JoVE expands scientific video publication into chemistry

(Press-News.org) February 4, 2013

Cambridge, MA: On Monday, February 4, 2013, JoVE (Journal of Visualized Experiments) will launch the first scholarly scientific video publication for chemistry. Following its successful introduction of video publications for the biological and physical sciences, JoVE received numerous requests for a chemistry counterpart. In response, the journal is launching a new section, JoVE Chemistry, dedicated to visualized publication of experiments across different areas of chemistry research including organic chemistry, chemical biology, electrochemistry, and polymer chemistry, among others.

"Similar to research in biology and physics, experimental research in chemistry suffers from a lack of reproducibility that can be solved by visualized publication. Therefore, it is natural to expand JoVE's novel publication approach to chemistry as well", says Moshe Pritsker, the CEO and co-founder of JoVE.

The debut article in JoVE Chemistry features a novel experimental approach to investigate antifreeze proteins using a device known as the nanoliter osmometer. This video article was filmed at the laboratory of Dr. Ido Braslavsky at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem in Israel. Explaining the function of antifreeze proteins, Dr. Braslavsky says: "When an antifreeze protein binds to an ice crystal, the protein inhibits growth of ice and lowers the melting point. This creates a difference between the melting and freezing point of ice known as thermal hysteresis."

VIDEO: This article, along with the written procedure, can be found here: http://www.jove.com/video/4189/labview-operated-novel-nanoliter-osmometer-for-ice-binding-protein....
Click here for more information.

By studying the properties of ice-binding proteins and thermal hysteresis, scientists gain insight into how arctic organisms can survive freezing temperatures without cellular destruction. Ice binding proteins are already used in hypothermia therapy, cryosurgery, the making of low-fat ice cream, and the lengthening of shelf life in frozen foods.

Dr. Braslavsky tells us, "I am studying the potential for antifreeze proteins to be used in cryopreservation. If we can learn from nature how to freeze or survive freezing better, we can use these strategies to extend our own lives." He also explains that, "chemistry is highly visual, and contains a lot of microscopy and reactions that change color when complete. By putting these aspects of chemistry in the forefront of publication and demonstrating the experimental steps, JoVE will become invaluable to chemists and make hard-to-learn techniques reproducible."

"JoVE pays tribute to the central science with the opening of the newest section, JoVE Chemistry," says Alexa Meehan, the JoVE's Deputy Editorial Director. "This highly anticipated addition will facilitate the experimental research in one of the purest sciences and will further a transition of JoVE from a biological journal into a platform video journal for all scientific disciplines."

INFORMATION:

Braslavsky et. al. http://www.jove.com/video/4189/labview-operated-novel-nanoliter-osmometer-for-ice-binding-protein

About JoVE, The Journal of Visualized Experiments:

JoVE, the Journal of Visualized Experiments, is the first and only PubMed/MEDLINE-indexed, peer-reviewed journal devoted to publishing scientific research in a video format. Using an international network of videographers, JoVE films and edits videos of researchers performing new experimental techniques at top universities, allowing students and scientists to learn them much more quickly. As of February 2013, JoVE has published video-protocols from an international community of nearly 6,000 authors in the fields of biology, medicine, chemistry, and physics.

URL: www.jove.com

To link to this release, please use this link: http://www.jove.com/about/press-releases/52/jove-expands-scientific-video-publication-into-chemistry

Contact:

Neal Moawed
Academic Liaison & Marketing Associate
The Journal of Visualized Experiments
p. 617.945.9051
e. neal.moawed@jove.com