Press monitoring
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Researchers develop experimental rapid COVID-19 test using nanoparticle technique
8.6.2020 | Press monitoring
Scientists from the University of Maryland School of Medicine (UMSOM) developed an experimental diagnostic test for COVID-19 that can visually detect the presence of the virus in 10 minutes. It uses a simple assay containing plasmonic gold nanoparticles to detect a color change when the virus is present. The test does not require the use of any...
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Researchers control cattle microbiomes to reduce methane and greenhouse gases
5.6.2020 | Press monitoring
Ben-Gurion University of the Negev (BGU) researchers have learned to control the microbiome of cattle for the first time which could inhibit their methane production, and therefore reduce a major source of greenhouse gasses. The findings from Prof. Itzhak Mizrahi's findings were published recently in Nature Communications. The animal microbiome...
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Mini human livers grown from stem cells successfully implanted into rats
3.6.2020 | Press monitoring
Organ transplants save lives, but there are hurdles to overcome. For one, there’s a constant shortage of donors and, even when one is found, the patient’s immune system often rejects the new tissue. Growing a replacement organ from a patient’s own cells could solve both problems. It can be done on demand when a patient needs one, and the organ...
Bioinspired micro-robot based on white blood cells
1.6.2020 | Press monitoring
A team of scientists from the Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems (MPI-IS) in Stuttgart invented a tiny micro-robot that resembles a white blood cell traveling through the circulatory system. It has the shape, the size and the moving capabilities of leukocytes, and could perhaps revolutionize the minimally invasive treatment of...
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Bangladeshi eggplant farmers reap rewards via genetics
29.5.2020 | Press monitoring
Farmers in Bangladesh achieved significantly higher yields and revenues by growing insect-resistant, genetically engineered eggplant, a new Cornell study has found. The four genetically engineered (Bt) varieties yielded, on average, 19.6% more eggplant – known as brinjal in Bangladesh – than non-Bt varieties and earned growers 21.7% higher...
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Synthetic tick-spit protein may save lives
27.5.2020 | Press monitoring
One of the creepy things about ticks is the fact that not only do they suck your blood, but they're able to do so for a long time, undetected. Scientists have now synthesized the protein that lets them get away with it, and it may have life-saving medical applications. When a tick bites, it secretes proteins known as evasins in its saliva. These...
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Scientists find genes to save ash trees from deadly beetle
25.5.2020 | Press monitoring
An international team of scientists have identified candidate resistance genes that could protect ash trees from the Emerald Ash Borer (EAB), a deadly pest that is expected to kill billions of trees worldwide. Researchers from Queen Mary University of London and the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, sequenced the genomes of 22 species of ash tree...
CRISPR a tool for conservation, not just gene editing
22.5.2020 | Press monitoring
The gene-editing technology CRISPR has been used for a variety of agricultural and public health purposes – from growing disease-resistant crops to, more recently, a diagnostic test for the virus that causes COVID-19. Now a study involving fish that look nearly identical to the endangered Delta smelt finds that CRISPR can be a conservation and...
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Humans Inoculated with Genetically Modified Malaria Parasites
20.5.2020 | Press monitoring
Two clinical trials, in which subjects were vaccinated with genetically engineered Plasmodium parasites and later exposed to the malaria-causing microbe, showed the vaccines to be safe with promising, but not ideal, efficacy. Certain parasites of the Plasmodium genus, including P. falciparum and P. vivax, cause malaria when transmitted to humans...
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Scientists successfully develop heat resistant coral to fight bleaching
18.5.2020 | Press monitoring
Corals with increased heat tolerance have the potential to reduce the impact of reef bleaching from marine heat waves, which are becoming more common under climate change. "Coral reefs are in decline worldwide," CSIRO Synthetic Biology Future Science Platform (SynBio FSP) science lead Dr. Patrick Buerger said. "Climate change has reduced coral...
