Category: Biotech

Biotechnological advances have led to a significant increase in beta-carotene levels in leafy vegetables, enhancing their nutritional value without disrupting vital processes like photosynthesis. A recent study published in the Plant Journalreveals that beta-carotene levels in leaves can be increased by up to 30 times through biotechnological methods and exposure to high light intensity. This breakthrough creates new storage areas for beta-carotene that do not interfere with essential functions such as photosynthesis.

Beta-carotene, a key carotenoid, is known for its health benefits, including its antioxidant, immunostimulant, and cognitive-enhancing properties. It also serves as a precursor to retinoids, which are essential for vision, cell proliferation, immune function, and vitamin A production.

Continue reading… “reakthrough in Boosting Beta-Carotene Levels in Leafy Vegetables through Biotechnology”

Redwire Corporation, a prominent space infrastructure company, has achieved a groundbreaking milestone by successfully 3D printing a human knee meniscus aboard the International Space Station (ISS), as reported by Interesting Engineering. This achievement marks a significant advancement in the field of 3D bioprinting and holds profound implications for human health, particularly in addressing meniscal injuries, which are among the most common injuries experienced by U.S. Service Members.

A Journey to Microgravity Bioprinting

The vast distance from Earth poses significant challenges for healthcare delivery during extended space missions, leading to a growing demand for space-based healthcare solutions. While conventional medicines from Earth can address common illnesses, the situation becomes more complex when dealing with injuries like bone fractures.

Continue reading… “Redwire’s 3D Bioprinting Breakthrough on the ISS: Printing Human Knee Meniscus in Microgravity”

A living replica of Dutch painter Vincent van Gogh’s famously severed ear is displayed at Culture and media museum ZKM, in Karlsruhe, southwestern Germany, on June 4, 2014. The ear is part of the exhibition “Sugababe” by Diemut Strebe, an artist specialised in artworks using biological material, who collaborated with scientists to reconstruct the Dutch master’s ear using DNA from a relative and 3D printers. 

By Jace Dela Cruz

THESE CYBORG CELLS MAY BE USED TO CREATE NOVEL DRUGS AND CLEAN UP POLLUTION, ACCORDING TO THE RESEARCHERS.

University of California’s (UC) biomedical engineers has developed “cyborg cells,” which are semi-living but cannot reproduce. However, these synthetic cells could have vast applications, especially in creating novel drugs and cleaning up pollution, according to the university’s press release on Jan. 18.

Continue reading… “Biomedical Engineers Create Semi-Living ‘Cyborg Cells’ That Could Revolutionize Health, Environment”

The proteins can record histories of cellular events

By Ayesha Gulzar

Researchers from MIT developed a technique to induce cells to record the history of cellular events in a long protein chain that can be imaged using a light microscope. The technique could help understand the critical steps involved in the processes, such as memory formation, response to drug treatment, and gene expression.

Studying the molecular processes within cells can provide important insights into their function and how they contribute to the overall functioning of an organ. However, most techniques for imaging cells only allow researchers to obtain a snapshot of a single moment in time, which can be limited in understanding the dynamic processes occurring within cells. 

“Biological systems are often composed of a large number of different types of cells. To understand those kinds of biological systems, we need to observe physiological events over time in these large cell populations,” said Changyang Linghu, Assistant Professor at the Michigan Neuroscience Institute and author of the study.

Continue reading… “MIT researchers developed self-assembling proteins that can store ‘cellular memories’”

Synthetic mouse embryos are shown in the container where they are grown. 

By Marianne Guenot

• Scientists were able to grow “synthetic embryos” without the need sperm, eggs, or a womb.
• Studying these structures in mice could teach us how to grow organs for transplantation.
• Making human babies that way remains a distant prospect, fraught with ethical problems.

Scientists grew “synthetic embryos” from mice cells without using sperm, eggs, or a womb. 

The process, a world first, was described in an issue of the peer-reviewed journal Cell on August 1.

 The technology could be a starting point to grow organs from scratch, Jacob Hanna of Weizmann’s Molecular Genetics Department, who headed the research team, said in a statement.

Independent experts said a lot more research would be needed before even considering growing a human embryo this way.

Still, this research makes this possibility a little more feasible, adding urgency to the ethical question, they said.

Continue reading… “In world first, artificial mouse ’embryos’ were grown without the need for a womb, sperm, or egg”

Some advocates have raised alarms about the experiments, suggesting that hybrids could develop that might be even more difficult to control.

By Gabrielle Canon

The future isn’t female, at least not for the invasive Aedes aegypti: the altered males are engineered to produce only male offspring.

Genetically modified male mosquitoes may soon be buzzing across areas of California, in an experiment to stop the spread of invasive species in a warming climate.

Earlier this month, the EPA cleared the UK-based biotech company Oxitec to release a maximum of roughly 2.4bn of its genetically modified mosquitoes through 2024, expand its existing trial in Florida and start a new pilot project in California’s Central Valley, where mosquito numbers are on the rise.

Oxitec’s modified mosquitoes are male, and therefore don’t bite. They were developed with a special protein so that when they pair with a female mosquito the only viable offspring they produce are also non-biting males. The project specifically targets the Aedes aegypti mosquito, one of more than 3,500 mosquito species and a dangerous invasive insect that has spread diseases like dengue, Zika, Chikungunya, and yellow fever in other countries.

Continue reading… “US poised to release 2.4bn genetically modified male mosquitoes to battle deadly diseases”

Viruses come in many flavors, and Rice University bioengineer Isaac Hilton has long been fascinated by the kind that take control of cells without rewriting their genetic code.

“Some non-integrating episomal DNA viruses have evolved sophisticated ways to hide inside human immune cells without altering our DNA,” said Hilton, a geneticist, synthetic biologist and cellular engineer. “These types of viruses can exist as circular minichromosomes that we call episomes, and some of these viral episomes can silently persist in human immune cells for a person’s entire life.”

In addition to helping viruses hide from the immune system, those circles can produce molecules that viruses use to hijack host cells and alter their behavior. But as their name implies, non-integrating episomal DNA viruses accomplish their takeover without making permanent changes to their host’s genome. From an engineer’s perspective, Hilton said the ability to program immune cell behaviors and safely erase that programming when it is no longer useful or necessary “makes these viruses very attractive for use in gene– and cell-therapy platforms.”

Continue reading… “Trailblazing Rice bioengineer is turning cells into disease fighters”