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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
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Developed using FDA-approved materials, the coating prevented flowing blood from clotting in a large animal efficacy study.
Oct 12th, 2014
Read moreThe 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 moreThe 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
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New technique allows scientists to identify populations of rare stem cells in bone marrow.
Oct 6th, 2014
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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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By sorting human fat tissue cells by their expression of a certain gene, scientists were able to retrieve a high yield of cells that showed an especially strong propensity to make bone tissue. With more refinement, the method could improve the ability of surgeons to speed bone healing.
Oct 6th, 2014
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A seven-year-project to develop a barcoding and tracking system for tissue stem cells has revealed previously unrecognized features of normal blood production: new data suggests, surprisingly, that the billions of blood cells that we produce each day are made not by blood stem cells, but rather their less pluripotent descendants, called progenitor cells.
Oct 5th, 2014
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Conventional antibiotics are indiscriminate about what they kill, a trait that can lead to complications for patients and can contribute to the growing problems of antibiotic resistance. But a a 'programmable' antibiotic being developed at Rockefeller would selectively target only the bad bugs, particularly those harboring antibiotic resistance genes, and leave beneficial microbes alone.
Oct 5th, 2014
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For hundreds of years biologists have studied cells through the lens of a microscope. With a little help from a team of engineers, these scientists could soon be donning 3-D glasses in a home-theater-like lab to take their own fantastic voyage into the petri dish.
Oct 3rd, 2014
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A powerful scientific tool for editing the DNA instructions in a genome can now also be applied to RNA as researchers have demonstrated a means by which the CRISPR/Cas9 protein complex can be programmed to recognize and cleave RNA at sequence-specific target sites.
Oct 3rd, 2014
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A team of bioengineers, molecular biologists, and clinicians used a novel rare cell-sorter to isolate breast cancer cells from the blood of patients, with the aim of identifying the most effective drugs to treat each individual tumor.
Oct 3rd, 2014
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Consumers concerned about safety of silver ions in antibacterial and odor-free clothing will soon have a proven safe alternative thanks to ultra-thin thread and a substance found naturally in red algae.
Sep 30th, 2014
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A series of the Next-Generation Sequencer (NGS) applications are being developed to utilize 'junk DNAs' as distinctive genetic analysis systems for crop species.
Sep 30th, 2014
Read moreA mechanical engineer has developed a new, high-throughput method for sorting cells capable of separating 10 billion bacterial cells in 30 minutes. The finding has already proven useful for studying bacterial cells and microalgae, and could one day have direct applications for biomedical research and environmental science - basically any field in which a large quantity of microbial samples need to be processed.
Sep 26th, 2014
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Scientists present a detailed new model that for the first time proposes how plant cells precisely position a 'dynamic and complex' structure called a phragmoplast at the cell center during every division and how it directs cytokinesis.
Sep 25th, 2014
Read moreScientists from both campuses of The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) have been awarded a total of $7.9 million from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). The two teams will build what is, in essence, an artificial immune system, comprising vast 'libraries' of different types of molecules from which will emerge individual compounds to detect or neutralize an array of biological and chemical threats.
Sep 24th, 2014
Read moreWhen the body forms new tissues during the healing process, cells must be able to communicate with each other. For years, scientists believed this communication happened primarily through chemical signaling. Now researchers have found that another dimension - mechanical communication - is equally if not more crucial.
Sep 23rd, 2014
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