Scientists believe a buildup of the brain protein amyloid beta plays a key role in the death of neurons, which can lead to Alzheimer’s disease. Although most people develop some amyloid beta brain proteins as they age, researchers suspect abnormal forms of the protein of may be key to the development of Alzheimer’s.
Researchers at The University of Texas at Arlington have developed the first methods to identify and characterize all the various irregular forms of amyloid beta, adding another valuable piece to the search for the exact causes of Alzheimer’s. Their findings are published in two peer-reviewed studies: <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-023-38788-1">Nature’s Scientific Reports</a> and <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00216-023-04958-3">Analytical and Bioanalytical Chemistry</a>.
“Aberrant amyloid beta proteins can alter brain chemistry, creating a big problem when developing medications and immunotherapies to slow the progression of Alzheimer’s disease,” said Daniel W. Armstrong, the lead author on both papers and the Welch Distinguished Professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry. “Our research is the first to describe new methods to identify and characterize the various aberrant forms of amyloid beta. This knowledge may bring us one step closer to halting the progression of this dreaded disease.”
<img src="https://storage.googleapis.com/labrulez-bucket-strapi-h3hsga3/University_of_Texas_at_Arlington_Studies_have_ramifications_for_Alzheimer_s_drug_development_immunotherapies_c0bf3d2190.jpg" alt="University of Texas at Arlington: Studies have ramifications for Alzheimer’s drug development, immunotherapies - Daniel W. Armstrong, the lead author on both papers and the Welch Distinguished Professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry."/>
The abnormal forms of amyloid beta, called epimers and isomers, are difficult to detect as they have the same mass and amino acid sequence as normal forms of the protein. The study in <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-023-38788-1">Scientific Reports</a>, co-authored by Armstrong and UTA graduate student researchers Elizabeth R. Readel, Arzoo Patel, Joshua I. Putman, and Siqi Du, showed that the best way to isolate amyloid beta from the brain was through a technique known as immunoprecipitation.
Many Alzheimer’s medications are monoclonal antibodies that bind to amyloid beta proteins to remove them from the brain and slow the progression of dementia symptoms. However, this research indicated that these medications may not bind as well to the abnormal versions of the amyloid beta cells, which may explain why they are not always effective at slowing progression of the disease.
Meanwhile, the paper in <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00216-023-04958-3">Analytical and Bioanalytical Chemistry</a> showed that liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry, the most common way of detecting isolated amyloid beta proteins, produces different signals for the normal and aberrant forms of the protein. This makes currents methods of identifying and quantifying it unreliable, unless properly corrected. This study was co-authored by, Readel, Patel, and Umang Dhaubhadel, a graduate teaching assistant.
Both studies were supported by funding from the Robert A. Welch Foundation. Based in Houston, the Welch Foundation is one of the oldest and largest private funding sources for chemistry researchers.
“Together, these results are really encouraging for our quest to better understand Alzheimer’s disease so that we can find better ways to slow it progression and its symptoms,” Armstrong said.

Studies have ramifications for Alzheimer’s drug development, immunotherapies

<h4>Professors named to distinguished top 100 world chemists list</h4>
Three chemists from The University of Texas at Arlington are among the most influential analytical scientists in the world, as selected by a top publication.
<a href="https://theanalyticalscientist.com/">The Analytical Scientist</a> magazine recently celebrated the 10th anniversary of its <a href="https://theanalyticalscientist.com/power-list/2023">Power List</a>, which this year includes the leading 100 analytical scientists from around the globe. UTA honorees are:
<ul>
<li>Daniel Armstrong, the R.A. Welch Distinguished Professor in Chemistry;</li>
<li>Purnendu “Sandy” Dasgupta, the Hamish Small Chair in Ion Analysis; and</li>
<li>Kevin Schug, the Shimadzu Distinguished Professor of Analytical Chemistry.</li>
</ul>
Armstrong and Schug were named to the connectors and interdisciplinarians category, while Dasgupta was included in the innovators and trailblazers category.
“This is a tremendous honor for Drs. Dasgupta, Armstrong, and Schug. They are very worthy of being included in this prestigious company,” said College of Science Dean Morteza Khaledi. “Their commitment to making a difference through their groundbreaking research is inspirational.”
Armstrong has more than 35 years of experience in the field of chiral recognition, enantiomeric separations and their biological relevance.
“Having three scientists not only from the same university but also the same department is quite extraordinary and something that is rare,” Armstrong said. “It gives UTA a lot of visibility and enhances graduate student recruiting in this area.”
Dasgupta has made significant contributions to many areas, most importantly to ion chromatography, as well as to arsenic detection, perchlorate detection and dried blood spot analysis.
“While I personally do not believe in a caste system in any discipline, much less my own, my being included among an elite group of people never fails to please one very important group of people. Those are my students, both present and past, and they are really the people who deserve the credit for others to think that we are doing something worthwhile,” Dasgupta said. “So, kudos to them!”
A Fulbright scholar, Schug’s research focuses on the theory and application of separation science and mass spectrometry for solving a variety of analytical and physical chemistry problems in the fields of environmental, pharmaceutical, biological and energy research.
“It is an honor to be recognized together with my esteemed colleagues,” Schug said. “If you want exceptional training as an analytical chemist, there are few places better than UT Arlington.”
To identify the top scientists in the field for the 2023 list, The Analytical Scientist held open nominations and a panel of expert, independent judges narrowed down the candidates to the final 100. To celebrate the 10th anniversary of the Power List, this year’s edition recognizes scientists whose excellence and impact have stood out over the past decade across four areas: inventors and trailblazers, mentors and educators, leaders and advocates, and connectors and interdisciplinarians.

