Press monitoring
New conversion process turns biomass \'waste\' into lucrative chemical products
23.12.2014 | Press monitoring
A new catalytic process is able to convert what was once considered biomass waste into lucrative chemical products that can be used in fragrances, flavorings or to create high-octane fuel for racecars and jets. A team of researchers from Purdue University's Center for Direct Catalytic Conversion of Biomass to Biofuels, or C3Bio, has developed a...
New class of synthetic molecules mimics antibodies
22.12.2014 | Press monitoring
A Yale University lab has crafted the first synthetic molecules that have both the targeting and response functions of antibodies. The new molecules — synthetic antibody mimics (SyAMs) — attach themselves simultaneously to disease cells and disease-fighting cells. The result is a highly targeted immune response, similar to the action of natural...
Gold nanorods target cancer cells
19.12.2014 | Press monitoring
Using tiny gold nanorods, researchers at Swinburne University of Technology have demonstrated a potential breakthrough in cancer therapy. They have shown for the first time that gold nanorods can be used to inhibit cancer cell growth in cervical cancer. Dr Chiara Paviolo from Swinburne's Centre for Micro-Photonics attached tiny particles to the...
AncestryDNA reconstructs partial genome of person living 200 years ago
18.12.2014 | Press monitoring
AncestryDNA genetic scientists have pushed the boundaries of human genome reconstruction methods by using the DNA of many living people to reassemble an unprecedented proportion of the human genome attributed to a 19th Century American and his two successive spouses. This scientific feat is a step forward in the use of consumer genetics in family...
Engineers detect and measure individual DNA molecules using smartphone microscope
17.12.2014 | Press monitoring
Fluorescence microscopes use technology that enables them to accomplish tasks not easy to achieve with normal light microscopes, including imaging DNA molecules to detect and diagnose cancer, nervous system disorders such as Alzheimer's disease, and drug resistance in infectious diseases. These microscopes work by labeling the samples with...
Squid supplies blueprint for printable thermoplastics
16.12.2014 | Press monitoring
Squid, what is it good for? You can eat it and you can make ink or dye from it, and now a Penn State team of researchers is using it to make a thermoplastic that can be used in 3-D printing. "Most of the companies looking into this type of material have focused on synthetic plastics," said Melik C. Demirel, professor of engineering science and...
A pill to shed fat?
15.12.2014 | Press monitoring
Harvard Stem Cell Institute (HSCI) researchers have taken what they describe as “the first step toward a pill that can replace the treadmill” for the control of obesity, though that shift, of course, would not provide all of the many benefits of exercise. HSCI principal faculty member Chad Cowan and his team members at Harvard University and...
Mechanical cues reprogram normal cell lines into stem-like cells
12.12.2014 | Press monitoring
Scientists at the University at Buffalo and other institutions have turned cells normally used as model cells, known as immortalized cells, into stem or, as they call it, "stem-like" cells, using nothing more than mechanical stress. They have done it without employing the potentially hazardous techniques previously used to obtain similar...
Yeast are first cells known to cure themselves of prions
11.12.2014 | Press monitoring
Yeast cells can sometimes reverse the protein misfolding and clumping associated with diseases such as Alzheimer's, according to new research from the University of Arizona. The new finding contradicts the idea that once prion proteins have changed into the shape that aggregates, the change is irreversible. "It's believed that when these...
Injectable 3-D vaccines could fight cancer, infectious diseases
10.12.2014 | Press monitoring
One of the reasons cancer is so deadly is that it can evade attack from the body's immune system, which allows tumors to flourish and spread. Scientists can try to induce the immune system, known as immunotherapy, to go into attack mode to fight cancer and to build long lasting immune resistance to cancer cells. Now, researchers at the Wyss...
