Building better bone replacements with bacteria

Bacteria that manufacture hydroxyapatite (HA) could be used to make stronger, more durable bone implants. Professor Lynne Macaskie from the University of Birmingham this week (7-10 September) presented work to the Society ...

Silk-based optical waveguides meet biomedical needs

There is a growing need for biocompatible photonic components for biomedical applications - from in vivo glucose monitoring to detecting harmful viruses or the telltale markers of Alzheimer's. Optical waveguides are of ...

Entering a new era of 3D printing for DNAs and proteins

Three-dimensional (3D) bioprinting is a useful technique that has been widely utilized in our lives, ranging from reconstructive plastic surgery to artificial organ production. However, many biopolymers, such as nucleic acids, ...

Bacterial enzyme makes new type of biodegradable polymer

Strings of sugars called polysaccharides are the most abundant biopolymers on Earth. Because of their versatile and environmentally friendly properties, these molecules could eventually replace some plastics. Now, researchers ...

Old permafrost carbon released

Using indicator molecules, a team of researchers headed by ETH Zurich demonstrates that carbon stored in the Arctic permafrost is being mobilised in Eurasian river basins.

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Biopolymer

Biopolymers are polymers produced by living organisms. Since they are polymers, Biopolymers contain monomeric units that are covalently bonded to form larger structures. There are three main classes of biopolymers based on the differing monomeric units used and the structure of the biopolymer formed. Polynucleotides long polymers which are composed of 13 or more nucleotide monomers, Polypeptides short polymers of amino acids, and Polysaccharides which are often linear bonded polymeric carbohydrate structures.

Cellulose is the most common organic compound and biopolymer on Earth. About 33 percent of all plant matter is cellulose. The cellulose content of cotton is 90 percent and that of wood is 50 percent.

This text uses material from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA