RSC Advances Blog

Let’s talk good bacteria, and I don’t mean the kind in your yoghurt. No, I’m talking the kind in your concrete. Fear not, it is not a new breakfast craze. E. coli-based bioconcrete materials have been around for some time now, imbuing properties that allow cracks in the concrete to heal, improving the strength and durability of this material and also all lovely and green – reducing the overall energy cost and carbon dioxide generated in comparison to conventional processes.

Writing in RSC Advances, Manas Sarkar and co-workers have made the good bacteria even better by taking a gene from a bacterium that survives in hot springs, thriving at around 65 ˚C, amplifying it by PCR and implanting it in E. coli bacteria, engineering a unique strain. The gene in question is a silica leaching gene, which has previously been reported to impart higher compressive strength and durability. They add the gene into E. coli as these bacteria are easy to handle, effective at ambient temperatures and more efficient economically.

Concrete samples with the modified bacteria were shown to be 30% stronger than the control, thought to be in part a result of the protein producing a new silicate phase that fills the matrices of micropores in the material.

So, while you may think it a good idea to slather that crack in your ceiling with some probiotic yoghurt from the fridge – stand fast. The smarter bioconcrete is coming.

To find out more, click below to read the full article in RSC Advances.

Development of an improved E. coli bacterial strain for green and sustainable concrete technology
Manas Sarkar, Nurul Alam, Biswadeep Chaudhuri, Brajadulal Chattopadhyay and Saroj Mandal
RSC Adv., 2015, 5, 32175-32182

Sarah Brown is a guest web-writer for RSC Advances. Sarah hung up her lab coat after finishing her PhD and post-doctorate in nanotechnology for diagnostics and therapeutics and now works in academic publishing. When not trying to explain science through ridiculous analogies, you can often find her crocheting, baking or climbing, but not all at once.

Soil bacteria communities become richer and more diverse on exposure to graphene oxide, new research shows.¹ This unexpected finding, unearthed by scientists in China, highlights that despite graphene oxide’s potential for widespread environmental release, little is known about its ecological impact.

Digging deeper into the environmental impact of nanomaterial contamination © Shutterstock

Graphene oxide’s abundance of surface oxygen-containing groups makes it a useful precursor to the graphene-based materials poised to revolutionise electronics and nanoproduct industries. Soil ecosystems will likely bear the brunt of nanomaterial contamination and while previous studies have looked at graphene oxide’s effect in pure bacterial cultures, soil is a much more complicated medium with diverse microbial communities that demand closer investigation. Now a team led by Xiangang Hu and Qixing Zhou’s of Nankai University has studied the effects of graphene oxide in the soil for 90 days using high-throughput sequencing analysis.

To read the full article visit Chemistry World.

Graphene oxide regulates the bacterial community and exhibits property changes in soil
Junjie Du, Xiangang Hu and Qixing Zhou  
RSC Adv., 2015,5, 27009-27017
DOI: 10.1039/C5RA01045D, Paper

Although catalytic converters are crucial in the fight against air pollution, they do release palladium into the environment © Shutterstock

Genetically modified Escherichia coli can synthesise a protein that could work as a palladium biosorbent to recover the precious metal from polluted water, new research shows. 

Catalytic converters are hugely important for controlling car exhaust fumes but small amounts of the palladium, and other platinum group elements, that form their main active component are leaking into and contaminating the environment. ‘Global palladium resources are scarce,’ warns sustainability expert Magdalena Titirici, of Queen Mary University of London, UK, who was not involved in the study. ‘Therefore recovering noble metals such as palladium from the urban environment using low cost and environmentally friendly adsorbents is of major importance.’

To read the full article visit Chemistry World.

