Paris (France) - Water is vital for human and economic development, and for maintaining ecosystems. However, billions of people lack access to water and sanitation services, mainly due to poor governance and inadequate investment and maintenance. The situation is becoming more urgent due to increasing pressure, competition and even conflict over the use of water resources.The OECD has been working for many years to address these challenges. The results of recent work are summarised in this report, which emphasises the economic and financial aspects of water resources management and water service provision, the need for an integrated approach (including governance considerations) to address these complex policy challenges, and the importance of establishing a firm evidence base to support policy development and implementation. This report examines: strategic financial planning for water supply and sanitation that balances the key resources of revenues for the water sector - the "3Ts" of taxes, tariffs and transfers; the design and implementation of water pricing strategies that balance financial sustainability with other policy objectives; recent development in private sector participation in the water sector; and trends and the future outlook of water use in agriculture. It considers both developing and OECD countries and offers concrete recommendations and checklists for action. The report is an invaluable resoruce for policy makers, academics, NGOs and all others interested in the challenges facing the water sector today. http://www.oecd.org/waterhttp://www.oecd.org/document/16/0,3343,en_2649_37465_42289488_1_1_1_37465,00.html

Helsinki (FI) – The ECHA progress report 2009 released on March 1st 2010 evidenced that several submitted dossiers are biased by repeated errors/omissions. REACH Regulation foresees that substances produced or imported in quantities of 1 tonne or more per year (per company, manufacturers and importers) shall be registered through a dossier submitted to ECHA.In the year 2009 the Agency received 406 complete registration dossiers, slightly more than expected. In 2008 the complete dossiers were 10 and until the deadline of November 30th 2010 a total of approx. 30,000 dossiers are expected. The evaluation of 35 of them was initiated. Twenty seven compliance checks and eight examinations of testing proposals were undertaken. Fourteen compliance checks were concluded and in seven cases a letter requiring further information to bring the dossier in compliance with information requirements in REACH was sent to the registrant. In all other cases the compliance check was closed without further action. The key findings related to the most common problems found in the submitted dossiers are listed in the report:The identity of the registered substance and the substance used for testing were not clearly describe(precise composition and impurities). Testing was omitted based on inappropriate or poorly justified scientific arguments. The summaries of test reports did not include enough detailed information. Shortcomings related to the risk assessment and the recommended risk management measures. Omission of the classification and labelling information specified by the CLP Regulation. As a consequence, ECHA included in the report a detailed series of recommendations for registrants on information requirements (substance identity, adaptation of the standard testing regime and robust study summaries), on risk assessment and risk management and on the classification and labelling according to the CLP-Regulation.Companies are urged to go through the list of recommendations in the report and are also advised to deeply analyse the legal requirements and the relevant guidance or manuals to improve the quality of the dossiers. The Agency also organises introductive webinars to these topics. http://echa.europa.eu/doc/progress_report_2009.pdf

The REACH Regulation for Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals entered into force on 1st June 2007. REACH joins in one single Regulation replacing them something like 40 pieces of previous legislation. In addition, REACH complements, without overlapping or entering in conflict with them, other regulations like the ones on cosmetics or on detergents and related legislation. REACH makes industry bear most responsibilities to manage the risks posed by chemicals and provide appropriate safety information to their users. All manufacturers and importers of chemicals must identify and manage risks linked to the substances they manufacture and market. For substances produced or imported in quantities of 1 tonne or more per year per company, manufacturers and importers need to demonstrate that they have appropriately done so by means of a registration dossier, which shall be submitted to ECHA. Once the registration dossier has been received, the Agency may check that it is compliant with the Regulation and shall evaluate testing proposals to ensure that the assessment of the chemical substances will not result in unnecessary testing, especially on animals. REACH specifies three independent evaluation processes to meet three distinct objectives: · Compliance check is used to check whether the information submitted by registrants is in compliance with the legal requirements. At least 5 % of the registration dossiers must be checked. · Examination of testing proposals to avoid unnecessary animal testing. Registrants must seek permission to undertake certain tests by submission of a testing proposal. All testing proposals are examined. · Substance evaluation aims to clarify whether the use of a substance may cause harm to human health or the environment. Prioritised substances are evaluated. Where appropriate, authorities may also select substances for a broader substance evaluation to further investigate substances of concern. REACH also foresees an authorisation system aiming to ensure that substances of very high concern are adequately controlled, and progressively substituted by safer substances or technologies or only used where there is an overall benefit for society of using the substance. These substances will be prioritised and over time included in Annex XIV. Once they are included, industry will have to submit applications to the Agency on authorisation for continued use of these substances. In addition, EU authorities may impose restrictions on the manufacture, use or placing on the market of substances causing an unacceptable risk to human health or the environment.Manufacturers and importers must provide their downstream users with the risk information they need to use the substance safely. This will be done via the classification and labelling system and Safety Data Sheets (SDS), where needed. The scopes of REACH are: · The improvement the protection of human health and the environment from the risks that can be posed by chemicals;· The enhancement of the competitiveness of the EU chemicals industry;· The promotion of alternative methods for the assessment of hazards of substances;· Ensuring the free circulation of substances on the internal market of the European Union. http://echa.europa.eu/http://ec.europa.eu/environment/chemicals/reach/reach_intro.htmhttp://ec.europa.eu/enterprise/sectors/chemicals/reach/index_en.htm

Origami is the antique and very refined traditional Japanese art of paper folding. Since the unveiling of the structure of DNA by Watson and Crick in 1953 it became soon evident that DNA could assume different structures on the base of its sequence like kinks or bends. Moreover, the Watson-Crick complementary base pairing mechanism offers features of self assembly and of specific structure formation which are unique in nature. On this basis Paul W.K. Rothemund, a senior research fellow at the Computation and Neural Systems department at Caltech, developed a technique known as “DNA origami” which was first published on Nature in 2006. In this paper the Author describes the way in which DNA is suitable due to its peculiar properties to develop a bottom-up fabrication system. These systems exploit the intrinsic properties of atoms and molecules to direct their self organization – a mechanism commonly exploited in nanotechnologies. DNA Molecules, thanks to their sequence specific binding properties offer a very attractive model. The author was able to assemble single stranded DNA molecules (7000 bases long single-stranded M13 virus genomes) into arbitrary 2xD shapes drafting a scaffold held in place by specific oligonucleotides used as staples. In this way it was possible to design specific structures simply determining how to position the oligonucleotides to hold them together. More details and pictures can be found here: http://www.dna.caltech.edu/~pwkr/DNAorigami-supp1.linux.pdf and http://www.dna.caltech.edu/~pwkr/DNAorigami-supp2.pdf . The patterns are able to self assemble in a suitable solution (by simply denaturing and renaturing a DNA solution) and to form, on the basis of the design of the oligonucleotides specific structures like, e.g. Squares, disks, stars, smileys or even a map of both American continents! The designed structures can be directly observed using several different techniques like atomic force microscopy or fluorescence microscopy. This straightforward technique is of a simplicity that is stunning, in some way it’s like knitting a cloth.DNA origami offer an incredible range of possible applications and several researches are underway to investigate all possible applications. In fact, DNA Origami is thought to have several potential applications in the field of drug delivery, enzyme immobilization, self assembly of materials for nanotechnology, applications in advanced computing to make switches, etc. One limitation of DNA origami is given by the size. In fact, DNA origami are 2xD structures which have a limit of approximately 100nm due to the length of the single-stranded DNA molecules employed (the M13 virus). Moreover it is not easy to produce high amounts of longer ssDNA molecules. Some recent studies have tried to show how it could be possible to create more complex structures with DNA origami, i.e. how to scale them up. A recent research by researchers of the Arizona State University demonstrated that it is possible to build up bigger structures using DNA “tiles” made up by a single DNA origami. These tiles can then be further assembled into a greater structure. Another group of researchers from Denmark and Germany were able to assemble a nanoscale box with a controllable lid of 42 x 36 x 36 nm3 and therefore were able to expand 2xD DNA origami in the third dimension. The study was published on Nature.A research group in Boston also working on DNA nano-assembly was able to specifically twist and curve parallel DNA helices working on the DNA sequences and was able to build different types of intricate nanostructures, such as a wireframe beach ball or square-toothed gears, by assembling multiple curved elements.Several other studies can be found in literature demonstrating how DNA could be exploited beyond its “traditional” function of carrier of the genetic information. http://www.dna.caltech.edu/~pwkr/ P.W.K. Rothemund Folding DNA to create nanoscale shapes and patterns Nature Vol. 440, pp. 297-302 (2006) Z. Zhao, H. Yan, Y. Liu A Route to Scale Up DNA Origami Using DNA Tiles as Folding Staples Angewandte Chemie International Edition Vol. 49 , P. 1414 – 1417 (2010) E. S. Andersen, M. Dong, M.M. Nielsen, K. Jahn, R. Subramani, W. Mamdouh, M. M. Golas, B. Sander, H. Stark, C. L. P. Oliveira, J. Skov Pedersen, Vi.. Birkedal, F. Besenbacher, K. V. Gothelf & J. Kjems Self-assembly of a nanoscale DNA box with a controllable lid Nature Vol. 459, pp. 73-76 (2009) H. Dietz,. S. M. Douglas,.W. M. Shih Folding DNA into Twisted and Curved Nanoscale Shapes Science Vol. 325, pp. 725–730 (2009)

