What is new in Biotech
Solar panels for yeast cell biofactories
16.11.2018 | Press monitoring
Genetically engineered microbes such as bacteria and yeasts have long been used as living factories to produce drugs and fine chemicals. More recently, researchers have started to combine bacteria with semiconductor technology that, similar to solar panels on the roof of a house, harvests energy from light and, when coupled to the microbes'...
Credit: valpictures - Fotolia.com
Nanorobots propel through the eye
14.11.2018 | Press monitoring
Researchers of the Micro, Nano and Molecular Systems Lab at the Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems in Stuttgart, together with an international team of scientists, have developed propeller-shaped nanorobots that, for the first time, are able to drill through dense tissue as is prevalent in an eye. They applied a non-stick coating to the...
Credit: Marian Maier - Fotolia.com
Researchers discover genes that give vegetables their shape
12.11.2018 | Press monitoring
From elongated oblongs to near-perfect spheres, vegetables come in almost every size and shape. But what differentiates a fingerling potato from a russet or a Roma tomato from a beefsteak? Researchers at the University of Georgia College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences have recently found the genetic mechanism that controls the shape of...
Credit: Martin Valigursky - Fotolia.com
Wearable bioreactor stimulates limb regrowth in frogs
9.11.2018 | Press monitoring
Whether it's the Mexican axolotl that can regrow its legs in weeks, the green anole lizard that sprouts new tails as needed, or the ability of newts to replace pretty whatever limb they happen to be missing, the regenerative abilities of certain creatures have much to teach the world of medical science. A new breakthrough out of Tufts University...
Credit: Alexilus - Fotolia.com
Laser-activated silk sealants outperform sutures for tissue repair
7.11.2018 | Press monitoring
NIBIB funded researchers have developed laser-activated nanomaterials that integrate with wounded tissues to form seals that are superior to sutures for containing body fluids and preventing bacterial infection. Tissue repair following injury or during surgery is conventionally performed with sutures and staples, which can cause tissue damage and...
Red-hued yeasts hold clues to producing better biofuels
5.11.2018 | Press monitoring
A compound that has scientists seeing red may hold the key to engineering yeasts that produce better biofuels. A red pigment called pulcherrimin, naturally produced by several strains of wild yeasts, is synthesized in part through the same biochemical pathway that researchers hope to use to improve production of isobutanol, a promising biofuel...
Credit: luchshen - Fotolia.com
Tiny, pain free vaccinations – microneedles and nanoparticles
2.11.2018 | Press monitoring
If it's up to Ph.D. student Guangsheng Du, patients don't need to worry about big needles anymore. At the Leiden Academic Center for Drug Research (LACDR), he studied the use of microneedles and nanoparticles as a new vaccination system. "I want to create a more patient-friendly delivery method." He defends his Ph.D. on 30 October. In his...
Anti-cancer virus fits tumor receptor like a key in a lock
31.10.2018 | Press monitoring
Seneca Valley virus sounds like the last bug you'd want to catch, but it could be the next breakthrough cancer therapy. Now, scientists at the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology (OIST) and the University of Otago have described exactly how the virus interacts with tumors – and why it leaves healthy tissues alone. The study, published in...
Credit: ~lonely~ - Fotolia.com
CRISPR opens door to new type of medicine - genome surgery
29.10.2018 | Press monitoring
Within a few years, Jim Johnsen and Delaney Van Riper may be among the first to benefit from CRISPR-Cas9 gene editing, a breakthrough that has already revolutionized biology research and promises to resurrect gene therapy. UC San Francisco doctors working closely with UC Berkeley scientists plan to edit their genomes to correct rare genetic...
Cellular dust provides new hope for regenerative medicine
26.10.2018 | Press monitoring
While stem cells have the most therapeutic potential, the benefits of regenerative medicine may best be mobilised using extracellular vesicles (EVs), also known in the past as "cellular dust." A team of researchers from CNRS, AP-HP, INSERM and Paris Descartes and Paris Diderot Universities have tested these vesicles for the first time in a...
