Author Archive
Sunday, March 16th, 2008
Weekly Roundup
Here’s what happened last week on Biotech Mashup:
Sunday, March 9th, 2008
DNA Fabrication One Strand at a Time
Monday, March 10th, 2008
HemCon Medical Technologies Uses Shrimp to Save Lives
Building Small Molecules using a DNA Program
Tuesday, March 11th, 2008
Hormones from the Heart
Wednesday, March 12th, 2008
Stem Cells Used to Create Kidneys and Pancreas in Mice
Roaches’ Secret to Moving is [...]
No Comments » - Posted in Biotech Mashup by Jeff
Tuesday, March 11th, 2008
Hormones from the Heart
Most of us think of the heart as a highly sophisticated and durable pump. But another function of the heart is to secrete peptide hormones, which are small proteins that function as hormones. Multiple hormones are encoded by the atrial natriuretic factor (ANF) gene that help to regulate blood pressure and volume. At the Experimental Biology 2008 conference in San Diego [...]
No Comments » - Posted in Biology, Biotech Mashup, Cancer, Drug Discovery, Medicine, Pharmaceuticals by Jeff
Monday, March 10th, 2008
Building Small Molecules using a DNA Program
The main function of DNA is to encode the building blocks of proteins, and molecular biologists have become quite adept at cutting and pasting stretches of DNA to make nearly any protein they can envision. Unfortunately, small molecules, which are some of the most effective drugs, cannot usually be built so readily. Rather, synthetic organic chemists must [...]
1 Comment » - Posted in Business, Cancer, Drug Discovery, Pharmaceuticals by Jeff
Sunday, March 9th, 2008
DNA Fabrication One Strand at a Time
When in 1990 IBM arranged 35 individual xenon atoms to spell out “IBM,” the feat heralded a new era of nanofabrication. And it was so totally cool. But there’s not much you can really do with xenon atoms, and the process had to be performed under a near vacuum at close to absolute zero. A new technique [...]
1 Comment » - Posted in Chemistry, Engineering, Physics by Jeff
Friday, March 7th, 2008
Weekly Roundup
Here’s what happened this week on Biotech Mashup:
Monday, March 3rd, 2008
mircoRNAs Help Develop Skin
Is Good Parenting Genetic?
Tuesday, March 4th, 2008
A snow cone full of bacteria
Transgenic Mice Used to Improve Antibody Production
Wednesday, March 5th, 2008
15 Companies That Could Change Medicine
Pacific Biosciences Working Toward the 15-minute Genome
Thursday, March 6th, 2008
Sangamo Designing Proteins that Target DNA
PDL BioPharma Couldn’t [...]
No Comments » - Posted in Biotech Mashup, Weekly Roundup by Jeff
Thursday, March 6th, 2008
Sangamo Designing Proteins that Target DNA
Many of the drugs we use to fight cancer or ward off pain aim to inhibit the activity of proteins that the body naturally produces. Instead of inhibiting the activity of a protein, what if you could just instruct your body to stop making it altogether? Or instead of getting injected with a lab-produced protein that your body [...]
2 Comments » - Posted in Biology, Biotech Mashup, Drug Discovery, Medicine, Pharmaceuticals by Jeff
Wednesday, March 5th, 2008
Pacific Biosciences Working Toward the 15-minute Genome
The era of personalized medicine is fast approaching. Having your genome sequenced rapidly and cheaply will be key to this fundamental change in the way medicine is practiced and drugs are developed. Several companies are working toward the $1,000 genome, including Pacific Biosciences, one of Biotech Mashup’s top 15 picks for companies that have the potential [...]
1 Comment » - Posted in Biotech Mashup, DNA Sequencing, Diagnostics, Engineering, Genetics by 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
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
Friday, February 29th, 2008
Doomsday vault should be only first step
By now, you’ve probably heard of the doomsday vault that opened in Norway last Tuesday. It is a facility built to safely hold and protect the world’s supply of seeds. The vault was carved 364 feet deep into sandstone and limestone under the permafrost of a remote Arctic mountain only 620 miles from the North [...]
1 Comment » - Posted in Agriculture, Biotech Mashup, Technology by Jeff