Brussels – On March 2nd 2010 the European Commission announced the end of the more than decennial moratorium of the cultivation of GMOs for commercial and industrial exploitation in Europe. Besides this the Commission also announced its intention to come up with a proposal to allow more decisional power to Member States in deciding whether to cultivate or not GMOs on their territory.The current European Regulatory framework on GMOs is based on the following pillars. Precautionary principle, case-by-case evaluation, traceability form-farm-to-fork, post-marketing monitoring, consumer’s right to be informed and to choose and finally coexistence between conventional and novel crops. The decision to allow Member States to decide whether to cultivate or not GMOs on their territory is a follow-up of the pressing requests of several Member States and of several European Regions to have more decisional power in these decisions. Until now, Member States have blocked GM cultivations on their territory invoking the safeguard clauses foreseen in the Regulatory Framework with consequences on the entire EU. This substantial change is subsequent to the two decisions on the “Amflora” (BASF) genetically modified potato which authorised both its cultivation in the EU for industrial use, and the use of Amflora's starch by-products as feed. The decision is subsequent to the favourable safety assessment carried out by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) in Parma, Italy. After a comprehensive authorisation procedure, which started in 2003, and repeated favourable scientific opinions, the Commission decided to authorise Amflora. This GM potato is to be used for the production of starch that is suitable for industrial applications (e.g. paper production). The decision also provides for strict cultivation conditions to prevent the possibility that GM potatoes will remain in the fields after harvest and to ensure that Amflora's seed will not be inadvertently disseminated into the wider environment. A complementary authorisation was taken in order to cover the by-products of the starch extraction when they are used as feed.The presence of an antibiotic resistance marker gene in the GM starch potato was a major source of preoccupations and was subject to the highest scrutiny to exclude the risk of an eventual spread of the resistance marker into the environment.The Amflora potato (event EH92-527-1) was notified by the company Amylogene on August 1996 in Sweden HB. The Amflora potato was subsequently taken over by BASF, Germany, from Amylogene, Sweden. EH92-527-1 is a modified “Prevalent” variety of Solanum tuberosum modified to contain a starch fraction consisting of at least 98% of amylopectin. The GM potato, not for food and feed uses, is intended for the production of raw material for the starch industry and the cultivation should occur without contamination with other starch potatoes since the clone will be used for the production of a specific starch quality. As a by-product of starch production, potato pulp could be used as cattle feed by farmers. The event was obtained through Agrobacterium tumefaciens mediated transformation on cut leaf tissue. Two traits were inserted in the potato: the nptII (Neomycin Phosphotransferase) gene, which confers resistance to various aminoglycoside antibiotics, including kanamycin, neomycin and G418 (geneticin). The second trait consists in a reduced production of amylase thanks to an antisense construct of the gbss (Granule Bound Starch Synthase) gene. The antibiotic resistence gene is set under the control of the constitutive plant nopaline synthase promoter (Pnos) while the gbss antisense gene is set under the control of the gbss promoter (Pgbss). The scope of the antibiotic resistance is the selection of transformed plants. The gbss antisense gene is used to inhibit the expression of the endogenous gbss gene and thereby reduce the amount of amylose in the tuber by interrupting its metabolic pathway.The genetic modification has caused a reduced expression of the potatoes endogenous gbss and as a result, the content of amylose in EH92-527-1 is 2% compared to approximately 15% for the parent variety Prevalent and the content of amylopectin is 98% compared to approximately 85% in Prevalent. The introduction of nptII has also resulted in that EH92-527-1 has received a resistance against kanamycin and possible also against neomycin and geneticin.Molecular analysis shows that potato EH92-527-1 contains two partial copies of the DNA fragment, i.e. the insert, including the flanking region, was duplicated in reverse orientation and joined tail-to-tail. This is present at a single locus in the nuclear genome of the GM plant. The GMO Panel of the EFSA is of the opinion that bioinformatic analysis of the DNA insert and flanking regions indicates no cause for concern, and that sufficient evidence for the stability of the insert structure was provided. Moreover, the scientific assessment included examination of the DNA inserted into potato EH92-527-1, the nature and safety of the modification in protein expression in the plants with respect to toxicology and allergenicity. Furthermore, a comparative analysis of agronomic traits and composition as well as the safety of the food/feed was evaluated. http://europa.eu/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=IP/10/222&format=PDF&aged=0&language=EN&guiLanguage=frhttp://www.gmo-compass.org/pdf/regulation/potato/EH92-527_potato_2001_snif_summary.pdfhttp://www.gmo-compass.org/pdf/regulation/potato/EH92-527_potato_2001_snif_assessment-swe.pdfhttp://www.gmo-compass.org/pdf/regulation/potato/EH92-527_potato_assessment_EFSA_2001_18.pdfhttp://www.gmo-compass.org/pdf/regulation/potato/EH92-527_potato_draft_decision_2001_18.pdfhttp://www.gmo-compass.org/eng/gmo/db/17.docu.html

A joint IUPAC/IUPAP Working Party (JWP) has confirmed the discovery of the element with atomic number 112. In accord with IUPAC procedures, the discoverers proposed a name, copernicium, and symbol, Cn, for the element. The IUPAC Inorganic Chemistry Division Committee recommended this proposal for acceptance, and it has now been approved by the IUPAC Bureau as delegated to act by the IUPAC Council meeting on 12 August 2007.http://media.iupac.org/publications/pac/asap/pdf/PAC-REC-09-08-20.pdf

Madison (USA) - The spread of avian H5N1 influenza viruses around the globe has become a worldwide public health concern. To evaluate the pathogenic potential of reassortant viruses between currently cocirculating avian H5N1 and human H3N2 influenza viruses, a greoup of researchers of the Influenza Research Institute, School of Veterinary Medicine, University of Wisconsin-Madison, generated all the 254 combinations of reassortant viruses between A/chicken/South Kalimantan/UT6028/06 (SK06, H5N1) and A/Tokyo/Ut-Sk-1/07 (Tok07, H3N2) influenza viruses by reverse genetics. Authors found that the presence of Tok07 PB2 protein in the ribonucleoprotein (RNP) complex allowed efficient viral RNA transcription in a minigenome assay and that RNP activity played an essential role in the viability and replicative ability of the reassortant viruses. When the pathogenicity of 75 reassortant H5 viruses was tested in mice, 22 were more pathogenic than the parental SK06 virus, and three were extremely virulent. Strikingly, all 22 of these viruses obtained their PB2 segment from Tok07 virus. Further analysis showed that Tok07 PB1 alone lacked the ability to enhance the pathogenicity of the reassortant viruses but could do so by cooperating with Tok07 PB2. Data demonstrate that reassortment between an avian H5N1 virus with low pathogenicity in mice and a human virus could result in highly pathogenic viruses and that the human virus PB2 segment functions in the background of an avian H5N1 virus, enhancing its virulence. These findings highlight the importance of surveillance programs to monitor the emergence of human H5 reassortant viruses, especially those containing a PB2 segment of human origin. Chengjun Li, Masato Hatta, Chairul A. Nidom, Yukiko Muramoto, Shinji Watanabe, Gabriele Neumann, and Yoshihiro Kawaoka Reassortment between avian H5N1 and human H3N2 influenza viruses creates hybrid viruses with substantial virulence P.N.A.S. Published online before print. (February 2010)

Orlando (FL—USA) - Henry Daniell and colleagues from the Department of Molecular Biology and Microbiology, College of Medicine, University of Central Florida in Orlando developed stable lines of transgenic tobacco and lettuce plants expressing in their chloroplasts a construct joining the cholera toxin-B subunit (CTB) of Vibrio cholerae to malarial vaccine antigens apical membrane antigen-1 (AMA1) and merozoite surface protein-1 (MSP1). Southern blotting analysis demonstrated the stable integration of the transgenes in the chloroplast genome (*) and the fact that all chloroplats in the plant cell were transformed (homoplasmy). The fusion proteins expressed by the chloroplasts accumulated in tobacco and lettuce at considerable levels with respect to the total soluble proteins in the plant cells. Significant levels of antigen-specific antibody titres of immunized mice completely inhibited proliferation of the malarial parasite and cross-reacted with the native parasite proteins in immunoblots and immunofluorescence studies. The efficacy of the novel vaccine was tested in nine groups of 10 mice which were immunized either subcutaneously or orally with purified antigens or transgenic tobacco leaves. The immunisation studies revealed that dual immunity against the two major infectious diseases provided by chloroplast-derived vaccine antigens for long-term (>300 days, i.e. the 50% of mouse life span) offers a realistic platform for low cost vaccines and novel insight into mucosal and systemic immunity. The use of transgenic plants for the production of vaccines is a cheap and promising technique which will allow the production of high amounts of vaccine in a relatively short time with a relatively simple equipment. To this regard it is worth noticing that Dr. Daniell’s group already produced two vaccines against anthrax and black plague. Moreover, the possibility to administer orally offers the opportunity to immunize people with simple pills or other ways without the need to purify the proteins, store them and deliver them in a sterile way via injection. Cholera and malaria are major diseases causing high mortality. The only licensed cholera vaccine is expensive; immunity is lost in children within 3 years and adults are not fully protected. No vaccine is yet available for malaria.The study was published on the Plant Biotechnology Journal. (*) Chloroplasts (in plants) and mitocondria (in plants and animals) are cytoplasmic organelles of the cell deputed to important aspects of the energetic metabolism. Both organelles have an own genome, external to the main genome contained in the cell nucleus. The endosymbiotic theory postulates that both mitocondria and chloroplasts were bacteria which penetrated in the cell cytoplasm establishing a symbiotic relationship with the cells: nutrients and protection for the capability of an energetic metabolism. A. Davoodi-Semiromi, M.Schreiber, S.Nalapalli, D.Verma, N.D. Singh, R. K. Banks, D. Chakrabarti and H. Daniell (2010) Chloroplast-derived vaccine antigens confer dual immunity against cholera and malaria by oral or injectable delivery . Plant Biotechnology Journal Vol. 8, Pp. 223 - 242.

