Feature Channels: Biotech

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Bad news, Jurassic Park fans--the odds of scientists cloning a dinosaur from ancient DNA are pretty much zero.

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A team of scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Argonne National Laboratory has been working for nearly a decade to uncover new strategies to control the environmentally harmful side effects of modern day farming, including the release of excess nutrients from fertilizers that can pollute local and regional waterways.

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From Berkeley Lab: groundbreaking study maps out paths to new nitride materials; new framework for artificial photosynthesis; TMDCs don’t have to be perfect to shine bright.

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At first glance, nuclear waste and metal hip implants seem completely unrelated. But the answers to why medical implants fail and what we can do about it may come from an unlikely source — the nuclear fuel cycle. Researchers from the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Argonne National Laboratory have discovered that the same factors link the corrosion of nuclear waste forms — the packages scientists build to secure waste for millions of years — to corrosive conditions within the body that may cause implant failure. 

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The researchers say the new sensors could help detect spoilage and reduce food waste for supermarkets and consumers.

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An international research collaboration that includes the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) has discovered that aging in nematodes (worms) can be slowed and even reversed by a number of Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-approved drugs, findings that have the potential to extend human lifespan. The study findings are published in Scientific Reports.

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James Wilson, MD, PhD, director of Penn’s Gene Therapy Program and Orphan Disease Center, and a professor of Medicine and Pediatrics in the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, recalls being struck by the devastating toll of rare diseases as a young physician in the 1980s. He set out on a path to correct the genes that cause these conditions, including spinal muscle atrophy (SMA), the most common inherited fatal disease in infants. Today, Wilson and his team are celebrating a major milestone in the field: approval by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) of a gene therapy known as Zolgensma for SMA. The therapy is based on a delivery vehicle that his team discovered and developed over the past decade as part of a wide-ranging portfolio of research to advance gene therapy.

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Researchers at Berkeley Lab’s Molecular Foundry have predicted fascinating new properties of lithium; a powerful combination of experiment and theory has revealed atomic-level details about how silver helps transform carbon dioxide gas into a reusable form; new study reports the first comprehensive

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A new genomic approach provides a glimpse into the diverse bacterial ecosystem on the International Space Station.

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New drug also may increase effectiveness of oral chemotherapy for these tumors, known for their resistance to treatment.

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The College of American Pathologists (CAP) introduces a streamlined testing strategy, using an algorithm to improve diagnosis of celiac disease, helping millions of Americans

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Together with the United States Food and Drug Administration and the BioCompute Partnership, the George Washington University is co-sponsoring a workshop, titled “BioCompute Objects: Tools for Communicating Next Generation Sequencing Data and Analysis.”

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Tiny light-emitting microalgae, found in the ocean, could hold the secret to the next generation of organic solar cells, according to new research carried out at the Universities of Birmingham and Utrecht.

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Rutgers researchers have identified a siesta-suppressing gene in fruit flies, which sheds light on the biology that helps many creatures, including humans, balance the benefits of a good nap against those of getting important activities done during the day.

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Understanding how the brain reacts to acceleration is essential to designing more effective protective equipment and strategies for preventing traumatic brain injury, or TBI.

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NIBIB-funded researchers have designed a new class of two-dimensional (2D) nanomaterials that are disc-shaped and flat on the surface, similar to a coin, to aid in treatments for cartilage repair.

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Imagine a future technology that would provide instant access to the world's knowledge and artificial intelligence, simply by thinking about a specific topic or question. Communications, education, work, and the world as we know it would be transformed.

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In a landmark study, a group of U.S. scientists from Johns Hopkins, Stanford University and other institutions has found no long-lasting, major differences between the epigenomes of astronaut Scott Kelly, who spent a year in space aboard the International Space Station, and his twin brother, Mark, who remained on Earth.

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Electricity harvested from the sun or wind can be used interchangeably with power from coal or petroleum sources. Or sustainably produced electricity can be turned into something physical and useful. Researchers in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis have figured out how to feed electricity to microbes to grow truly green, biodegradable plastic, as reported in the Journal of Industrial Microbiology and Biotechnology.

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In a study of people with nonalcoholic fatty liver disease and their twins and other close relatives, UC San Diego researchers were able to diagnose liver cirrhosis simply by analyzing a person’s stool microbes.

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The University of Adelaide has reaffirmed its standing as the leading research and innovation university in South Australia.

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From breakthroughs in regenerative medicine and medical imaging to advances in vaccine and drug development, Tulane University will showcase its latest research discoveries to biotechnology firms, venture capitalists, foundations and potential collaborators April 9-10 in New Orleans.

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Sapio Sciences is pleased to announce the availability of Exemplar LIMS/ELN 11, a major expansion of our leading informatics platforms capabilities. Exemplar 11 focuses strongly on our drive to continuously improve user experience via interface enhancements. This release includes new data navigation aids, expanded searching capability, easier data viewing setup and new data and activity viewing components to enable quick and easy finding, viewing and traversing of your lab and scientific data.

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Irvine, Calif., March 20, 2019 – Here’s something to chew on: One in four people are impacted by defects of the temporomandibular – or jaw – joint. Despite the pervasiveness of this affliction, treatments are lacking, and many sufferers resort to palliative measures to cope with the pain and debilitation it causes. “The TMJ is central to chewing, talking and so many other daily activities, so when this crucial joint is impaired, there are significant negative effects on quality of life,” said Kyriacos A.

