Biotech

Ecuadorian scientists are developing a biotechnological strategy to stop banana wilt by genetically editing the causative fungus. Global banana production—one of the pillars of food security and a key source of income for tropical countries—faces […]

Platelets are small, disk-shaped cell fragments in the blood that are essential to stop bleeding and to initiate blood clotting after injury. Platelet transfusions in patients with severe trauma or medical conditions, including bone marrow […]

Researchers at the VIB-VUB Center for Structural Biology have developed a new microfluidics-based workflow that enables high-resolution cryogenic electron microscopy (cryo-EM) structure determination from extremely small quantities of starting material.This article was originally published here

Traditional bisulfite sequencing damages DNA, while enzyme-based alternatives are inconsistent. A novel methylation analysis method, called UMBS-seq, has been published in Nature Communications.This article was originally published here

QUT researchers have recovered the genomes of more than 24,000 previously unknown microbial species—some from entirely new branches of life that likely evolved before plants and animals. The microbes are detailed in two studies published […]

A quest to discover new antibiotics is taking a Cal Poly biochemistry research team back in time millions of years as they study ancient microorganisms.This article was originally published here

Insects that feed on starch can find veritable feasts in corn, pea, and bean crops or warehouses. It is no coincidence that the ancestors of these commercial plants developed α-amylase inhibitor proteins, which make the […]

From medicine to agriculture and aquaculture, bacteriophages are poised to have a huge global impact. As viruses which target only bacterial cells, they hold promise as an alternative to antibiotics, overcoming increasing issues around antibiotic […]

Scientists at the University of Osaka have developed a novel hydrogel that enables the efficient, three-dimensional (3D) culture of human induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs).This article was originally published here

In the future, clothes might come from vats of living microbes. Reporting in the journal Trends in Biotechnology, researchers demonstrate that bacteria can both create fabric and dye it in every color of the rainbow—all […]