Phys.org – Biotechnology

Cells are the smallest units of life. But even within the same tissue or organ, they are not all identical. New variations arise continuously during cell proliferation. While genetic mutations alter the DNA sequence, epigenetic […]

They are literally channels for communication: Pore-forming proteins in living cells, termed ion channels, are embedded in the outer membrane of almost all cell types and play a crucial role in the body’s various communication […]

Bats are known as natural hosts for highly pathogenic viruses such as MERS- and SARS-related coronaviruses, as well as the Marburg and Nipah viruses. In contrast to the severe and often fatal disease outcomes these […]

We’ve all felt the sting of guilt when fruit and vegetables go bad before we could eat them. Now, researchers from MIT and the Singapore-MIT Alliance for Research and Technology (SMART) have shown they can […]

Just a few meters beneath the clear, blue waters of Okinawa, reef-building corals known as Scleractinia have quietly lived for centuries. Slowly, layer by layer, they have constructed intricate, rigid structures made of calcium carbonate […]

Researchers from the Centenary Institute, in collaboration with the University of Sydney, have developed a powerful new tool to evolve proteins directly within mammalian cells, offering a more effective way to design medical treatments tailored […]

Living in a murky lake around Mexico City, surrounded by aggressive and cannibalistic neighbors, the axolotl lives at constant risk of losing a limb to a neighbor’s nibble. Fortunately, lost limbs regrow and are functional […]

A team of conservationists, zoologists and veterinary medicine specialists from Justus Liebig University Giessen, in Germany, the Department of Conservation, Kākāpō Recovery and the University of Otago, both in New Zealand, has successfully used artificial […]

Sample loss has been a persistent problem in cryo-EM, a high-tech method for creating 3D models of molecules that reveal their inner structures. It occurs during an essential step of imaging preparation, when a sample […]

Biomedical engineers at Duke University have developed a computational imaging system that borrows techniques from astronomy to reconstruct 4D videos of freely moving small model organisms, like zebrafish and fruit fly larvae. By using a […]