Scientists at the University of York were part of a research team which found that a recently-discovered family of enzymes can degrade resistant forms of starch.
Earlier research established that the enzymes – lytic polysaccharide monooxygenases (LPMOs) – are able to degrade hard-to-digest biomass into its constituent sugars. Now they have been shown to have the ability to ‘chip away’at other intractable materials such as resistant forms of starch.
New treatment
A new drug, which is being tested, is allowing some patients with terminal diagnosis to maintain a good standard of life. Rucaparib is a type of drug known as a PARP inhibitor and was initially developed in a collaboration between Newcastle University and Cancer Research UK after Rucaparib was derived from research by Roger Griffin and Bernard Golding in the School of Chemistry.
Old remedy
A one thousand year old Anglo-Saxon remedy for eye infections which originates from a manuscript in the British Library has been found to kill the modern-day superbug MRSA in a research collaboration at The University of Nottingham. Dr Christina Lee, an Anglo-Saxon expert from the School of English has enlisted the help of microbiologists fromUniversity’s Centre for Biomolecular Sciencesto recreate a 10th century potion for eye infections from Bald’s Leechbook an Old English leatherbound volumein the British Library, to see if it works as an antibacterial remedy.
