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Category: biotech/medical – Page 1,796

Dr Halima Benbouza — Leading Biotech Development In Algeria For Health, Agriculture and Conservation

Dr. Halima Benbouza is an Algerian scientist in the field of agronomic sciences and biological engineering.

She received her doctorate in 2004 from the University Agro BioTech Gembloux, Belgium studying Plant Breeding and Genetics and was offered a postdoctoral position to work on a collaborative project with the Agricultural Research Service, United States Department of Agriculture in Stoneville, Mississippi.

Subsequently, Dr. Benbouza was funded by Dow Agro Science to study Fusarium wilt resistance in cotton. In 2009 she was awarded the Special Prize Eric Daugimont et Dominique Van der Rest by the University Agro BioTech Gembloux, Belgium.

Dr. Benbouza is Professor at Batna 1 University where she teaches graduate and postgraduate students in the Institute of Veterinary Medicine and Agronomy. She also supervises Master’s and PhD students.

From 2010–2016, Dr. Benbouza served as inaugural Director of the Biotechnology Research Center (CRBt) in Constantine, appointed by the Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research. In 2011, she was appointed by the Algerian government as President of the Intersectoral Commission of Health and Life Sciences. Dr. Benbouza is a member of the Algerian National Council for Research Evaluation and a past member of the Sectorial Permanent Board of the Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research.

In 2013, Dr. Benbouza was appointed by the Prime Minister as President of the steering committee of Algeria’s Biotech Pharma project. In 2014 she was honored by the US Embassy in Algiers as one of the “Women in Science Hall of Fame” for her research achievements and her outstanding contribution to promote research activities and advance science in her country.

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Aubrey de Grey Longevity Q&A — The last 25 years, SENS, Longevity Escape Velocity, & More

Annotated!

Aubrey David Nicholas Jasper de Grey is an English author and biomedical gerontologist. He is the Chief Science Officer of the SENS Research Foundation and VP of New Technology Discovery at AgeX Therapeutics.
Feel free to ask any related questions that you want Aubrey to try and answer!

Futurist Foundation is a non-profit organization with the goal to connect futurists and promote crowd-sourced projects in science, technology, engineering, mathematics & design.

Donate to Futurist Foundation — https://opencollective.com/future.
Donate to SENS — https://www.sens.org/get-involved/donate/
Discord: https://discord.gg/u3JM2cu.
Website: http://thefuturistfoundation.com.
Our Other Links: https://linktr.ee/futuristfoundation.

0:00 Introduction.

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New method helps pocket-sized DNA sequencer achieve near-perfect accuracy

Researchers have found a simple way to eliminate almost all sequencing errors produced by a widely used portable DNA sequencer, potentially enabling scientists working outside the lab to study and track microorganisms like the SARS-CoV-2 virus more efficiently.

Using special molecular tags, the team was able to reduce the five-to-15 percent error rate of Oxford Nanopore Technologies’ MinION device to less than 0.005 percent—even when sequencing many long stretches of DNA at a time.

“The MinION has revolutionized the field of genomics by freeing DNA sequencing from the confines of large laboratories,” says Ryan Ziels, an assistant professor of civil engineering at the University of British Columbia and the co-lead author of the study, which was published this week in Nature Methods. “But until now, researchers haven’t been able to rely on the device in many settings because of its fairly high out-of-the-box error rate.”

DNA in water used to uncover genes of invasive fish

Invasive round goby fish have impacted fisheries in the Great Lakes and the Finger Lakes by competing with native species and eating the eggs of some species of game fish.

But the camouflaged bottom dwellers can be difficult to find and collect—especially when they first enter a new body of water and their numbers are low and they might be easier to remove.

In a proof-of-principle study, Cornell researchers describe a new technique in which they analyzed environmental DNA—or eDNA—from in Cayuga Lake to gather nuanced information about the presence of these invasive fish.

Australian man arrested and accused of running world’s largest darknet site

ABC News: German authorities accuse Australian man of running DarkMarket, the world’s largest illegal online marketplace.

An Australian is allegedly at the centre of what German authorities believe was the biggest illegal marketplace on the darknet where more than $220 million was transacted over sales of drugs, forged money, SIM cards and bogus credit cards.

Scientists investigate phages that can kill the world’s leading superbug, Acinetobacter baumannii

A major risk of being hospitalised is catching a bacterial infection.

Hospitals, especially areas including intensive care units and surgical wards, are teeming with bacteria, some of which are resistant to —they are infamously known as ‘superbugs’.

Superbug infections are difficult and expensive to treat, and can often lead to dire consequences for the patient.