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    Category Biology/Biotechnology

    Can this Invasive Exotic Pest make better Materials for Industry and Medicine?

    May 7, 2018, Categories  Biology/Biotechnology, Environment/Geology, Physics, Chemistry/Nanotechnology

    Although unappetizing in this lab shot, these creatures are already used for many other purposes, including as an ingredient in Asian cuisine. Credit: Johan Foster

    Although unappetizing in this lab shot, these creatures are already used for many other purposes, including as an ingredient in Asian cuisine. Credit: Johan Foster

    A NIST team has measured the best wood-to-pest ratio for the design of new composites. Tunicates are slimy invasive exotic pests that some people like to eat. Now they may be used to make UV-reflective, flexible construction materials. They have combined derivatives of two surplus materials – wood pulp and dried-up pieces of an invasive exotic pest – to form a new composite material that is flexible, sustainable, nontoxic and UV light-reflective. The material could soon be used in a wide variety of applications, including food packaging, biomedical devices, building construction and the design of cars, trucks and boats.

    The key ...

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    Microbeads to Combat Infection show promise in Burn Wound simulations

    May 4, 2018, Categories  Health/Medical, Biology/Biotechnology

    Diagrams showing the burn wound geometry (left) and a cartoon representation of the mathematical model (right). Host cells are covered by a liquid layer known as the exudate, which is itself covered by dead (necrotic) tissue, except in the region of the excision where the exudate is exposed to the air. Bacteria and inhibitors exist in one of two states: free in the exudate or bound to the host cells, and can transition between these states by binding to and unbinding from the host cells. Both free and bound bacteria can divide; daughters of free bacteria enter the exudate, whereas some of the bound bacterial daughters remain bound to the surface, the rest entering the exudate. Bound bacteria may be consumed and destroyed (phagocytosed) by immune cells called neutrophils, while free bacteria and inhibitors may leak out of the wound (clearance) in the first twenty-four hours after the excision is made and before a scab forms over the exposed exudate. Credit: Image created by Dr. Paul A. Roberts. CC-BY

    Diagrams showing the burn wound geometry (left) and a cartoon representation of the mathematical model (right). Host cells are covered by a liquid layer known as the exudate, which is itself covered by dead (necrotic) tissue, except in the region of the excision where the exudate is exposed to the air. Bacteria and inhibitors exist in one of two states: free in the exudate or bound to the host cells, and can transition between these states by binding to and unbinding from the host cells. Both free and bound bacteria can divide; daughters of free bacteria enter the exudate, whereas some of the bound bacterial daughters remain bound to the surface, the rest entering the exudate...

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    Microbes Living in a Toxic Volcanic Lake could hold clues to possible Life on Mars

    May 4, 2018, Categories  Astronomy/Space, Biology/Biotechnology

    Sarah Black, who recently completed her Ph.D. in Geological Sciences at CU Boulder, collects water samples from Laguna Caliente. Credit: Brian Hynek

    Sarah Black, who recently completed her Ph.D. in Geological Sciences at CU Boulder, collects water samples from Laguna Caliente. Credit: Brian Hynek

    Researchers at the University of Colorado Boulder have discovered microbes living in a toxic volcanic lake that may rank as one of the harshest environments on Earth. Their findings, published recently online, could guide scientists looking for signs of ancient life on Mars. The team, led by CU Boulder Associate Professor Brian Hynek, braved second-degree burns, sulfuric acid fumes and the threat of eruptions to collect samples of water from the aptly-named Laguna Caliente. Nestled in Costa Rica’s Poás Volcano, this body of water is 10 million times more acidic than tap water and can reach near boiling temperatures...

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    Bacteria Therapy for Eczema shows promise

    May 4, 2018, Categories  Health/Medical, Biology/Biotechnology

    A scientist demonstrates application of the experimental therapy to the inner elbow. For demonstration purposes, the bacteria solution has been replaced with purple dye. Credit: NIAID

    A scientist demonstrates application of the experimental therapy to the inner elbow. For demonstration purposes, the bacteria solution has been replaced with purple dye. Credit: NIAID

    Topical treatment with live Roseomonas mucosa – a bacterium naturally present on the skin – was safe for adults and children with atopic dermatitis (eczema) and was associated with reduced disease severity, according to initial findings from an ongoing early-phase clinical trial at the National Institutes of Health. Preclinical work in a mouse model of atopic dermatitis had suggested that R. mucosa strains collected from healthy skin can relieve disease symptoms. The new findings, published May 3 in JCI Insight, support further evaluation of this potential new therapy.

    Atopic dermatitis is an inflammatory ski...

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