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An international team of bioengineers has boosted the ability of bacteria to produce isopentenol, a compound with desirable gasoline properties. The finding is a significant step toward developing a bacterial strain that can yield industrial quantities of renewable bio-gasoline.
Nov 5th, 2014
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In a lab in Bavaria scientists are trying to chemically transform crab shells into a high performance biopolymer. This European research project, Chibio, turns the waste into a raw material and energy source.
Nov 5th, 2014
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During your lifetime, the cells in your body divide many trillions of times. Iain Cheeseman, an associate professor of biology at MIT, has spent his career studying how cells control this process, which is critical to ensuring that the correct genetic information is passed down from generation to generation.
Nov 5th, 2014
Read moreYeast geneticists report they have developed a novel tool - dubbed the 'telomerator' - that could redefine the limits of synthetic biology and advance how successfully living things can be engineered or constructed in the laboratory based on an organism's genetic, chemical base-pair structure.
Nov 3rd, 2014
Read moreScientists disclosed a new method to convert lignin, a biomass waste product, into simple chemicals. The innovation is an important step toward replacing petroleum-based fuels and chemicals with biorenewable materials.
Nov 3rd, 2014
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Scientists have found a new way to dramatically increase crop yields. The team has discovered a set of gene variations that boost fruit production in the tomato plant by as much as 100 percent. Plant breeders will be able to combine different gene variants to create an optimal plant architecture for particular varieties and growing conditions. The set will enable farmers to maximize yield in tomatoes and potentially other flowering plants, including crops like soybeans.
Nov 2nd, 2014
Read moreScientists are applying a novel time-reversal technology that allows researchers to better focus light in tissue, such as muscles and organs.
Nov 2nd, 2014
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Researchers have reconstituted cell division - complete with signals that direct molecular traffic - without the cell. Combining frog-egg extracts with lipid membranes that mimic the membrane of the cell, they built a cell-free system that recapitulates how the cleavage furrow is assembled.
Oct 31st, 2014
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Australian students will soon be learning how to use 3D printing to churn out living replacement body parts, as universities team with their European counterparts to offer a world-first degree course.
Oct 31st, 2014
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Forty million people worldwide are living with Alzheimer's and this is only set to increase. But tiny brains grown in culture could help scientists learn more about this mysterious disease - and test new drugs.
Oct 31st, 2014
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A membrane-mimicking biocompatible conducting polymer selectively binds to nerve cells and stimulates the changes needed for nerve regeneration.
Oct 31st, 2014
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Architecture imitates life, at least when it comes to those spiral ramps in multistory parking garages. Stacked and connecting parallel levels, the ramps are replications of helical structures found in a ubiquitous membrane structure in the cells of the body.
Oct 30th, 2014
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Biomedical engineers, exploring ways to toughen up engineered cartilage and keep natural tissues strong outside the body, report new developments this week.
Oct 30th, 2014
Read moreA bioengineering professor has received a $1.04 million grant that aims to regenerate cartilage tissue and reduce osteoarthritis using a patient's own stem cells, spurred through the injection of microscaffolding made of biodegradable polymers.
Oct 30th, 2014
Read moreStudy demonstrates that quantum holograms could be a candidate for becoming quantum information memory.
Oct 30th, 2014
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Scientists have devised a simple and versatile method, based on the geometry of the RNA molecule, which proved to be highly promising for analysing and understanding the complex interactions that characterise these molecules.
Oct 30th, 2014
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How does a normal cellular process derail and become unhealthy? A multi-institutional, international team studied cells found in breast and other types of connective tissue and discovered new information about cell transitions that take place during wound healing and cancer.
Oct 29th, 2014
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Researchers have developed a technique that co-opts an immune system already present in bacteria and archaea to turn off specific genes or sets of genes - creating a powerful tool for future research on genetics and related fields.
Oct 28th, 2014
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