Biotechnology News – Latest Headlines

RSS Subscribe to our Biotechnology News feed

New one-step process for designer bacteria

A simpler and faster way of producing designer bacteria used in biotechnology processes has been developed by University of Adelaide researchers.

May 27, 2013 Read more

Biophysicists measure mechanism that determines fate of living cells

New tension gauge tether (TGT) laboratory method developed at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign has broad applications for research into stem cells, cancer, infectious disease, and immunology.

May 23, 2013 Read more

Fast new, one-step genetic engineering technology

A new, streamlined approach to genetic engineering drastically reduces the time and effort needed to insert new genes into bacteria, the workhorses of biotechnology.

May 22, 2013 Read more

Unique method creates correct mirror image of molecule

Many molecules have a right and a left form, just like shoes. In pharmaceuticals, it is important that the correct form of the molecule is used. Researchers at the University of Gothenburg have been able to produce the one mirror image by using crystals with special properties. This can have a major impact on the production of pharmaceuticals.

May 22, 2013 Read more

Biopurification: Convection trumps diffusion

Breakthrough technology quickly separates large proteins and viruses from their surroundings, which improves purification of vaccines and protein therapeutics.

May 22, 2013 Read more

Engineered microbes grow in the dark

Scientists at the University of California, Davis have engineered a strain of photosynthetic cyanobacteria to grow without the need for light.

May 20, 2013 Read more

The solution to natural cell imaging

Scientists at RIKEN use X-ray diffraction to image whole, hydrated cells in their natural state for the first time.

May 17, 2013 Read more

An insight into cell survival

Researchers at Tokyo Institute of Technology report details on the biological mechanisms through which cells degrade own cellular material, allowing them to survive starvation conditions.

May 17, 2013 Read more

Physicist's tool has potential for brain mapping

A new tool being developed by UT Arlington assistant professor of physics could help scientists map and track the interactions between neurons inside different areas of the brain.

May 16, 2013 Read more

X-ray tomography on a living frog embryo

Motion of individual cells within developing frog embryos resolved/X-ray tomography based on diffraction rather than absorption/new methods for developmental biology.

May 16, 2013 Read more

Cells as living calculators

Using analog computation circuits, MIT engineers design cells that can compute logarithms, divide and take square roots.

May 16, 2013 Read more

Synthetic biology dialogue - Impacts

BBSRC, with input from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC), has published a document outlining the impacts that their 2010 'Synthetic Biology Dialogue' has had in informing continued discussions around synthetic biology.

May 15, 2013 Read more

Zinc: The goldilocks metal for bioabsorbable stents?

Some materials dissolve too quickly, before cardiac arteries can fully heal, and some hang around forever. Zinc, however, may be just right.

May 14, 2013 Read more

Study IDs key protein for cell death

Findings may offer a new way to kill cancer cells by forcing them into an alternative programmed-death pathway.

May 14, 2013 Read more

Engineered biomaterial could improve success of medical implants

Expensive, state-of-the-art medical devices and surgeries often are thwarted by the body's natural response to attack something in the tissue that appears foreign. Now, University of Washington engineers have demonstrated in mice a way to prevent this sort of response.

May 14, 2013 Read more

Reversing paralysis with a restorative gel

A team of Tel Aviv University researchers, led by Dr. Shimon Rochkind and Prof. Zvi Nevo, has invented a method for repairing damaged peripheral nerves using a biodegradable implant along with a newly-developed gel that increases nerve growth and healing, ultimately restoring function to a torn or damaged nerve. The therapy is only a few years away from clinical use, say the researchers.

May 13, 2013 Read more

How much a single cell breathes

How active a living cell is can be seen by its oxygen consumption. The method for determining this consumption has now been significantly improved by chemists in Bochum.

May 13, 2013 Read more

ERASynBio first call: Building Synthetic Biology capacity through innovative transnational projects

The Synthetic Biology ERA-NET (ERASynBio) has announced its 1st joint call for transnational research projects in Synthetic Biology. The call will be open until 26 August 2013 and represents a unique opportunity for Europe and the USA to build Synthetic Biology capacity through innovative transnational projects.

May 13, 2013 Read more