Neoplants has bioengineered a houseplant that uses bacteria to remove indoor air pollution from your home.
Category: bioengineering – Page 58
Ultrathin samples with surface phonon polariton enhance photoinduced dipole force
A new study has been led by Prof. Xing-Hua Xia (State Key Lab of Analytical Chemistry for Life Science, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Nanjing University). While analyzing the infrared photoinduced force response of quartz, Dr. Jian Li observed a unique spectral response that is different from the far field infrared absorption spectrum.
Aligned peptide ‘noodles’ could enable lab-grown biological tissues
A team of chemists and bioengineers at Rice University and the University of Houston have achieved a significant milestone in their work to create a biomaterial that can be used to grow biological tissues outside the human body.
CRISPR Enzyme Found in Metagenomic Study Is Tiny, Yet Active and Precise
The results of a metagenomic study from the University of Trento suggest that the CRISPR toolbox will need to make room for another CRISPR enzyme. The disruption should be minimal because the newly identified enzyme is unusually compact. It consists of just over 1,000 amino acids. And yet it is also strongly active and highly precise. The hope is that it can be packaged with guide RNA within the tight quarters afforded by adeno-associated virus (AAV) vectors, and thereby expand the use of in vivo gene editing in therapeutic applications.
The study was led by Anna Cereseto, PhD, and Nicola Segata, PhD, of the department of cellular, computational, and integrative biology. Cereseto leads a laboratory that develops advanced genome editing technologies and their application in the medical sector. Segata is the head of a laboratory of metagenomics, where he studies the variety and characteristics of the human microbiome and its role in health. Their collaboration has led to the identification, in a bacterium of the intestine, of new CRISPR-Cas9 molecules that could have a clinical potential to treat genetic diseases.
Detailed findings from the study recently appeared in Nature Communications, in an article titled, “CoCas9 is a compact nuclease from the human microbiome for efficient and precise genome editing.”
Double sperm cloning (DSC) is a promising strategy in mammalian genetic engineering and stem cell research
Poirier M, Smith OE, Therrien J, et al. Resiliency of equid H19 imprint to somatic cell reprogramming by oocyte nuclear transfer and genetically induced pluripotency†. Biol Reprod. 2019;102:211–9.
Complete Human Penile Scaffold for Composite Tissue Engineering: Organ Decellularization and Characterization
Year 2019 face_with_colon_three
Tan, Y., Landford, W.N., Garza, M. et al. Sci Rep 9, 16,368 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-019-51794-6
Marriage of synthetic biology and 3D printing produces programmable living materials
Scientists are harnessing cells to make new types of materials that can grow, repair themselves and even respond to their environment. These solid “engineered living materials” are made by embedding cells in an inanimate matrix that’s formed in a desired shape. Now, researchers report in ACS Central Science that they have 3D printed a bioink containing plant cells that were then genetically modified, producing programmable materials. Applications could someday include biomanufacturing and sustainable construction.
The science of static shock jolted into the 21st century
Now Princeton researchers have sparked new life into static. Using millions of hours of computational time to run detailed simulations, the researchers found a way to describe static charge atom-by-atom with the mathematics of heat and work. Their paper appeared in Nature Communications on March 23.
The study looked specifically at how charge moves between materials that do not allow the free flow of electrons, called insulating materials, such as vinyl and acrylic. The researchers said there is no established view on what mechanisms drive these jolts, despite the ubiquity of static: the crackle and pop of clothes pulled from a dryer, packing peanuts that cling to a box.
“We know it’s not electrons,” said Mike Webb, assistant professor of chemical and biological engineering, who led the study. “What is it?”