University of Northern Iowa
Posted in Synthetic Biology on Dec 31st, 2007
College and high school students are helping MIT scientists develop an open source development kit for biological systems that could do for cells what Linux has done for computers.As part of the International Genetically Engineered Machines competition held in Cambridge, Massachusetts, last week, Peking University students created tiny assembly lines out of bacteria. Their entry, [...]
Posted in Events on Dec 31st, 2007
Seattle Hempfest happens thanks to a core staff of 120 volunteer crew leaders and over 1,000 week-of volunteers. Over forty distinct crews synergize to produce the largest pot rally on the planet. The energy created by this activist family is amazing, and you are invited to be a part of it.
Seattle Hempfest | August 16-17, [...]
Posted in Bioenergy on Dec 31st, 2007
WASHINGTON, DC — The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) today released an ambitious new research agenda for the development of cellulosic ethanol as an alternative to gasoline. The 200-page scientific “roadmap” cites recent advances in biotechnology that have made cost-effective production of ethanol from cellulose, or inedible plant fiber, an attainable goal. The [...]
Posted in Plant Biotechnology on Dec 31st, 2007
02/03/2004 — Scientists at NuCycle Therapy, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Integrated BioPharma, Inc. (Amex: INB), teamed with researchers at Purdue University in a two-year study funded by the National Institute of Health (NIH) to transfer genes involved in the metabolism of selenium, a mineral known to aid in cancer prevention, into edible plants. The results [...]
Posted in Marine Biotechnology, Pharmaceutical Biotechnology on Dec 29th, 2007
Scientists have genetically engineered a mosquito to release a sea-cucumber protein into its gut which impairs the development of malaria parasites, according to research in PLoS Pathogens. Researchers say this development is a step towards developing future methods of preventing the transmission of malaria.
CEL-III Protein Found In Sea Cucumber Inhibits Malaria Parasite Development | Scientific [...]
Posted in Plant Biotechnology on Dec 29th, 2007
Two grape genomes were published this year, one in Nature, the other in PLoS ONE. Larry Moran explains the methodologies and results of both and discusses the trustworthiness of each. The Nature paper is explained in The Grapevine Genome, and the PLoS ONE paper is discussed in The Second Grapevine Genome Is Published. Obligatory Readings [...]
Posted in Stem Cells on Dec 29th, 2007
The scientific finding of the year has to be the reprogramming of adult somatic cells into induced pluripotent stem cells (IPS cells). In reality the ground breaking work was published in 2006, however at that time it was not yet clear whether IPS cells were the real thing.
The Daily Transcript: IPS Cells - Scientific Finding [...]
Posted in Uncategorized on Dec 28th, 2007
Most of the cells in your body are not your own, nor are they even human. They are bacterial. From the invisible strands of fungi waiting to sprout between our toes, to the kilogram of bacterial matter in our guts, we are best viewed as walking “superorganisms,” highly complex conglomerations of human cells, bacteria, fungi [...]
Posted in Bionics on Dec 28th, 2007
It’s about time those clever GM guys stopped messing about with Soya and did some real good. Waht I mean is weaponized vegetables. Like the Venus Cat Trap, or in its larger incarnation, the Venus Kid Trap. The Claymore Sunflower (fires hundreds of hard little seeds). The Carrot Mine, or the anti-tank turnip. Explosive lawn [...]
Posted in Plant Biotechnology on Dec 28th, 2007
Recent research from Vidi researcher Josef Stuefer at the Radboud University Nijmegen reveals that plants have their own chat systems that they can use to warn each other. Therefore plants are not boring and passive organisms that just stand there waiting to be cut off or eaten up. Many plants form internal communications networks and [...]