TRIO OF UTA CHEMISTS RECOGNIZED AS LEADING LIGHTS

Editors and reviewers of the peer-reviewed journal Green Chemistry have highlighted a <a href="https://pubs.rsc.org/en/content/articlehtml/2023/gc/d3gc03005a">University of Texas at Arlington study investigating how to make common chemical techniques more environmentally friendly</a> as one of its “hot” articles for 2023.
UTA scientists led by Daniel W. Armstrong, the Welch Distinguished Professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry, found that using carbonated water in chromatography makes this relatively common chemical technique more environmentally benign.
A technique that works by taking a mixture and separating it to examine the individual components, chromatography is widely used to test athletes’ urine for performance-enhancing drugs, analyze crime scene evidence such as blood and cloth, test the ingredients in food, or measure the amount of alcohol in drinks, among many other uses. A single chromatograph produces about a liter of liquid waste, with some major pharmaceutical companies operating more than 1,000 chromatographic studies per day.
Using carbonated water in chromatography can reduce the technique’s Analytical Method Greenness Score (AMGS). The smaller the score, the more environmentally friendly the process is, Armstrong said.
“Our research shows that the use of simple carbonated water plus minimal mathematical processing and optimal column geometries produces the lowest AMGS scores yet reported,” Armstrong said. “This shows that switching to carbonated liquids instead of other liquids when possible will help make the process of chromatography safer for the environment.”
The team also found that using carbonated liquids is just as fast and efficient as other liquids used in chromatography.
“Using 38 amino acids as a test class of molecules, the utility of carbonated liquids as a green alternative was presented at speeds, efficiencies and resolutions never reported,” Armstrong said. “Future work will involve applying what we learned regarding carbonated liquids in chromatography to other methodologies, such as mass spectrometry.”
<img src="https://storage.googleapis.com/labrulez-bucket-strapi-h3hsga3/The_University_Of_Texas_at_Arlington_UTA_RESEARCH_TAGGED_AS_HOT_ARTICLE_IN_GREEN_CHEMISTRY_JOURNAL_Daniel_W_Armstrong_the_Welch_Distinguished_Professor_of_Chemistry_and_Biochemistry_ce450987de.jpg" alt="The University Of Texas at Arlington: Daniel W. Armstrong, the Welch Distinguished Professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry."/>
This study also corrected the original AMGS equation and extended it to cover more realistic separations including chiral amino acids. The research also noted that this same approach would be useful for NASA, which has special interests in developing lightweight and small instruments for extraterrestrial in situ chiral/achiral chemical analysis.
Coauthors include M. Farooq Wahab, a research engineering scientist, as well as two students: Troy T. Handlovic and Bailey C. Glass. Handlovic received a Bachelor of Science in chemistry and Master of Science in pharmaceutical chemistry from Fairleigh Dickinson University in Madison, New Jersey, before coming to UTA to pursue his doctoral degree. Glass, who is from Arlington, is a sophomore undergraduate research assistant studying biochemistry with plans to continue studying chemistry in graduate school.

UTA RESEARCH TAGGED AS “HOT ARTICLE” IN GREEN CHEMISTRY JOURNAL

Since the 1970s, the federal government has listed the active ingredients in mushrooms—psilocybin and psilocin—as illegal and having no accepted medical use.However, in recent years, medical professionals have found that these substances are safe and effective for treating stubborn conditions such as treatment-resistant depression and post-traumatic stress disorder. Some jurisdictions now allow for the medical use of mushrooms, while others are considering permitting or at least decriminalizing their recreational use.Clinicians now find themselves needing to carefully measure the doses of mushrooms to ensure patients receive the proper amount during treatment. To solve this problem, University of Texas at Arlington researchers have created a method to determine the clinical potency of psilocybin and psilocin in the hallucinogenic mushroom species psilocybe cubensis.“These legislative changes are expected to facilitate further research and potential clinical applications,” said Kevin Schug, the Shimadzu Distinguished Professor of Analytical Chemistry in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry.<img src="https://storage.googleapis.com/labrulez-bucket-strapi-h3hsga3/The_University_Of_Texas_at_Arlington_New_technique_measures_psilocybin_potency_of_mushrooms_Kevin_Schug_7617afe12b.jpg" alt="The University Of Texas at Arlington: Kevin Schug." srcset="https://storage.googleapis.com/labrulez-bucket-strapi-h3hsga3/thumbnail_The_University_Of_Texas_at_Arlington_New_technique_measures_psilocybin_potency_of_mushrooms_Kevin_Schug_7617afe12b.jpg 104w," sizes="100vw" width="800" height="1200">Using liquid chromatography with tandem mass spectrometry, Schug and colleagues were able to extract and measure the strength of the mushrooms, according to findings published in the February issue of <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S000326702301382X?via%3Dihub">Analytica Chimica Acta</a>. Co-authors included colleagues at Scottsdale Research Institute in Phoenix; Shimadzu Scientific Instruments in Maryland; and Millipore-Sigma in Round Rock, Texas. The results were then compared with two separate labs to ensure accuracy.“As medical professionals identify more safe and effective treatments using mushrooms, it will be important to ensure product safety, identify regulatory benchmarks and determine appropriate dosing,” Schug said. “Established and reliable analytical methods like the one we describe will be essential to these efforts to use mushrooms in clinical settings.”

