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Artificial ear creation with 3D printing and injectable molds

By Damir Beciri
21 February 2013

ear-print-1Cornell bioengineers and physicians have used 3D printing and injectable gels made of living cells to create an artificial ear that looks and acts as a natural human ear. The method could be very useful for reconstructive surgery, and the particular case where an ear is created could give new hope to thousands of children… »

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Engineered enzyme increases output of biofuel production

By Damir Beciri
18 February 2013

bnl-bi-enzyme-teamResearchers at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL) have devised a strategy which enables a boost in biofuel production. After studying an enzyme that naturally produces alkanes, the researchers figured how to make its reaction ongoing instead stopping after three to five cycles. The findings renew interest in using the enzyme in… »

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Nano-machines which recreate principal activities of proteins

By Damir Beciri
16 February 2013

bionic-proteinA group of researchers in Austria have developed nano-machines which are able to mimic principal activities of proteins. Thanks to the Vienna Scientific Cluster (VSC), a high performance computing infrastructure, the researchers presented the first versatile and modular example of a fully artificial protein-mimetic model system. Once perfected, these artificial proteins could make a change… »

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3D printing of human embryonic stem cells

By Maja Bosanac
13 February 2013

3d-printing-with-embryonic-stem-cells-1Collaboration between researchers at the Heriot-Watt University, and the researchers at a stem cell technology company named Roslin Cellab, resulted in the development a new valve-based printer for specialized 3D cell printing of human embryonic stem cells (hESCs). The research team predicts that it could lead to creation of custom tailored replacement organs, thus eliminating… »

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Nanosensors in hydrogel enable tracking of transplanted cells

By Maja Bosanac
5 February 2013

nanosensorsResearches at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine have developed a method for in vivo monitoring of transplanted-cell viability. The researchers used nanoscale pH sensors and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to track liver cells previously transplanted into mice. This new method is likely to be an important tool for improving cell replacement therapies for conditions such as liver… »

Bionics| Tech»

Non-invasive way to study spider silk properties

By Damir Beciri
31 January 2013

nephila-clavipes-spiderAs you can see from our news and articles about bionspiration coming from spiders, spider silk keeps on intriguing researchers to analyze it and develop new materials. Researchers at the Arizona State University (ASU) have used a non-invasive way to obtain a wide variety of elastic properties of the silk of several intact spider webs… »

Bionics| Tech»

Fighting superbugs with antimicrobial hydrogel

By Damir Beciri
One Comment28 January 2013

polymer-solution-is-ninety-percent-waterResearchers from IBM and the Institute of Bioengineering and Nanotechnology (IBN), Singapore, revealed an antimicrobial hydrogel that can break through diseased biofilms and deal with drug-resistant bacteria upon contact. The synthetic hydrogel is the biodegradable, biocompatible and non-toxic, and its ability to form spontaneously when heated to body temperature makes it ideal for combat against… »

Bionics| Tech»

Researchers used synthesized DNA to store and read data

By Maja Bosanac
One Comment25 January 2013

data-into-dna-1EMBL-European Bioinformatics Institute (EMBL-EBI) researchers have developed a method to store and read information from deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) molecules. The researchers devised a method to convert data into DNA code, and used it to encode 739 kilobytes of data into actual DNA. The information was retrieved with 100% accuracy by sequencing the sample and reconstructing… »