https://phys.org/biology-news/biotechnology/ en-us The latest science news on biotechnology Cells are crowded, dynamic places where thousands of molecules interact in tight quarters. Until now, scientists lacked a reliable way to see many of these molecular interactions as they happen. Researchers at the University of Illinois Chicago have now developed a new imaging method that allows scientists to see previously hidden enzyme activities in small regions across the whole cell. The findings, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, open new possibilities for understanding how cells process information. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-cell-imaging-method.html Cell & Microbiology Tue, 14 Jul 2026 15:40:05 EDT news703255069 Microorganisms are increasingly being engineered to manufacture valuable compounds ranging from medicines and food ingredients to biofuels and industrial chemicals. However, turning microbes into efficient production platforms requires extensive strain optimization. Finding the right genetic changes to transform an ordinary microbe into a high-performing producer remains a major challenge, as beneficial genetic targets and gene combinations are often hidden within complex cellular networks. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-platform-uncovers-genetic-boost-derived.html Biotechnology Tue, 14 Jul 2026 13:20:06 EDT news703246831 Mathematics has always been at the core of securing information. From online banking to government communications, modern society relies on cryptography, in which complex mathematical algorithms transform readable information into an unreadable form to keep it secure. But as computing power grows and quantum technology advances, these mathematical safeguards are increasingly vulnerable to being broken. That's where biology stepped in. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-dna-origami-secret-messages-nanomorse.html Biotechnology Tue, 14 Jul 2026 11:20:07 EDT news703241682 Tissue engineers are finding ways to grow living organs and tissues from cells, with the aim of replacing diseased and damaged counterparts in the body. Scientists have successfully grown artificial muscles, livers, kidneys, skin and other tissues. But there's been no reliable way to engineer precisely patterned networks of blood vessels, some of which can be finer than a human hair. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-precise-artificial-blood-vessels.html Cell & Microbiology Tue, 14 Jul 2026 10:30:02 EDT news703241819 Mizani, a 12-year-old male western lowland gorilla at the San Diego Zoo Safari Park, underwent a first-of-its-kind mastoidectomy to treat an infection that had spread into portions of his skull. The surgery was performed by a multidisciplinary team of wildlife health experts from the San Diego Zoo Safari Park and surgeons from UC San Diego Health. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-kind-surgery-western-lowland-gorilla.html Biotechnology Tue, 14 Jul 2026 07:00:04 EDT news703223581 The era of "biomanufacturing," in which microbes, not petroleum, produce chemical products, is one step closer. A KAIST research team has analyzed the key challenges limiting the commercialization of biomanufacturing and proposed an AI-driven strategy for industrialization. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-era-microbial-cell-factories-closer.html Biotechnology Tue, 14 Jul 2026 06:35:14 EDT news703229595 The Space Aquaculture Project at Okayama University of Science is an ambitious research initiative aimed at cultivating fish and crustaceans on the moon and Mars, which are expected to serve as food production bases for future space exploration. The project ultimately seeks to improve astronauts' quality of life through better food options in space. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-shrimp-behavior-simulated-microgravity.html Plants & Animals Mon, 13 Jul 2026 13:54:20 EDT news703169626 A team led by bioengineers at the University of California San Diego has developed a genome-scale reference map that details how individual genes control the functions and identities of human stem cells. This open-access resource could help researchers build virtual cell models for complex diseases, as well as design patient-specific treatments for these diseases. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-million-stem-cells-reveal-genome.html Biotechnology Mon, 13 Jul 2026 10:30:01 EDT news703155590 Long before scientists began studying them in the lab, mind-altering substances were already being gathered from plants, fungi and even animals for use in rituals, healing practices and mental health treatment. Researchers at the Weizmann Institute of Science have now managed to bring together in a single organism five psychedelic substances that in nature are scattered across the tree of life. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-scientists-decipher-psychedelic-substance.html Biotechnology Sun, 12 Jul 2026 13:00:02 EDT news702724320 Nature is beautiful, powerful and essential. But nature is not always gentle. The same biological world that gives rise to forests, coral reefs and human life also produces infections, cancer, genetic disease, crop blights and toxins. Natural processes can heal, sustain and inspire, but they can also destroy. