Nature September 13, 2022 President Joe Biden has selected Renee Wegrzyn, a biologist and former government scientist, as the inaugural director of the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H). Launched in March with a US$1-billion budget, ARPA-H aims to shake up the conventional model of funding biomedical research by funding high-risk, high-reward research in the life sciences. The Biden administration intends the agency to emulate the DARPA. Researchers applaud Biden’s choice, but say Wegrzyn will have her work cut out for her — there are many details about the agency that are still in limbo…read more.
Tag Archives: Biotechnology
Researchers help reveal a ‘blueprint’ for photosynthesis
Science Daily September 9, 2022 The cyanobacterial antenna structures, which are called phycobilisomes, are complex collections of pigments and proteins, which assemble into relatively massive complexes. Researchers have been unable to get the high-resolution images of intact antennae needed to understand how they capture and conduct light energy. An international team of researchers (USA – Michigan State University, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, UC Berkeley, Czech Republic) documented several notable results, including finding a new phycobilisome protein, observing two new ways that the phycobilisome orients its light-capturing rods that hadn’t been resolved before, and the structure of the antenna is available […]
Researchers create biosensor by turning spider silk into optical fiber
Phys.org August 2, 2022 Researchers in Taiwan harvested dragline spider silk from the giant wood spider Nephila pilipes, which is native to Taiwan. They enveloped the silk, which is just 10 microns in diameter, with a biocompatible photocurable resin and cured it to form a smooth protective surface creating an optical fiber structure that was 100 microns in diameter, with the spider silk acting as the core and the resin as the cladding. They added a biocompatible nano-layer of gold to enhance the fiber’s sensing abilities. This process formed a thread-like structure with two ends. To use the fiber to […]
3 Billion Bases of Our DNA: First Complete, Gapless Sequence of a Human Genome
SciTech Daily April 17, 2022 According to researchers, having a complete, gap-free sequence of the roughly 3 billion bases (or “letters”) in our DNA is critical for understanding the full spectrum of human genomic variation and for understanding the genetic contributions to certain diseases. The work was done by the Telomere to Telomere (T2T) consortium, which included leadership from researchers at the National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI), part of the National Institutes of Health. These studies provide more accurate information about the genomic variants within 622 medically relevant genes…read more. Open Access TECHNICAL ARTICLE
Send in the Blow Flies: Using Insects to Sample Areas for Chemical Warfare Agents
Global Biodefense April 11, 2022 Blow flies sample the environment as they search for water and food sources and can be trapped from kilometers away using baited traps. Under a program sponsored by DARPA a team of researchers at Indiana University-Purdue University investigated blow flies as environmental chemical sample collectors following a chemical warfare attack (CWA). They exposed three species of blow flies to CWA simulants dimethyl methylphosphonate and diethyl phosphoramidate as well as the pesticide dichlorvos, followed by treatment-dependent temperature and humidity conditions to determine the persistence and detectability of these compounds under varying environmental conditions. Flies were sacrificed […]
New Kind of Ultraviolet Light Safely Kills Airborne Pathogens Indoors, Scientists Say
Science Alert March 28, 2022 One potential solution for controlling airborne pathogens is Krypton Chloride (KrCl) excimer lamps (often referred to as Far-UVC), which can efficiently inactivate pathogens, such as coronaviruses and influenza, in air. Research has demonstrated that Krypton Chloride (KrCl) lamps do not induce acute reactions in the skin or eyes, nor delayed effects such as skin cancer. An international team of researchers has shown that Far-UVC deployed in a room-sized chamber effectively inactivates aerosolized Staphylococcus aureus. At a room ventilation rate of 3 air-changes-per-hour (ACH), with 5 filtered-sources the steady-state pathogen load was reduced by 98.4% providing […]
Extracting mechanical work from superfast-expanding hydrogels
Nanowerk March 12, 2022 Superabsorbent polymer gels can absorb large amounts of water (100–1000× their dry weight). However, gels that are both superabsorbent and able to expand rapidly have not yet been realized. Researchers at the University of Maryland created such gels by in situ foaming of a monomer solution (acrylic acid and acrylamide) using a double-barreled syringe which has acid and base in its two barrels. The gas generated by the acid–base reaction, was stabilized by an amphiphilic polymer in one of the barrels. The monomers are then polymerized by UV light to form the gel around the bubbles, […]
Freshwater from thin air
Science Daily February 28, 2022 Hygroscopic materials have attracted widespread attention because of their water harvesting performance. However, the introduction of many inorganic salts often leads to aggregation and leakage issues in practical use. Researchers at UT Austin have developed polyzwitterionic hydrogels as an effective Atmospheric Water Harvesting (AWH) material platform. Via anti-polyelectrolyte effects, the hygroscopic salt coordinated with polymer chains could capture moisture and enhance the swelling property, leading to a strong moisture sorption capacity. The hydrogel showed (0.62 g g−1, 120 minutes for equilibrium at 30 % relative humidity) and produced 5.87 L kg−1 freshwater per day. According to the researchers […]
Novel biosensors set to revolutionize brain-controlled robotics
Science Daily December 22, 2021 Researchers in Australia have detected the EEG signals with high sensitivity using epitaxial graphene (EG) grown on silicon carbide on silicon. The dry and non-invasive approach exhibited a markedly improved skin contact impedance when benchmarked to commercial dry electrodes, as well as superior robustness, allowing prolonged and repeated use also in a highly saline environment. They observed a new phenomenon of surface conditioning of the EG electrodes. The prolonged contact of the EG with the skin electrolytes functionalize the grain boundaries of the graphene, leading to the formation of a thin surface film of water […]
DARPA Successfully Transitions Synthetic Biomanufacturing Technologies to Support National Security Objectives
DARPA December 8, 2021 The Living Foundries program was launched in 2010 to enable adaptable, scalable, and on-demand production of critical, high-value molecules by programming the fundamental metabolic processes of biological systems to generate a vast number of complex molecules. As a proof of concept, DARPA intended to produce 1,000 molecules and material precursors spanning a wide range of defense-relevant applications including industrial chemicals, fuels, coatings, and adhesives. The performer teams collectively have produced over 1630 molecules and materials to-date, and DARPA is transitioning a subset of these technologies to five military research teams from Army, Navy, and Air Force […]