New technique measures psilocybin potency of mushrooms

Despite consumer efforts to sort and separate recyclables, most plastic bottles still end up in the landfill. Standard recycling methods to sort, shred and remake plastics are limited to just type-1 and type-2 plastics—basically only soda bottles, water bottles and milk jugs.<img src="https://storage.googleapis.com/labrulez-bucket-strapi-h3hsga3/The_University_Of_Texas_at_Arlington_UTA_chemist_developing_method_to_recycle_more_plastics_Kevin_Schug_the_Shimadzu_Distinguished_Professor_of_Analytical_Chemistry_at_The_University_of_dc51875b3e.jpg" alt="The University of Texas at Arlington: UTA chemist developing method to recycle more plastics - Kevin Schug, the Shimadzu Distinguished Professor of Analytical Chemistry at The University of Texas at Arlington." srcset="https://storage.googleapis.com/labrulez-bucket-strapi-h3hsga3/thumbnail_The_University_Of_Texas_at_Arlington_UTA_chemist_developing_method_to_recycle_more_plastics_Kevin_Schug_the_Shimadzu_Distinguished_Professor_of_Analytical_Chemistry_at_The_University_of_dc51875b3e.jpg 245w," sizes="100vw" width="1000" height="500">Global plastic production has increased from 2 million tons in 1950 to 360 million tons in 2018, and about 50% of that plastic becomes trash after a single use. By 2050, it’s predicted that 12 billion tons of plastic waste will be in the environment and landfills.To improve recycling rates, Kevin Schug, the Shimadzu Distinguished Professor of Analytical Chemistry at The University of Texas at Arlington, is working on new ways to separate and recycle mixed plastics. He and a team of graduate and undergraduate researchers at UTA collaborated on a <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0021967324001778?via%3Dihub">new peer-reviewed study published in April in Journal of Chromatography A</a>.“A prominent means of chemical recycling is called pyrolysis,” Schug said. “During pyrolysis, plastics are heated in an oxygen-free environment until they decompose into pyrolysis oils. These oils have much of the same characteristics as crude oil, with a few exceptions. Importantly, they can be further refined into fuels and, even better, turned into chemical feedstocks to make new plastics.”Unlike traditional plastic recycling that requires sorting and shredding before the material can be recycled, pyrolysis is not limited to specific plastic types. It can accommodate them all.However, the pyrolysis of mixed plastic waste does create some complex mixtures that manufacturers must examine closely. Contaminants such as sulfur and nitrogen can create chemical compounds that can hurt downstream processing strategies.“Pyrolysis has become quite a big deal. Many companies are ramping up large chemical recycling operations,” Schug said. “Still, the characterization of the pyrolysis oils requires the development of new analytical methods, such as the one we describe in our new peer-reviewed research.”With the support of Jean-Francois Borny from Lummus Technologies LLC, a Houston-based chemical company, Schug and his colleagues at UTA - graduate students Alexander Kaplitz and Niray Bhakta and undergraduate researchers Shane Marshall and Sadid Morshed - created a new <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://lcms.labrulez.com/library?instrumentationItems=38">supercritical fluid chromatography</a> method that can separate the pyrolysis oils. The researchers found they could clearly differentiate oils created from polyethylene versus polypropylene feedstocks.“This is just the beginning, but we’re very excited at the potential of this technique to differentiate oils produced from many different plastics and mixtures,” Schug said. “Finding a way to better recycle these plastics will help us reduce our reliance on new fossil fuels and, hopefully, do our part to stop contributing to climate change.”

UTA chemist developing method to recycle more plastics

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UTA chemist developing method to recycle more plastics

New technique measures psilocybin potency of mushrooms

UTA RESEARCH TAGGED AS “HOT ARTICLE” IN GREEN CHEMISTRY JOURNAL

TRIO OF UTA CHEMISTS RECOGNIZED AS LEADING LIGHTS

Studies have ramifications for Alzheimer’s drug development, immunotherapies

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