https://phys.org/biology-news/biotechnology/ en-us The latest science news on biotechnology A new algorithm could drive breakthroughs in understanding cancer, Alzheimer's disease and other potentially fatal conditions. Researchers from the University of Waterloo developed the machine-learning algorithm, called RNovA, to detect changes in the proteins in human cells. Their research is published in the journal Nature Biotechnology. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-algorithm-disease-linked-cells-prior.html Cell & Microbiology Tue, 23 Jun 2026 18:10:01 EDT news701449441 Cryo-electron microscopy (cryo-EM) can help scientists determine the three-dimensional structure of proteins in unprecedented detail. Jacques Dubochet, former group leader at EMBL, shared the 2017 Nobel Prize in chemistry with Joachim Frank and Richard Henderson for the development of this technique, which led to the "resolution revolution" in structural biology. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-unique-instruments-automate-sample-quality.html Cell & Microbiology Tue, 23 Jun 2026 17:50:04 EDT news701449321 Researchers have discovered how certain photosynthetic bacteria use a sophisticated quantum mechanism to increase their efficiency when capturing sunlight. The study, published today in the journal Nature Chemistry and led by Professor Jenny Clark, reveals that nature has been using a process called "singlet fission," effectively a "two-for-one" energy deal, to optimize solar harvesting. The findings provide a new blueprint for green technology, particularly as engineers attempt to copy this mechanism to build next-generation solar panels and quantum technologies. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-energy-boosting-quantum-mechanism-photosynthetic.html Cell & Microbiology Tue, 23 Jun 2026 17:10:01 EDT news701449082 Patterns reveal the individual: A novel AI algorithm equips researchers with a powerful new tool to accurately identify individual jaguars, zebras and giraffes in real time based on their unique coat patterns. Biologists and ecologists can now observe individual wild animals as they move from place to place, as well as their behavior and development over long periods, accurately, with much less effort and significantly faster than before—a major step forward for nature conservation. The scientists explain how this works in the journal Methods in Ecology and Evolution. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-ai-tool-wild-animals-unique.html Ecology Tue, 23 Jun 2026 14:20:06 EDT news701436782 Some fish swim in synchrony. Others, it turns out, breathe in synchrony. This is true for arapaimas, an obligate air-breathing species living in the Amazon. A new study in Communications Biology, led by the Leibniz Institute of Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries (IGB) in collaboration with the Cluster of Excellence "Science of Intelligence," has demonstrated for the first time that arapaima juveniles gather by the hundreds to synchronize their trips to the water surface with split-second precision, most likely to avoid predators and maximize survival and efficiency. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-amazon-fish-reveal-synchronized-survival.html Ecology Tue, 23 Jun 2026 10:40:07 EDT news701426461 Gene editing of plant DNA has the potential to produce crops with increased performance and resilience, but it can take a long time to achieve these gains. To shorten this process, scientists often use screening tools to determine where and how edits to the plant genome can be most effective. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-leaf-based-fluorescence-gene.html Biotechnology Mon, 22 Jun 2026 19:40:03 EDT news701362681 In a rapidly changing climate landscape, the plants we rely on for food, textiles and more face a multitude of challenges, including rising temperatures, drought and disease. Caltech's Gözde Demirer, the Clare Boothe Luce Assistant Professor of Chemical Engineering, uses genetic engineering tools to make crops more resilient to such threats and enhance plant health. Now, she and a team of Caltech researchers have found a new solution to an old problem in an unlikely source: the zebra finch. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-bird-derived-gene-tool-inserts.html Biotechnology Mon, 22 Jun 2026 18:30:06 EDT news701368321 The body's organs are in constant communication. Fat tissue tells the liver when to store or release energy, the immune system signals localized inflammation, and thousands of proteins carry these messages to organs throughout the body. But while scientists have long known these conversations exist, they have struggled to identify exactly which cells are sending which messages. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-protein-tagging-technology-hidden-communication.html Biotechnology Mon, 22 Jun 2026 18:00:07 EDT news701359261 A team of researchers led by Professor Akitsu Hotta (Department of Clinical Application) developed a comprehensive framework that combines computational prediction, experimental validation and whole-genome analysis to evaluate intended and unintended mutations arising from CRISPR-Cas9 delivered by lipid nanoparticles (LNPs), providing a practical strategy to improve the safety of genome-editing therapies. The work is published in the journal Molecular Therapy Nucleic Acids. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-crispr-safety-unintended-mutations.html Biotechnology Mon, 22 Jun 2026 13:20:10 EDT news701352362 A remarkable quality of bioengineering is that scientists can take biological processes honed by millions of years of evolution and use them to efficiently create drugs, chemicals and other products to improve our lives. Now Tufts researchers have found new ways to expand the potential for using bacterial spores as catalysts for chemical reactions, biofuel production or breaking down pollutants. