Biotechnology

In biology textbooks and beyond, the human genome and DNA therein typically are taught in only one dimension. While it can be helpful for learners to begin with the linear presentation of how stretches of DNA form genes, this oversimplification undersells the significance of the genome's 3D structure.... Read more

A new microchip invented by Scripps Research scientists can reveal how a person's antibodies interact with viruses—using just a drop of blood. The technology offers researchers faster, clearer insights that could help accelerate vaccine development and antibody discovery.... Read more

Many of us have wondered what a landscape we see in a modern photograph might have looked like centuries ago. This question is especially intriguing when we know that the scenery has been radically transformed by human intervention over the past centuries.... Read more

A major scientific advance in protein modeling developed by Microsoft Research AI for Science, has been published in Science. The study introduces BioEmu, a generative deep learning system that emulates the equilibrium behavior of proteins with unprecedented speed and accuracy.... Read more

The ability of protein kinases to transfer a phosphate group to target proteins plays an important role in many cellular processes. Scientists at the Max Planck Institute for Medical Research in Heidelberg have now developed a novel molecular tool that can monitor these kinase activities both spatially and temporally. This... Read more

The time it takes to grow new skin for burns victims could be improved thanks to a new method of cell cultivation using algae, developed by University of Queensland researchers.... Read more

New research from the University of Waterloo shows that a single, targeted herbicide application from a Remotely Piloted Aircraft System (RPAS) can suppress common reed invasions with more than 99% effectiveness. This result is among many research findings recently published online in Invasive Plant Science and Management.... Read more

A new process could help to treat liver disease without needing an organ transplant, a new study reveals.... Read more

Leiden researchers have discovered an enzyme that helps bacteria feed on everyday plastics. This common enzyme could play a crucial role in future research and eventually in addressing the global plastic crisis. The study is published in Nature Communications.... Read more

In the last year, there has been a surge in proteins developed by AI that will eventually be used in the treatment of everything from snakebites to cancer. What would normally take decades for a scientist to create—a custom-made protein for a particular disease—can now be done in seconds.... Read more

Inside our cells, ribosomes—the tireless "protein factories" of life—have just shown off a new skill they haven't used in billions of years. A research team has become the first in the world to successfully expand the range of ring-shaped backbones in proteins using ribosomes, which have traditionally only produced linear... Read more

A Ph.D. student in biomolecular engineering at the University of California, Santa Cruz, has built a software program designed to facilitate the kind of precision genome editing involved in the development of cutting-edge therapeutics for genetic conditions such as certain metabolic or blood disorders, like sickle-cell anemia.... Read more

Golf course managers have much more insight into which fungicides to use to suppress turfgrass diseases, such as the common and costly dollar spot disease, without damaging the grass on their fairways, thanks to a new study by researchers at Penn State.... Read more

At more than 470 times the atmospheric concentration of CO₂, a humble soil bacterium does something extraordinary: it turns gas into stone.... Read more

A team of researchers has developed a method that could transform the field of protein engineering. The new approach, called AI-informed Constraints for protein Engineering (AiCE), enables rapid and efficient protein evolution by integrating structural and evolutionary constraints into a generic inverse folding model—without the need to train specialized artificial... Read more