Recent Posts
News•Mar 1, 2026
Why Crowning the Protein that Makes Jellyfish Glow Green as a Model Can Help Scientists Streamline Biology
The article proposes designating green fluorescent protein (GFP) as a model protein to standardize protein research, much like fruit flies or mice serve as model organisms. It argues that GFP’s visual read‑out makes it ideal for benchmarking AI‑generated protein designs and for confirming proper folding. The piece highlights GFP’s historic role in transgenic experiments, including pig‑to‑human kidney transplants, and its educational value. By adopting GFP as a reference point, scientists could streamline discovery, improve reproducibility, and accelerate bio‑engineering pipelines.
By Phys.org – Biotechnology
News•Feb 28, 2026
Stale Bread and Bacteria Could Power a New Era in Green Chemicals
Scientists at the University of Edinburgh's Wallace Lab engineered E. coli to generate hydrogen from simple sugars, including stale bread, and paired it with a palladium surface catalyst to hydrogenate organic molecules. The biocatalytic system achieved up to 99% conversion efficiency,...
By Phys.org – Biotechnology
News•Feb 27, 2026
Promoters and Enhancers: Tool Catches Gene-Controlling DNA Sequences Doing Each Other's Jobs
Researchers at Cornell’s Weill Institute introduced QUASARR‑seq, a high‑throughput assay that measures promoter and enhancer activity simultaneously. The study found that most human regulatory elements can function as both promoters and enhancers, following a unified regulatory logic. A bidirectional feedback...
By Phys.org – Biotechnology
News•Feb 26, 2026
How RNA Binding Selectivity Arises From Disordered Regions
RIKEN scientists have shown that an intrinsically disordered region (IDR) of the DEAD‑box helicase DDX3X confers selective binding to specific mRNA structures, a mechanism uncovered using solution NMR spectroscopy. The discovery clarifies how DDX3X distinguishes target transcripts, linking its specificity...
By Phys.org – Biotechnology
News•Feb 25, 2026
How a 3D-Printed Synthetic Sea Lion Pelvis Enhances Veterinary Capabilities to Counter Ongoing Beaching
UNLV engineers have 3D‑printed a synthetic pelvis that replicates the bone, soft tissue, and blood flow of California sea lions, using DICOM data from micro‑CT and MRI scans. The lifelike model lets veterinarians practice blood‑collection techniques without relying on carcasses,...
By Phys.org – Biotechnology
News•Feb 25, 2026
An Endangered Natural Pharmacy Hidden in Coral: Hundreds of Reef-Dwelling Microbes Reveal Untapped Potential
A new Nature study led by ETH Zurich researchers sequenced the genomes of 645 bacteria and archaea from over 800 coral samples, revealing that more than 99% of these reef‑dwelling microbes were previously unknown. The analysis showed that each coral...
By Phys.org – Biotechnology
News•Feb 24, 2026
Engineered Bacteria Can Consume Tumors From the Inside Out
University of Waterloo researchers have engineered the anaerobic bacterium Clostridium sporogenes to eat solid tumors from the inside out. By inserting an oxygen‑tolerant gene and coupling it to a quorum‑sensing circuit, the bacteria survive at the tumor periphery only after...
By Phys.org – Biotechnology
News•Feb 24, 2026
AI Provides a More Precise Time of Death Post-Mortem
Researchers at Linköping University and Sweden's National Board of Forensic Medicine have created an AI model that estimates the post‑mortem interval with roughly one‑day precision, even up to 13 days after death. The system analyzes metabolite patterns in blood, leveraging...
By Phys.org – Biotechnology
News•Feb 24, 2026
How Bacteria Can Reclaim Lost Energy, Nutrients and Clean Water From Wastewater
Researchers in a Frontiers in Science review highlight that global wastewater contains roughly 800,000 GWh of recoverable chemical energy and nutrients enough to meet 11 % of ammonia and 7 % of phosphate demand. Microbial electrochemical technologies (METs) using electrogenic bacteria can transform...
By Phys.org – Biotechnology
News•Feb 23, 2026
Animal Muscles Inspire Biomaterial Design for Agriculture, Fabrics and Medicine
Researchers at Washington University in St. Louis have engineered muscle‑inspired protein fibers using synthetic biology, creating filamin‑based threads that combine high tensile strength, toughness, damping and shape‑memory. By growing genetically modified microbes in bioreactors, they achieved higher protein yields and...
By Phys.org – Biotechnology
News•Feb 23, 2026
Electrochemical Signals Can Reshape Bacterial Protein Patterns, Boosting Electron Transfer
Cornell researchers discovered that the inner‑membrane protein CymA in Shewanella oneidensis can self‑assemble into a biomolecular condensate, a behavior previously unseen in electroactive bacteria. By applying an external electrochemical signal, they induced the condensate, reorganizing CymA and its electron‑transfer partners...
By Phys.org – Biotechnology
News•Feb 23, 2026
Bringing Quantum Ideas to the Messy World of Disordered Proteins
Intrinsically disordered proteins (IDRs) make up roughly 79 % of human cancer‑associated proteins and defy traditional structure‑based drug design. Akshay Uttarkar’s team introduced QuPepFold, a Python package that translates short peptide sequences onto a tetrahedral lattice and uses a CVaR‑optimized...
By Phys.org – Biotechnology
News•Feb 23, 2026
Reading the Enemy: How Genome Science Is Reshaping the Fight Against Wheat Stem Rust
Researchers used long‑read DNA sequencing to assemble chromosome‑level genomes of two wheat stem‑rust strains that caused recent outbreaks in Ethiopia and Italy. The study showed these strains are unrelated to the notorious Ug99 lineage and each harbors distinct avirulence‑gene mutations...
By Phys.org – Biotechnology
News•Feb 21, 2026
A Trillionth of a Second: How Lasers May Sharpen Next-Gen Cryo-ET Microscopy
Scientists at Columbia’s Zuckerman Institute and Cornell’s Maxson lab have linked a pulsed laser to a cryo‑electron tomography (cryo‑ET) microscope, creating a proof‑of‑concept that modulates electron phase to boost image contrast. The technique exploits laser‑induced lensing within a trillionth of...
By Phys.org – Biotechnology