Press monitoring
Implant gives early cancer warning by growing an artificial mole on your skin
23.4.2018 | Press monitoring
The earlier cancer is detected, the better the outlook for the patient. Unfortunately, cancer is a crafty foe and does a good job of hiding its presence until it's too late. Now, researchers at ETH Zurich have developed a novel early warning system for four common types of cancer. An implant keeps watch for elevated levels of calcium in the...
Promising peanut allergy vaccine misdirects the immune system
20.4.2018 | Press monitoring
We don't want to sound ungrateful for everything our immune system does for us, but as people suffering from food allergies can attest, it can be a little overzealous at times. Now, researchers at the University of Michigan have found a way to retrain the immune system to ignore allergens by developing a nasal spray that vaccinates against peanut...
Human Brain Organoids Thrive in Mouse Brains
18.4.2018 | Press monitoring
Mouse brains make nice homes for human brain organoids. Brain organoids, also known as mini-brains, are tiny clumps of brain cells grown from stem cells that researchers are using to investigate the neural underpinnings of autism and other neurological disorders. But the organoids typically grow in culture for only a few months before they die,...
Ovarian cancer vaccine improves women’s survival rates
16.4.2018 | Press monitoring
A personalised cancer vaccine that trains the immune system to attack tumours has had encouraging results in women with ovarian cancer. Ovarian cancer is one of the most common types of cancer in women – around 7,300 women in the UK are diagnosed with it each year. The disease often isn’t recognised until it has already spread, and even after...
A vaccine for edible plants? A new plant protection method on the horizon
13.4.2018 | Press monitoring
Novel technologies are being sought to replace the traditional pesticides used to protect plants, particularly edible plants such as cereals. A new collaborative project between the University of Helsinki and the French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS) is shedding light on the efficacy of environmentally friendly RNA-based vaccines...
Mosquito spit can bust blood clots in mice
11.4.2018 | Press monitoring
Does your blood run thick? A bit of mosquito saliva might one day be just what the doctor ordered. That’s because scientists have found a new way to reinvigorate anticlotting factors in mosquito spit in the lab. The modified blood thinner has so far only been tested in mice; if it ever works in humans, it could help prevent – and even treat – the...
Engineers pioneer greener and cheaper technique for biofuel production
9.4.2018 | Press monitoring
A team of engineers from the National University of Singapore (NUS) recently discovered that a naturally occurring bacterium, Thermoanaerobacterium thermosaccharolyticum TG57, isolated from waste generated after harvesting mushrooms, is capable of directly converting cellulose, a plant-based material, to biobutanol. A research team led by...
RNA nasal spray subdues brain infection
6.4.2018 | Press monitoring
West Nile fever is a viral infection typically spread by mosquitoes. In about 75% of infections people have few or no symptoms. In less than 1% of people, encephalitis or meningitis occurs, with associated neck stiffness, confusion, or seizures. Recovery may take weeks to months. The risk of death among those in whom the nervous system is affected...
USDA confirms it won\'t regulate CRISPR gene-edited plants like it does GMOs
4.4.2018 | Press monitoring
A statement issued by the U. S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue last week has clarified that the U. S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) currently does not, and has no plans to, regulate gene edited plants or crops. As opposed to genetically modified organisms (GMOs) that involve adding genes from other organisms such as bacteria, the USDA...
Biobot made of heart cells and gel looks like fluttering butterfly
2.4.2018 | Press monitoring
A team of researchers at Southeast University in Nanjing, China, has developed a heart-on-a-chip platform incorporating rat heart muscle cells, hydrogel and nanocrystals. In their paper published in the journal Science Robotics, the group describes their structure, how it was made, and the uses to which it might be put. As researchers at...
