Industrial biotechnology
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FacebookBugs from space offer new source of powerNew
Bacteria normally found 30km above the earth have been identified as highly efficient generators of electricity.
Bacillus stratosphericus - a microbe commonly found in high concentrations in the stratosphere orbiting the earth with the satellites - is a key component of a new 'super' biofilm that has been engineered by a team of scientists from Newcastle University. Isolating 75 different species of bacteria from the Wear Estuary, Country Durham, UK, the team tested the power-generation of each one using a Microbial Fuel Cell (MFC)…
New synthetic biology project could herald cheaper, more efficient biotechnologyNew
A team of chemists from the Universities of Southampton and Oxford have been awarded over £4 million to develop a new technique for 'clicking' DNA and RNA segments together. Their project, which is being funded by a strategic Longer and Larger (sLoLa) grant from the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) could make biotechnology research cheaper and more efficient. The scientists hope that their research could enable the production of useful DNA and RNA structures more efficiently and on a larger scale than is possible using…
Man-made photosynthesis to revolutionise food and energy production
Improving natural photosynthesis to make new fuels and boost crop production is the focus of Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) funded research presented at the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) Annual Meeting today. It could see us one step closer to bottling the sun's energy or turbocharging plants to produce bumper crops. Photosynthesis allows biological systems to take energy from the sun and use it to produce food and fuel…
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Features
Big score for British biofuel technology
Insight, know-how and collaboration lead to multi-million deal…
Fibres of the future
Researchers are looking to the natural world to create a new breed of exotic materials for biomedicine based on silkworm and spider silk…
Discovered: the ‘missing link’ in biological pigment biosynthesis
Scientists discover a new way one of life's key pigments is made…
Miscanthus - A bioenergy crop for all seasons
Since 2004, plots of giant 3m tall Asian elephant grasses have been sprouting up in fields…
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