Press monitoring
Scientists develop phagocytic protocells capable of the targeted delivery of enzymes
23.6.2017 | Press monitoring
Researchers at the University of Bristol have designed a community of artificial cell-like droplets that collectively displays a simple form of phagocytosis behavior. The work provides a new approach to designing complex life-like properties in non-living materials. The chemists have made a major advance in the construction of synthetic...
Broccoli compound could offer obese diabetics a drug-free way to slash blood sugar levels
21.6.2017 | Press monitoring
Love it or hate it, Swedish scientists have found another reason for you to load up on broccoli, or at least finish what's on your plate. As it turns out, sulforaphane, a powerhouse antioxidant found in the vegetable, could be Nature's secret weapon against type 2 diabetes, offering obese patients a way to slash their blood glucose levels and...
How to build an artificial nano-factory to power our futures
19.6.2017 | Press monitoring
Many bacteria contain little factories for different purposes. They can make sugars from carbon dioxide to fuel life, or digest certain compounds that would be toxic for the cell, if the digestion took place outside of these factories. Manuel Sommer is studying how the factories building sugar from carbon dioxide through photosynthesis, called...
Mosquito-killing fungi engineered with spider and scorpion toxins could help fight malaria
16.6.2017 | Press monitoring
Malaria kills nearly half a million people every year, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). In some of the hardest-hit areas in sub-Saharan Africa, the mosquitoes that carry the malaria parasite have become resistant to traditional chemical insecticides, complicating efforts to fight the disease. A new study from the University of...
Genomic sequencing could become household term with new hand-held device
14.6.2017 | Press monitoring
Within five years, consumers may begin using a device smaller than a flip phone to monitor the air, test their food or diagnose what germ caused an upset stomach. And the root of this capability points to what now is only for scientists-genome sequencing. That's the message from a team of scientists from the U.K. and Canada teaching a weeklong...
Researchers test self-destructing moth pest in cabbage patch
12.6.2017 | Press monitoring
Researchers in a New York cabbage patch are planning the first release on American soil of insects genetically engineered to die before they can reproduce. It's a pesticide-free attempt to control invasive diamondback moths, a voracious consumer of cabbage, broccoli and other cruciferous crops that's notorious for its ability to shrug off every...
Injectable polymer could cut insulin injections to one per month
9.6.2017 | Press monitoring
Hundreds of millions of people around the globe suffer from diabetes. Forced to constantly monitor their glucose levels and deliver insulin injections often twice a day, the hunt is on to find a controlled release mechanism that would result in a single monthly injection. A team of biomedical engineers may have finally found the answer with a new...
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...
