Biology News Net - Biotechnology

More tomatoes, faster: Accelerating tomato engineering

Tue, 30 Aug 2016 17:36:48 -0500

A researcher transfers tomato plantlets from a plate of regeneration medium. Tomatoes are already an ideal model species for plant research, but scientists at the Boyce Thompson Institute (BTI) just made them even more useful by cutting the time required to modify their genes by six weeks.

Purest yet liver-like cells generated from induced pluripotent stem cells

Mon, 29 Aug 2016 18:12:49 -0500

This image shows induced pluripotent stem cells expressing a characteristic cell surface protein called SSEA4 (green). A research team including developmental biologist Stephen A. Duncan, D. Phil., SmartState^TM Chair of Regenerative Medicine at the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC), has found a better way to purify liver cells made from induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs). Their efforts, published August 25, 2016 in Stem Cell Reports, will aid studies of liver disease for the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI)'s $80 million Next Generation Genetic Association Studies (Next Gen) Program. The University of Minnesota (Minneapolis) and the Medical College of Wisconsin (Milwaukee) contributed to the study.

Analog DNA circuit does math in a test tube

Tue, 23 Aug 2016 18:09:18 -0500

Often described as the blueprint of life, DNA contains the instructions for making every living thing from a human to a house fly.

CRISPR-Cas9 breaks genes better if you disrupt DNA repair

Wed, 17 Aug 2016 18:43:31 -0500

CRISPR-Cas9 is the go-to technique for knocking out genes in human cell lines to discover what the genes do, but the efficiency with which it disables genes can vary immensely.

Legions of nanorobots target cancerous tumors with precision

Mon, 15 Aug 2016 18:29:44 -0500

The legions of nanorobotic agents are actually composed of more than 100 million flagellated bacteria Researchers from Polytechnique Montréal, Université de Montréal and McGill University have just achieved a spectacular breakthrough in cancer research. They have developed new nanorobotic agents capable of navigating through the bloodstream to administer a drug with precision by specifically targeting the active cancerous cells of tumours. This way of injecting medication ensures the optimal targeting of a tumour and avoids jeopardizing the integrity of organs and surrounding healthy tissues. As a result, the drug dosage that is highly toxic for the human organism could be significantly reduced.

CRISPR gene editing reveals new therapeutic approach for blood disorders

Mon, 15 Aug 2016 18:29:44 -0500

This is a scanning electron micrograph of sickled and other red blood cells. An international team of scientists led by researchers at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital has found a way to use CRISPR gene editing to help fix sickle cell disease and beta-thalassemia in blood cells isolated from patients. The study, which appears online today in Nature Medicine, provides proof-of-principle for a new approach to treat common blood disorders by genome editing.

Quantum dots with impermeable shell: A powerful tool for nanoengineering

Thu, 11 Aug 2016 18:30:35 -0500

Images of ZnO quantum dots prepared by the Institute of Physical Chemistry of the Polish Academy of Sciences in Warsaw, taken by transmission electron microscopy. False colors. Unique optical features of quantum dots make them an attractive tool for many applications, from cutting-edge displays to medical imaging. Physical, chemical or biological properties of quantum dots must, however, be adapted to the desired needs. Unfortunately, up to now quantum dots prepared by chemical methods could be functionalized using copper-based click reactions with retention of their luminescence. This obstacle can be ascribed to the fact that copper ions destroy the ability of quantum dots to emit light. Scientists from the Institute of Physical Chemistry of the Polish Academy of Sciences (IPC PAS) in Warsaw and the Faculty of Chemistry of the Warsaw University of Technology (FC WUT) have shown, however, that zinc oxide (ZnO) quantum dots prepared by an original method developed by them, after modification by the click reaction with the participation of copper ions, fully retain their ability to emit light.

Directly reprogramming a cell's identity with gene editing

Thu, 11 Aug 2016 18:30:34 -0500

Charles Gersbach, the Rooney Family Associate Professor of Biomedical Engineering and director for the Center of Biomolecular and Tissue Engineering at Duke University. Researchers have used CRISPR -- a revolutionary new genetic engineering technique -- to convert cells isolated from mouse connective tissue directly into neuronal cells.

Small molecules to help make SMARTER cereals

Mon, 08 Aug 2016 17:16:50 -0500

Associate Professor Jason Able with durum wheat in plant breeding trials. University of Adelaide researchers are rethinking plant breeding strategies to improve the development of new high-yielding, stress-tolerant cereal varieties.

Study shows cell-free DNA sequencing is more accurate for diagnosing myelodysplastic syndrome

Tue, 02 Aug 2016 17:08:44 -0500

Using next-generation sequencing (NGS) methods to analyze cell-free DNA in the blood of patients with myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS) yields more accurate results than the current standard approach of Sanger sequencing. This finding, and the greater likelihood of detecting the genetic abnormality responsible for the disorder by analyzing cell-free DNA versus DNA extracted from a patient's blood cells, is reported in a new study published in Genetic Testing and Molecular Biomarkers, a peer-reviewed journal from Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers. The article is available free on the Genetic Testing and Molecular Biomarkers website until August 30, 2016.