Biotechnology News – Latest Headlines

Researchers uncover new pathways in bacterial intercellular competition

There's an epic battle taking place that's not on the national radar: intercellular competition. While it's not an Olympic event, new research from UC Santa Barbara demonstrates that this microscopic rivalry can be just as fierce as humans going for the gold.

April 12, 2013 Read more

Moving cells with light holds medical promise

Scientists at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have shown they can coax cells to move toward a beam of light. The feat is a first step toward manipulating cells to control insulin secretion or heart rate using light.

April 11, 2013 Read more

A molecular 'superglue' based on flesh-eating bacteria

In a classic case of turning an enemy into a friend, scientists have engineered a protein from flesh-eating bacteria to act as a molecular 'superglue' that promises to become a disease fighter.

April 11, 2013 Read more

Launch of semi-synthetic artemisinin a milestone for malaria, synthetic biology

Twelve years after a breakthrough discovery in his University of California, Berkeley, laboratory, professor of chemical engineering Jay Keasling is seeing his dream come true.

April 11, 2013 Read more

Restoring paretic hand function via an artificial neural connection bridging spinal cord injury

Scientists investigated the effects of introducing a novel artificial neural connection which bridged a spinal cord lesion in a paretic monkey. This allowed the monkey to electrically stimulate the spinal cord through volitionally controlled brain activity and thereby to restore volitional control of the paretic hand.

April 11, 2013 Read more

Researchers engineer 'protein switch' to dissect role of cancer's key players

Researchers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Medicine have 'rationally rewired' some of the cell's smallest components to create proteins that can be switched on or off by command. These 'protein switches' can be used to interrogate the inner workings of each cell, helping scientists uncover the molecular mechanisms of human health and disease.

April 10, 2013 Read more

Fighting disease from within the mosquito: New techniques to help halt the spread of disease

Scientists have revealed a new technique to introduce disease-blocking bacteria into mosquitoes, with promising results that may halt the spread of diseases such as dengue, yellow fever and potentially malaria.

April 10, 2013 Read more

Researchers find way to catalyze more sugars from biomass

CResearchers Find Way to Catalyze More Sugars from Biomass.

April 7, 2013 Read more

Adult stem cells isolated from human intestinal tissue

The accomplishment provides a much-needed resource for scientists eager to uncover the true mechanisms of human stem cell biology. It also enables them to explore new tactics to treat inflammatory bowel disease or to ameliorate the side effects of chemotherapy and radiation, which often damage the gut.

April 5, 2013 Read more

Building better blood vessels could advance tissue engineering

One of the major obstacles to growing new organs _ replacement hearts, lungs and kidneys _ is the difficulty researchers face in building blood vessels that keep the tissues alive, but new findings from the University of Michigan could help overcome this roadblock.

April 4, 2013 Read more

3-D printer can build synthetic tissues

A custom-built programmable 3D printer can create materials with several of the properties of living tissues, Oxford University scientists have demonstrated.

April 4, 2013 Read more

Advance in re-engineering photosynthesis to make drugs, compounds or ingredients

Scientists are reporting an advance in re-engineering photosynthesis to transform plants into bio-factories that manufacture high-value ingredients for medicines, fabrics, fuels and other products.

April 4, 2013 Read more

Will cell therapy become a 'third pillar' of medicine?

Treating patients with cells may one day become as common as it is now to treat the sick with drugs made from engineered proteins, antibodies or smaller chemicals, according to UC San Francisco researchers.

April 3, 2013 Read more

Multi-toxin biotech crops not silver bullets, scientists warn

Crucial assumptions underlying multi-toxin crops don't always apply, a University of Arizona study shows. The results help explain why one major pest is evolving resistance faster than predicted and offer ideas for more sustainable pest control.

March 30, 2013 Read more

What advances are driving clinical applications of tissue engineering and regenerative medicine?

Explosive growth in the field of tissue engineering and regenerative medicine has led to innovative and promising applications and techniques, many of which are now being tested in human clinical trials.

March 30, 2013 Read more

Researchers engineer plant cell walls to boost sugar yields for biofuels

Genetically engineered Arabidopsis plants yielded as much biomass as wild types (WT) but with enhanced polysaccharide deposition in the fibers of their cell walls.

March 29, 2013 Read more

DNA: how to unravel the tangle

A chromosome is rarely found in the shape we are used to seeing in biology books, that is to say the typical double rod shape. It is usually 'diluted' in the nucleus and creates a bundle that under the microscope appears as a messy tangle. A research coordinated by the scientists at SISSA of Trieste has now developed and studied a numeric model of the chromosome that supports the experimental data and provides a hypothesis on the bundle's function.

March 29, 2013 Read more

MicroRNA detection on the cheap

MIT alumni's startup provides rapid, cost-effective microRNA profiling, which is beneficial for diagnosing diseases.

March 29, 2013 Read more