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - India proposed on Friday a small tax on production of coal to raise millions of dollars for a National Clean Energy Fund that could help the world's fourth biggest polluter to shift to a low-carbon economy.India's growing economy has huge potential to shift to a low-carbon future, given that about 500 million Indians, or about half the population, do not have access to electricity, relying on fossil fuels such as coal to expand the power grid.With global focus now on how developing countries tackle the use of fossil fuels -- an imperative in the fight against climate change -- measures such as taxing coal could underscore India's actions in the battle against global warming.Presenting the country's 2010/11 budget, India's finance minister proposed levying a "clean energy cess" of 50 rupees ($1) on every tonne of coal produced in the country or imported."While we must ensure that the principle of 'polluter pays' remains the basic guiding criteria for pollution management, we must also give a positive thrust to development of clean energy," Pranab Mukherjee told parliament.India's coal production is expected at more than 570 million tonnes for 2010/11, raising the possibility of hundreds of millions of dollars for the corpus of the national clean energy fund.India, the world's fourth largest greenhouse gas emitter though still low on per-capita emissions, is under pressure to cut pollution to battle climate change while demand for power increases as its middle class clamors for more cars, TVs and housing.India has set a goal for slowing the growth of its greenhouse gas emissions, saying it was willing to rein in its "carbon intensity" -- the amount of carbon dioxide (CO2) emitted per unit of economic output -- by between 20 and 25 percent by 2020, from 2005 levels.Mukherjee also sought to boost solar energy sector, proposing custom duty cut of five percent and exemption from federal factory gate taxes for solar power generating machinery.The news buoyed shares in Indian firms, including Moser Baer and XL Telecom & Energy which make solar panels or have plans to do so.Renewable energy accounts for barely 8 percent of India's total capacity of about 150,000 megawatts but the government aims to double green power generation to 25,000 megawatts in four years.

Dortmund (D) – The REACH Regulation and the Seventh Amendment of the Cosmetics Directive created an unprecedented need for alternatives to animal testing in Europe. On one side the REACH Regulation requires a huge testing effort to overcome the lack of safety assessment data for all new chemicals and approximately 30.000 already existing compounds. On the other side the Seventh Amendment of the Cosmetics Directive is stepwise banning animal testing for safety assessment of cosmetic products or ingredients to reach a total ban in 2013. Within this context, a group of researches from the Institute for Analytical Sciences, the Leibniz Research Centre for Working Environment and Human Factors - both in Dortmund - and from the University of Konstanz (Germany) were able to set-up an easy and reliable assay to test chemicals for their neurotoxicity. Standard protocols for neurotoxic risk assessment involve the use of in vivo rodent models. This approach is lengthy, resource intensive and requires many animals, making it impractical for the screening large numbers of chemicals.The novel test, called network formation assay (NFA), is based on the monitoring of human neurones placed in monolayer in a hexagonal array for the outgrowth of neurites resulting in the formation of an interconnected neuronal network. The essential feature of this assay consists in being able to pattern neurons in precise arrays on the growth substrate. This was possible using used a novel cell patterning technique involving thin film poly(dimethylsiloxane) (PDMS) microcontact printing. Differentiated human SH-SY5Y neuroblastoma cells colonized the array with high efficiency, reliably producing pattern occupancies above 70%. The neuronal array surface supported neurite outgrowth, resulting in the formation of an interconnected neuronal network. Exposure to acrylamide, a neurotoxic reference compound, inhibited network formation. A dose–response curve from the NFA was used to determine a 20% network inhibition (NI20) value of 260 µM. This concentration was approximately 10-fold lower than the value produced by a routine cell viability assay, and demonstrates that the NFA can distinguish network formation inhibitory effects from gross cytotoxic effects. Inhibition of the mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) ERK1/2 and phosphoinositide-3-kinase (PI-3K) signaling pathways also produced a dose-dependent reduction in network formation at non-cytotoxic concentrations.This novel technique could represent an advance in the field of high throughput screening in the field of neurotoxicology. http://www.rsc.org/delivery/_ArticleLinking/DisplayHTMLArticleforfree.cfm?JournalCode=LC&Year=2010&ManuscriptID=b922193j&Iss=Advance_Article

Tasmania (Australia) -Tasmanian Devil project represents one of many ongoing wildlife management research studies to use high-throughput Sequencing Systems to prevent devastation of earth’s diverse species and ecosystems. A study published in Science, reports that an international team of scientists has identified cells in the nervous system, called Schwann cells, to be the possible cause of the facial tumour disease which is decimating Australia’s Tasmanian devil population. Schwann cells make up a type of tissue that cushions and protects nerve fibres but, until now, had no known association with the cancer. The discovery stems from the team’s efforts to fully characterize the genes in Tasmanian devil tumour cells using transcriptome sequencing with the Genome Sequencer FLX System from 454 Life Sciences, a Roche Company. The findings may indicate new avenues for research to develop future diagnostic tools and treatments for this devastating disease. In order to identify the tissue of origin of the tumours, the team used the Genome Sequencer FLX System to sequence both diseased and healthy transcriptomes, the complete set of genes that are “turned on” in a specific cell. The researchers then compared gene expression results between the two tissues and found that the tumours’ genetic signature best matched that of Schwann cells found in the peripheral nerve. The underlying mechanism for how these nervous system cells spawned cancer cells is still unknown. The initiative represents one of a number of international efforts to fully characterize the Tasmanian devil genome using the 454 Sequencing Systems. www.roche.com

Norwich (UK) – The spreading of antibiotic resistance represents a major issue which can be overcome only by isolating and developing novel antibiotics and studying their mechanism of action. Moreover, targets within the bacterial metabolism must be identified for the efficient shutting down of bacteria. Simocyclinone is a bifunctional antibiotic derived from the soil actinomycete Streptomyces antibioticus that inhibit the bacterial enzyme DNA gyrase by preventing its binding to DNA. Scientists of the Department of Biological Chemistry, John Innes Centre in Norwich, were able to determine the crystal structure of the complex formed between the amino-terminal domain of the Escherichia coli gyrase A subunit and the antibiotic simocyclinone D8, revealing two binding pockets that separately accommodate the aminocoumarin and polyketide moieties of the antibiotic. These are close to, but distinct from, the quinolone-binding pocket where the class of synthetic quinolone antibacterial drugs binds. Several mutations falling in this region cause resistance to both quinolones and simocyclinone.Biochemical studies demonstrated that individually the aminocoumarin and polyketide moieties of the antibiotic are relatively weak inhibitors of DNA gyrase A if compared to the whole antibiotic: the combined moieties generate a more potent inhibitor. The researchers think that the binding pockets of DNA Gyrase A identified for the binding of simocyclinone could be exploited for the design and development of novel potent antibiotic molecules being less vulnerable to resistance against them. Having a dual binding mechanism has the advantage to reduce the effect of mutations leading to resistance in that it is highly improbable to have two coupled mutations affecting both binding sites. Marcus J. Edwards, Ruth H. Flatman, et al. A Crystal Structure of the Bifunctional Antibiotic Simocyclinone D8, Bound to DNA Gyrase. Science, Vol. 326. pp. 1415 - 1418 (2009).

Wageningen (NL) - A shortage of flu vaccines may soon become a problem of the past. Researcher Manon Cox has developed an alternative process for producing large quantities of safe and effective vaccines at twice to four times the usual speed. The process is based on using cells in bioreactors instead of fertilised chicken’s eggs, which have a limited availability. Manon Cox will be conferred with a PhD at Wageningen University, Netherlands, on 9 December on the strength of a thesis on this subject.The prompt availability of sufficient suitable vaccine is always a problem when facing the outbreak of a flu epidemic. At the moment, it takes three to six months to produce a vaccine to counter a new strain of flu virus using chicken’s eggs. Moreover, there is no possibility of expanding production capacity in the event of a pandemic as the limited availability of fertilised chicken’s eggs needed for production inevitably becomes an insurmountable problem. Cox’s new process demonstrates that it is possible to make a vaccine available in commercial quantities within 45 days. The new production method makes use of a baculovirus that multiplies only inside insect cells, and which cannot spread in vertebrates. The insect cells produce huge quantities of so-called HA proteins, which mobilise the immune system into fighting the flu virus.The aspect that most slows down the production of vaccine according to the conventional method is the need for fertilised chicken eggs. Furthermore, this creates extra problems if the flu virus is also capable of infecting birds (as was the case in the Netherlands in 2003), as the egg production often grinds to a halt. In addition, the vaccines produced are not suitable for people with an egg allergy. The new production process using insect cells can be used on a large scale, at all times and simultaneously at various locations throughout the world. The process can easily be adapted to new influenza strains and enhance pandemic preparedness.Meanwhile, the new production process has already been put through clinical trials involving three different strains of flu virus in 460 healthy people. None of the test subjects injected with the vaccine developed symptoms of flu, while 4.6% of those taking part in the control group contracted the disease naturally. Three follow-on studies involving approximately 3,000 people showed no striking or frequent side-effects. The vaccine also appears to protect people from influenza viruses that have undergone genetic changes and in more than 50% of cases, it results in better antibody production than the flu vaccines currently available.Vaccines for the flu virus contain the HA protein (haemagglutinin) which, once in the bloodstream, puts the body in a state of high alert. The protein also stimulates the production of flu-specific antibodies. The same protein is found on the surface of a flu virus. When a vaccinated person encounters a flu virus , the antibodies produced attach to the proteins on the surface of the virus and inactivate the virus. http://www.wur.nl/

København (Denmark) – Already a week before the start of the 15th United Nations Climate Change Conference, the city Copenhagen was filled with posters renaming “Hopenhagen” the “city of hope” Copenhagen. Other posters placed by Greenpeace at the Kastrup Airport were showing the world leaders of today Mr. Obama, Mr. Sarkozy, Mr. Brown, Mr. Lula, Mr. Zapatero, Mrs. Merkel, etc. in 2020 saying “I am sorry. We could have stopped …”, while two ships of Greenpeace (the “Artic Sunrise” icebreaker and the “Beluga II” clipper) were already in the Port of the Nordic city on the Øresund. Besides these more visible and both dramatic and folkloristic aspects of the Conference, from December 7th to December 18th the delegations 192 countries and the Head of States of several of them will have the tremendously difficult task to find a compromise to pave the road towards a new agreement which should replace the Kyoto Protocols which will expire in 2012. It will not be easy to find a merger between the interests of the wealthiest countries, of the developing countries, of the highly developing BRIC countries and all other participants to get more sustainability and significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Several preparatory meetings were held this year to prepare this important conference. Expectations should not be too high. Head of the European Commission Mr. Barroso declared to the French TV Canal Plus: "I think there will be no treaty in Copenhagen. Some of our partners are not preparing for it", adding, "What we are trying to get is an agreement. Only after it is put under the pertinent law, the agreement will become a treaty".We, as spectators, will see what will happen, hoping all the best for our future.http://en.cop15.dk/http://ec.europa.eu/environment/climat/home_en.htm

