People with advanced sleep phase trait find it difficult to stay up at night, but they also wake up very early in the morning, unable to fall back asleep. Identifying the genes underlying this sleep pattern can shed light on circadian biology. Image credit:© iStock.com, Map In the 1990s, a woman approached sleep neurologist Christopher…
Boba pearl-inspired, fat-absorbing microbeads may promote weight loss by increasing fat excretion. Image credit:Yue Wu, Yunxiang He, and Junling Guo Despite Ozempic’s ultra-popularity, some patients can’t take this drug due to pre-existing health conditions such as thyroid and pancreatic disorders. Thousands of lawsuits have also been filed against the drug over safety concerns—a major one…
Stem cells are crucial in embryonic development, though their presence in adults may sometimes give rise to cancer. Recent breakthroughs in stem cell research could promote applications in regenerative medicine and species conservation. Image credit:© Istock, luismmolina Stem cells can self-renew and differentiate into a wide variety of cell types, making them critical components in…
Researchers engineered a vaccine antigen that induced specific types of B cells. Image credit:©iStock.com, home_fja Despite decades of research, scientists have not been able to develop a vaccine against human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). The primary challenges that researchers face are that HIV has many diverse strains and rapidly mutates. This has driven researchers to favor…
To develop better protein-based drugs, scientists can force these molecules to evolve in the lab within a much-shortened time scale. Due to technical limitations, this synthetic biology approach, collectively known as directed evolution, mostly relies on single-celled organisms, such as bacteria or yeast, even when the end-products are intended for humans.1 However, because the intracellular…
The American Chemical Society allocates $2.5 million to help 100 future chemists complete their graduate education. Image credit:© Istock, vivalapen Severe research funding cuts have left scientists in the United States and their trainees in the lurch. The American Chemical Society (ACS) refuses to stand back. The organization recently launched the ACS Graduate Student Success…
Large-scale plasmid DNA production is critical for applications in biotechnology and therapeutic development. However, many approaches require multiple steps and instruments during bacterial harvesting and purification, which reduces the method’s efficiency and consistency. Optimized centrifugation workflows overcome these challenges by enabling reliable, high-yield DNA purification at scale. Download this application note to learn about Harvesting…
While often considered a neglected tropical disease, whipworm infections can occur all over the world—and have throughout history. “We have archeological findings showing that these worms were infecting Vikings and Romans, and we actually found that the worms were inside Ötzi (the Iceman),” said Maria Duque-Correaan immunologist focusing on host-parasite interactions at the University of…
