Researchers have developed a new vaccine technology that has been shown in mice to provide protection against a broad range of coronaviruses with potential for future disease outbreaks—including ones we don’t even know about. The results are published in the journal Nature Nanotechnology.
A Birmingham researcher has developed a new high-throughput device that produces libraries of nanomaterials using sustainable mechanochemical approaches.
Dr. Jason Stafford from the University’s School of Engineering invented the platform to create highly controllable reaction conditions and reduce the substantial amount of time researchers spend generating materials in the laboratory.
The benchtop device is a fully automated unit that can be programmed for parallel synthesis to produce a series of novel materials made in subtly different ways, so creating a library of advanced materials or product formulations for further testing and optimization.
Skin functions as a sophisticated sensorial system in the human body, capable not only of detecting environmental stimuli—such as temperature, pressure, strain, and vibration—but also of actively responding to these changes. Among these, the temperature regulation capability of the skin plays a critical role in maintaining the stability of homeothermic animals.
As a greenhouse gas, carbon dioxide (CO2) contributes to climate change as it accumulates in the atmosphere. One way to reduce the amount of unwanted CO2 in the atmosphere is to convert the gas into a useful carbon product that can be used to generate valuable compounds.
Hydrogen energy is considered a promising solution with high energy density and zero pollution emissions. Currently, hydrogen is mainly derived from fossil fuels, which increases energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions, hindering efforts to achieve carbon neutrality goals.
An international team, led by researchers from Australia, have developed a system using nanotechnology that could allow people with diabetes to take oral insulin in the future. The researchers say the new insulin could be eaten by taking a tablet or even embedded within a piece of chocolate.
A new study has been led by Prof. Xing-Hua Xia (State Key Lab of Analytical Chemistry for Life Science, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Nanjing University). While analyzing the infrared photoinduced force response of quartz, Dr. Jian Li observed a unique spectral response that is different from the far field infrared absorption spectrum.
A team of chemists and bioengineers at Rice University and the University of Houston have achieved a significant milestone in their work to create a biomaterial that can be used to grow biological tissues outside the human body.
The results of a metagenomic study from the University of Trento suggest that the CRISPR toolbox will need to make room for another CRISPR enzyme. The disruption should be minimal because the newly identified enzyme is unusually compact. It consists of just over 1,000 amino acids. And yet it is also strongly active and highly precise. The hope is that it can be packaged with guide RNA within the tight quarters afforded by adeno-associated virus (AAV) vectors, and thereby expand the use of in vivo gene editing in therapeutic applications.
The study was led by Anna Cereseto, PhD, and Nicola Segata, PhD, of the department of cellular, computational, and integrative biology. Cereseto leads a laboratory that develops advanced genome editing technologies and their application in the medical sector. Segata is the head of a laboratory of metagenomics, where he studies the variety and characteristics of the human microbiome and its role in health. Their collaboration has led to the identification, in a bacterium of the intestine, of new CRISPR-Cas9 molecules that could have a clinical potential to treat genetic diseases.
Detailed findings from the study recently appeared in Nature Communications, in an article titled, “CoCas9 is a compact nuclease from the human microbiome for efficient and precise genome editing.”
