

ZooKeys

DOI

10.3897/zookeys.1192.111308 

ARTICLE TITLE

Pseudoscorpions (Arachnida, Pseudoscorpiones) from French Polynesia with first species records and description of new species

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

19-Feb-2024

 

It's the spin that makes the difference

Magnetic effects at the origin of life?

Peer-Reviewed Publication

SWISS FEDERAL LABORATORIES FOR MATERIALS SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY (EMPA)

 

IMAGE: 

IF ONLY LEFT-HANDED HELICENE SPIRALS ARE DEPOSITED ON THE COBALT-COPPER SURFACE, THEY CLEARLY PREFER COBALT ISLANDS WITH A CERTAIN DIRECTION OF MAGNETIZATION. IN THE IMAGE, THE TWO TRIANGULAR COBALT ISLANDS HAVE OPPOSITE MAGNETIZATION; THE LEFT-HANDED HELICENE MOLECULES BIND ALMOST EXCLUSIVELY TO THE ISLAND ON THE RIGHT AND AVOID THE ISLAND ON THE LEFT (EXCEPT FOR A FEW MOLECULES AT THE EDGE OF THE ISLAND). IMAGE: PETER GRÜNBERG INSTITUTE/JÜLICH

view more 

CREDIT: IMAGE: PETER GRÜNBERG INSTITUTE/JÜLICH

The so-called homochirality of life – the fact that all biomolecules in living organisms only ever occur in one of two mirror-image forms – has puzzled a number of scientific luminaries, from the discoverer of molecular chirality, Louis Pasteur, to William Thomson (Lord Kelvin) and Nobel Prize winner Pierre Curie. A conclusive explanation is still lacking, as both forms have, for instance, the same chemical stability and do not differ from each other in their physico-chemical properties. The hypothesis, however, that the interplay between electric and magnetic fields could explain the preference for one or the other mirror-image form of a molecule – so-called enantiomers – emerged early on.

It was only a few years ago, though, that the first indirect evidence emerged that the various combinations of these force fields can indeed "distinguish" between the two mirror images of a molecule. This was achieved by studying the interaction of chiral molecules with metallic surfaces that exhibit a strong electric field over short distances. The surfaces of magnetic metals such as iron, cobalt or nickel thus allow electric and magnetic fields to be combined in various ways – the direction of magnetization is simply reversed, from "North up – South down" to "South up – North down". If the interplay between magnetism and electric fields actually triggers "enantioselective" effects, then the strength of the interaction between chiral molecules and magnetic surfaces should also differ, for example – depending on whether a right-handed or left-handed molecule "settles" on the surface.

Mirror images prefer opposing magnetic fields

And this is indeed the case, as a team of researchers led by Karl-Heinz Ernst from the Empa's Surface Science and Coating Technologies lab and colleagues at the Peter Grünberg Institute at the Forschungszentrum Jülich in Germany recently reported in the scientific journal Advanced Materials. The team coated a (non-magnetic) copper surface with small, ultra-thin "islands" of magnetic cobalt and determined the direction of the magnetic field in these using spin-polarized scanning tunneling microscopy; as mentioned before, this can run in two different directions perpendicular to the metal surface: North up or South up. They then deposited spiral-shaped chiral molecules – a 1:1 mixture of left- and right-handed heptahelicene molecules – onto these cobalt islands in ultrahigh vacuum.

Then they "simply" counted the number of right- and left-handed helicene molecules on the differently magnetized cobalt islands, almost 800 molecules in total, again using scanning tunneling microscopy. And lo and behold: Depending on the direction of magnetic field, one or the other form of the helicene spirals had settled preferentially (see right side of the graphic).

Moreover, the experiments showed that the selection – the preference for one or the other enantiomer – not only occurs during the binding on the cobalt islands, but already beforehand. Before the molecules take up their final (preferred) position on one of the cobalt islands, they migrate long distances across the copper surface in a significantly weaker bound precursor state in "search" for an ideal position. They are only bound to the surface by so-called van der Waals forces. These are merely caused by fluctuations in the electronic shell of atoms and molecules and are therefore relatively weak. The fact that even these are influenced by magnetism, i.e. the direction of rotation (spin) of the electrons, was not known thus far.