Nanjing (P.R. China) – Scientists of the Nanjing University, Nanjing National Laboratory of Microstructure, were able to demonstrate that fullerene can activate molecular hydrogen and acts therefore as a novel nonmetal catalyst in hydrogenation reactions. The method was assessed employing the hydrogenation reaction of aromatic nitro compounds to amino aromatics. The reaction was driven with high conversion selectivity both at the pressure of 1 bar of H2 with UV-light irradiation at room temperature and at the pressure of 4-5 MPaH2 without UV-light irradiation at 120-160°C. The latter conditions are comparable to those employed in noble metal driven catalysis. Practically, hydrogen was bubbled at one bar of pressure through solution of nitrobenzene containing a small quantity of C60 at room-temperature, while irradiating with ultraviolet light. The yields of aniline were near to 100%.The finding that fullerenes are able to catalyze hydrogenation of aromatic compounds in a way comparable to noble metals may lead to the replacing of precious metals with carbon based molecules for catalysis. B. Li and Z. Xu. J. Am. Chem. Soc. On line first (2009)

Pasadena (CA, USA) – The researchers Aycan Yurtsever and Ahmed Zewail (the 1999 Nobel Price Laureate in Chemistry) of the Caltech, the California Institute of Technology, in Pasadena reported in an article published on Science that by means of Convergent-Beam Ultrafast Electron Microscopy (CB-UEM) they were able to observe and to follow over the time, i.e. in 4xD, Nanoscale Diffraction. The Convergent-Beam Ultrafast Electron Microscope is a modified transmission electron microscope interfaced with an ultrafast laser being able to collect over the time the three dimensional structural changes of molecules adding to 3xD imaging a fourth dimension. This kind of microscopy allows following in real time chemical structure changes. The microscope is emitting electron pulses in the range of femtoseconds (10^-15 seconds) which allow assembling the single frames to construct a digital movie of atomic scale motions. In this study the technique was adapted to electronic diffraction studies which until now could be used only on static samples or, in the case of non static samples only approximations could be made with a huge loss of information. The novel technique was assessed measuring the change of diffraction intensities in laser-heated crystalline silicon as a function of time and fluence. The structural dynamics (change in 7.3 ± 3.5 picoseconds), the temperatures (up to 366 Kelvin), and the amplitudes of atomic vibrations (up to 0.084 angstroms) were determined for atoms strictly localized within the confined probe area (10 to 300 nanometers in diameter). Authors declared in their article “We anticipate a broad range of applications for CB-UEM and its variants, especially in the studies of single particles and heterogeneous structures”. A.Yurtsever and A.H. Zewail. Science. Vol. 326, pp. 708 – 712 (2009).

Raleigh (North Carolina, USA) – A team of scientists lead by James C. Bonner, Department of Environmental and Molecular Toxicology, College of Agricultural and Life Sciences, North Carolina State University, published a letter on Nature Nanotechnology explaining a study on the effect of inhaled carbon nanotubes in mice. Carbon nanotubes can stimulate inflammatory reactions when injected into the abdominal cavity of mice. This fact raises concerns about the possibility that inhaled nanotubes may cause pleural fibrosis and/or mesothelioma. The study published by the group demonstrated that multiwalled carbon nanotubes are able to reach the subpleura in mice subsequent to a single inhalation exposure of 6 hours to 30 mg per cubic meter. After the exposure Nanotubes were found embedded in the subpleural wall and within the subpleural macrophages. Mononuclear cell aggregates on the pleural surface increased in number and size after 1 day and nanotube-containing macrophages were observed within these foci. Subpleural fibrosis unique to this form of nanotubes increased after 2 and 6 weeks following inhalation. On the contrary, no effects could be observed in mice when they were exposed to black carbon nanoparticles or when an exposure to lower levels of nanotubes was assessed (1 mg per cubic meter). As the authors of the study suggest, a prudent approach to nanotube handling apt to minimize inhalation should be taken into consideration at least as long as further long term exposure studies are conducted and completed. J.P. Ryman-Rasmussen, M.F. Cesta, et al. Nature Nanotechnology. On line first (2009).

Psycho-physical well being beauty, environment and health are values which nowadays are well known to be linked. The Island of Ischia, among the most famous and renewed travel destinations worldwide and also well known for its spa, is the obvious location to discuss about these topics. In fact, “The Second International Salon on Wellbeing - Viverein” (September 25th-27th) focused on “life quality among science and philosophy” was organised on the Island. Even if this initiative is relatively new, it immediately collected a huge success and a notable participation becoming a point of reference in the sector: 7000 people visited the 66 stands in the 1200 sqm of the ten swimming pools in the huge park where the event was located. Tens of speakers alternated during the three days of debate: scientists, physicians, biologists, sociologists, psychologists, cosmetologists, book authors and businessmen characterised the interdisciplinary work of the meeting. The topics ranged from food to sports, from beauty treatments to workplace safety, from non conventional medicines to thermal water and mud baths, from wellness technologies to environment protection, from the materialistic to psychological and cultural bases of wellbeing to several more highly specialised topics. The scientific research divulgation association “Insula Major” which organised the meeting had the support of several universities, public and private institutions. Excellence awards were given in disciplines concurring to the general wellbeing of humans, i.e. the emotional, mental, spiritual, physical, environmental, and social state. Awards for literature, music, medicine, food, and several other awards were given. Among these, our Editor in Chief Prof. Carla Scesa was awarded in the field of Cosmetics.

Madrid (Spain) - A first symposium on flow reactor technologies in industrial chemistry was organised on October 12th in Madrid by the journal Chemistry Today, edited by our editorial group, in coordination with the symposium sponsor, Corning SAS (Fontainebleau, France). Nineteen speakers from the industry and academia discussed the most recent applications and experiences from the world of continuous flow chemistry. Flow reactors represent a breakthrough in the field of industrial chemical synthesis, enabling fewer reagents, less discarded materials, high throughput, more efficiency, increased safety and reduced environmental impact. Conventional synthesis normally occurs in “batch” reactions where reagents are mixed and react in bulky vessels, often with byproducts that are wasted and sometimes, in the case of dangerous processes or highly toxic reagents, may represent a safety issue. Flow reactors continuously and efficiently stream chemicals together in a highly controlled manner. Given the high level of optimization, significant savings can be realized by bringing together fewer reagents to obtain the same amount of final product achieved by batch. The presentations were organised in four main sessions: Continuous Flow Reactors in Industrial Production; Best Practices for Continuous Flow Reactors; and Pumps, Control Systems and On-line Analysis. Additionally, two panel discussions were held on future field applications and on real world practical experiences. In the first two sessions and associated panel discussions, experts from Alfa Laval, Lonza, DSM, Sigma Aldrich, PCAS, Astra Zeneca, Corning and Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) covered industrial applications of flow chemistry. Many aspects were discussed, including economic impact, cGMP, design of multipurpose plants , and the integration of semi batch systems with continuous flow reactors. The associated panel discussion complimented these contributions by addressing topics identified through open interaction with attendees. The third session delved into best practices for continuous flow reactors as well as the design and conversion of traditional batch productions to continuous flow productions. Experts from Centre of Process Innovation (CPI) and Microinnova discussed the issue of whole process design, and the feasibility of production conversion. The second panel discussion put together experts from Corning, Siegfried, SNPE Matériaux Energétiques, Sanofi and Chemtrix, to provide practical experience from the industry. Batch and flow chemistry systems were compared, set-up examples provided, and pilot plants for green chemistry illustrated. Finally, experts from Fuji Techno Industries Corp., Zeton BV and the University of Washington provided the latest insights on pumps, control systems, and online analysis.“I found the symposium to be valuable and informative and a great opportunity to engage with leaders in this exciting new field. I look forward to attending next year’s event,’ said Martin Jönsson, Sales and Marketing Manager, Alfa Laval during the event’s closing reception. “We were very pleased by the sold out response and very engaged participation from more than 140 attendees representing 75 organizations and 20 countries at this first annual symposium”, said Gary Calabrese Senior Vice President, Corning Incorporated. “Based on this very strong reaction, we look forward to the opportunity to work with Teknoscienze in planning next year’s program.”http://chemistry-today.teknoscienze.com/lp/madrid_symposium.html

