Archive for March, 2008
Wednesday, March 5th, 2008
15 Companies That Could Change Medicine
In upcoming posts, we will be discussing what we believe is so exciting and revolutionary about each of these 15 companies that Biotech Mashup believes will change medicine:
NanoBio Corporation
-New Vaccines using Nanotechnology
23andMe
-Personalized Genomics
Cryoport Inc.
-New Cold Shipper Technology
OrphageniX Inc.
-Targeted Gene Alteration
Robotic Systems & Technologies
-Surgical Robot, Part of the Traumapod Team
HemCon [...]
6 Comments » - Posted in Biotech Mashup by Wendell and Jeff
Tuesday, March 4th, 2008
A snow cone full of bacteria
Next time you go to put a handful of fresh, fluffy, white snow into your mouth, think bacteria. A recent report in Science Magazine found that bacteria often function as nuclei in forming snowflakes, a surprisingly common side job for them. Snowflake formation requires the presence of some particulate matter in order to condense around. Atmospheric dust would be [...]
1 Comment » - Posted in Biotech Mashup, Environment, Pollution by Jeff
Tuesday, March 4th, 2008
Transgenic Mice Used to Improve Antibody Production
Researchers from China reported, in Acta Biochimica et Biophysica Sinica, a way to improve antibody production. Traditionally, antibody production uses recombinant fusion protein as an antigen to raise antibodies against the epitope, part of the molecule recognized by the immune system, of a target protein. At noted by the authors however is the issue that “the concomitant [...]
2 Comments » - Posted in Biology, Chemistry, Pharmaceuticals by Wendell
Monday, March 3rd, 2008
Slippery facts
-Canola oil was derived from the rapeseed through conventional breeding.
-The word “rape” in rapeseed comes from the Latin word “rapum,” meaning turnip.
-Turnip and many other vegetables are related to the two canola species commonly grown.
-Negative connotations with the word “rape” in North America resulted in the marketing-friendly name of “Canola.”
-Genetically modified canola, which is resistant [...]
No Comments » - Posted in Agriculture, Biotech Mashup by Jeff
Monday, March 3rd, 2008
Is Good Parenting Genetic?
A group of researchers ranging from Oxford University to the Universities of California, Berkley and Los Angeles published in PLoS ONE showing evidence that humans show neural brain activity for parental instincts. Previously, this group found that when individuals were shown adult or infant faces, they had similar neural activity in the striate cortices spreading along ventral and dorsal [...]
1 Comment » - Posted in Etiology, Genetics by Wendell
Monday, March 3rd, 2008
mircoRNAs Help Develop Skin
MicroRNA’s are short single stranded ribose nucleic acids which regulate gene expression. They have been found in heart and muscle tissue, and some exclusively in the brain. The term was first introduced in 2001 in Science. Researchers at Rockefeller University have discovered that microRNA’s also help create our skin to protect us from bacteria and possible prevent skin cancer.
The lead authors, [...]
1 Comment » - Posted in Biology, Cancer, Drug Discovery, Pharmaceuticals by Wendell
Saturday, March 1st, 2008
Uncovering Apoptosis, Programmed Cell Death.
Investigators at Saint Jude Children’s Research Hospital have announced new research which has advanced the understanding of how cells undergo Apoptosis. Apoptosis is intentional programmed cell death and is believed to be one of the main reasons for the existence of cancer which hijacks apoptosis and prevents it from occurring. A report on this work can be found in the [...]
No Comments » - Posted in Biology, Cancer, Disease, Medicine by Wendell
