Category Biology/Biotechnology

Professor Alan Lau has mixed animal fibres with degradable plastics for better bone recovery.

Silk is an unlikely substitute for steel in any context, but for bone fractures, it may just be the perfect thing. A Swinburne researcher has developed a mix of cocoon silk fibres and biodegradable polymers that may one day hold bones together and help heal them from the inside out. Steel plates and bolts are often a surgeon’s only tools for fixing fractured bones. The problem is that steel can block new bone cells from repairing the fracture. Removing the steel through further surgery can leave bones brittle.

For 10 years, researchers have investigated a biodegradable polymer called PLA, already used in some food packaging, for medical implants...

Inhibition of Lateral Prefrontal Cortex Produces Emotionally Biased First Impressions: A Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation and Electroencephalography Study, Psychological Science (2017). DOI: 10.1177/0956797617699837

Life is full of emotional highs and lows, ranging from enjoying an activity with a loved one and savoring a delicious meal to feeling hurt by a negative interaction with a co-worker or that recent scuffle with a family member. But when we let emotions from one event carry on to the next, such spillover can color our impressions and behavior in those new situations – sometimes for the worse...

SAF-A Regulates Interphase Chromosome Structure through Oligomerization with Chromatin-Associated RNAs

Researchers have identified properties in DNA’s protective structure that could transform the way scientists think about the human genome. Molecules involved in DNA’s supportive scaffolding – once thought to be fixed – go through dynamic and responsive changes to shield against mutations, the research shows. Experts say this finding is crucial to understanding DNA damage and genome organisation and could impact current thinking on DNA-linked diseases, including cancers.
In human cells, DNA is wrapped around proteins to form chromatin. Chromatin shields DNA from damage and regulates what genetic information can be read, ie transcription.

Researchers—led by the University of Edinburgh—showe...

Enterobacteriaceae: Large family of Gram-negative bacteria that includes many of the more familiar pathogens, such as Salmonella and Escherichia coli. Credit: © ktsdesign / Fotolia

A scientific breakthrough has taken an emerging biotechnology a step closer to being used to treat wastewater in the Developing World. Researchers at the University of the West of England (UWE Bristol) (Ieropoulos & Greenman) have discovered that technology they have developed which has already been proven to generate electricity through the process of cleaning organic waste, such as urine, also kills bacteria harmful to humans.

Experts have shown that a special process they have developed in which wastewater flows through a series of cells filled with electroactive microbes can be used to attack and destroy a ...