Stockholm (S)- 7 October 2009 - The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences has decided to award the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for 2009 jointly toVenkatraman Ramakrishnan, MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Cambridge,UK, Thomas A. Steitz, Yale University, New Haven, CT, USA and Ada E. Yonath, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, Israel, "for studies of the structure and function of the ribosome". The Nobel Prize in Chemistry for 2009 awards studies of one of life's core processes: the ribosome's translation of DNA information into life. Ribosomes produce proteins, which in turn control the chemistry in all living organisms. As ribosomes are crucial to life, they are also a major target for new antibiotics.This year's Nobel Prize in Chemistry awards Venkatraman Ramakrishnan, Thomas A. Steitz and Ada E. Yonath for having showed what the ribosome looks like and how it functions at the atomic level. All three have used a method called X-ray crystallography to map the position for each and every one of the hundreds of thousands of atoms that make up the ribosome.Inside every cell in all organisms, there are DNA molecules. They contain the blueprints for how a human being, a plant or a bacterium, looks and functions. But the DNA molecule is passive. If there was nothing else, there would be no life.The blueprints become transformed into living matter through the work of ribosomes. Based upon the information in DNA, ribosomes make proteins: oxygen-transporting haemoglobin, antibodies of the immune system, hormones such as insulin, the collagen of the skin, or enzymes that break down sugar. There are tens of thousands of proteins in the body and they all have different forms and functions. They build and control life at the chemical level.An understanding of the ribosome's innermost workings is important for a scientific understanding of life. This knowledge can be put to a practical and immediate use; many of today's antibiotics cure various diseases by blocking the function of bacterial ribosomes. Without functional ribosomes, bacteria cannot survive. This is why ribosomes are such an important target for new antibiotics.This year's three Laureates have all generated 3D models that show how different antibiotics bind to the ribosome. These models are now used by scientists in order to develop new antibiotics, directly assisting the saving of lives and decreasing humanity's suffering.Venkatraman Ramakrishnan, US citizen. Born in 1952 in Chidambaram, Tamil Nadu, India. Ph.D. in Physics in 1976 from Ohio University, USA. Senior Scientist and Group Leader at Structural Studies Division, MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Cambridge, UK.Thomas A. Steitz, US citizen. Born in 1940 in Milwaukee, WI, USA. Ph.D. in Molecular Biology and Biochemistry in 1966 from Harvard University, MA, USA. Sterling Professor of Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry and Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator, both at Yale University, CT, USA.Ada E. Yonath, Israeli citizen. Born in 1939 in Jerusalem, Israel. Ph.D. in X-ray Crystallography in 1968 from the Weizmann Institute of Science, Israel. Martin S. and Helen Kimmel Professor of Structural Biology and Director of Helen & Milton A. Kimmelman Center for Biomolecular Structure & Assembly, both at Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, Israel.http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/chemistry/laureates/2009/press.html

Stockholm (S) - 6 October 2009 - The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences has decided to award the Nobel Prize in Physics for 2009 with one half to Charles K. Kao, Standard Telecommunication Laboratories, Harlow, UK, and Chinese University of Hong Kong "for groundbreaking achievements concerning the transmission of light in fibers for optical communication" and the other half jointly to Willard S. Boyle and George E. Smith, Bell Laboratories, Murray Hill, NJ, USA "for the invention of an imaging semiconductor circuit – the CCD sensor".This year's Nobel Prize in Physics is awarded for two scientific achievements that have helped to shape the foundations of today’s networked societies. They have created many practical innovations for everyday life and provided new tools for scientific exploration. In 1966, Charles K. Kao made a discovery that led to a breakthrough in fiber optics. He carefully calculated how to transmit light over long distances via optical glass fibers. With a fiber of purest glass it would be possible to transmit light signals over 100 kilometers, compared to only 20 meters for the fibers available in the 1960s. Kao's enthusiasm inspired other researchers to share his vision of the future potential of fiber optics. The first ultrapure fiber was successfully fabricated just four years later, in 1970.Today optical fibers make up the circulatory system that nourishes our communication society. These low-loss glass fibers facilitate global broadband communication such as the Internet. Light flows in thin threads of glass, and it carries almost all of the telephony and data traffic in each and every direction. Text, music, images and video can be transferred around the globe in a split second.If we were to unravel all of the glass fibers that wind around the globe, we would get a single thread over one billion kilometers long – which is enough to encircle the globe more than 25 000 times – and is increasing by thousands of kilometers every hour.A large share of the traffic is made up of digital images, which constitute the second part of the award. In 1969 Willard S. Boyle and George E. Smith invented the first successful imaging technology using a digital sensor, a CCD (Charge-Coupled Device). The CCD technology makes use of the photoelectric effect, as theorized by Albert Einstein and for which he was awarded the 1921 year's Nobel Prize. By this effect, light is transformed into electric signals. The challenge when designing an image sensor was to gather and read out the signals in a large number of image points, pixels, in a short time. The CCD is the digital camera's electronic eye. It revolutionized photography, as light could now be captured electronically instead of on film. The digital form facilitates the processing and distribution of these images. CCD technology is also used in many medical applications, e.g. imaging the inside of the human body, both for diagnostics and for microsurgery. Digital photography has become an irreplaceable tool in many fields of research. The CCD has provided new possibilities to visualize the previously unseen. It has given us crystal clear images of distant places in our universe as well as the depths of the oceans.Charles Kuen Kao, British and US citizen. Born 1933 in Shanghai, China. Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering 1965 from Imperial College London, UK. Director of Engineering at Standard Telecommunication Laboratories, Harlow, UK. Vice-chancellor, Chinese University of Hong Kong. Retired 1996.Willard Sterling Boyle, Canadian and US citizen. Born 1924 in Amherst, NS, Canada. Ph.D. in Physics 1950 from McGill University, QC, Canada. Executive Director of Communication Sciences Division, Bell Laboratories, Murray Hill, NJ, USA. Retired 1979.George Elwood Smith, US citizen. Born 1930 in White Plains, NY, USA. Ph.D. in Physics 1959 from University of Chicago, IL, USA. Head of VLSI Device Department, Bell Laboratories, Murray Hill, NJ, USA. Retired 1986.http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laureates/2009/index.html

Stockholm (S) - 5 October 2009 - The Nobel Assembly at Karolinska Institutet has decided to award The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2009 jointly to Elizabeth H. Blackburn, Carol W. Greider and Jack W. Szostak for the discovery of "how chromosomes are protected by telomeres and the enzyme telomerase".This year's Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine is awarded to three scientists who have solved a major problem in biology: how the chromosomes can be copied in a complete way during cell divisions and how they are protected against degradation. The Nobel Laureates have shown that the solution is to be found in the ends of the chromosomes – the telomeres – and in an enzyme that forms them – telomerase. The long, thread-like DNA molecules that carry our genes are packed into chromosomes, the telomeres being the caps on their ends. Elizabeth Blackburn and Jack Szostak discovered that a unique DNA sequence in the telomeres protects the chromosomes from degradation. Carol Greider and Elizabeth Blackburn identified telomerase, the enzyme that makes telomere DNA. These discoveries explained how the ends of the chromosomes are protected by the telomeres and that they are built by telomerase.If the telomeres are shortened, cells age. Conversely, if telomerase activity is high, telomere length is maintained, and cellular senescence is delayed. This is the case in cancer cells, which can be considered to have eternal life. Certain inherited diseases, in contrast, are characterized by a defective telomerase, resulting in damaged cells. The award of the Nobel Prize recognizes the discovery of a fundamental mechanism in the cell, a discovery that has stimulated the development of new therapeutic strategies.The chromosomes contain our genome in their DNA molecules. As early as the 1930s, Hermann Muller (Nobel Prize 1946) and Barbara McClintock (Nobel Prize 1983) had observed that the structures at the ends of the chromosomes, the so-called telomeres, seemed to prevent the chromosomes from attaching to each other. They suspected that the telomeres could have a protective role, but how they operate remained an enigma.When scientists began to understand how genes are copied, in the 1950s, another problem presented itself. When a cell is about to divide, the DNA molecules, which contain the four bases that form the genetic code, are copied, base by base, by DNA polymerase enzymes. However, for one of the two DNA strands, a problem exists in that the very end of the strand cannot be copied. Therefore, the chromosomes should be shortened every time a cell divides – but in fact that is not usually the case.Both these problems were solved when this year's Nobel Laureates discovered how the telomere functions and found the enzyme that copies it.Elizabeth H. Blackburn has US and Australian citizenship. She was born in 1948 in Hobart, Tasmania, Australia. After undergraduate studies at the University of Melbourne, she received her PhD in 1975 from the University of Cambridge, England, and was a postdoctoral researcher at Yale University, New Haven, USA. She was on the faculty at the University of California, Berkeley, and since 1990 has been professor of biology and physiology at the University of California, San Francisco.Carol W. Greider is a US citizen and was born in 1961 in San Diego, California, USA. She studied at the University of California in Santa Barbara and in Berkeley, where she obtained her PhD in 1987 with Blackburn as her supervisor. After postdoctoral research at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, she was appointed professor in the department of molecular biology and genetics at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore in 1997.Jack W. Szostak is a US citizen. He was born in 1952 in London, UK and grew up in Canada. He studied at McGill University in Montreal and at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, where he received his PhD in 1977. He has been at Harvard Medical School since 1979 and is currently professor of genetics at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston. He is also affiliated with the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/medicine/laureates/2009/press.html

London (UK) – Researchers of the Imperial College in London were able to develop a microfluidic format system to perform 2xD separations. The results were published on the journal Chemical Communications. 2xD separations play an important role in proteomics, genomics, metabolomics and a range of other biochemical fields. Several techniques exist to perform 2xD separations. In the field of proteomics several techniques based on polyacrilamide gel electrophoresis allow to separate and identify proteins in complex mixtures by separating them on the basis of the isoelectric point in the first dimension and of the molecular weight in the second dimension. These techniques are highly reproducible but require a high amount of work. In the era of high throughput techniques more fast and at least comparably reliable techniques are require. The problem is that transferring materials between two orthogonal dimensions has proved to remain a significant challenge. Several techniques coupling in different ways liquid chromatography and capillary electrophoresis have been already developed, but the challenge remains to have a high analytical performance coupling spatially and temporally two separation techniques and applying these on extremely small samples. The authors describe in their article a new approach for coupling two separation techniques (or mechanisms) using a dynamic microdroplet interface. In theory, this approach does not sacrifice resolution in any single dimension and allows analysis of nanolitre to femtolitre volumes without the need for valves. Droplets are made to spontaneously form when laminar streams of aqueous reagents are injected into an immiscible carrier fluid, either at a T junction or in a flow focusing geometry. Analyte molecules can be encapsulated and stored inside the droplets, without evaporation or contamination between droplets. Moreover, recent advances in microfluidic control architecture have also facilitated the precise temporal and spatial manipulation of single droplets and functions such as sorting, splitting and merging for complex analyses. The approach developed by the authors approach efficiently integrates both separation dimensions utilizes droplet generation after the first dimension with oil depletion and droplet merging prior to the second dimension. Authors claim that this combination forms a fully functional droplet connector for two-dimensional separations.N.Z. Niu, B. Zhang, et al. Droplet-based compartmentalization of chemically separated components in two-dimensional separations. Chem. Commun. On line first (2009).

