Laurel Oldach

Silver Spring

Associate Editor at C&EN

Science writer on the biochemistry and instrumentation beat for C&EN (I don't speak for ACS). @[email protected], @LaurelOldach in the sky

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Articles

Multiomics technique captures DNA sequence and protein location

4 weeks ago | cen.acs.org | Laurel Oldach

Genome organization is a feat of compaction, fitting 2m of DNA into an oblong nucleus just a few dozen micrometers in diameter. Researchers know that a variety of proteins work together to wind DNA and compact it, leaving certain regions loose in different cell types so they can be copied into RNA. But many questions about the details of genome organization remain unanswered.
Shaw Prize honors cryo-electron tomography innovator

1 month ago | cen.acs.org | Laurel Oldach

Biochemist Wolfgang Baumeister, director emeritus of the Max Planck Institute of Biochemistry, has received the 2025 Shaw Prize in Life Science and Medicine. Cryogenic electron tomography (cryo-ET) uses a cryo-electron microscope to collect 3D data about a biological sample by tipping it back and forth relative to an electron beam. The technique can offer more insight into structures in their context in the cell than standard cryo-electron microscopy delivers.
2025 Talented 12: Nick Riley

1 month ago | cen.acs.org | Laurel Oldach

At a conference this spring, chemical biologist Nick Riley delivered a lightning talk in character as George Washington. Wearing a white powdered wig and accompanied by some members of his laboratory, he riffed on a popular Saturday Night Live sketch about US resistance to the metric system. But instead of expounding on inscrutable units of measure, Riley talked about the future of measuring glycans with mass spectrometry (MS). Campy? Perhaps a little.
2025 Welch Award honors chemical biologists

1 month ago | cen.acs.org | Laurel Oldach

Chemists Stuart Schreiber of Harvard University and Arena BioWorks and Peter Schultz of Scripps Research will split the 2025 Welch Award in Chemistry for their work in the field of chemical biology. Schreiber is known for research into chemical genetics, specifically for developing reagents that bind selectively to individual biomolecules to understand those molecules' function.
How will FDA changes reshape drug approval in 2025 and beyond?

1 month ago | cen.acs.org | Laurel Oldach

Six weeks after a reduction in force (RIF) at the US Food and Drug Administration removed thousands of workers, signs are emerging about how the agency's approach to drug approval may change. The 20% RIF on April 1, which excluded drug, device, and food reviewers and inspectors, nonetheless sparked concern and speculation across the pharmaceutical industry.
Proposed White House budget would slash science funding

1 month ago | cen.acs.org | Krystal Vasquez |Laurel Oldach |Britt E. Erickson |Fionna Samuels

US president Donald J. Trump has proposed massive cuts to federal science programs for fiscal year 2026, which runs from Oct. 1, 2025, through Sept. 30, 2026. The proposal, also referred to as the "skinny" budget because it provides less detail than a full budget request, is in line with Trump's calls during his first term as president to slash funding from the Environmental Protection Agency, the Department of Health and Human Services, and other US federal agencies.
White House proposes to slash science spending

1 month ago | pubs.acs.org | Krystal Vasquez |Laurel Oldach |Britt E. Erickson |Fionna Samuels

Monday, May 12, 2025 Please be aware that pubs.acs.org is undergoing maintenance from Saturday February 1 to Monday Febraury 3, that may have an impact on your experience. During this time, you may not be able to access certain features like login, purchasing single articles, saving searches or running existing saved searches, modifying your e-Alert preferences, or accessing Librarian administrative functions. We appreciate your patience as we continue to improve the ACS Publications platform.
FDA job cuts hinder drug safety monitoring

1 month ago | cen.acs.org | Laurel Oldach

US Food and Drug Administration layoffs appear to be affecting programs that track drug safety. Fired workers from the Division of Drug Information, which conducts safety monitoring, say the DDI team lost between 75% and 90% of its roughly 50-person staff in the FDA's April 1 reduction in force. "There's a handful of people desperately keeping the lights on," says one fired employee, who like their former colleagues spoke to C&EN on condition of anonymity for fear of repercussions.
Drug discovery à la modality

2 months ago | cen.acs.org | Laurel Oldach

Chemists and chemical biologists just keep dreaming up new ways to interfere with biomolecules. That research frequently leads to promising potential medicines, and there are more and more flavors of molecules at some stage of clinical or preclinical investigation. How do drug hunters choose between them? Twenty years ago, monoclonal antibodies were just emerging as a promising type of therapy on the strength of their selective binding to highly specific molecular motifs.
Science and engineering students are hit as US revokes visas

2 months ago | cen.acs.org | Krystal Vasquez |Laurel Oldach

A graduate student in chemical engineering at North Carolina State University is one of an uncertain but apparently growing number of international students in the US on visas that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has abruptly revoked. The chemical engineer, one of two Saudi nationals attending NC State whose visas were revoked last month, left the country after learning of their change in immigration status, according to the Raleigh News and Observer.