Science Daily February 9, 2020 A team of researchers in the US (University of Washington, UT Austin) has developed a hydrogel system, portable “biofactory”, for harnessing the bioactivity of embedded microbes for on-demand small molecule and peptide production in microbial mono-culture and consortia. This platform bypasses the challenges of engineering a multi-organism consortia by utilizing a temperature-responsive, shear-thinning hydrogel to compartmentalize organisms into polymeric hydrogels that control the final consortium composition and dynamics without the need for synthetic control of mutualism. They have demonstrated that these hydrogels provide protection from preservation techniques (including lyophilization) and can sustain metabolic function for […]
Category Archives: Biotechnology
Printing objects that can incorporate living organisms
MIT News January 23, 2020 Significant efforts exist to develop living/non‐living composite materials—known as biohybrids—that can support and control the functionality of biological agents. A team of researchers in the US (MIT, Dana Farber Cancer Institute) has developed a Hybrid Living Material (HLM) fabrication platform which integrates computational design, additive manufacturing, and synthetic biology to achieve replicable fabrication and control of biohybrids. The approach involves modification of multimaterial 3D‐printer descriptions to control the distribution of chemical signals within printed objects, and subsequent addition of hydrogel to object surfaces to immobilize engineered Escherichia coli and facilitate material‐driven chemical signaling. The HLM […]
Bacteria-shredding tech to fight drug-resistant superbugs
Science Daily January 13, 2020 An international team of researchers (Australia, USA – North Carolina State University) has shown that when gallium-based liquid metal (LM) droplets are exposed to a low-intensity rotating magnetic field, the LM droplets become physically actuated and transform their shape, developing sharp edges. When placed in contact with a bacterial biofilm, the movement of the particles resulting from the magnetic field physically ruptures the bacterial cells and the dense biofilm matrix is broken down. They tested the efficacy of the magnetically activated LM particles against both Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacterial biofilms. After 90 min over 99% […]
Physicists design ‘super-human’ red blood cells to deliver drugs to specific targets
Science Daily January 16, 2020 An international team of researchers (Canada, Germany) has developed a method to combine synthetic material with biological material and created a new structure. They opened the red blood cell, modified its outer cell wall, and replaced its contents with a drug molecule, which would then be injected back into the body. The hybrid appears and behaves as a normal red blood cell but has a sticky surface which can attach itself to bacteria, for example, open and release antibiotics exactly where they are needed. This targeted delivery method could help to minimize dosages and therefore, […]
Next generation wound gel treats and prevents infections
Science Daily January 8, 2020 An international team of researchers (Sweden, Denmark) has developed a hydrogel based on the body’s natural peptide defense. It has been shown to prevent and treat infections in wounds and reduce inflammation. The formulation kills multi-resistant bacteria and prevents as well as treats wound infections. They are looking into the possibility of developing new peptide-based drugs for eye infections and infections in other internal organs. It could become a new way of treating both infection and inflammation without using antibiotics…read more. Open Access TECHNICAL ARTICLE
Researchers develop universal flu vaccine that protects against 6 influenza viruses in mice
EurekAlert January 7, 2020 Researchers at Georgia State University have developed a nanoparticle vaccine which combines two major influenza proteins that is effective in providing broad, long-lasting protection against influenza virus in mice, showing promise as a universal flu vaccine. The double-layered nanoparticle vaccine contains the influenza virus proteins matrix protein 2 ectodomain and neuraminidase. Mice were immunized with the nanoparticle vaccine before being exposed to influenza virus, and they were protected against six different strains of the virus…read more. Open Access TECHNICAL ARTICLE
Scientists find new way to sustainably make chemicals by copying nature’s tricks
EurekAlert January 6, 2020 Plants and microorganisms naturally biosynthesize chemicals that often are converted into derivatives with reduced toxicity or enhanced solubility. As a proof of principle, researchers in the UK used genetic engineering to program E. coli and cyanobacteria to make 1-octanol, a chemical currently used in perfumes, which is toxic to the bacteria. They then added an extra set of instructions to E. coli so it would produce two different derivatives of 1-octanol that are both less harmful. The researchers say if this were to be scaled up for industrial systems the engineered bacteria would produce the non-toxic […]
Scientists make fundamental discovery to creating better crops
Phys.org July 22, 2019 An international team of researchers (USA – Oak Ridge National Laboratory, University of Wisconsin, DOE Joint Genome Institute, industry, France) has discovered the complex relationship plants have with mycorrhizal fungi. When they are united, the fungi form a sheath around plant roots with remarkable benefits. The fungal structure extends far from the plant host, increasing nutrient uptake and even communicating with other plants to “warn” of spreading pathogens and pests. In return, plants feed carbon to the fungus, which encourages its growth. The discovery could lead to the development of bioenergy and food crops that can […]
New gene editor harnesses jumping genes for precise DNA integration
Phys.org June 12, 2019 Researchers at Columbia University have developed a technology called INTEGRATE, which harnesses bacterial jumping genes to reliably insert any DNA sequence into the genome without cutting DNA. Rather than introduce DNA breaks and rely on the cell to repair the break, as done in CRISPR, INTEGRATE directly inserts a user-defined DNA sequence at a precise location in the genome. The technique should enable a vast range of new gene editing opportunities in biotechnology, gene and cell therapies, engineered crops, and biologics. The INTEGRATE technology offers a fresh new approach with the same programmability and ease of use […]
We Finally Have Found a Way to Convert Donor Blood Into a Universal Type
Science Alert June 12, 2019 Researchers have known that certain enzymes could remove the sugars from A, B, and AB blood cells, converting them into the more useful Type O. Among the genes encoded in their library of 19,500 expressed fosmids bearing gut bacterial DNA, researchers in Canada identified an enzyme pair that work in concert to efficiently convert the A antigen to the H antigen of O type blood 30 times more efficiently than any previously discovered enzyme. The next step would then be to test the enzyme in a clinical setting, which will help determine if the conversion […]