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Category: biotech/medical – Page 242

Mysterious black goo discovered aboard ship reveals species unknown to science

“The biggest surprise was that the ship goo had life in it at all,” researcher Cody Sheik, who discovered the substance, said in a press release. “We thought we’d find nothing. But surprisingly, we found DNA, and it wasn’t too destroyed, nor was the biomass too low.”

After further analysis, the team reconstructed 20 genomes from the sample. Some appear to represent entirely new branches of life, including what could be a previously unknown order of archaea and even a new bacterial phylum.

Inside the goo, scientists found microbes that thrive in semi-warm environments with no oxygen — conditions that closely match those inside the ship’s mechanical systems. Researchers believe the organisms may have hitchhiked on oil used to grease the rudder, remaining dormant until conditions allowed them to grow.

Scientists Develop New Antibody For Virus That Infects 95% of People

The Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) is one of the world’s most common viruses, thought to be lurking in 95 percent of adults. For most, it causes no obvious symptoms.

But EBV is more than a short-term infection.

Once it enters the body, EBV can stay for life, and it has been linked to several cancers, multiple sclerosis, and other severe health complications. Now, new research has given us a promising way to fight it.

Stealth switch in tuberculosis enzyme could open route to drug-resistant treatment

Recent research published in Communications Biology marks an advance in structural biology by enhancing understanding of protein regulation mechanisms in Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb), a global health threat. The team led by the University of Melbourne combined several advanced techniques at the Australian Synchrotron and the National Deuteration Facility to reveal the hidden allosteric mechanism that activates a key enzyme, ICL2.

The study opens a target pathway to treat drug-resistant TB with modulators that can interfere with the enzyme’s “on switch.” Traditional drugs often targeted the enzyme’s active site, which is difficult to block effectively.

However, ICL2 is unique to mycobacteria and is essential for the survival of the TB bacterium during infection, especially when it is starved of sugar and forced to live on fats.

Genomic and Transcriptomic Approaches Advance the Diagnosis and Prognosis of Neurodegenerative Diseases

Neurodegenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer’s disease (AD), Parkinson’s disease (PD), Huntington’s disease (HD), and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), represent a growing societal challenge due to their irreversible progression and significant impact on patients, caregivers, and healthcare systems. Despite advances in clinical and imaging-based diagnostics, these diseases are often detected at advanced stages, limiting the effectiveness of therapeutic interventions. Recent breakthroughs in genomic and transcriptomic technologies, including whole-genome sequencing, single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq), and CRISPR-based screens, have revolutionized the field, offering new avenues for early diagnosis and personalized prognosis.

Swine reporter model for preclinical evaluation and characterization of gene delivery vectors

Pigs which express tdTomato upon Cre or CRISPR editing of a genetic cassette inserted into their genome. (Pig analogue of Ai9 mice). This model system will aid translational preclinical studies for gene editing therapies.

A “turn-on” swine reporter model is developed to characterize local and systemic delivery of gene editors in vivo using viral or non-viral vectors. This adds the functionality of a reporter to preclinical gene delivery research in a large animal model that is more broadly accessible than nonhuman primates.

List of Biotechnology Companies to Watch — AI Expanded Version

I originally created a list of 160+ companies with detailed descriptions for each one. But updating the list manually takes a lot of time. So, I used ChatGPT and Claude to add a new batch of company website links I had collected (190 entries are now on the list). Hopefully I can continue expanding using this method. While I don’t learn about the new entries as directly since I’m not the one adding them, this will nonetheless be useful for keeping up with the fast-paced biotech world. I hope you find it useful as well!

I used ChatGPT and Claude to expand and revise/update my original 160+ entry list of biotech companies (now at 190 entries). I hope you find this expanded list and its descriptions useful!