Electrons with the "wrong" spin are filtered out

Using scanning tunneling microscopy, the researchers were also able to solve another mystery, as they reported in the journal Small last November. Electron transport – i.e. electric current – also depends on the combination of molecular handedness and magnetization of the surface. Depending on the handedness of the bound molecule, electrons with one direction of spin preferentially flow – or "tunnel" – through the molecule, meaning that electrons with the "wrong" spin are filtered out. This chirality-induced spin selectivity (CISS effect, see left side of the graphic) had already been observed in earlier studies, but it remained unclear whether an ensemble of molecules is necessary for this or whether individual molecules also exhibit this effect. Ernst and his colleagues have now been able to show that individual helicene molecules also exhibit the CISS effect. "But the physics behind this is still not understood," admits Ernst.

The Empa researcher also believes that his findings eventually cannot fully answer the question of the chirality of life. In other words, the question that the Nobel Prize winner in chemistry and ETH chemist Vladimir Prelog described as "one of the first problems of molecular theology" in his Nobel Prize lecture in 1975. But Ernst can imagine that in certain surface-catalyzed chemical reactions – such as those that could have taken place in the chemical "primordial soup" on the early Earth – a certain combination of electric and magnetic fields could have led to a steady accumulation of one form or another of the various biomolecules – and thus ultimately to the handedness of life.

CISS-Effekt 

SWISS FEDERAL LABORATORIES FOR MATERIALS SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY (EMPA)

This is how chirality-induced spin selectivity (CISS effect) manifests itself: Electrons (e– or red and green spheres with arrows indicating electron spin, either up or down) with the "wrong" direction of rotation (spin) are held back or filtered out when tunneling through spiral molecules, depending on the handedness of the spirals (left- or right-handed), so that one type of electron spin predominates (electrons with the arrow pointing downwards on the left side). The electric field of a metallic surface (E, pointing upwards, right side) shifts the electrons in the bound heptahelical molecules; these accumulate slightly in the lower part of the molecule near the surface. In the case of chiral molecules, electrons with different spins are also shifted differently depending on the handedness of the molecule. The molecule becomes "spin-polarized", i.e. also magnetic. Depending on the direction of magnetization of the metallic surface, chiral molecules therefore interact with it to different degrees. In this example, the purple spiral therefore binds more strongly to the surface than the yellow one, as opposite spins "attract" each other (the red and green electrons with different spins sitting on top of each other). Graphic: Empa

CREDIT

Empa

JOURNAL

Advanced Materials

DOI

10.1002/adma.202308666 

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Meta-analysis

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

Not applicable

ARTICLE TITLE

Enantioselective Adsorption on Magnetic Surfaces

 

Mental health impaired internationally following the outbreak of war in Ukraine

International team led by Münster University researchers studies psychological consequences of the war

UNIVERSITY OF MÜNSTER

The outbreak of Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine almost two years ago led internationally to a collective downturn in people’s sense of well-being – irrespective of age, gender, political views or any other attributes which the people questioned had. However, individual personality traits play a decisive role as regards the issue of recovering from the shock. These are the results of a study carried out by an international team of researchers headed by psychologists Julian Scharbert and Prof. Mitja Back from the University of Münster (Germany). The study was based on around 45,000 individual surveys taking in 1,300 people from 17 European countries, with over 50 researchers involved. The results of the study have now been published in the journal “Nature Communications”.

The study, carried out between late 2021 and summer 2022, made it possible to look at the course of the moods which the interviewees experienced day by day in the weeks surrounding the outbreak of war. “Normally, it isn’t possible to examine such impactful events in a precise timeframe and, at the same time, with such a wide geographical reach,” is how Mitja Beck sees the importance of the study. The data are “unique”, he says. The researchers concentrated on people in Europe, in a two-month period round about the outbreak of war on 24 February 2022.

The most important results in brief:

• The measurable collective mental stress is larger than after the nuclear catastrophe in Fukushima in 2011 and after the Covid lockdown in 2020.
• In the period surveyed, people in Europe had a significantly lower sense of well-being than those in the rest of the world.
• The survey gives no indication of any connection between levels of concern and active solidarity, for example through donations or taking part in demonstrations.
• A deterioration in the average level of mental health was observed on days on which the war had a particularly strong presence in the social media.

