Press monitoring

Researchers find new chemical key that could unlock hundreds of new antibiotics

Chemistry researchers at The University of Warwick and the John Innes Centre, have found a novel signalling molecule that could be a key that will open up hundreds of new antibiotics unlocking them from the DNA of the Streptomyces family of bacteria.
[2.11.2008]  

USA to provide 600,000 dollars in support of Czech science

The United States will provide $600,000 for funding of first three Czech scientific projects, Henry Obering, chief of the U.S. Missile Defense Agency (MDA), said in Prague.
[31.10.2008]  

Powered By Olive Stones? Turning Waste Stones Into Fuel

Olive stones can be turned into bioethanol, a renewable fuel that can be produced from plant matter and used as an alternative to petrol or diesel. This gives the olive processing industry an opportunity to make valuable use of 4 million tonnes of waste in olive stones it generates every year and sets a precedent for the recycling of waste products as fuels.
[31.10.2008]  

Digesting the Termite Digestome – A Way to Make Biofuels?

If the biofuel known as bioethanol is to make a major contribution to our fuel supplies, then we may well require the assistance of some tiny insect helpers, says Michael Scharf, an assistant professor of entomology at the University of Florida, Gainesville.
[30.10.2008]  

Purple tomatoes may keep cancer at bay

Scientists have expressed genes from snapdragon in tomatoes to grow purple tomatoes high in health-protecting anthocyanins.
[29.10.2008]  

How Breastfeeding Transfers Immunity To Babies

Brigham Young University microbiology majors Kathryn Distelhorst and Elizabeth Nielsen Low are co-authors alongside scientists from the Harvard and Stanford medical schools on a research paper that made an important discovery about how breastfeeding protects babies from infection. The two years they each have spent in the lab of Eric Wilson, BYU assistant professor of microbiology and lead author on the paper, have paid off with a publication in a prestigious journal, the Journal of Immunology, before they have even graduated.
[28.10.2008]  

Building a New Prostate

Starting from a single stem cell, scientists have now produced a functional prostate gland. This marks only the second time researchers have generated a whole organ from a single stem cell, representing major advances for stem cell research and our understanding of prostate development, experts say.
[27.10.2008]  

Better Beer On Tap - Scientists Identify Genomic Origins Of Lager Yeasts

Yeast, the essential microorganism for fermentation in the brewing of beer, converts carbohydrates into alcohol and other products that influence appearance, aroma, and taste. In a study published online today in Genome Research, researchers have identified the genomic origins of the lager yeast Saccharomyces pastorianus, which could help brewers to better control the brewing process.
[26.10.2008]  

Manufacturing artificial nanostructures within cells

Structural DNA nanotechnology, where the nucleotides or base pairs of DNA, na01_DNA nanostructuresmely adenine (A) and thymine (T), and guanine (G) and cytosine (C) are made to self-fold into a number of different building blocks, and is a fast-growing field within nanomedicine. Up until now, the technology has been somewhat limited by the need to synthesise all of the material from scratch. Now researchers at Arizona State University’s Biodesign Institute, led by Hao Yan, have managed to harness the cell’s ability to copy DNA to make them into “factories” to replicate artificial DNA-based nanostructures.
[25.10.2008]  

Cross-protective Vaccine May Treat Broad Spectrum Of Bacterial Diseases

Doctors have always hoped that scientists might one day create a vaccination that would treat a broad spectrum of maladies. They could only imagine that there might be one vaccine that would protect against, say, 2,500 strains of Salmonella. And what if that same vaccine could help protect the elderly?
[24.10.2008]