Biotechnology Headlines

News from The Scientist

Ocean life support dwindling ()
Phytoplankton have been declining by 1 percent each year for 100 years, spelling trouble for Earth's oceans

Tasty transgenics ()
Check out ongoing projects that are tinkering with edible animals

Eyelashes up close ()
Cilia are a must-have appendage, and they do much more than swat bodily currents -- indeed, new research is suggesting they play an important role in development and disease

Genetics News From Medical News Today

New York State Approves Quest Diagnostics' Fragile X Syndrome Test (Thu, 29 Jul 2010 02:00:00 PDT)
An accurate, faster testing option to identify female carriers and other patients with genetic abnormalities that cause Fragile X Syndrome is now available to physicians in all fifty states with the recent approval in New York. Fragile X is the leading cause of inherited mental retardation and the most common known single gene cause of autism...

Genetic Architecture And The Evolution Of RNA Viruses (Thu, 29 Jul 2010 00:00:00 PDT)
In biology and genetics, the concept of epistasis is what gives rise to the whole being more (or less) than the sum of its parts. The quantitative effect of a given mutation upon the traits of an organism has the potential to depend strongly upon the gene versions present in other parts of the genome, or even other mutations co-occurring in that gene...

Peer-Reviewed Journal Publishes Findings By Viral Genetics' Lead Scientist (Thu, 29 Jul 2010 00:00:00 PDT)
Research co-authored by Viral Genetics, Inc., (Pink Sheets: VRAL) lead scientist Dr. M. Karen Newell has been published in the peer-reviewed Journal of Leukocyte Biology (JLB). Newell's article identifies a potential mechanism that promotes chronic inflammation, a characteristic of most autoimmune diseases. Viral Genetics has been pursing treatments for Lyme Disease and HIV/AIDS...

Biology / Biochemistry News From Medical News Today

Polymer Passage Takes Time (Thu, 29 Jul 2010 02:00:00 PDT)
Polymer strands wriggle their way through nanometer-sized pores in a membrane to get from here to there and do their jobs. New theoretical research by Rice University scientists quantifies precisely how long the journey takes...

Genetic Architecture And The Evolution Of RNA Viruses (Thu, 29 Jul 2010 00:00:00 PDT)
In biology and genetics, the concept of epistasis is what gives rise to the whole being more (or less) than the sum of its parts. The quantitative effect of a given mutation upon the traits of an organism has the potential to depend strongly upon the gene versions present in other parts of the genome, or even other mutations co-occurring in that gene...

Spider Silk Produced In Metabolically Engineered Bacterium (Thu, 29 Jul 2010 00:00:00 PDT)
Researchers have long envied spiders' ability to manufacture silk that is light-weighted while as strong and tough as steel or Kevlar. Indeed, finer than human hair, five times stronger by weight than steel, and three times tougher than the top quality man-made fiber Kevlar, spider dragline silk is an ideal material for numerous applications...