Press monitoring
Greenhouse time machine sheds light on corn domestication
5.2.2014 | Press monitoring
By simulating the environment when corn was first exploited by people and then domesticated, Smithsonian scientists discovered that corn's ancestor, a wild grass called teosinte, may have looked very different then than it does today. The fact that it looks more like corn under these conditions may help to explain how teosinte came to be...
First African study on biodiversity in genetically modified maize finds insects abundant
4.2.2014 | Press monitoring
Previous studies from China, Spain, and the United States on genetically modified (GM) rice, cotton, and maize have concluded that the biodiversity of insects and related arthropods in GM crop fields was essentially the same as that among conventional crops. Now a new study from South Africa shows similar results.
A simple new way to induce pluripotency: Acid
3.2.2014 | Press monitoring
An unusual reprogramming phenomenon by which the fate of somatic cells can be drastically altered through changes to the external environment is described in two papers in this week's Nature. Postnatal somatic cells committed to a specific lineage are shown to be converted into a pluripotent state (capable of differentiating into nearly all cell...
Self-aligning DNA wires for application in nanoelectronics
31.1.2014 | Press monitoring
Since miniaturization in microelectronics is starting to reach physical limits, researchers seek new methods for device fabrication. One candidate is DNA origami in which strands of the biomolecule self-assemble into arbitrarily shaped nanostructures. The formation of entire circuits, however, requires the controlled positioning of these DNA...
Bumper harvest for GM purple tomatoes
30.1.2014 | Press monitoring
GM purple tomatoes developed by John Innes Centre scientists in the UK are being harvested in Ontario, Canada, for future research and to attract interest from private investors. The 5000 square-foot glasshouse will yield enough tomatoes to produce 2000 litres of purple tomato juice. It will be used to generate new research and industry...
Crowdsourced RNA designs outperform computer algorithms
29.1.2014 | Press monitoring
An enthusiastic group of non-experts, working through an online interface and receiving feedback from lab experiments, has produced designs for RNA molecules that are consistently more successful than those generated by the best computerized design algorithms, researchers report. Moreover, the researchers gathered some of the best design rules...
Researchers use DNA strands to build decomposable nanostructures
28.1.2014 | Press monitoring
A team of researchers in Canada has found a way around the problem of large nanostructures that are used to combat tumors, remaining in the body after they are no longer needed. In their paper published in the journal Nature Nanotechnology, the team describes a technique they developed where they used DNA strands to tie together small...
Lab-grown, virus-free stem cells repair retinal tissue in mice
27.1.2014 | Press monitoring
Investigators at Johns Hopkins report they have developed human induced-pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) capable of repairing damaged retinal vascular tissue in mice. The stem cells, derived from human umbilical cord-blood and coaxed into an embryonic-like state, were grown without the conventional use of viruses, which can mutate genes and...
Engineer Converts Yeast Cells Into Sweet Crude Biofuel
24.1.2014 | Press monitoring
Researchers at The University of Texas at Austin's Cockrell School of Engineering have developed a new source of renewable energy, a biofuel, from genetically engineered yeast cells and ordinary table sugar. This yeast produces oils and fats, known as lipids, that can be used in place of petroleum-derived products. Assistant professor Hal Alper,...
Overcoming multidrug resistance in cancer cells by silencing genes with RNA
23.1.2014 | Press monitoring
Resistance of tumor cells toward multiple cytostatic drugs is a serious problem in cancer treatment. In the journal Angewandte Chemie, a team of Chinese and American researchers has now introduced a new approach to gene therapy that could counter this problem: The gene that codes for resistance is "silenced" through the use of an ingenious...