Nagoya (Japan) – Researchers of the Department of Chemistry of the Nagoya University and of the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology of Tsukuba in Japan were able to synthesize ultrathin metal nanowires of single atom diameter (approx. 1,7 nm) inside carbon nanotubes. The research was published on the journal Angewandte Chemie (International Edition). The high yield synthesis was obtained by putting carbon nanotubes along with metal powder into glass tubes which are then heated at 500-600°C. The metal which are chosen usually sublime at a relatively low heat. Vaporized metal atoms fill up hollow centers of the nanotubes and solidify into wires. The thickness of wires can be varied by varying the width of carbon nanotubes and therefore it is possible to obtain nanowires of the diameter of one single atom. High quality nanotubes as starting material allowing the metal vapor can flow in smoothly and regularly are crucial to obtain up to 90% of filled nanotubes. The Nanotubes obtained by the research group were filled with europium and ytterbium, to low sublimination temperature metals. Other metals like samarium, potassium, rubidium, calcium and strontium are good candidate for the production of nanowired nanotubes. One open question remains: will the nanowires be stably inserted in the nanotube pipes or will they slip out? Atom-thin metal wires show many novel electronic properties. One major drawback is that they are extremely fragile and prone to oxidation. A carbon nanotube sheath would protect them efficiently allowing the measuring and the mapping of their peculiar properties. R. Kitaura, R. Nakanishi, et al. High-Yield Synthesis of Ultrathin Metal Nanowires in Carbon Nanotubes. Angewandte Chemie International Edition. On line first (2009).

Oxford (UK) – An international team of UK and US scientists developed a novel approach to perform the water−gas shift (WGS) reaction (CO + H2O ->CO2 + H2) exploiting catalysis operated by redox enzymes immobilised on conducting graphite platelets. The WGS reaction is of major industrial significance in the production of H2 from hydrocarbon sources and is conventionally performed at high temperatures, typically in excess of 200°C, using d-metal catalysts on oxide supports. Enzymes offer a cheap, fast and reliable alternative to perform several chemical reactions of industrial relevance. The team lead by Fraser Armstrong uncoupled the reaction in two half cell electrochemical reactions (the reduction of H+ and the oxidation of CO) by immobilizing two enzymes on conducting particles: the H+ reduction reaction is catalyzed by a hydrogenase, Hyd-2, from Escherichia coli, and CO oxidation is catalyzed by a carbon monoxide dehydrogenase (CODH I) from Carboxydothermus hydrogenoformans. The resulting enzyme assembly on conducting graphite platelets is able to act as a highly efficient heterogeneous catalyst with a turnover frequency, at 30 °C, of at least 2.5 s−1 per minimum functional unit (a CODH/Hyd-2 pair) which is comparable to conventional high-temperature catalysts. Until now it is questionable whether the process could be scaled up for industrial applications, but on the other hand it demonstrates once more the potentials of enzymatic reactions versus standard industrial processes. O. Lazarus, T. W. Woolerton, et al, Water−Gas Shift Reaction Catalyzed by Redox Enzymes on Conducting Graphite PlateletsJ. Am. Chem. Soc., On line first (2009).

Uppsala, Sweden – Researchers from the The Ångstrom Laboratory of the Uppsala University in Sweden describe in the journal Nano Letters a novel way to produce environmentally friendly rechargeable aqueous based all-polymer paper batteries. The batteries based on this material can be charged with currents as high as 600 mA cm−2 with only 6% loss in capacity over 100 subsequent charge and discharge cycles. Until now investigations on battery applications based on conducting polymers gave few exploitable results, because the functional charging rates and the cycling stabilities have so far been found to be insufficient for practical applications. Authors in their article state that “These shortcomings can, at least partially, be explained by the fact that thick layers of the conducting polymers have been used to obtain sufficient capacities of the batteries”. The novel batteries are based on cellulose fibers of algal origin, which are assembled to form a nanostructured high surface area electrode coated with a 50 nm thin layer of polypyrrole and which show the until now highest reported charge capacities and charging rates for an all polymer paper-based battery. The composite conductive paper material is shown to have a specific surface area of 80 m2 g−1 and exhibit charge capacities between 25 and 33 mAh g−1 or 38−50 mAh g−1 per weight of the active material, open up new possibilities for the production of environmentally friendly, cost efficient, up-scalable and lightweight energy storage systems, as the authors state in their article. Gustav Nystroem, Aamir Razaq, et al. Ultrafast All-Polymer Paper-Based Batteries. Nano Letters. On line first (2009)

Zurich (CH), Utrecht (NL) - Atomic Force Microscopy, developed in the ’80, exploits the deflection of nanoscale tips employed to scan surfaces. The resolution of this techniques is so high to allow to visualize single atoms and is used for studies of matter at the nanoscale level. Despite the high resolution, until now several limits didn’t allow to easily resolve single atoms within adsorbed structures. To this regard, the authors state that: “The scanning tunneling microscope images atomic-scale features on surfaces, but resolving single atoms within an adsorbed molecule remains a great challenge because the tunneling current is primarily sensitive to the local electron density of states close to the Fermi level”. The team of scientists was for the first time able to visualize all the atom positions and bonds of a single molecule, pentacene, including its hydrogens. This achievement was possible by probing the short-range chemical forces, i.e. the van der Waals and electrostatic forces, with use of noncontact atomic force microscopy . This allowed to reduce the diffused background of previous imaging experiments. L. Gross, F. Mohn, et al. The Chemical Structure of a Molecule Resolved by Atomic Force Microscopy. Science, Vol. 325, pp. 1110 – 1114 (2009).

Mülheim and Potsdam Golm (D) – Scientists of the Max Plank Society in Germany described a new catalyst able to catalyse the low temperature oxidation of methane to methanol. The selective oxidation reaction starting methane and sulfuric acid (oleum) is promoted by a newly designed solid catalyst working at 200°C of temperature. Conventional employed procedures require temperatures of more than 600°C. The new solid catalyst is formed in a covalent triazine-based framework formed by trimerization of 2,6-dicyanopyridine in a ZnCl2 melt which possesses bipyridine units as coordination sites for platinum. The catalyst depicts a high activity and is easily separable from the reaction mixture. Moreover, the catalyst can be reused for several times without a significant loss of activities. Converting methane in the more easily and more safely transportable methanol employing an economic way and with a higher selectivity compared to conventional methods confers important economical advantages to the new methodology. R. Palkovits, M. Antonietti et al. Solid Catalysts for the Selective Low-Temperature Oxidation of Methane to Methanol. Angewandte Chemie International Edition, Vol. 48 pp. 6909-6912 (2009).

Urbana-Champaign (IL, USA). Aptamers are short DNA strands able to recognise and bind specific tridimensional structures like e.g. specific proteins. This feature makes aptamers an ideal candidate for site specific delivery of antitumoral drugs. These highly toxic drugs have notoriously strong side effects as they hit healthy cells as well as cancerous cells. A key challenge has been to find a way to deliver them exclusively to the target cells without affecting healthy cells. Yi Lu and co-workers at the University of Illinois, were able to specifically target liposome packaged drugs, and, for the first time, were able to tune the drug delivery by disrupting the targeting ability of the molecules.Cisplatin, a highly potent anti-cancer drug depicting substantial side effects, was packaged in liposomes and conjugated to aptamers specific for nucleolin, a protein primarily known as a nuclear and cytoplasmic protein. Recent studies have shown that nucleolin exists also in a form expressed at the cell surface of exponentially growing cells such as cancer cells. The aptamer mediated delivery system is able to specifically target cultivated breast cancer cells. Moreover, the delivery system can be switched off using DNA sequences complementary to the sequence of the aptamer. The hybridization to the complementary DNA of the aptamer abolishes the ability of the aptamer to specifically recognize nucleolin and therefore to bind it. Zehui Cao, Rong Tong, et al. Reversible Cell-Specific Drug Delivery with Aptamer-Functionalized Liposomes. Angewandte Chemie International Edition On-line first (2009)

Tokyo (Japan) – A group of researchers of the Waseda University in Tokyo led by S. Takeoka prepared a free-standing polysaccharide nanosheet by using a spin-coating-assisted layer-by-layer method. The sheet can be transferred from silicone rubber onto human skin fabricating a three-layered nano-adhesive plaster with a water-soluble sacrificial layer. By using this novel technique, conventional ultrathin films can be made without the need for a solid substrate. Nanosheets were made of poly(L-lactic acid).(PLLA) which, along with other polyesters, is clinically applied in drug delivery or to produce degradable stitches. Until now no ultra thin foils have been produced. The researchers formed 23nm thick sheets by spin-coating PLLA on a silicon dioxide substrate and then transferred them to a supporting poly(vinyl alcohol) film. After taping across surgical incision sites, they dissolved the supporting films in saline, leaving just the nanosheets. Having scarless healing is of particular importance in the healing of internal incisions: but internal scarring can also lead to painful and sometimes dangerous adhesions, involving areas of tissue that should remain separate and that could become joined by scar tissue. The new material also appears to reduce the risk of these adhesions. Experiments were performed on mice stomachs which when stitched normally showed evidence of adhesion after a week. When stomachs were sealed with nanosheets there were no adhesions, and very little scarring. This application is only experimental and a major challenge will be represented by the adaptation of the technique from mice to bigger animals and men where the tension across scars is definitively higher. T. Fujie, Y. Okamura, S. Takeoka Ubiquitous Transference of a Free-Standing Polysaccharide Nanosheet with the Development of a Nano-Adhesive Plaster. Advanced Materials Vol. 19, pp. 3549 – 3553.

