Biotechnology Industry News

Observing chloroplast proteins in finer detail and finding solutions to improve their function has been an objective that is already 50 years in the making. This goal was achieved by a team from the Australian National University (ANU) where they modified the protein folding properties of bacteria with the addition...

Current treatment approaches for type I diabetes, such as pancreatic islet transplantation, are quite promising. However, they are inefficient and can result in the loss of half of the transplanted beta cells during immune attack. Furthermore, the liver can only take in a limited volume of transplanted tissue. This led...

University of Massachusetts Amherst (UMass) - A group of scientists searched and wondered for a technology that could sniff out a wide range of medical conditions. To make this breakthrough, senior authors and professors, Derek Lovley and Jun Yao looked to human noses as their basis for the mechanism. Human...

Living organisms are fantastic chemists. They are able to use enzymes during chemical reactions by using the gentlest conditions. Creating brand-new enzymes to accelerate chemical reactions is a crucial part in the field of protein design with massive implications across different fields. For instance, in the field of biotechnology, enzymes...

Experts from the University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine, University of Texas at San Antonio and Texas Biomedical Research Institute, have repurposed marmoset blood cells to have the flexibility of stem cells. They later on directed these stem cells to assume the characteristics of sperm precursors. This opens for...

Viruses are the world’s most pervasive organism and they thrive in all kinds of ecosystems. Students and researchers from the University of Southern Denmark (USD) serendipitously discovered Danish creeks, Odense Å and Lindved Å, containing previously unidentified species of a virus. This unforeseen discovery of five potentially new species believed...

Adopting the best food producing technologies is a government decision that requires a cost-benefit analysis. Over the last 25 years, many governments have approved agricultural biotechnologies and the genetically modified (GM) crops that come along with them because of higher yield and reduced greenhouse gas emissions. Still, other governments refused...

Experts from the University of California San Diego have examined ultraviolet light emitting devices, particularly ultraviolet nail polish drying devices used to cure gel manicures. They discovered that their use leads to cell death and cancer-causing mutations in human cells, posing as a threat than what was previously thought. While...

In pursuit of more sustainable, sophisticated, efficient, and innovative formulas, some cosmetics companies are moving away from animal-based ingredients to plant-based ones. Others are opting for lab-based biotechnology in their extraction and creation of ingredients. Mathias Fleury, head of actives at Givaudan Active Beauty, says beauty is entering an exciting...

*Synthetic biology aims to develop new strategies for addressing the leading cause of hospital mortality rates.* One such issue is Pseudomonas aeruginosa, a naturally antibiotic-resistant bacteria that are difficult to treat as they live in communities that form biofilms. These biofilms allow these bacteria to attach themselves to the surface...

With a global population of 8 billion, current global food systems are strained in terms of providing a sustainable, healthy diet, particularly in our dietary preference for livestock-based food. Industry insiders might have seen this coming. While affordable and scalable meat is still probably years away from occupying supermarket shelves,...

Driven by remarkable data and advances in AI, 2023 is a promising year set to expand frontiers of what is known about biotechnology. To pick up on which sector of the biotech industry think tanks are eying this year, Kiera Peikoff, Deputy Director of Communications at Leaps by Bayer and...

Developers of COVID-19 vaccines need inspiration, and it may come from cancer researchers. And why not? Viruses and cancers share certain behaviors to help them visit woe upon humankind...

The results of a study funded in part by the U.S. National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) suggest that abnormal lung development may explain why some non-smokers will develop the debilitating lung disorder...

California currently has the third largest number of COVID-19 cases (roughly 131,000) with less than half of New York and just slightly less than New Jersey. An investigation into the genomic epidemiology...

Ligands are protein molecules that transmit signals in between or within the cells. They exert their effects by binding to cellular proteins called receptors. After binding to the ligand...

Dietary nutrients are key to influencing metabolic health. Some recent studies have shown that a diet with reduced protein could influence longevity/metabolic health. One approach is dietary protein dilution...

More than 120,000 novel human genetic variations that affect large regions of DNA have been discovered, some of which are linked to immune response, disease susceptibility or digestion. Scientists at...

During implantation, the human embryo is hidden inside a “black box.” Although peeking inside has been prohibited by the 14-day rule, which restricts in vitro studies to preimplantation events, a new...

While most of us wouldn’t want our cells sucking up more fat, cancer cells often need to adjust their metabolic needs to compensate for a deficiency in the production of certain lipid molecules. Now, a team...