Feature Channels: Biotech

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Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute (SBP), the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, the Salk Institute for Biological Studies, and the University of Michigan will embark on a $15.4 million effort to develop new systems for quickly screening libraries of drugs for potential effectiveness against schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) has announced.

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In a study of children with brain shunts at Children’s of Alabama, a University of Alabama at Birmingham investigational biomarker outperformed the current “gold standard” test for detecting bacterial infections in the shunts.

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A new biomaterial can be used to study how and when stem cells sense the mechanics of their surrounding environment. With further development, this biomaterial could be used to control when immature stem cells differentiate into more specialized cells for regenerative and tissue-engineering-based therapies.

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Functional human collagen has been impossible to create in the lab. Now, a team of University of Wisconsin—Madison researchers describe what may be the key to growing functional, natural collagen fibers outside of the body: symmetry.

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Here is a list of the ASBMB's annual award winners.

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A new study from University of Michigan researchers challenges the widely held assumption that biofuels such as ethanol and biodiesel are inherently carbon neutral.

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The Global Biological Standards Institute (GBSI) targets the quality of research antibodies at a workshop at Asilomar next month in its ongoing efforts to improve reproducibility in preclinical research. Antibody Validation: Standards, Policies, and Practices brings together 100 leaders representing academia, antibody producers, pharma, funders, journals and policy makers to share perspectives, build consensus and recommend actionable solutions for improving accuracy in research antibody usage and validation. It is the first convening of all such stakeholder groups with the express purpose of developing antibody standards.

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People with high levels of four biomarkers in the blood may be more likely to develop a stroke than people with low levels of the biomarkers, according to a study published in the August 24, 2016, online issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

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Two Wichita State University professors are conducting research on an invasive plant species to assist Kansas ranchers in their practices.

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The U.S. Department of Energy announced last week that 43 small businesses will participate in the second round of the Small Business Vouchers (SBV) pilot.

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In a nation-wide competition, six teams of undergraduate engineering students produced prize-winning designs for technological advances to improve human health. The Design by Biomedical Undergraduate Teams (DEBUT) Challenge winning teams designed tools for a myriad of health care challenges, including diagnosing tuberculosis (TB) in children and a safer alternative for central venous catheter placements.

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In a collaboration between Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, researchers are exploring the link between diet, obesity-linked Type 2 diabetes, and intervertebral disc degeneration.

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Muyinatu A. Lediju Bell, a Johns Hopkins engineering faculty member who designs medical imaging systems that link light, sound and robotics to produce clearer pictures, was honored today by MIT Technology Review, which placed her on its 2016 list of 35 Innovators Under 35. The list annually spotlights the nation’s most promising young scientists.

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A novel MRI method that detects low levels of zinc ion can help distinguish healthy prostate tissue from cancer, UT Southwestern Medical Center radiologists have determined.

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To solve complex global challenges, like the social and environmental impacts of bioenergy development, researchers turn to PIRE. That stands for Partnership in International Research and Education and is a program through the National Science Foundation.

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Permanent brain damage from a stroke may be reversible thanks to a developing therapeutic technique. The novel approach combines transplanted human stem cells with a special protein that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration already approved for clinical studies in new stroke patients.

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Scientists from the Mechanobiology Institute at the National University of Singapore have discovered a new mechanism of cell boundary elongation. Elongation and contraction of the cell boundary is essential for directing changes in cell shape, which is required for the correct development of tissues and organs.

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As coastal ecosystems feel the heat of climate change worldwide, new research shows the humble mussel and marsh grass form an intimate interaction known as mutualism that benefits both partner species and may be critical to helping these ecosystems bounce back from extreme climatic events such as drought.

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Kim O’Connor, a professor in Tulane University’s Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, received a three-year $599,638 grant from the National Science Foundation to study ways to improve the survival of mesenchymal stem cells once they are implanted in patients.

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The New York Academy of Medicine is proud to announce the recipients of its prestigious annual awards for distinguished contributions by individuals in health policy, public health, clinical practice, biomedical research and an individual who has made significant contributions to the Academy.

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Researchers are on a real-life search for what one calls “the ultimate Pokémon”: Zenkerella, an elusive scaly-tailed squirrel that has never been spotted alive by scientists. However, biologists recently found three newly dead specimens that hint at how the “living fossil” has evolved over the past 49 million years.

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A new technology creates images resolved enough to enable consistent diagnoses across populations for the first time.

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Graphene nanoribbons (GNRs) bend and twist easily in solution, making them adaptable for biological uses like DNA analysis, drug delivery and biomimetic applications, according to scientists at Rice University.

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So far industry has only harnessed a fraction of the yeast diversity available for biotechnological applications, including biofuel production. In the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, a team led by DOE Joint Genome Institute researchers aims to help boost the use of a wider range of yeasts.

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Scientists at The Scripps Research Institute have created a ribozyme that can basically serve both to amplify genetic information and generate functional molecules, a big step toward the laboratory re-creation of the “RNA world,” generally believed to have preceded modern life forms based on DNA and proteins.

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Using a unique single-molecule force measurement tool, a research team has developed a clearer understanding of how platelets sense the mechanical forces they encounter during bleeding to initiate the cascading process that leads to blood clotting.

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It isn’t often that a graduate student makes a spectacular technical leap in his field, or invents a process that can have a significant impact on a real-world problem. Di Liu did both.

