The “Global Virome Project” initiative and its hunt for deadly viruses
Reading Time: 3 minutesBY ANDREJA GREGORIC An international team of scientists set in motion the “Global Virome Project” to prevent the next viral pandemic. The main goal is to hunt down potentially deadly viruses in animal populations before they jump species and infect humans. An estimated 1.6 million viral species are likely yet to be discovered in mammal […]
Animal breeders are blocked worldwide from using genetic engineering. Here’s why
Reading Time: 6 minutesBY STEVEN CERIER INCREASINGLY prevalent in producing the crops we consume and creating the medicines used to treat our ailments and chronic diseases, genetic engineering could become a common method of modifying the animals we have domesticated and use for food. This will be particularly important as the demand for meat and animal products is […]
Renowned seed scientist dies
Reading Time: < 1 minuteRENOWNED Professor Emeritus Chin Hoong Fong passed away on March 19 at the age of 83. Chin has always attracted a full house of enthusiastic audience whenever he spoke. Other than being a devoted and highly respected “teacher” in Malaysia, Chin was also an internationally renowned seed scientist who pioneered storage of recalcitrant seeds in […]
Pushing mosquito genetics away from blood meals
Reading Time: 3 minutesTHE value of being able to force disease-carrying mosquitoes away from biting human or animals is almost immeasurable. Diseases such as malaria, dengue, and Zika affect hundreds of millions of people annually due to female mosquitoes requiring nutrient-rich blood to support their developing eggs. However, there already exists a mosquito species called Wyeomyia smithii in […]
Scientists produce human intestinal lining that re-creates living tissue
Reading Time: < 1 minuteSCIENTISTS have demonstrated how cells of a human intestinal lining created outside an individual’s body mirror living tissue when placed inside microengineered Intestine-Chips, opening the door to personalised testing of drug treatments. The findings have the potential to change how patients are treated for debilitating, inflammatory gastrointestinal diseases with a genetic component, such as Crohn’s […]
PLAGUE RESISTANT TOMATOES…
Reading Time: < 1 minuteStudy conducted by researchers at the Plant Molecular and Cellular Biology Institute (IBMCP), a joint venture of the Universitat Politècnica de València and the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC), reveals how genetically modified tomato plants have increased resistance towards Tuta absoluta insect plagues. The researchers turned to genetic engineering to strengthen the tomato plant by […]
Scientists develop biocompatible anti-burn nanofiber bandage
Reading Time: 2 minutesA GROUP of National University of Science and Technology MISiS (NUST MISIS)’s young scientists, for the very first time in Russia, has presented a new therapeutic material based on nanofibers made of polycaprolactone modified with a thin-film antibacterial composition and plasma components of human blood. Biodegradable bandages made from these fibers will accelerate the growth […]
Mundipharma, USIM join hands for hand hygiene
Reading Time: 2 minutesPUTRAJAYA: Mundipharma Pharmaceuticals together with Universiti Sains Islam Malaysia (USIM) have collaborated to educate kindergartners from Tadika Islam MAIWP Sulaimaniyyah, Precinct 18, Putrajaya on the importance of hand hygiene through their Healthy Hands project. In this Healthy Hands research, Mundipharma and USIM wanted to find out how hand hygiene habits can influence the rate of […]
UKMMC launch world’s smallest CPAP machine
Reading Time: < 1 minuteBY ASMAHANIM AMIR CHERAS: Hospital Canselor Tuanku Muhriz (HCTM), Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia Medical Centre (UKMMC) through the Department of Otorinolaryngology (ENT) launched the World’s Smallest Air Mini Continuous Positive Airway Pressure (CPAP) Machine, recently. The machine weighing 300 grams is lauded as the most effective device for treating the Obstructive Sleep Appnoe (OSA) or sleep […]
Sugar blamed for obesity, diabetes epidemics
Reading Time: 2 minutesTHE IDEA that sugar could be a fundamental cause of the global obesity and diabetes epidemics, with deleterious effects on the human body that go beyond just empty calories, should be considered seriously again, argues journalist and author Gary Taubes in The BMJ issued on Jan 3. In the midst of such a huge public […]