Many drug molecules exist in mirror-image versions. Often, only one form carries out the intended medical mission?and sometimes the other causes side effects. Now, a new high-tech filter might make it easier to separate mixes into their mirror-image components.
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To make the filter, researchers from Florida and Finland created a thin alumina membrane with 35-nanometer-wide pores and grew hollow silica nanotubes inside the holes. That done, the scientists attached antibody fragments to the inside wall of each nanotube.