Bacteria

3D Printing With Bacteria Promises Revolutionary New Materials

usissuescom Discussion Categories , ,
By – Re-Blogged From Seeker

A team of researchers in Holland have pioneered an inexpensive method for 3D printing bacteria into shapes and patterns, opening the door to a wide range of potential real-world applications from mother-of-pearl fake teeth to powerful new microlenses that boost the effectiveness of solar panels or cameras.

The lab is already using the technique to 3D print plaque onto cow’s teeth as a potential avenue for studying oral hygiene.

The technique could also be used in the bacterial production of graphene, the one-atom-thick material that is both the thinnest and the strongest compound ever discovered, with over 100 times the strength of steel.

Continue reading →

Engineer Finds Way to Pull Diseases From Blood Using Magnets

usissuescom Discussion Categories , , , ,
By Kristin Houser – Re-Blogged From Futurism
“In theory, you can go after almost anything. Poisons, pathogens, viruses, bacteria…”

A British engineer has found a way to filter unwanted cells from blood using magnets — and his tool could be used in clinical trials as soon as next year.

Thanks to existing research, biochemical scientist George Frodsham knew it was possible to force magnetic nanoparticles to bind to specific cells in the body. But while other researchers did so primarily to make those cells show up in images, he wondered whether the same technique might allow doctors to remove unwanted cells from the blood.

Continue reading →

New Discoveries in Fight Against Antibiotic Resistance

usissuescom Discussion Categories , , , ,

By – Re-Blogged From  www.seeker.com

Key insights into how bacteria become resistant to antibiotics could reverse the process and renew the efficacy of commonly prescribed medications.

Antibiotic resistance is a worldwide threat to human health and survival. Bacteria are changing in response to the extensive overuse of antibiotics in medicine and the livestock industry, rendering these medicines ineffective while endangering the people who need them most.

Antibiotics known as β-lactams — which include penicillins, cephalosporins, and carbapenems — are the most widely prescribed around the world, and are increasingly resisted by bacteria.

The World Health Organization recently placed bacteria that are resistant to cephalosporins and carbapenems on its global priority list of antibiotic-resistant pathogens, emphasizing the critical need for a way to combat this problem. After completing two recent studies, a team of UK scientists may be close to a solution.

Continue reading →

Biofuels From Bacteria

usissuescom Energy Policy , , ,

By Roger Sowell – Re-Blogged From http://www.WattsUpWithThat.com

From Sandia National Labs

Sandia helps HelioBioSys understand new clean energy source

LIVERMORE, Calif.—You might not cook with this sugar, but from a biofuels standpoint, it’s pretty sweet. A Bay Area company has patented a group of three single-celled, algae-like organisms that, when grown together, can produce high quantities of sugar just right for making biofuels. Sandia National Laboratories is helping HelioBioSys Inc. learn whether farming them on a large scale would be successful.

Continue reading →