Hydrogel fibers make tissue generation efficient
Cell-filled hydrogel fibers could provide the basis for engineered tissues to effectively repair damaged organs.
Dec 18th, 2013
Read more
Biotechnology News – Latest Headlines
Subscribe to our Biotechnology News feed
Targeted synthesis of natural products with light
Photoreactions are driven by light energy and are vital to the synthesis of many natural substances. Since many of these substances are also useful as active medical agents, chemists try to produce them synthetically. But in most cases only one of the possible products has the right spatial structure to make it effective. Researchers have now developed a methodology for one of these photoreactions that allows them to produce only the specific molecular variant desired.
Dec 17th, 2013
Read moreMicroprinting leads to low-cost artificial cells
Easily manufactured, low-cost artificial cells manufactured using microprinting may one day serve as drug and gene delivery devices and in biomaterials, biotechnology and biosensing applications, according to a team of Penn State biomedical engineers. These artificial cells will also allow researchers to explore actions that take place at the cell membrane.
Dec 16th, 2013
Read moreResearchers engineer a hybrid 5 times more effective in delivering genetic material into cells
Researchers at the Polytechnic Institute of New York University and the NYU College of Dentistry have developed a carrier in their lab that is five times more efficient in delivering DNA into cells than today's commercial delivery methods - reagent vectors. This novel complex is a peptide-polymer hybrid, assembled from two separate, less effective vectors that are used to carry DNA into cells. The study helps researchers better understand gene function.
Dec 16th, 2013
Read moreUltrafast heating of water - This pot boils faster than you can watch it
Novel method opens new paths for experiments with heated samples of biological relevance.
Dec 16th, 2013
Read moreLiquid to gel to bone
Researchers develop temperature-sensitive gelling scaffolds to regenerate craniofacial bone.
Dec 14th, 2013
Read moreBioengineers make strides toward artificial cartilage
A Duke research team has developed a better recipe for synthetic replacement cartilage in joints, calling for a newly designed durable hydrogel to be poured over a three-dimensional fabric scaffold.
Dec 13th, 2013
Read moreNew discovery on how skin cells form 'bridges' paves the way for advances in wound healing and tissue engineering
Breakthrough study by the National University of Singapore sheds light on skin cell migration in wound healing process.
Dec 13th, 2013
Read moreNew technique to unfold biomolecules at high speed
The first experiment that allows manipulating a single molecule at computer simulation speed has been carried out in a study.
Dec 13th, 2013
Read moreA molecular toolkit for gene silencing
Researchers managed to overcome remaining key limitations of RNA interference (RNAi) - a unique method to specifically shut off genes. By using an optimized design, the scientists were able to inhibit genes with greatly enhanced efficiency and accuracy.
Dec 13th, 2013
Read moreSpeeding up gene discovery
New gene-editing system enables large-scale studies of gene function.
Dec 13th, 2013
Read moreMolecular snapshot of the plant immune system's signal box
The molecular architecture of three key proteins and their complexes reveals how plants fine-tune their immune response to pathogens.
Dec 11th, 2013
Read moreStudy finds biomaterials repair human heart
Researchers investigated a biomedical application following a coronary artery bypass surgery and found that the application allowed the human body to regenerate its own tissue.
Dec 11th, 2013
Read moreNew way to fight antibiotic-resistant bacteria: Target human cells instead
As more reports appear of a grim 'post-antibiotic era' ushered in by the rise of drug-resistant bacteria, a new strategy for fighting infection is emerging that targets a patient's cells rather than those of the invading pathogens. The technique interferes with the way that the pathogens take over a patient's cells to cause infection.
Dec 11th, 2013
Read moreUnusual fungal metabolites with antitumor activity discovered by crowdsourcing
Since the discovery of penicillin, fungi have been a nearly inexhaustible source for the discovery of new drugs. 'Crowdsourcing', the cooperation of a large number of interested nonscientists, has helped to find a new fungus from which American researchers have now isolated and characterized an unusual metabolite with interesting antitumor activity.
Dec 11th, 2013
Read morePrecise docking sites for cells
The Petri dish is a classical biological laboratory device, but it is no ideal living environment for many types of cells. Studies lose validity, as cell behavior on a flat plastic surface differs from that in branched lung tissue, for example. Researchers of Karlsruhe Institute of Technology have now presented a method to make three-dimensional structures attractive or repellent for certain types of cells.
Dec 11th, 2013
Read moreMay the cellular force be with you
A new method for measuring the cellular forces that shape tissues and organs.
Dec 9th, 2013
Read moreNovel method could help bring cancer biomarkers to clinic
International study demonstrates protein-measurement technique's potential to standardize quantification of the entire human proteome.
Dec 8th, 2013
Read more