Cold Spring Harbor, (NY, USA)- The woolly mammoth, also called the tundra mammoth (Mammuthus primigenius), mostly extincted at the end of Pleistocene, i.e.10,000 years ago, even if some reminders dating 4,000 back have been found. Recent paleogenomic studies have successfully recovered genetic information from both the mitochondrial and nuclear genomes of this extinct species. Mammoths belong to Afrotheria, a group of mammals exhibiting extreme morphological diversity and large genome sizes. In a study published on Genome Research, scientists of the Pennsylvania State University led by Dr. Stephan Schuster analysed the mammoth genome looking for retrotransposons, i.e. mobile DNA elements interspersed throughout the genome, revealing new insights into how some of these elements arose in mammals and shaped the genome of an animal headed for extinction. Transposable elements, or transposons, are DNA sequences that can "jump" around the genome, causing mutations and contributing to expansion of the genome through duplications of entire regions of it. They account for a significant fraction of the genome of mammalians and some of them are still active, i.e. able to transpose throughout the genome. In Homo sapiens around 44% of the genome is composed of interspersed repeated DNA sequences. Sequencing data reveal that the mammoth genome is composed of 4,7 billions of bp, approximately 1,5 times the size of the human genome. In the study they found that the mammoth genome contains a larger proportion of interspersed repeats than any other mammalian genome reported so far. Authors suggest that the proliferation of the RTE family of retrotransposons (covering 12% of the genome) may be the main reason for an increased genome size. Phylogenetic analysis showed that RTEs in mammoth are closely related to the family BovB/RTE. BovB family of repeats is particularly interesting in that its distribution throughout the mammalians is inconsistent with the theoretical reconstructed lineages. It is conceivable that RTEs in mammoth may be acquired through an ancient lateral gene transfer event, i.e. that they were not inherited but passed from one species to the other. A recent proliferation of SINEs was also found in the probocidean lineage, whereas the Afrotherian-wide SINEs in mammoth have undergone a rather flat and stepwise expansion. Comparisons of the transposable elements (TEs) between mammoth and other mammals may shed light on the evolutionary history of TEs in various mammalian lineages.F. Zhao, J.Qi and S.C. Schuster, Tracking the past: Interspersed repeats in an extinct Afrotherian mammal, Mammuthus primigenius. Genome Res., On-line first (2009).

Riverside (CA, USA) Seoul (Korea) – The group led by Yadong Yin at the University of California in Riverside, published a paper on the Journal of the American Chemical Society about the production of magnetochromatic microspheres. Superparamagnetic (SPM) colloidal particles of iron oxide were embedded inside emulsion droplets of UV curable resin. The instant assembly of the microspheres was ensured by an immediate UV curing process apt to polymerize the droplets and fix the ordered structures. The beads can be oriented with the application of a magnetic field. The change of the order of the microspheres results in a change of the diffraction scheme and is leading to different diffraction colours. Authors explain that: “When dispersed in the liquid droplets, superparamagnetic Fe3O4@SiO2 core/shell particles self-organize under the balanced interaction of repulsive and attractive forces to form one-dimensional chains, each of which contains periodically arranged particles diffracting visible light and displaying field-tunable colours”, this allows to align before polymerization the particles and fix them: “UV initiated polymerization of the oligomers of the resin fixes the periodic structures inside the droplet microspheres and retains the diffraction property”. Consequently, different diffractive colors can be obtained, by changing the orientation of the crystal lattice relative to the incident light using magnetic fields. Microspheres are very stable and the response to magnetic fields is very fast. Several applications can be imagined like the fabrication of colour displays, rewritable signs, or sensors. To do this authors have fabricated a display unit that has on/off bistable states by embedding the magnetochromatic microspheres in a matrix that can thermally switch between solid and liquid phases.J. Ge, H. Lee, et al. Magnetochromatic Microspheres: Rotating Photonic Crystals J. Am. Chem. Soc.,On-line first (2009)

Berkeley (CA, USA) – A research published by Dino Spagnoli and colleagues at the Earth Science Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, on the journal Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta show that in aqueous solutions, the size and shape of mineral particles influence the structure of the first few layers of water on their surfaces, which represents an important determinant of reactivity. In the case of nanoparticles, the structure of water around them is difficult to probe directly, compared to macroscopic surfaces. Researchers used molecular dynamics simulations to investigate the effects of particle size and morphology on the time-averaged structure and the dynamics of water molecules around two sizes of common iron-oxide mineral hematite (α-Fe2O3) nanoparticles. The water order and layering around the particle decreased for particles of decreasing size. The residence time of water molecules near the surface was shorter for smaller, less-crystalline nanoparticles than for larger nanoparticles or a bulk hematite surface: 1.6 and 2.7 nm particles were both predicted to cause the formation of ordered water regions close to the nanoparticle surface. The extent of localization and ordering, the connectivity between regions of bound water, and the rates of molecular exchange between inner and outer regions are all affected by particle size and morphology. Faceted particles or low curvature particles tended to preferentially stabilize the water network and in some cases caused faceting within the water layer itself. The dynamic nature of the water shell surrounding environmental nanoparticles probably influences the energetics of crystal growth and may help explain why some surface processes—including heterogenous catalysis, bacterial metal respiration, and ion adsorption—show trends that vary with particle size. Authors conclude that “These findings are anticipated to be relevant to understanding the rates of interfacial processes involving water exchange and the transport of aqueous ions to surface sites”.D.Spagnoli, B.Gilbert, et al. Prediction of the effects of size and morphology on the structure of water around hematite nanoparticles, Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta, Vol. 73, On-line first (2009).

Utrecht, Enschede (NL), Ghent (B) – Dr. Jacqueline Alblas and colleagues evaluated the application of hydrogels tissue engineering and innovative strategies such as organ printing where cells are deposited on 3D hydrogel scaffolds. Hydrogel requisites for 3D printing are: 1) preservation of the printed shape after the deposition; 2) they must maintain cell viability and cell function and 3) easy handling of the printed construct.The researchers prepared a polymer hydrogel material fluid enough to be used in a printing device. The hydrogel can be converted into stable structures which can be handled. Stem cells able to begin the process of tissue generation within the scaffolds were incorporated into the hydrogels. A novel, photosensitive hydrogel (Lutrol) for printing of 3D structured bone grafts was assessed. The fast temperature-responsive gelation ability of thermosensitive Lutrol-F127, ensuring organized 3D extrusion, and the additional stability provided by covalent photocrosslinking allowed the handling of the printed scaffolds. Cytotoxicity of the hydrogel and osteogenic differentiation of embedded osteogenic progenitor cells were investigated. After photopolymerization of the modified Lutrol hydrogel, cells remained viable for up to three weeks and retained the ability to differentiate in bone tissue. Moreover encapsulation of cells does not compromise the mechanical properties of the formed gels and multilayered porous Lutrol structures were successfully printed.The cell-laden hydrogel is printed as a long strand, which can be built up into multi-layered structures, explained Dr. Alblas. “We made a layer of strands, then a cross-hatched layer on top of that to build upwards, but you can also print circles to make tubes”. “By combining different structures impregnated with different types of cells, it should be possible to build much more complex structures such as tissue grafts that have blood vessels built into them”, she added.N.E. Fedorovich, I. Swennen, et al. Evaluation of Photocrosslinked Lutrol Hydrogel for Tissue Printing Applications, Biomacromolecules, On-line first (2009)

Ispra (I) – The fiftieth anniversary of the Joint Research Centre (JRC), the biggest Directorate General (DG) of the European Commission was celebrated in Ispra, Italy, by European Commissioner Dr. Janez Potočnik, and the Director General of the JRC Dr. Roland Schenkel during the “open doors” initiative on May 16th 2009. More than 8500 people could access the 160 hectare of the site of Ispra and directly interact with the scientists of the research plant. The history of the JRC begins with the Treaties of Rome of 1958 which instituted two of the three European Communities, i.e. the European Economic Community (EEC) and the European Atomic Energy Community (EAEC or Euratom). In year 1959 the experimental atomic reactor “Ispra 1” was inaugurated. Now, 50 years later, the atomic installations are decommissioned and the JRC, which is also present in the sites of Karlsruhe (D), Brussels and Geel (B) Petten (NL) and Seville (ES), hosts the following Scientific Institutes: the Institute for the Protection and the Security of the Citizen (IPSC), the Institute for Transuranium Elements (ITU), the Institute for Reference Materials and Measurements (IRMM), the Institute for Environment and Sustainability (IES), the Institute for Health and Consumer Protection (IHCP), the Institute for Energy (IE) and the Institute for Prospective Technological Studies (IPTS). The main scope of the JRC is to provide technical and scientific support to the development and the implementation of the EU policies, having as its stakeholders, in last analysis, the Citizens of the European Union. As it is stated by the JRC: "The mission of the JRC is to provide customer-driven scientific and technical support for the conception, development, implementation and monitoring of EU policies. As a service of the European Commission, the JRC functions as a reference centre of science and technology for the Union. Close to the policy-making process, it serves the common interest of the Member States, while being independent of special interests, whether private or national."ec.europa.eu/dgs/jrc

Beijing (China) - Shoushan Fan and his colleagues of the Tsinghua-Foxconn Nanotechnology Research Center at Tsinghua University, Beijing, China, published a research on the Journal Advanced Materials on the development of a new type of incandescent display made of thin layers of highly aligned multi-walled carbon nanotubes (CNTs). The prototype displays were constructed from films of superaligned multiwalled carbon nanotubes consisting of concentric stacks of three to ten tubes with diameters ranging from 6 to15 nm which were prepared using a variant of the chemical vapour deposition method the scientist previously developed. The analysis with scanning electron microscopy showed that the nanotubes in their thin, transparent films were super-aligned, i.e., arranged almost perfectly parallel, and with a uniform density. Using screen printing and laser cutting, an incandescent CNT film array that can dynamically display Chinese characters was fabricated. Short pulses of voltage (20V) stimulate the films which glow at a temperature of 1542 K producing a brightness up to 6400 cd m-1. The time needed to switch the light on or off was less than one millisecond each way, i.e. faster than that of liquid crystal displays (LCDs). Moreover, the light is non-polarised, and consequently it can be seen equally well from any angle. The incandescence experiments were conducted in a high vacuum. Authors believe that the vacuum may not be necessary for practical applications and the filling of screens with inert gases (e.g. Nitrogen or Argon) could prevent carbon nanotubes from being burnt at the high operating temperature. P. Liu, L. Liu et al, Advances in Advance: Fast High-Temperature Response of Carbon Nanotube Film and Its Application as an Incandescent Display, Adv. Mater., On-line first, 2009