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-synthetic-life-lab-spudcell-falls.html Cell & Microbiology Sun, 12 Jul 2026 10:00:04 EDT news702738218 Virtual fences could make managing grazing livestock on farms more flexible and more efficient while improving animal welfare. A new study by the University of Göttingen shows that virtual fences trigger behavior in cattle similar to that caused by conventional electric fences, in terms of how they move around the field. This finding puts commonly expressed concerns about animal welfare into perspective. The results were published in the journal Animal. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-line-virtual-trigger-cattle-behavior.html Biotechnology Sat, 11 Jul 2026 19:00:01 EDT news702647544 A new digital platform developed under the leadership of CIIMAR is making Portugal's marine biodiversity more accessible by bringing together thousands of biological resources into a single access point. The Blue Biobanks Digital Research Platform aims to bridge scientific research and industry by simplifying the identification of organisms and biological materials with potential applications in areas such as biotechnology, bioremediation, aquaculture, health, cosmetics and many others. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-platform-digital-marine-biobanks.html Ecology Fri, 10 Jul 2026 23:40:01 EDT news702901216 Researchers at the Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf (HZDR), together with Wismut GmbH and scientists from the University of Granada in Spain, have demonstrated for the first time that bacteria can convert uranium dissolved in water into a stable chemical compound when they have access to glycerol as a food source. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-bacteria-dissolved-uranium-stable-compound.html Cell & Microbiology Fri, 10 Jul 2026 08:20:10 EDT news702888774 Rutgers Office for Research (OfR) leaders collaborated with researchers around the world to develop an artificial intelligence (AI) program that has the potential to revolutionize lab research. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-lab-animals-ai.html Biotechnology Fri, 10 Jul 2026 08:00:05 EDT news702888117 A smartwatch can tell us the level of oxygen in our blood, when our sleep is restless or the number of steps we take in a day. Now imagine that kind of tracking ability for plants. By the time farmers see curling leaves or stunted growth in their fields, their crops may already have spent days under stress. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-wearables-track-health-farmers-real.html Biotechnology Thu, 09 Jul 2026 10:20:07 EDT news702807380 Farmers are getting more tools in their toolbox, thanks to new research from the University of Missouri that shows how they can tweak planting practices to make the most of every acre. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-future-ai-farm.html Biotechnology Wed, 08 Jul 2026 19:20:03 EDT news702729348 The speed at which a cell produces proteins is a decisive factor in determining whether it divides, specializes or retains its stem cell properties. A team of researchers led by Professor Stefan H. Stricker, professor of epigenetic engineering at LMU's Biomedical Center and research group leader at Helmholtz Munich, has worked with international partners to demonstrate directly for the first time that the amount of ribosomal RNA (rRNA) directly regulates these processes. Their results were published in the journal Science. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-crispr-method-protein-production-cells.html Biotechnology Wed, 08 Jul 2026 16:00:01 EDT news702729337 RNA has emerged as one of the most promising molecules in modern medicine, enabling advances from mRNA vaccines and gene therapies to genome editing and synthetic biology. However, designing RNA molecules that reliably fold into a desired secondary structure remains a major challenge. Even for relatively short sequences, the number of possible nucleotide combinations grows exponentially, making it difficult to identify optimal candidates. As a result, conventional computational methods often require extensive candidate evaluations, creating a significant bottleneck when experimental validation is both time-consuming and costly. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-optimizing-rna-ai-ising-machine.html Biotechnology Wed, 08 Jul 2026 14:50:01 EDT news702724633 High-speed movies of microscopic worms may sound like a dull night at the cinema, but this advanced imaging capability could help scientists better understand how diseases begin and progress, track subtle changes in cells and study how the body responds to treatments. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-invisible-visible-high-movies-scientists.html Cell & Microbiology Wed, 08 Jul 2026 12:40:04 EDT news702724281 When Dolly the sheep—the first cloned mammal—was born 30 years ago, she became one of the most famous animals in science history. Her arrival sparked predictions of a sci-fi future filled with cloned pets, cloned humans and even resurrected extinct animals like the wooly mammoth. But the reality of cloning has turned out to be much more complicated. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-years-dolly-sheep-born-cloning.html Biotechnology Wed, 08 Jul 2026 09:20:01 EDT news702720661 A new genetic screening method allows researchers to efficiently modulate individual genes across entire tissues and provides new insights into human development. The research, published in eLife, is described as a landmark study by the journal's editors. They go on to say in their assessment of the work that "this technical tour de force is exceptional and one of the first studies to reveal new knowledge on human development through embryo models." https://phys.org/news/2026-07-unveils-genetic-screen-human.html Biotechnology Tue, 07 Jul 2026 14:20:11 EDT news702646951 Understanding how cells within and around a tumor interact provides key information about a cancer's architecture, a patient's immune response to the disease and even how susceptible the cancer may be to various types of treatment. But deducing these cellular "neighborhoods" using traditional techniques is time-consuming and expensive. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-inferring-multicellular-interactions-tumors-standard.html Cell & Microbiology Tue, 07 Jul 2026 11:40:01 EDT news702638952 Researchers from Skoltech and other science centers in Russia have developed a reporter system—a tool for screening potential new antibiotics—that enables the selection of drug compounds disrupting RNA synthesis in gram-negative bacteria. Among others, these include multidrug-resistant Pseudomonas aeruginosa, a dangerous pathogen responsible for hospital-acquired infections that has already adapted to existing antibiotics. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-screening-tool-rna-disrupting-antibiotics.html Cell & Microbiology Tue, 07 Jul 2026 10:20:01 EDT news702627605 "Complex chemical processes are essential for making DNA." This long-held assumption in the field of biotechnology has been overturned by a Korean research team. A KAIST research team has developed the world's first foundational technology that enables the synthesis of desired DNA using only temperature. Using this technology, the team also demonstrated a "DNA temperature black box" that records temperature changes during shipping without electricity. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-scientists-enable-dna-synthesis-temperature.html Biotechnology Tue, 07 Jul 2026 09:20:03 EDT news702630507 In a paper published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, researchers from Technion and Tel Aviv University present BetaDescribe, an AI system that translates protein sequences into natural-language descriptions, opening a new path toward understanding protein functions and accelerating drug development and material design. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-ai-protein-sequences-text-reveal.html Biotechnology Mon, 06 Jul 2026 21:20:03 EDT news702571489 Contrary to common assumptions, pigeons do not lock their eyes in place during flight. Instead, they make slow, subtle eye movements that may help them gather more information about their surroundings. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-qa-camera-equipped-homing-pigeons.html Ecology Mon, 06 Jul 2026 11:00:08 EDT news702287200 An international team, including the University of Tokyo, has created a sensor inspired by the lateral line in fish—their "sixth sense" organ—which measures the pulse of lab-grown 3D heart tissue (cardiac organoids). The device, called a biomechanical well plate, looks like a small white box containing four liquid-filled wells. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-mini-artificial-heartbeat.html Biotechnology Sun, 05 Jul 2026 09:00:04 EDT news702009512 As consumer interest grows in foods and beverages with added nutritional value, brewers are exploring ways to improve fermentation itself rather than relying on post-production additives. Ornithine, a naturally occurring amino acid involved in several biological processes, has attracted attention as a promising ingredient for value-added products. However, increasing ornithine production in brewing yeast is difficult because the metabolic pathway is tightly regulated, making conventional improvement strategies challenging. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-wild-yeast-discovery-enables-gm.html Cell & Microbiology Sun, 05 Jul 2026 07:40:04 EDT news702281791 Researchers have taken over 120,000 images of salmon lice larvae in seawater and used them to train AI models. The models were much faster and more accurate than experienced biologists at identifying the parasites that feed on the skin and blood of salmonids. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-ai-outperforms-biologists-salmon-lice.html Ecology Sat, 04 Jul 2026 09:00:01 EDT news702210398 In a study published in Science Translational Medicine, a team of researchers led by Dr. Wang Yu from the Shenzhen Institutes of Advanced Technology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences developed PRINCE and Little Prince, dual small-molecule-controlled genome editing systems that allow CRISPR activity to be switched on by drug inducers and kept largely silent in their absence. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-small-molecule-therapeutic-crispr-demand.html Biotechnology Fri, 03 Jul 2026 16:40:01 EDT news702223691