What is new in Biotech
Video gamers tasked with helping develop new molecule for controlling CRISPR
22.9.2017 | Press monitoring
A few years ago, a team of researchers at Stanford University launched a video game called Eterna. The game was designed to harness the brain power of thousands of gamers, challenging them to design new chemical sequences of RNA. A new follow-up game has just been launched, and this time players are challenged to create a new RNA molecule that...
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Poliovirus therapy induces immune responses against cancer
20.9.2017 | Press monitoring
An investigational therapy using modified poliovirus to attack cancer tumors appears to unleash the body's own capacity to fight malignancies by activating an inflammation process that counter's the ability of cancer cells to evade the immune system. Duke Cancer Institute researchers provide the first published insight into the workings of a...
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Airline industry could fly thousands of miles on biofuel from a new promising feedstock
18.9.2017 | Press monitoring
A Boeing 747 burns one gallon of jet fuel each second. A recent analysis from researchers at the University of Illinois estimate that this aircraft could fly for 10 hours on bio-jet fuel produced on 54 acres of specially engineered sugarcane. Plants Engineered to Replace Oil in Sugarcane and Sweet Sorghum (PETROSS), funded by the Advanced...
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Changing a flowers color with the CRISPR gene-editing tool
15.9.2017 | Press monitoring
It often takes years of careful cross-breeding for horticulturalists to turn flowers certain colors, but scientists can dig right in and change them at a genetic level much faster. Using the CRISPR-Cas9 gene-editing tool, scientists have changed the flowers of the Japanese morning glory from its usual violet color to a pure white, by disrupting a...
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Nanogenerators could turn our veins into blood flow power plants
13.9.2017 | Press monitoring
Humans have been harnessing the power of flowing water for thousands of years, but scaling the concept down to a size small enough to turn our veins into tiny power plants is something else altogether. Using principles similar to those deployed in large hydroelectric power plants, a team of Chinese researchers has developed a tiny nanogenerator...
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First detailed decoding of complex finger millet genome
11.9.2017 | Press monitoring
Finger millet has two important properties: The grain is rich in important minerals and resistant towards drought and heat. Thanks to a novel combination of state-of-the-art technologies, researchers at the University of Zurich were able to decode the large and extremely complex genome of finger millet in high quality for the first time. This...
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New device accurately identifies cancer in seconds
8.9.2017 | Press monitoring
A team of scientists and engineers at The University of Texas at Austin has invented a powerful tool that rapidly and accurately identifies cancerous tissue during surgery, delivering results in about 10 seconds – more than 150 times as fast as existing technology. The MasSpec Pen is an innovative handheld instrument that gives surgeons precise...
Eat a purple potato if you know what\'s good for you
6.9.2017 | Press monitoring
Israeli scientists synthesize healthier potatoes and tomatoes in brilliant colors. The technology can also produce unusually hued ornamental flowers. Are you ready for violet-colored potatoes? How about orange tobacco? Researchers at Israel's Weizmann Institute of Science have figured out how produce betalain pigments in plants and flowers that...
Magic enzymes in magic mushrooms analyzed
4.9.2017 | Press monitoring
For centuries, Central American cultures considered Psilocybe mushrooms to be divine and used them for spiritual purposes. More recently, they have been called magic mushrooms and used for their hallucinogenic effects. These mushroom drugs may soon also be in use as pharmaceuticals that treat the existential anxiety of advanced-stage cancer...
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Scientists use brewery waste to grow yeast needed for beer making
1.9.2017 | Press monitoring
Scientists from Nanyang Technological University, Singapore (NTU Singapore) have invented a new process to turn spent brewery grains into a valuable product that can grow beer yeast. In beer making, yeast is the key ingredient for fermentation, a process where sugars from the grains are converted into alcohol. The beer brewing process thus needs...