Designed biomolecule–cellulose complexes for palladium recovery and detoxification
Ian Sofian Yunus and Shen-Long Tsai  
RSC Adv., 2015,5, 20276-20282
DOI: 10.1039/C4RA16200E, Paper

In the early days of wooing my current beau, I tried to impress by claiming my homemade burgers were superior to all in the land. A bold claim, you’d agree, so the scientist in me amended that to ‘probably superior’. Anyway, I went to prepare said burgers with my secret recipe. In preparation, I defrosted the mince from the freezer that day, only to return to find the meat had gone a bit brown and smelled a bit, well, weird. (I still made the burgers and they didn’t taste so good, but as I said, it was the early days so we both pretended not to notice.)

Pedro Guerrero and colleagues have now developed a way of applying natural soy protein coatings to beef patties, extending their shelf-life stability. Writing in RSC Advances, they describe how these coatings provide a barrier to oxygen, delaying the formation of that brown colour (metmyoglobin) and unpleasant odour and taste.

Although synthetic antioxidants are known in the industry to prevent food spoiling, consumers are increasingly interested in the journey that their food has taken from farm to fork. Guerrero and co-workers successfully demonstrate the development and application of a soy-based coating to meat patties through the successful preservation of the meat compared to uncoated patties. They investigated the degree of lipid oxidation, microbiological content and texture changes. And, in the name of science, some people took part in a taste test, which I am sure was a burden.

As people try to eat as naturally as possible and reduce food waste, soy coatings could be a contender for increased customer satisfaction.

To find out more, click below to read the full article in RSC Advances.

Application of soy protein coatings and their effect on the quality and shelf-life stability of beef patties, Pedro Guerrero, Maurice G. O’Sullivan, Joe P. Kerry and Koro de la Caba, RSC Adv., 2015, 5, 8182-8189 (DOI: 10.1039/C4RA13421D)

Sarah Brown is a guest web-writer for RSC Advances. Sarah hung up her lab coat after finishing her PhD and post-doctorate in nanotechnology for diagnostics and therapeutics and now works in academic publishing. When not trying to explain science through ridiculous analogies, you can often find her crocheting, baking or climbing, but not all at once.

The shock wave device does not need to touch the mouse to trigger the drug release

Scientists in India have developed a shock wave-based drug delivery system that could be used to administer insulin in diabetic patients and reduce the need for painful injections. A similar strategy could also increase the efficacy of antibiotic treatment to diabetic wounds.

In recent years, stimuli responsive drug delivery systems have come to the fore. Such systems enable greater control over where and when drugs are released in the body, ultimately providing more localised and sustained treatment with better overall results. Systems that are responsive to external stimuli such as ultrasound, infrared light and magnetic fields have all been reported, but often require specialist equipment that can be expensive to buy or difficult to operate, and this has limited their application in real clinical situations.

To read the full article please visit Chemistry World.

Remotely triggered micro-shock wave responsive drug delivery system for resolving diabetic wound infection and controlling blood sugar levels
Divya Prakash Gnanadhas, Monalisha Elango, Midhun Ben Thomas, Jagadeesh Gopalan and Dipshikha Chakravortty  
RSC Adv., 2015,5, 13234-13238
DOI: 10.1039/C4RA15270K, Paper

Supercapacitors are used in memory backup systems and portable electronics as well as high-power devices © Shutterstock

Researchers in the UK have designed a simple and inexpensive circuit that can linearise the charge–discharge behaviour of a capacitor. This could solve one of the most important problems plaguing the development of supercapacitors – the need for a straightforward measurement method for the amount of electrical charge they can store at a given voltage, known as capacitance. 

The circuit, reported by the group of Craig Banks at Manchester Metropolitan University, can be added to researchers’ existing cyclic voltammetry, electrochemical impedance spectroscopy and galvanostatic charge–discharge setups. It requires only two precise resistors and a variable capacitor of similar capacitance to the supercapacitor under investigation, components which cost as little as £5.

To read the full article visit Chemistry World.

A new approach for the improved interpretation of capacitance measurements for materials utilised in energy storage
Dimitrios K. Kampouris, Xiaobo Ji, Edward P. Randviir and Craig E. Banks  
RSC Adv., 2015,5, 12782-12791
DOI: 10.1039/C4RA17132B, Paper