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-bacterial-spores-reveal-protein-enzymes.html Cell & Microbiology Sun, 21 Jun 2026 17:00:03 EDT news700740116 Proteins are the molecular workhorses of the human body. They perform a vast range of essential functions, from building tissues and transporting molecules to regulating cellular communication and defending against infection. Many medicines, including antibody therapies for cancer and insulin therapy for diabetes, among many others, work by interacting with specific proteins or by replacing proteins that are missing or malfunctioning. Because proteins carry out so many critical biological tasks, the ability to predict and engineer how they interact with one another could open new possibilities for treating disease. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-generative-ai-enables-atomic-scale.html Biotechnology Sat, 20 Jun 2026 10:00:01 EDT news700838180 New antibiotic candidates for drug-resistant bacteria may reside inside prions, misfolded proteins in the brain best known for rare and fatal degenerative brain diseases. Prion and prion-like proteins may hide short peptides, called "prionins," that can kill bacteria, suggesting proteins best known for their role in neurodegeneration may contain molecular features linked to immune defense, according to new research from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-ai-reveals-unexpected-source-antibiotic.html Cell & Microbiology Fri, 19 Jun 2026 15:00:04 EDT news701091662 Scientists have demonstrated a noninvasive technique that uses light to reveal the hidden contents of chicken eggs, potentially helping to curb the meat industry's practice of killing billions of male chicks at birth. The study, published in Newton, found that when light enters an intact bird eggshell, it bounces back and forth many times, with photons traveling as far as 2 meters (6.6 feet) within a chicken egg's tiny, 4-centimeter (1.6-inch) interior. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-unhatched-eggs-chicken-gender-reveals.html Biotechnology Fri, 19 Jun 2026 11:00:01 EDT news700990332 An orange-colored yeast species isolated from a Baltimore sidewalk several years ago could be the basis of eco-friendly mosquito traps that reduce malaria transmission, according to a new study from researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-bread-beer-alluring-yeast-species.html Cell & Microbiology Thu, 18 Jun 2026 09:00:01 EDT news700990343 Resurrecting dinosaurs using DNA retrieved from a mosquito trapped in amber is a great movie plot, though it's less likely to happen in the real world. However, researchers have been trying to unlock the secrets behind the evolution of a single protein family to understand the evolution of ancestral proteins. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-ancient-proteins-life.html Biotechnology Wed, 17 Jun 2026 13:20:07 EDT news700910161 Husker scientists have developed a new swine influenza vaccination technique whose low cost and adaptability can greatly strengthen disease protection. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-swine-influenza-vaccination-technique-greatly.html Biotechnology Wed, 17 Jun 2026 13:00:06 EDT news700910041 Silicon chips have powered computing for half a century. Increasingly, they are also becoming platforms to read and manipulate biology at scale—recording from many neurons, reading many DNA sequences and now synthesizing DNA. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-semiconductor-chip-dna-sequences-enzymatic.html Biotechnology Wed, 17 Jun 2026 11:47:12 EDT news700915316 When living cells grow, divide or respond to drugs, they give off tiny amounts of heat that offer information about what the cells are doing. But because these heat signals are so vanishingly small, they have traditionally been impossible to measure directly. Researchers in the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS) have developed a calorimeter—a device that measures the heat transfer between a living system and its environment—that can detect metabolic heat signals on the order of 100 picowatts, or trillionths of a watt, in living cells. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-sensor-cells-views-cell-metabolism.html Cell & Microbiology Tue, 16 Jun 2026 16:40:05 EDT news700830721 A new fluorescent reporter capable of visualizing biologically active iron and oxygen inside living cells at single-cell resolution has been developed, as reported by researchers from Science Tokyo. Using this new tool, they revealed striking differences in the distribution of iron and oxygen across organs and even between neighboring cells of the same type. This innovation could serve as a platform for studying cancer, liver diseases, neurodegeneration and aging. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-lion-fluorescent-molecule-tracks-iron.html Cell & Microbiology Tue, 16 Jun 2026 15:30:01 EDT news700841341 An international research team led by Forschungszentrum Jülich and the IPK Leibniz Institute has developed an artificial intelligence model that predicts where regulatory proteins dock onto plant DNA to switch genes on and off. Trained entirely on the rich genomic data available for the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana, the model transfers successfully to crops such as maize—opening new ways to understand how genetic variation shapes crop performance. The study was recently published in Nature Communications. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-ai-decodes-dna-gene.html Biotechnology Tue, 16 Jun 2026 13:40:04 EDT news700828681 With El Niño-driven heat and prolonged dry spells threatening rice production, scientists from Japan's National Agriculture and Food Research Organization (NARO), other Japanese research institutions and the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) have discovered a gene that helps rice "escape" heat during its most sensitive flowering stage. The gene, called EMF3 (Early Morning Flowering 3), shifts rice flowering to the early morning, when temperatures are cooler. By flowering earlier in the day, rice can avoid heat stress that would otherwise reduce grain formation and lower yields in tropical and subtropical regions. The research is published in the Plant Biotechnology Journal. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-newfound-rice-gene-shifts-hours.html Biotechnology Mon, 15 Jun 2026 13:40:08 EDT news700744502 Prime editing can potentially repair the vast majority of known disease-causing human mutations, but the technology, first developed in 2019, has not yet been widely used in the body, or in vivo, to treat genetic disease. The only clinical application of prime editing that has been publicly announced uses the technology to edit cells outside the body before transplanting them back into the patient. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-scientists-aspect-prime-closer-genetic.html Biotechnology Mon, 15 Jun 2026 12:40:04 EDT news700736907 The vaquita (Phocoena sinus), an elusive porpoise found only in the shallow waters of Mexico's northern Gulf of California, is one of the rarest and most endangered marine mammals on Earth. Measuring about 5 feet (1.5 meters) in length, it is the world's smallest cetacean—a group that includes whales, dolphins and porpoises. Known for the distinctive dark rings around its eyes and mouth, the vaquita remained unknown to science until the latter half of the 20th century. Today, it has become a global symbol of the growing biodiversity crisis unfolding in the world's oceans. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-pixels-world-rarest-porpoise-3d.html Biotechnology Mon, 15 Jun 2026 12:00:01 EDT news700736341 A new study has created a detailed map of the pituitary gland, often called the body's "master gland" because it controls important functions such as growth, stress and reproduction. Researchers from the Center for Craniofacial & Regenerative Biology combined data from many studies to build a single, clearer picture of how this gland works. They created the Consensus Pituitary Atlas, along with an easy-to-use website where scientists can explore the data and analyze their own. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-atlas-reveals-body-master-gland.html Cell & Microbiology Sat, 13 Jun 2026 14:00:03 EDT news700147166 In an advance that could one day lead to new treatments for neurodegenerative diseases, Meredith Jackrel, an associate professor of chemistry in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis, and her team have developed a method to rapidly produce and screen a class of disaggregase enzymes that can break down the misfolded proteins associated with ALS and Parkinson's disease. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-enzymes-potential-als-parkinson-disease.html Biotechnology Sat, 13 Jun 2026 08:00:08 EDT news700134722 Bacteriophages, or phages, are viruses that infect bacteria and are not considered human pathogens. Yet researchers at the Translational Microbiology Laboratory of the Institute of Biochemistry, HUN-REN Biological Research Centre, Szeged, have shown that some gut phages can also physically interact with human cells. Their study identifies phage surface proteins that act as molecular anchors, promoting attachment to human cells, cellular uptake, and prolonged retention in the gastrointestinal tract. The findings, published in the journal Nature Communications, open new perspectives on how phages behave in the body and may create new opportunities for therapeutic development. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-molecular-anchors-gut-phages-therapeutic.html Cell & Microbiology Fri, 12 Jun 2026 13:40:01 EDT news700487638 Every year, hundreds of millions of tons of petrochemical-based plastics are produced, much of which ends up in the environment or is incinerated. This exacerbates greenhouse gas emissions and the environmental crisis caused by plastic pollution. Now, a study led by the University of Barcelona has produced a biodegradable bioplastic of high industrial value—polyhydroxybutyrate, or PHB—from unprocessed potato starch in a single 24-hour step, a strategic breakthrough that could help reduce dependence on oil and the volume of persistent plastic waste. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-bacterium-potato-starch-biodegradable-plastic.html Cell & Microbiology Fri, 12 Jun 2026 12:20:09 EDT news700478881 A new AI model has become so good at predicting how molecules evolve over time that, in the future, it could speed up the costly and time-consuming process of testing new drugs. In the long term, this technology could facilitate the development of medicines and new treatments, as promising drug candidates can be identified more quickly and with greater accuracy. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-ai-fast-forwards-molecular-simulations.html Biotechnology Thu, 11 Jun 2026 18:20:01 EDT news700410781 The integration of biological organisms into synthetic structures offers a radical new pathway for developing intelligent, self-powered materials. Researchers have pioneered an innovative approach to biomanufacturing by using light-based 3D printing to engineer living material systems capable of localized environmental processing. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-ocean-3d-gels-mechanical.html Cell & Microbiology Thu, 11 Jun 2026 12:40:04 EDT news700395422 In the human body, the boundary between health and severe illness can be microscopic. For decades, molecular scientists have grappled with a frustrating biological reality: The proteins driving devastating diseases often look nearly identical to the ones keeping us alive. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-custom-protein-binders-identical-disease.html Biotechnology Wed, 10 Jun 2026 18:40:04 EDT news700322641