Living plastics: a new solution for plastic degradation through synthetic biology

Study provides a novel method for fabricating green plastics

02-Sep-2024 - Dr. DAI Zhuojun's research group at the Shenzhen Institute of Advanced Technology (SIAT), Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), published a study titled "Degradable Living Plastics Programmed by Engineered Spores" in Nature Chemical Biology. The study leverages the natural resilience of spores, ...

Rechargeable nanotorch

Afterglow luminescence imaging tracks cell-based microrobots in real time

16-Apr-2024 - An afterglow luminescent nanoprobe opens up new possibilities for imaging living cells. As a research team reports in the journal Angewandte Chemie, their new “nanotorch” can continue to luminesce for over ten days after a single excitation. This allows the routes taken through the body by ...

Making Immunizations More Effective

Adjuvants developed using computers boost vaccines

29-Mar-2023 - In addition to an antigen, many vaccines also contain substances, called adjuvants, which stimulate the immune system. By using computer-aided molecular design and machine learning, a Chinese research team has now developed two novel broad-spectrum adjuvants that can significantly amplify the ...

Eating sea squirts may reverse the signs of ageing

A new study shows that supplementing a diet with the sea organisms Ascidiacea reverses some of the main signs of ageing in an animal model

12-May-2022 - If you have ever looked in the mirror and seen greying hair and wrinkles or forgotten the name of a close friend, you’d be forgiven for wishing for a pill that could slow or even reverse the effects of ageing. A new study suggests that this may not be such a fantasy. Researchers from Xi’an ...

Hybrid electro-biosystem upcycles carbon dioxide into energy-rich long-chain compounds

Upcycling CO₂ via electrochemical and metabolic engineering

03-May-2022 - Artificial upcycling of carbon dioxide (CO2) into value-added products in a sustainable manner represents an opportunity to tackle environmental issues and realize a circular economy. However, compared with facilely available C1/C2 products, efficient and sustainable synthesis of energy-rich ...

Microalgae-based conversion of carbon dioxide to biofuels

Scientists explore a genetic sensor of blue light to double oil productivity in industrial microalgae

01-Apr-2022 - Microalgae, algae that cannot be seen by the naked eye, absorb carbon dioxide and produce oils that can be used as biofuels. These biofuels, which can be carbon negative, offer promise as an alternative to conventional fossil fuels. However, the biological processes that allow these microalgae to ...

Strong and elastic, yet degradable: protein-based bioplastics

Relief for Oceans and Landfills?

16-Feb-2022 - More than eight million tons of plastic end up in the oceans every year—a serious danger for the environment and health. Biodegradable bioplastics could provide an alternative. In the journal Angewandte Chemie, a research team has now introduced a new method for the production of protein-based ...

New sequencing technique established for low-biomass, degraded or contaminated microbiome samples

28-Jan-2022 - A research team led by the Qingdao Institute of Bioenergy and Bioprocess Technology (QIBEBT), Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), has developed a low-cost metagenome sequencing technique. It enables high-resolution revelation of the full 'landscape'of organisms in a microbiome, even from ...

Starch synthesis from carbon dioxide

The artificial route can produce starch from CO2 with an efficiency 8.5-fold higher than starch biosynthesis in maize

27-Sep-2021 - Chinese scientists recently reported a de novo route for artificial starch synthesis from carbon dioxide (CO2) for the first time. Relevant results were published in Science on Sept. 24. The new route makes it possible to shift the mode of starch production from traditional agricultural planting ...

Cruel twist: Exercise reduces calories burned at rest in individuals with obesity

For every calorie they spend on exercise they save about half a calorie on resting

03-Sep-2021 - Exercise reduces the amount of calories burned at rest in people with obesity, according to a new study by researchers from the Shenzhen Institute of Advanced Technology (SIAT) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the University of Roehampton. The study, published in Current Biology on August ...