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.
Posted: May 22nd, 2013
Read moreBiopurification: Convection trumps diffusion
Breakthrough technology quickly separates large proteins and viruses from their surroundings, which improves purification of vaccines and protein therapeutics.
Posted: May 22nd, 2013
Read moreEngineered 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.
Posted: May 20th, 2013
Read moreThe 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.
Posted: May 17th, 2013
Read moreAn 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.
Posted: May 17th, 2013
Read morePhysicist'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.
Posted: May 16th, 2013
Read moreX-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.
Posted: May 16th, 2013
Read moreCells as living calculators
Using analog computation circuits, MIT engineers design cells that can compute logarithms, divide and take square roots.
Posted: May 16th, 2013
Read moreSynthetic 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.
Posted: May 15th, 2013
Read moreZinc: 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.
Posted: May 14th, 2013
Read moreStudy 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.
Posted: May 14th, 2013
Read moreEngineered 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.
Posted: May 14th, 2013
Read moreReversing 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.
Posted: May 13th, 2013
Read moreHow 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.
Posted: May 13th, 2013
Read moreERASynBio 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.
Posted: May 13th, 2013
Read moreResearch on cilia heats up: Implications for hearing, vision loss and kidney disease
Experiments at Johns Hopkins have unearthed clues about which protein signaling molecules are allowed into hollow, hair-like 'antennae', called cilia, that alert cells to critical changes in their environments.
Posted: May 13th, 2013
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