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A Kansas State University-led international team of 114 researchers has sequenced the genome of the tobacco hornworm, or Manduca sexta.

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Harvard Medical School scientists have identified a new family of proteins that virtually all bacteria use to build and maintain their cell walls. The discovery of a second set of cell wall synthesizers can help pave the way for much-needed therapies that target the cell wall as a way to kill harmful bacteria, said study leaders David Rudner and Thomas Bernhardt.

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The often-maligned E. coli bacteria has powerhouse potential: in the lab, it has the ability to crank out fuels, pharmaceuticals and other useful products at a rapid rate. A team from the School of Engineering & Applied Science at Washington University in St. Louis has discovered a new way to remove a major stumbling block in the process, and boost biofuel production from E. coli.

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Whether severe trauma occurs on the battlefield or the highway, saving lives often comes down to stopping the bleeding as quickly as possible. Many methods for controlling external bleeding exist, but at this point, only surgery can halt blood loss inside the body from injury to internal organs. Now, researchers have developed nanoparticles that congregate wherever injury occurs in the body to help it form blood clots, and they’ve validated these particles in test tubes and in vivo.

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More than a hundred years ago, Ivan Pavlov conducted what would become one of the most famous and influential psychology studies — he conditioned dogs to salivate at the ringing of a bell. Now, scientists are able to see in real time what happens in the brains of live animals during this classic experiment with a new technique. Ultimately, the approach could lead to a greater understanding of how we learn, and develop and break addictions.

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Galectin-3, a well-known lectin protein that binds with sugars, could have a number of interactions with other sugar-seeking proteins, which may complicate the biological processes that drive cancer growth, neural growth and white blood cell activities.

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Researchers have engineered living bone tissue to repair bone loss in the jaw, a structure that is typically difficult to restore. They grafted customized implants into pig jaws that resulted in integration and function of the engineered graft into the recipient’s own tissue.

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Tutela Monitoring Systems has your solution to mobile cold chain protection

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Southwest National Primate Research Center (SNPRC) at Texas Biomedical Research Institute (Texas Biomed) was awarded more than $40 million for a National Institutes of to continue research programs using nonhuman primates (NHP) as part of the National Primate Research Center (NPRC) consortia.

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The Tutela Genesis II Temperature Monitoring System is the most intuitive and robust system yet from Tutela. Find out why so many have chosen Tutela to monitor their priceless inventory.

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State-of-the-art weather radars were installed at Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) Climate Research Facility sites.

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Thanks to a new technique, scientists can analyze proteins collected from an intact microbial community, gaining insights into how the broader system works.

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Mike Kent, a researcher in Sandia National Laboratories’ Biological and Engineering Sciences Center, is studying a protein called Nef involved in HIV progression to AIDS with the ultimate goal of blocking it. He and his collaborators have developed a new hybrid method to study this HIV protein that compromises the immune system. The method also could work on many other proteins that damage cellular processes and cause diseases.

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This product allows you to test different particles to find which yield optimal performance characteristics in your specific system including cell isolations, affinity purifications, immunoassays, molecular assays.

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In work that aims to protect soldiers, a team of Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory scientists have created a material that is highly breathable yet protective from biological agents. This material is the first key component of futuristic smart uniforms that also will respond to and protect from environmental chemical hazards.

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Tutela Monitoring Systems has been providing web-based scientific wireless temperature monitoring systems for over 20 years. Our customers trust us as their valued partner for their temperature monitoring needs.

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Cancer cells need oxygen to survive, as do most other life forms, but scientists had never tracked their search for oxygen in their early growth stages until now -- a step toward a deeper understanding of one way cancer spreads that could help treat the disease.

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AutoSorter™ 1200 is Yaskawa Motoman’s newest high-speed sorting instrument for pre- and post-analytic specimen processing. Leveraging the previous model’s excellent record for reliability and speed, AutoSorter 1200 raises the bar on throughput at up to 1,200 tubes/hr.

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Yaskawa Motoman’s AutoSorter™ 2000BB bulk sorter has a new configuration available that can maintain frozen specimens in a -20°C environment during the sorting process. This enables automated sorting of most frozen specimens which previously required labor-intensive and error-prone manual handling.

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As some Florida growers try to find new crops and the demand for biofuel stock increases globally, University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences researchers have found that sweet potato vines, usually thrown out during harvest, can serve well as livestock feed while the roots are an ideal source for biofuel.

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Chicago (August 1, 2016): APHON has earned both a 2016 ASAE Power of A Gold and Silver Award for its Pediatric Chemotherapy/Biotherapy Provider Program. The objectives of the APHON Chemotherapy and Biotherapy Provider Program are to establish education and practice standards for the administration of chemotherapy and biotherapy to children and adolescents and to promote consistent practices in the administration of chemotherapy and biotherapy to pediatric and adolescent oncology patients.

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Bio-Rad Laboratories, Inc. (NYSE: BIO and BIOb), a global provider of life science research and clinical diagnostic products, today announced its entry into the rapidly growing molecular diagnostics testing market with the launch of Amplichek™ II quality control, which was recently issued a de novo clearance from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

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Bio-Rad Laboratories, Inc. (NYSE: BIO and BIOb), a global provider of life science research and clinical diagnostic products, today announced its continued expansion into the molecular diagnostics testing market with the launch of Amplichek™ I quality control, which was recently issued a 510(k) clearance from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).