Press monitoring
Scientists decode world\'s most complex human virus
12.6.2014 | Press monitoring
Cytomegalovirus – or CMV - is the most complex virus known to man. Most people will in their lives become infected by CMV and, because it is a herpes virus, infection lasts a lifetime. CMV can cause severe disease in immunosuppressed transplant recipients or individuals with HIV/AIDS, and is responsible for the birth defects of around a thousand...
Human stem cells used to create light-sensitive retina in a dish
11.6.2014 | Press monitoring
Using a type of human stem cell, Johns Hopkins researchers say they have created a three-dimensional complement of human retinal tissue in the laboratory. This retina notably includes functioning photoreceptor cells capable of responding to light, the first step in the process of converting it into visual images. "We have basically created a...
Gene editing tool can write HIV out of the picture
10.6.2014 | Press monitoring
Take a hot new method that's opened up a new era of genetic engineering, apply it to the wonder stem cells that in 2012 won their discoverer a Nobel prize, and you might just have a tool to cure HIV infection. That's the hope of researchers led by Yuet Kan of the University of California, San Francisco – and they have proved the basic...
Switch causes mature liver cells to revert back to stem cell-like state
9.6.2014 | Press monitoring
Harvard Stem Cell Institute scientists at Boston Children's Hospital have new evidence in mice that it may be possible to repair a chronically diseased liver by forcing mature liver cells to revert back to a stem cell-like state. The researchers, led by Fernando Camargo, PhD, happened upon this discovery while investigating whether a biochemical...
Convert waste CO2 and chicken feathers into fertiliser
6.6.2014 | Press monitoring
Every year we ditch millions of tonnes of chicken feathers, and pump climate-altering carbon dioxide into the air. But combine the two in the right way and you can make an otherwise-scarce fertiliser. More than 5 million tonnes of chicken feathers are produced globally every year. Most get thrown into landfill where they can sit for decades...
Human stem cells successfully transplanted, grown in pigs
5.6.2014 | Press monitoring
One of the biggest challenges for medical researchers studying the effectiveness of stem cell therapies is that transplants or grafts of cells are often rejected by the hosts. This rejection can render experiments useless, making research into potentially life-saving treatments a long and difficult process. Now, researchers at the University of...
Researchers shut down SARS cloaking system
4.6.2014 | Press monitoring
A Purdue University-led research team has figured out how to disable a part of the SARS virus responsible for hiding it from the immune system -- a critical step in developing a vaccine against the deadly disease. The findings also have potential applications in the creation of vaccines against other coronaviruses, including MERS, said Andrew...
Microbes engineered for the direct conversion of biomass to ethanol fuel
3.6.2014 | Press monitoring
The promise of affordable transportation fuels from biomass—a sustainable, carbon neutral route to American energy independence—has been left perpetually on hold by the economics of the conversion process. New research from the University of Georgia has overcome this hurdle allowing the direct conversion of switchgrass to fuel. The study,...
3-D bioprinting builds a better blood vessel
2.6.2014 | Press monitoring
Team from Brigham and Women's Hospital (BWH) has made headway in fabricating blood vessels using a three-dimensional (3D) bioprinting technique. The study is published online this month in Lab on a Chip. "Engineers have made incredible strides in making complex artificial tissues such as those of the heart, liver and lungs," said senior...
Mycotoxin protects against nematodes, study finds
30.5.2014 | Press monitoring
Most terrestrial plants enter into biocoenosis with fungi. Both sides benefit: the fungus, which surrounds the small roots of the host plant with a thick felt, supplies the plant with trace elements and water. The plant, in turn, supplies the fungus with sugars and other metabolites which it is unable to produce itself. ETH researchers from the...
