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    Category Biology/Biotechnology

    Not a Pipe Dream anymore. Space-Farming: A long legacy leading us to Mars

    March 31, 2017, Categories  Astronomy/Space, Biology/Biotechnology

    Research into space farming has resulted in numerous Earth-based advances (e.g., LED lighting for greenhouse and vertical farm applications; new seed potato propagation techniques, etc.) There are still many technical challenges, but plants and associated biological systems can and will be a major component of the systems that keep humans alive when we establish ourselves on the Moon, Mars and beyond. Credit: NASA

    Research into space farming has resulted in numerous Earth-based advances (e.g., LED lighting for greenhouse and vertical farm applications; new seed potato propagation techniques, etc.) There are still many technical challenges, but plants and associated biological systems can and will be a major component of the systems that keep humans alive when we establish ourselves on the Moon, Mars and beyond. Credit: NASA

    How plants are grown beyond Earth? Plants, and specifically crop plants, will be a major component of proposed regenerative life-support systems as they provide food, oxygen, scrub carbon dioxide, and aid in water recycling – all in a self-regenerating or ‘bioregenerative’ fashion...

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    Beating Deadly Pneumonia with Hormones

    March 30, 2017, Categories  Biology/Biotechnology, Health/Medical

    Borna Mehrad, MBBS (left), and Kathryn Michels, both of the University of Virginia School of Medicine, have identified a hormone that helps the body fight off the spread of bacterial pneumonia. The discovery may offer a simple way to help vulnerable patients.

    Borna Mehrad, MBBS (left), and Kathryn Michels, both of the University of Virginia School of Medicine, have identified a hormone that helps the body fight off the spread of bacterial pneumonia. The discovery may offer a simple way to help vulnerable patients.

    A hormone responsible for controlling iron metabolism helps fight off a severe form of bacterial pneumonia, and that discovery may offer a simple way to help vulnerable patients. Hepcidin, is produced in the liver and limits the spread of the bacteria by hiding the iron in the blood that the bacteria need to survive and grow. Stimulating hepcidin production in patients who do not produce it well, such as people with iron overload or liver disease, may help their bodies effectively starve the bacteria to death...

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    Modern Alchemy creates Luminescent Iron Molecules

    March 30, 2017, Categories  Health/Medical, Biology/Biotechnology

    iron complex [Fe(btz)3]3+

    iron complex [Fe(btz)3]3+

    A group of researchers have made the first iron-based molecule capable of emitting light. This could contribute to the development of affordable and environmentally friendly materials for e.g. solar cells, light sources and displays. For over 50 years, chemists have developed metal-based dye molecules for a wide range of different applications, such as displays and solar cells. This would ideally involve common and environmentally friendly metals like iron, but despite a number of attempts no one has been able to develop an iron-based dye molecule that can emit light until now. Researchers around the world have therefore instead largely had to resort to various rare and precious metals, such as ruthenium, which have more easily provided the desired properties.

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    A Molecular On/Off switch for CRISPR

    March 29, 2017, Categories  Health/Medical, Biology/Biotechnology

    This image shows how the CRISPR surveillance complex is disabled by two copies of anti-CRISPR protein AcrF1 (red) and one AcrF2 (light green). These anti-CRISPRs block access to the CRISPR RNA (green tube) preventing the surveillance complex from scanning and targeting invading viral DNA for destruction. Credit: Image from Lander Lab/The Scripps Research Institute

    This image shows how the CRISPR surveillance complex is disabled by two copies of anti-CRISPR protein AcrF1 (red) and one AcrF2 (light green). These anti-CRISPRs block access to the CRISPR RNA (green tube) preventing the surveillance complex from scanning and targeting invading viral DNA for destruction. Credit: Image from Lander Lab/The Scripps Research Institute

    Scientists now reveal how viruses disable bacterial immune systems. For many bacteria, one line of defense against viral infection is a sophisticated RNA-guided “immune system” called CRISPR-Cas. At the center of this system is a surveillance complex that recognizes viral DNA and triggers its destruction...

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