Tackling blindness, deafness through neuroengineering
New grants for five research projects awarded by the Bertarelli Program in Translational Neuroscience and Neuroengineering.
Oct 23rd, 2014
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Seaweed menace may yield new medicines
An invasive seaweed clogging up British coasts could be a blessing in disguise. Scientists have won a cash award to turn it into valuable compounds which can lead to new, life-saving drugs.
Oct 22nd, 2014
Read moreResearchers discover new functionality of molecular light switches
Researchers have discovered that blue and red light sensing photoreceptors control the carbon flow in diatoms.
Oct 20th, 2014
Read moreScientists create possible precursor to life
How did life originate? And can scientists create life? These questions not only occupy the minds of scientists interested in the origin of life, but also researchers working with technology of the future. If we can create artificial living systems, we may not only understand the origin of life - we can also revolutionize the future of technology.
Oct 20th, 2014
Read moreMajor breakthrough could help detoxify pollutants
Scientists hope a major breakthrough could lead to more effective methods for detoxifying dangerous pollutants like PCBs and dioxins. The result is a culmination of 15 years of research and has been published in Nature. It details how certain organisms manage to lower the toxicity of pollutants.
Oct 19th, 2014
Read moreHigh-speed evolution in the lab - Geneticists evaluate cost-effective genome analysis
Organisms require flexible genomes in order to adapt to changes in the environment. Scientists have studied genomes of entire populations. They want to know why individuals differ from each other and how these differences are encoded in the DNA. In two review papers they discuss why DNA sequencing of entire groups can be an efficient and cost-effective way to answer these questions.
Oct 17th, 2014
Read moreScientific breakthrough will help design the antibiotics of the future
Scientists have used computer simulations to show how bacteria are able to destroy antibiotics - a breakthrough which will help develop drugs which can effectively tackle infections in the future.
Oct 17th, 2014
Read moreA new self-assembly process allows the recognition of specific DNA sequences
Researchers have introduced a new approach for achieving a highly selective, recognition of designed nine DNA base pairs. The strategy involves the nickel-promoted assembly of a peptide derived from a transcription factor, and a small molecule equipped with a metal-binding unit that acts as heterodimerizing staple.
Oct 16th, 2014
Read moreScientists create new protein-based material with some nerve
Scientists have taken proteins from nerve cells and used them to create a 'smart' material that is extremely sensitive to its environment. The work could lead to new types of biological sensors, flow valves and controlled drug release systems.
Oct 14th, 2014
Read moreLight-activated drug could reduce side effects of diabetes medication
Scientists have created a drug for type 2 diabetes that is switched on by blue light, which they hope will improve treatment of the disease.
Oct 14th, 2014
Read moreThe devil's in the details: More research needed to address synthetic biology security concerns
A new paper examines security risks and policy questions related to the growing field of synthetic biology. While the author doesn't think the field is ripe for exploitation by terrorists, it does highlight significant gaps in our understanding of the nuts and bolts of lab work in synthetic biology that can contribute to security risks.
Oct 14th, 2014
Read moreBioinspired coating for medical devices repels blood and bacteria
Developed using FDA-approved materials, the coating prevented flowing blood from clotting in a large animal efficacy study.
Oct 12th, 2014
Read moreAn effective method making vaccines without the use of inactivated virus (w/video)
The results obtained in this joint research have demonstrated the effectiveness of a low toxicity based subunit vaccine on the use of particulate biomaterial, whose production is cheap and safe. As a result, a particulate vaccine against bluetongue virus, which causes considerable losses in sheep, was obtained.
Oct 10th, 2014
Read moreEasy recipe to make bone and cartilage
The repair of large bone defects and damaged cartilage remains a significant clinical challenge, with current strategies unable to reliably generate the cells that make bone and cartilage. Now, researchers are able to produce such cells by exposing embryonic stem cells to a combination of small molecules, mimicking normal development. This strategy is easily scalable, offering great potential in bone and cartilage regenerative medicine.
Oct 7th, 2014
Read moreSorting stem cells
New technique allows scientists to identify populations of rare stem cells in bone marrow.
Oct 6th, 2014
Read moreNo need for water, enzymes are doing it for themselves
New research has challenged one of the key axioms in biology - that enzymes need water to function. The breakthrough could eventually lead to the development of new industrial catalysts for processing biodiesel.
Oct 6th, 2014
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