Tokyo (Japan) – Scientists from the Waseda University, Tokyo, Japan, published on the Journal Energy & Environmental Science an article on the development of novel tiny fuel cells of a membraneless, air-breathing and monolithic design which they call “on-chip fuel cells”. Cells are pump-free microchannel-based cells and use oxygen from the air as oxidant. Their design is very simple with the two electrodes made in a single substrate. The development was triggered by the progresses in micro-devices like micro-sensors or lab-on-a-chip which inevitably require the development of suitable micro-power sources: several research groups are miniaturising conventional fuel cells but they are until now not compatible with other micro-devices. Tetsuya Osaka and his colleagues investigated the feasibility of the use of ethanol and isopropanol as fuel alternatives to the conventional toxic methanol solution for on-chip fuel cells. In addition the use phosphate buffer was assessed to realize safe operation under neutral pH conditions. Cells operated not only on methanol but also on ethanol and on isopropanol both under acidic and neutral conditions. These results indicate that the on-chip fuel cell is flexible to fuel solution: the most adequate solutions can be chosen on the basis of the application scope of cells. For example, methanol is suitable for applications requiring long life because of its characteristic propensity to be oxidized to carbon dioxide. A neutral ethanol solution is suitable for applications requiring safety, and this fuel is attractive as a renewable energy source. 2-Propanol is suitable for applications prioritizing power because of the higher power of a cell operating on this fuel.S.i Tominaka, H. Nishizeko, et al. On-chip fuel cells for safe and high-power operation: investigation of alcohol fuel solutions, Energy Environ. Sci., On-line first, 2009

Prage (cz) – During the two days meeting “Research Connection 09” organised in Prague by the European Commission Prof. Frantisek Stepanek of the Institute of Chemical Technology in Prague, Czech Republic, presented an update on his research project CHOBOTIX. The aim of the project is to develop chemical processing systems based on the principle of swarm robotics. This principle was inspired by the behaviour of collective organisms like bees or ants, being able to perform complex tasks by the combined action of a large number of relatively simple identical agents. Such simple chemical active autonomous entities could be seen as very simple micro organisms (without the ability to self replicate) which perform simple chemical reactions. A chemical processing entity is composed of few defined elements. 1. An outer shell or membrane being both soft (a flexible membrane) and hard (a porous outer shell); 2. a system allowing the transport into and out of the shells of reagents and products and a system allowing to control it; 3. internal compartmental sub-structures allowing the storage of reagents and/or products and “hosting” the chemical reactions itself; 4. a system providing the collective behaviour of swarm robots and tuning their response to external stimuli. Several applications in different areas are possible for such robots: including next generation distributed chemical processing, synthesis and delivery of personalised drugs, recovery and concentration of valuable chemicals from diluted solutions, environmental clean-up, etc. A possible application is the customized targeting of high potency drugs synthesising robots in patients. Specific robots containing innocuous precursors of high potency drugs could synthesise the required amounts of drugs after having specifically recognised and anchored to their target cells delivering at the right place the required amount of drug considerably reducing their averse side effects experienced with other delivery methods.www.vscht.cz/chobotics

Prage (cz) – During the two days meeting “Research Connection 09” organised in Prague by the European Commission Dr. Bruno Canard of the University of Marseille, France, presented an update on the VIZIER project involving several partners from all Europe co-financed by the European Commission. The scope of VIZIER is to identify new drug targets against RNA viruses through a comprehensive structural characterisation of a diverse set of viruses. RNA viruses include something like 350 major human pathogens and most of the agents of emerging or re-emerging diseases like, gastroenteritis, measles, influenza, dengue fever, enteroviruses, encephalitis, hepatitis C virus, etc. The devastating economic impact of viruses was recently demonstrated by the SARS outbreak or the more recent swine flu alarm. RNA viruses have the peculiarity to depict a very high mutation rate as a consequence of the fact that no RNA repair mechanisms to correct mutations or replication errors exist in cells. Conventional antiviral drug development is based on the characterisation of virus structures and genomes, a time consuming process which doesn’t allow quick responses in the case of a sudden epidemic outbreak. The VIZIER approach focuses on RNA viruses not including DNA stages in their replicative cycle. The enzymes of the RNA replication machinery are extremely attractive targets for drug development. The VIZIER Consortium is characterising the structure of core replicative enzymes among 300 carefully selected viruses, including strains of medical interest to identify several putative targets for drugs which will be developed against them. The VIZIER project is a huge effort involving five main scientific sections: Bioinformatics for genome analysis and target selection, virus production and sequencing, protein production, protein crystallisation and structural analysis and, last but not least, target validation. This approach allows the development of several efficient drugs against several virus strains or classes prior to new viral outbreaks. www.vizier-europe.org

Our journals were proudly invited by the DG-Research of the European Commission to take part to the event. During the European Council held in march 2000 in Lisbon, the Member States of the European Union decided to make the EU "the most dynamic and competitive knowledge-based economy in the world capable of sustainable economic growth with more and better jobs and greater social cohesion, and respect for the environment by 2010". The “Lisbon Strategy” was born. Within this frame, several programs, structures and agencies were created to implement the agenda. The creation of an European Research Area (ERA) is underway to respond to the need to integrate research programs and to stimulate Europe wide cooperation among research institutions, industry and SMEs. Framework programs are the main instrument the European Commission (EC) uses to co-finance research, technological development and demonstration projects. The current Framework Program is the seventh (FP7): it started on 2007 and will last until 2013 with a total budget of 50 billion of Euro. A substantial increase with respect to previous programs. Grants aredetermined on the basis of calls for proposals and a peer review process, which are highly competitive. Moreover, activities funded from FP7 must have a “European added value”, i.e. they must be transnational research projects carried out by consortia including participants from different European countries (plus third countries). Fellowships in FP7 require mobility over national borders. Main goals of FP7 are to strengthen the scientific and technological base of European industry and to encourage its international competitiveness, while promoting research supporting EU policies.The Research Connection 09, organized in Prague by the Czech Presidency of the EU, presented several success stories of projects financed under the FP6 and the FP7 in the thematic areas Health, Food and Food Safety, Biotechnology, Environment, New Materials and Processes, Space & Security, Energy, Information Society, Science Economy, Science and Society, Science Ethics, Science Communication, ERA Nets, Transport, Euratom, Joint Research Centre and many more. The event brought together something like 2000 people: scientists, industrialists, research managers, members of the EC and the press. Besides a dense program of specific parallel sessions a series of press conferences were organized to present to the press several researches, their results and possible practical applications and implications. An exhibition with over 50 stands of sectors of the European Commission involved with research, companies, research institutions, research clusters and consortia financed by the FP6 or FP7 completed the event. The event was inaugurated at the Congress Centre of Prague, near the castle of Vyšehrad, by the EU Commissioner for Science and Research Mr. Janez Potočnik and the Czech Vice Minister of Education, Youth and Sports Mr. Vlastimil Růžička. In his speech Mr. Potočnik made the point on the stage of the seventh Framework Program and its achievements.“There is no alternative to better collaboration in European Research", said Mr. Potočnik, adding "We are facing new threats, and new global challenges. It is up to us in the research community - both the "new" and "old", the "big" and "small" Member States - to adapt and build a new EU sustainable and profitable research ecosystem. We need to connect". During his analysis the Commissioner pointed out that only 10% of the 36.000 FP7 applications received until now came from the EU-12 countries, i.e. those countries which joined the Union on and after May 1st 2004. Mr. Potočnik thinks that the causes of this level of participation being far lower to the share of these countries with respect to the total of research workforce in the EU-27 is mainly due to the poor networks and connections. The Vice Minister Mr. Růžička on his side, pointed out how important it is to make careful choices when financing research, which should ultimately serve to increase the amount of money spent on developing human potential. Mr. Jeremy Rifkin, president of the Foundation on Economic Trends, held the inaugural lecture providing a picture of our environmental, economics and energy crises and suggested a visionary perspective of a “third industrial revolution” (3IR): “What’s required now is a new economic vision that can address the enormity of this moment in history” he claimed, adding that “a third industrial revolution must get underway very quickly if we are to stave off some of the more dire consequences of global warming”. According to Mr. Rifkin economic revolutions have all been made possible by technological breakthroughs along with advances in communications allowing to share knowledge. It is now possible to realize 3IR thanks to major advances in renewable energies, to the grid technology and to satellite and wireless communications technologies. To achieve a breakthrough a revolution of the entire existing infrastructure (energy, housing, transport, manufacture, etc.) will be necessary. Decentralizing the infrastructures is the key point of Mr. Rifkin’s solution: renewable energies (solar, eolic, geothermic, etc.), which are universally distributed, can merge with internet and other communication technologies that are also distributed, to create a novel model of non centralized energy production. As an example, each house could be adapted to collect power from various sources and feed it back into the grid when an excess of power is produced or gain energy from it in the case less energy is produced. One major problem is represented by the huge cost of such revolution, which, as Mr. Rifkin stated, will run into the trillions, and the endeavour will need to be paid for by a combination of public and private funding. According to Mr. Rifkin, the EU is emerging as a major leader in this third industrial revolution. With its firm commitment to renewable energies and its investment in hydrogen energy storage technology, it is, Mr Rifkin said, “leading the world in sustainability”.Florian Weighardt, Teknoscienze Srlec.europa.eu/research/conferences/2009/rtd-2009/index_en.cfmcordis.europa.eu/fp7/