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 How are medications received by the body? How do they work inside the body? Knowledge of how living cells function will probably be the most important source of future new medicines.
More efficient medications will be one of the possibilities created when scientists will be able to study enzymes and proteins in their natural environment and with greater precision. High-energy neutron experiments will also enable the study of systems and processes that change over time. Researchers will have a new powerful tool to study the properties and functions of proteins and cell membranes, and how they integrate with, for example, medicines.
If scientists can study the details of different proteins in the human body, they can more easily create medicines that match those proteins. Proteins are essential, since they act as receptors for the molecules of the medication. Therefore neutron experiments performed on those proteins and enzymes causing diseases like Alzheimer’s disease, can be important contributions to beak-through medicines.
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 Neutrons are very well suited for studying the dynamics of individual atoms and molecules. The special instruments at ESS promise up to 1,000 times improvement of measuring performance compared with what is possible today. This dramatic improvement can be used for the study of atomic and molecular structures within many different biological fields.
The design of ESS will be particularly good for tender samples like living cells, that are often destroyed with other measurement techniques. Scientists can also see how different substances move into and out of the cells.
With neutrons, researchers can gain new insights about:
- The DNA molecules and proteins governing ageing and cancer
- How the skeleton is built up during childhood and is destroyed through osteoporosis, and thereby creating remedies for skeleton diseases
- Organ and body functions like muscles, teeth and digestion
- The creation of better and more durable medical implants
- Biological materials with complex structures, like blood and cell membranes
- Gene therapy
- Bio sensors
- Carbohydrates and cellulose
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