A team of Chinese and US scientists has determined the high-resolution atomic structure of a cell-surface receptor that most strains of HIV use to get into human immune cells. The researchers also showed where maraviroc, an HIV drug, attaches to cells and blocks HIV's entry.
On September 12th in her inaugural address upon taking up the post of Special Professor of Marine Biotechnology at Wageningen University Prof. Dr Shirley Pomponi will present how marine animals use a broad range of fine chemicals to defend themselves against infection, overgrowing and other threats. Her effort is to identify these chemicals, to let them be produced in a sustainable way and to develop innovative bioproducts for human health.
For the first time, scientists from the Florida campus of The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) have been able to erase dangerous drug-associated memories in mice and rats without affecting other more benign memories.
A team of scientists at Karolinska Institutet and Harvard University has taken a major step towards treatment for heart attack, by instructing the injured heart in mice to heal by expressing a factor that triggers cardiovascular regeneration driven by native heart stem cells. The study, published in Nature Biotechnology, also shows that there was an effect on driving the formation of a small number of new cardiac muscle cells.
Flagship VentureLabs announced that Midori Renewables is globally deploying their Breaking the Biomass Barrier technology, a novel catalyst that melts non-food biomass into low cost sugar, enabling the production of many valuable renewable products and animal feed.
Brown algae contain phlorotannins, aromatic (phenolic) compounds that are unique in the plant kingdom. As natural antioxidants, phlorotannins are of great interest for the treament and prevention of cancer and inflammatory, cardiovascular and neurodegenerative diseases. Researchers have recently elucidated the key step in the production of these compounds in Ectocarpus siliculosus, a small brown alga model species.
Researchers have known for some time that the blood vessels that transport blood to and from tissues and organs in the body are more than just bodily pipelines. Arterioles and capillaries, the small vessels, actually play a key role in regulating the flow of the blood they're carrying. Biomedical engineers at Drexel University, who study cardiovascular function, are creating a mathematical model that explains just how they do it.
A team of researchers have found evidence that altering the chemistry of an electrode surface can help microbial communities to connect to the electrode to produce more electricity more rapidly compared to unmodified electrodes. Practical applications of these systems include current generation, wastewater treatment, and biochemical and biofuel production.
The SeaBioTech project, started in 2012, is intended to close some of these knowledge gaps by looking in the seas and oceans around the globe for life forms with novel properties. The aim is to find raw material for the world's biotechnology industry, with a particular emphasis on antibiotics and other medical compounds.
Demystifying the chemical processes that create a wine's aroma, and the invaluable potential application of that understanding in winemaking, is the new objective of scientists in Uruguay who, with European partners, also recently sequenced the genome of the high-value Tannat grape, from which 'the most healthy of red wines' are fermented.