Press monitoring
Newly discovered DNA sequences can protect chromosomes in rotifers
7.6.2017 | Press monitoring
Rotifers are tough, microscopic organisms highly resistant to radiation and repeated cycles of dehydration and rehydration. Now Irina Arkhipova, Irina Yushenova, and Fernando Rodriguez of the Marine Biological Laboratory (MBL) have discovered another protective mechanism of this hardy organism: the Terminons. Their findings can have implications...
Newly discovered Siberian soda lake microorganisms convert organic material directly into methane
5.6.2017 | Press monitoring
Researchers from Delft and Moscow have discovered a new class of micro-organisms in Siberian soda lakes. These organisms grow in sodium carbonate brines with a pH 10 and convert methyl group organic materials into methane gas. The lead author is researcher Dimitry Sorokin, who works at Delft University of Technology. "Dimitry studies the...
Red, green, and blue light can be used to control gene expression in engineered E. coli
2.6.2017 | Press monitoring
MIT researchers have engineered bacteria with "multicolor vision" – E. coli that recognize red, green, or blue (RGB) light and, in response to each color, express different genes that perform different biological functions. To showcase the technology, the researchers produced several colored images on culture plates – one of which spells out...
A molecule produced by a Thai liver parasite could be the solution to those non-healing wounds
31.5.2017 | Press monitoring
Every day 12 Australian diabetics have a limb amputated because of a non-healing wound. Globally, it's one every 30 seconds. A molecule produced by a Thai liver parasite could be the solution to those non-healing wounds - and scientists from the Australian Institute of Tropical Health and Medicine (AITHM) are now able to produce a version of the...
Can CRISPR feed the world?
29.5.2017 | Press monitoring
As the world's population rises, scientists want to edit the genes of potatoes and wheat to help them fight plant diseases that cause famine. By 2040, there will be 9 billion people in the world. "That's like adding another China onto today's global population," said Professor Sophien Kamoun of the Sainsbury Laboratory in Norwich, UK. Prof....
Stem cell breakthroughs bring unlimited supply of lab-made blood closer
26.5.2017 | Press monitoring
For the first time ever, blood-producing stem cells have been generated in a lab. Two separate teams of researchers have come up with differing ground-breaking methods to generate these important blood-forming cells, paving the way for the development of treatments for a variety of blood diseases and also offering a clear path towards an unlimited...
Anti-fertility folk remedy points to development of molecular condoms
24.5.2017 | Press monitoring
For thousands of years humans have been using a vast array of strange folk contraceptive methods. A team at UC Berkeley recently examined two commonly used traditional plant-based folk remedies and discovered a potentially new mechanism that could lead to non-toxic, non-hormonal contraceptives. The UC Berkeley team's primary focus of study is in...
Witchweed-destructive by nature
22.5.2017 | Press monitoring
Scientists in Japan have designed a synthetic molecule that gives new insight into how a destructive weed might be detecting its host crops. The parasitic plant Striga, also known as witchweed, poses a major threat to food security, affecting 100 million people in Africa alone and destroying crops there worth US$10 billion every year. Despite...
Microbes seen controlling action of host\'s genes
19.5.2017 | Press monitoring
All animals-from sea sponges to modern-day humans-evolved in a world already teeming with microbes. These single-celled microorganisms now cover practically every surface of our bodies and are as much a part of our biology as our own tissues and organs. They educate our immune system, regulate our metabolism, and as it turns out, even influence...
Geneticists enlist engineered virus and CRISPR to battle citrus disease
17.5.2017 | Press monitoring
Desperate farmers hope scientists can beat pathogen that is wrecking the US orange harvest. Fruit farmers in the United States have long feared the arrival of harmful citrus tristeza virus to their fields. But now, this devastating pathogen could be their best hope as they battle a much worse disease that is laying waste to citrus crops across...
