Press monitoring
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Space-grown lettuce could help astronauts avoid bone loss
25.3.2022 | Press monitoring
NASA is preparing to send humans to Mars sometime in the 2030s. The 3-year mission will expose astronauts to a long period of microgravity, which will cause them to lose bone mass. But now, scientists report transgenic lettuce that produces a bone-stimulating hormone. Someday, astronauts could grow the lettuce in space and help guard against bone...
Roundworms sniff out lung cancer with novel worm-on-a-chip
23.3.2022 | Press monitoring
New research presented at the spring meeting of the American Chemical Society has demonstrated how tiny roundworms can be used to detect lung cancer. A “worm-on-a-chip” device has been developed that is currently 70 percent effective at detecting cancer cells. This new research looking at tiny roundworms called Caenorhabditis elegans. Prior lab...
Methane-eating bacteria convert greenhouse gas to fuel
21.3.2022 | Press monitoring
Methanotrophic bacteria consume 30 million metric tons of methane per year and have captivated researchers for their natural ability to convert the potent greenhouse gas into usable fuel. Yet we know very little about how the complex reaction occurs, limiting our ability to use the double benefit to our advantage. By studying the enzyme the...
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Spray of tiny particles of gold can potentially treat heart disease, research suggests
18.3.2022 | Press monitoring
Cutting-edge research led by University of Ottawa Faculty of Medicine Associate Professors Dr. Emilio Alarcon and Dr. Erik Suuronen suggests a spray-on technology using customized nanoparticles of one of the world's most precious metals offers tremendous therapeutic potential and could eventually help save many lives. Cardiovascular diseases are...
Immune-system-on-a-chip could speed up future vaccine development
16.3.2022 | Press monitoring
The immune system is incredibly complex, but a new breakthrough could help scientists unravel more of its secrets. Researchers at Harvard’s Wyss Institute have created a more accurate model of the human immune system in a microfluidic chip, providing a better platform to study how immune cells respond to vaccines and pathogens. In recent years,...
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Spider silk could stabilize cancer-suppressing protein
14.3.2022 | Press monitoring
The p53 protein protects our cells from cancer and is an interesting target for cancer treatments. The problem is, however, that it breaks down rapidly in the cell. Researchers at Karolinska Institutet in Sweden have now found an unusual way of stabilizing the protein and making it more potent. By adding a spider silk protein to p53, they show...
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Novel nanoparticles with potential for enhanced deep tumor therapy
11.3.2022 | Press monitoring
Researchers Dr. Yansong Feng and Prof. Hong Zhang at the Van 't Hoff Institute for Molecular Sciences at the University of Amsterdam (UvA) have designed and synthesized novel multi-layered, multi-functional nanoparticles that enable a combination of radiotherapy and photodynamic therapy for deep cancer tissue. An initial pre-clinical evaluation...
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Surprising gut protein discovery is new target for constipation treatment
9.3.2022 | Press monitoring
Researchers in Australia have discovered that a touch-sensitive protein normally found in skin is also located in the gut. There, it seems to sense the presence of food and triggers contractions to push it along, while reduced levels of this protein may be implicated in conditions like constipation. The protein in question is known as Piezo2 and...
Cannabinoids from amoebae: New process for the production of active compounds
7.3.2022 | Press monitoring
A research team at the Leibniz Institute for Natural Product Research and Infection Biology – Hans Knöll Institute (Leibniz-HKI) in Jena, Germany has developed a new method to produce complex natural products in amoebae. These polyketides include various antibiotics but also olivetolic acid, a precursor of the herbal active ingredient...
Using nanorobots to help clean heavy metals from polluted water
4.3.2022 | Press monitoring
Prior research has shown that heavy metals make their way into the water table through landfill leakage, mining operations and industrial dumping. Heavy metals must be removed from water sources, and current methods call for complicated multi-step procedures to remove them. In this new effort, the researchers report a possible alternative –...