The study focusing on mental health adds a further dimension to the debate on the humanitarian, political, and economic consequences of the war. While people’s well-being was stable before the war broke out, there was a collective downturn on the day of the Russian invasion. When they looked at the question of people’s recovery from this shock, however, the researchers came across systematic differences. “In comparison with people who had a stable personality, those who had a more vulnerable and less stable personality hadn’t recovered a month after the beginning of the war,” explains Julian Scharbert, a PhD student and lead author of the study.

“In addition to the obvious consequences of the war, such as the flow of refugees and disrupted supply chains, there are less obvious dimensions: the impact of daily news and images on the psyche,” Scharbert points out. “Our data indicate that political and social players should focus on mental health in times of crisis too – especially in the case of people who are in any case more vulnerable to stress,” he says. People in Ukraine and Russia have probably been subject to much higher levels of stress – but no data are available for these countries.

---

JOURNAL

Nature Communications

DOI

10.1038/s41467-024-44693-6 

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Meta-analysis

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

People

ARTICLE TITLE

Psychological well-being in Europe after the outbreak of war in Ukraine

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

20-Feb-2024

 

Fasting-like diet lowers risk factors for disease, reduces biological age in humans

USC study shows how cycles of a fasting-mimicking diet reduce insulin resistance, liver fat, immune system aging, and biological age in clinical trial patients

Peer-Reviewed Publication

UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA

Cycles of a diet that mimics fasting can reduce signs of immune system aging, as well as insulin resistance and liver fat in humans, resulting in a lower biological age, according to a new USC Leonard Davis School of Gerontology-led study.

The study, which appears in Nature Communications on Feb. 20, adds to the body of evidence supporting the beneficial effects of the fasting-mimicking diet (FMD).

The FMD is a five-day diet high in unsaturated fats and low in overall calories, protein, and carbohydrates and is designed to mimic the effects of a water-only fast while still providing necessary nutrients and making it much easier for people to complete the fast. The diet was developed by the laboratory of USC Leonard Davis School Professor Valter Longo, the senior author of the new study.

“This is the first study to show that a food-based intervention that does not require chronic dietary or other lifestyle changes can make people biologically younger, based on both changes in risk factors for aging and disease and on a validated method developed by the Levine group to assess biological age,” Longo said.

Previous research led by Longo has indicated that brief, periodic FMD cycles are associated with a range of beneficial effects. They can:

• Promote stem cell regeneration
• Lessen chemotherapy side effects
• Reduce the signs of dementia in mice

In addition, the FMD cycles can lower the risk factors for cancer, diabetes, heart disease and other age-related diseases in humans.

The Longo lab also had previously shown that one or two cycles of the FMD for five days a month increased the healthspan and lifespan of mice on either a normal or Western diet, but the effects of the FMD on aging and biological age, liver fat, and immune system aging in humans were unknown until now.

Lower disease risks & more youthful cells

The study analyzed the diet’s effects in two clinical trial populations, each with men and women between the ages of 18 and 70. Patients who were randomized to the fasting-mimicking diet underwent 3-4 monthly cycles, adhering to the FMD for 5 days, then ate a normal diet for 25 days.

The FMD is comprised of plant-based soups, energy bars, energy drinks, chip snacks, and tea portioned out for 5 days as well as a supplement providing high levels of minerals, vitamins, and essential fatty acids. Patients in the control groups were instructed to eat either a normal or Mediterranean-style diet.

An analysis of blood samples from trial participants showed that patients in the FMD group had lower diabetes risk factors, including less insulin resistance and lower HbA1c results. Magnetic resonance imaging also revealed a decrease in abdominal fat as well as fat within the liver, improvements associated with a reduced risk of metabolic syndrome. In addition, the FMD cycles appeared to increase the lymphoid-to-myeloid ratio – an indicator of a more youthful immune system.

Further statistical analysis of the results from both clinical studies showed that FMD participants had reduced their biological age – a measure of how well one’s cells and tissues are functioning, as opposed to chronological age – by 2.5 years on average.

“This study shows for the first time evidence for biological age reduction from two different clinical trials, accompanied by evidence of rejuvenation of metabolic and immune function,” Longo said.

The study, conducted by first authors Sebastian Brandhorst, USC Leonard Davis research associate professor, and Morgan E. Levine, founding principal investigator of Altos Labs and USC Leonard Davis PhD alumna, lends more support to the FMD’s potential as a short-term periodic, achievable dietary intervention that can help people lessen their disease risk and improve their health without extensive lifestyle changes, Longo said.

“Although many doctors are already recommending the FMD in the United States and Europe, these findings should encourage many more healthcare professionals to recommend FMD cycles to patients with higher than desired levels of disease risk factors as well as to the general population that may be interested in increased function and younger age,” Longo said.

--

About the study

Along with Longo, Brandhorst and Levine, the study’s coauthors include Min Wei, Mahshid Shelechi, Todd E. Morgan, Eileen Crimmins and Pinchas Cohen of the USC Leonard Davis School; Krishna S. Nayak of the USC Viterbi School of Engineering; and Tanya Dorff and Kurt Hong of the Keck School of Medicine of USC.

Funding was provided by the USC Edna Jones chair fund to Longo, in addition to NIH/NIA 4R00AG052604-02 to Levine, NIH/NIA 1R01AG060110-01 to Levine and Crimmins, and the Yale PEPPER Center P30AG021342 to Levine. Longo is the founder of and has an ownership interest in L-Nutra; the company’s food products are used in studies of the fasting-mimicking diet. Longo’s interest in L-Nutra was disclosed and managed per USC’s conflict-of-interest policies. USC has an ownership interest in L-Nutra and the potential to receive royalty payments from L-Nutra. USC’s financial interest in the company has been disclosed and managed under USC’s institutional conflict-of-interest policies.

---

JOURNAL

Nature Communications

DOI

10.1038/s41467-024-45260-9 

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Randomized controlled/clinical trial

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

People

ARTICLE TITLE

Fasting-mimicking diet causes hepatic and blood markers changes indicating reduced biological age and disease risk

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

20-Feb-2024

COI STATEMENT

Funding was provided by the USC Edna Jones chair fund to Longo, in addition to NIH/NIA 4R00AG052604-02 to Levine, NIH/NIA 1R01AG060110-01 to Levine and Crimmins, and the Yale PEPPER Center P30AG021342 to Levine. Longo is the founder of and has an ownership interest in L-Nutra; the company’s food products are used in studies of the fasting-mimicking diet. Longo’s interest in L-Nutra was disclosed and managed per USC’s conflict-of-interest policies. USC has an ownership interest in L-Nutra and the potential to receive royalty payments from L-Nutra. USC’s financial interest in the company has been disclosed and managed under USC’s institutional conflict-of-interest policies.

 

Road to better performing batteries using less critical raw materials

TU Delft researchers have developed a battery containing fewer critical materials, which can charge quickly, store a relatively large amount of energy and last longer

Peer-Reviewed Publication

DELFT UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY

 

IMAGE: 

DELFT RESEARCHERS TAKE NEXT STEP TOWARDS BETTER BATTERIES WITH WIDELY AVAILABLE MATERIALS

view more 

CREDIT: TU DELFT

A paper was recently published in Nature Energy by Marnix Wagemaker and Alexandros Vasileiadis in collaboration with researchers from the Chinese Academy of Sciences, on fast-charging Na-ion batteries and improvements made to the negative electrode. These can be made from organic materials. This reduces the dependence on rare materials that do not come from Europe. 

Full article Origin of fast charging in hard carbon anodes (Nature Energy, (2024)

Plus point: cathode also improved
The Delft researchers have also improved the other side and published about it. This article in Nature Sustainability Fast-charge high-voltage layered cathodes for sodium-ion batteries details the development of a new positive electrode, based on design principles they published in Science in 2020, Rational design of layered oxide materials for sodium-ion batteries.
From these design principles, a material has been designed that combines the best of two possible structures: high energy density is combined with fast charging. As an added bonus, the material appears to change its structure very gradually during charging and discharging, making it last even longer. It also contains no cobalt as is still common in Li-ion cathodes.

Next steps
Thanks to the growing knowledge about these battery materials the third Growth Fund project sustainable battery technology the next step will be prepared. In it, in addition to Li-ion batteries research, Na-ion research will also be addressed nationally. The battery research will be further expanded, allowing this technology to be applied to national and European markets. 

---

JOURNAL

Nature Sustainability

DOI

10.1038/s41893-024-01266-1 

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Experimental study

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

Not applicable

ARTICLE TITLE

Fast-charge high-voltage layered cathodes for sodium-ion batteries

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

20-Feb-2024