Press monitoring
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Medicine-carriers made from human cells can cure lung infections
7.12.2020 | Press monitoring
Scientists used human white blood cell membranes to carry two drugs, an antibiotic and an anti-inflammatory, directly to infected lungs in mice. The nano-sized drug delivery method developed at Washington State University successfully treated both the bacterial growth and inflammation in the mice's lungs. The study, recently published in...
Self-adjusting insulin promises safer blood sugar control for diabetics
4.12.2020 | Press monitoring
An incredible proof-of-concept study from a team of European scientists has demonstrated the development of a novel insulin molecule that can sense blood sugar levels and self-adjust its activity in response to a patient’s needs. The experimental molecule has only been tested in animals so far but the researchers are hopeful further development...
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Plant-inspired alkaloids protect rice, kiwi and citrus from harmful bacteria
2.12.2020 | Press monitoring
Plants get bacterial infections, just as humans do. When food crops and trees are infected, their yield and quality can suffer. Although some compounds have been developed to protect plants, few of them work on a wide variety of crops, and bacteria are developing resistance. Now, researchers reporting in ACS' Journal of Agricultural and Food...
Modified cancer-killing virus avoids triggering immune system response
30.11.2020 | Press monitoring
Viruses largely get a bad rap, but some may be helpful. Oncolytic viruses selectively hunt down and kill cancer cells, but this emerging therapy can be rendered ineffective or even dangerous if it alerts the immune system. Now scientists have tweaked these viruses to avoid detection by the immune system, allowing them to track down cancer even...
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Experimental evolution reveals how bacteria gain drug resistence
27.11.2020 | Press monitoring
A research team at the RIKEN Center for Biosystems Dynamics Research (BDR) in Japan has succeeded in experimentally evolving the common bacteria Escherichia coli under pressure from a large number of individual antibiotics. In doing so, they were able to identify the mechanisms and constraints underlying evolved drug resistance. Their findings...
DNA molecules yield biochemical random number
25.11.2020 | Press monitoring
ETH scientists have generated a huge true random number using DNA synthesis. It is the first time that a number of this magnitude has been created by biochemical means. True random numbers are required in fields as diverse as slot machines and data encryption. These numbers need to be truly random, such that they cannot even be predicted by...
A DNA-based nanogel for targeted chemotherapy
23.11.2020 | Press monitoring
Current chemotherapy regimens slow cancer progression and save lives, but these powerful drugs affect both healthy and cancerous cells. Now, researchers reporting in ACS' Nano Letters have designed DNA-based nanogels that only break down and release their chemotherapeutic contents within cancer cells, minimizing the impacts on normal ones and...
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Microbe rewiring technique promises a boom in biomanufacturing
20.11.2020 | Press monitoring
Researchers from Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) have achieved unprecedented success in modifying a microbe to efficiently produce a compound of interest using a computational model and CRISPR-based gene editing. Their approach could dramatically speed up the research and development phase for new biomanufacturing processes,...
Decoy molecule draws deadly mosquito-borne virus away from the brain
18.11.2020 | Press monitoring
Venezuelan equine encephalitis virus (VEEV) is a mosquito-borne virus that, in the worst case scenario, can infect the brain and become deadly. It’s notoriously difficult to treat, but now scientists have discovered the protein it latches onto – and used it to create a decoy molecule that draws the virus away from the brain. Originating in...
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Monster tumors could offer new glimpse at human development
16.11.2020 | Press monitoring
Finding just the right model to study human development – from the early embryonic stage onward – has been a challenge for scientists over the last decade. Now, bioengineers at the University of California San Diego have homed in on an unusual candidate: teratomas. Teratomas – which mean "monstrous tumors" in Greek – are tumors made up of...