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WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - A fascination with movie technology that showed robots perform self-repair through a liquid formula inspired a Purdue University professor to make his own discoveries - which are now helping to lead the way for advancements in self-powering devices such as consumer electronics and defense innovations.

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With a few genetic tweaks, a type of soil bacteria with an appetite for hydrocarbons shows promise as a biological factory for converting a renewable — but frustratingly untapped — bounty into a replacement for ubiquitous plastics.

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Scientists develop a molecular map of metabolic products of bacteria in root nodules to aid sustainable agriculture.

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In the cells of every living organism — humans, birds, bees, roses and even bacteria — proteins vibrate with microscopic motions that help them perform vital tasks ranging from cell repair to photosynthesis. Now, scientists have developed a method for rapidly measuring proteins’ unique vibrations.

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Researchers at Indiana University have invented a new method to observe bacterial build cell walls in real time that could contribute to the search for new antibacterial drugs.

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ReactWell has licensed a novel waste-to-fuel technology from Oak Ridge National Laboratory to improve energy conversion methods for cleaner, more efficient oil and gas, chemical and bioenergy production.

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ASCB announces East and West Coast dates for summer biotech course, scholarships

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Bioengineers are designing aortic heart valve replacements made of polymers rather than animal tissues. The goal is to optimize valve performance and enable increased use of a minimally-invasive method for valve replacement over the current practice of open heart surgery.

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Los Alamos National Laboratory and partners are inviting the algae industry and academia to contribute to research to find the best algae strains for biofuels and bioproducts and to reduce the cost of producing bioenergy from algae feedstocks.

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If ship hulls were coated with special high-tech air trapping materials, up to one percent of global CO2 emissions could be avoided. This is the conclusion reached by scientists from the University of Bonn together with colleagues from St. Augustin and Rostock in a recent study. According to the study, ships could save up to 20 percent of fuel as a result of reduced drag. If so-called antifouling effects are also considered, such as the reduced growth of organisms on the hull, the reduction can even be doubled. The study has now been published in the journal Philosophical Transactions A.

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Permanently arrested cell growth is known as "cellular senescence", and the accumulation of senescent cells may be one cause of aging in our bodies. Japanese researchers have discovered that a certain enzyme in our bodies promotes cellular senescence by producing reactive oxygen species. Drugs that target this enzyme could potentially suppress this process, and inhibit aging and aging-related illnesses.

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This is the first visual function for incident AMD in older adults with normal macular health and early AMD. Older adults with delayed dark adaptation have a heightened risk for developing AMD within the next few years. Vision in bright light was known to be relatively preserved late into the disease. Night vision is affected much earlier.

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Engineers at the University of Maryland (UMD) have created the first 3D-printed fluid circuit element so tiny that 10 could rest on the width of a human hair. The diode ensures fluids move in only a single direction--a critical feature for products like implantable devices that release therapies directly into the body.

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How can you recycle the world's stockpiles of treated sewage sludge and boost sustainability in the construction industry, all at the same time? Turn those biosolids into bricks. Biosolids are a by-product of the wastewater treatment process that can be used as fertiliser, in land rehabilitation or as a construction material.

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A simple blood test reliably detects signs of brain damage in people on the path to developing Alzheimer’s disease – even before they show signs of confusion and memory loss, according to a new study from Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis and the German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases.

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Recap of program featuring biotech startups building platforms in the fight against the opioid crisis.

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Dallas is well-known for its oil industry, corporate headquarters, and technology startups. But did you know that the science behind some of the best-selling prescription drugs of all time was developed here?

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The University of Delaware's Kelvin Lee has received the 2019 Marvin J. Johnson Award in Microbial & Biochemical Technology from the American Chemical Society’s Division of Biochemical Technology.

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Researchers from North Carolina State University have developed an artificial enzymatic pathway for synthesizing isoprenoids, or terpenes, in E.coli. This shorter, more efficient, cost-effective and customizable pathway transforms E. coli into a factory that can produce terpenes for use in everything from cancer drugs to biofuels.

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Food Genes and Me is a site and software that lets users figure out health risks and how to solve them within minutes.

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A new study in Conservation Physiology shows that over time, bears get used to drones. Previous work indicated that animals behave fearfully or show a stress response near drone flights. Using heart monitors to gauge stress, however, researchers here found that bears habituated to drones over a 3 to 4-week period and remained habituated.

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For the first time, researchers at University of California San Diego have used rapid 3D printing technologies to create a spinal cord, then successfully implanted that scaffolding, loaded with neural stem cells, into sites of severe spinal cord injury in rats.

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A University of Wisconsin–Madison researcher and his collaborators at the University of California, San Francisco have repurposed the gene-editing tool CRISPR to study which genes are targeted by particular antibiotics, providing clues on how to improve existing antibiotics or develop new ones.

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Researchers at the University of Wisconsin–Madison have discovered how grasses count the short days of winter to prepare for flowering. The new research provides valuable insight into how winter-adapted grasses gain the ability to flower in spring, which could be helpful for improving crops, like winter wheat, that rely on this process.

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FDA approves first U.S. clinical trial of an intravenously administered bacteriophage-based therapy to treat resistant bacterial infections.