Skip to main content

Posts

Latest

Edible Mushrooms – Harnessing Nature’s Natural Pesticide

Through the BioMed Research International, s cientists have found edible mushrooms to be a sustainable tool for the control of parasitic nematodes affecting agriculture and livestock industry.  Nematodes are organisms living in the soil and animals’ guts where they may live as parasites severely affecting economically important crops and farm animals, thus causing economic losses to worldwide agriculture. Traditionally, parasitic nematodes have been controlled using commercial pesticides and anthelmintic (AH) drugs. The overuse of commercial pesticides have not only lead to extensive environmental damages, they have also caused the nematodes to become resilient, reducing the usefulness of many commercial drugs. Edible mushrooms have been explored as a successful, less harmful “pesticide” to use on livestock and agriculture.  Studies have identified ten species of gilled fungi, including the oyster mushroom, who have the ability to produced tiny droplets from structures in their myceliu
Recent posts

How Genetic Engineering Could Save Coral Reefs

Rising sea surface temperatures and ocean acidification are set to destroy more than 90 percent of coral reefs by 2050. Despite increased awareness to the threat of climate change to biodiversity, and the establishment of guidelines to preserve marine ecosystems, environmental degradation is occurring faster than the pace of coral adaptation through natural selection according to Hoegh-Goldberg, climate scientist, and biologist specializing in coral reefs. Elevated seawater temperatures and coral bleaching are providing the correct conditions for opportunistic and/or pathogenic bacteria to damage coral reefs further, accompanying the decline in coral health. However, thanks to microbial biotechnology it has been shown that coral-associated prokaryotes can be manipulated through inoculations with specific taxa. Scientists from the Australian Institute of Marine Science, and University of Melbourne have identified that the modification of the microbiome may provide flexibility for the

6 Must-Read Science Communication Books

What is science communication? Science communication is what makes science, science. It is the process of breaking down the complex science that research has discovered over the years into messages that are  comprehendible to  the general public. Scientists dedicate their lives to asking questions and finding answers, so we can better understand  universe around us. The main driving force behind all of the discovery that takes place, is to help people.  Without science communication, nobody would know why science is important as it is and how it helps them. So how do scientists become good communicators? and non-scientists become good receivers? The answer is learning. To make your life easier we have compiled six must-read science communication books: The Sense of Style: The Thinking Person's Guide to Writing in the 21st Century - Steven Pinker The majority of science communication relies on the written medium: scientific journals, websites, books and magazines. Steven Pinker, a

Biotech Breakdown - Week 02/08

 Welcome to our breakdown in biotech news for the week starting 02/08.  02/08/2021 Parkinson's Disease Reversed in Mice View this post on Instagram A post shared by TheBiotech10 (@thebiotech10) Farnesol, an antimicrobial compound that can be found in herbs, fruits, and fungi has been found to reverse brain damage linked to Parkinson's disease (PD). Researchers at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, claim that farnesol has the ability to reverse brain damage linked to PD in mice. In the study, farnesol was found to deactivate a protein known as PARIS (parkin-interacting substrate.) PARIS levels have been seen to increase in individuals suffering from PD. 03/08/2021 Nanoparticle Detects Cancer in Urine View this post on Instagram A post shared by TheBiotech10 (@thebiotech10) Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) have created a nano particle diagnostic tool that is able to detect cancer cells in Ur

HIV Vaccine Trial

 Researchers from the University of Oxford have launched a Phase I trial of a novel mosaic vaccine, aimed at targeting a 'wide range' of HIV variants. The trial will involve healthy HIV-negative adults aged 18 to 65 years old, who are not considered to be at a high risk of infection. Each participant will receive one dose of the vaccine -- HIVconsvX -- followed by a further booster dose at four weeks. HIVconsvX, unlike other HIV vaccine candidates which are designed to induce antibody production from B-cells, is designed to induce a response from the immune systems T cells and targeting them to highly conserved and vulnerable regions of HIV. B cells, sometimes referred to as B lymphocytes, are a type of white blood cell. They play the role of antibody producers, and to perform the role as antigen-presenting cells (APCs) they later develop into memory B cells after activation by any interaction with the antigen again. Unlike T cells B cells don't kill the viruses themselve