Significance in food production

biotechnology- Significance in food productionThe significance of the application of modern biotechnology in the area of food production and its resultant impact in terms of human health and development can not be undermined. As the world is faced with ever increasing population and more and more food shortage and regional imbalances, new technologies and techniques are being developed to enhance production and increase the shelf life of perishable items. It is in this direction that new research initiatives in the field of green biotechnology are being made to enhance productivity and nutrition value of food items.Foods produced through modern...

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biotech jobs

Rajiv Gandhi Centre for Biotechnology (RGCB) is an autonomous institution fully funded by the Department of Biotechnology, Government of India (www.rgcb.res.in). RGCB has a major research program with the International Agency for Research Against Cancer (World Health Organization) on Human Papillomaviruses (HPV) including a state of the art efficacy-testing center for HPV vaccines.RGCB invites applications for the position of Research Scientist or Visiting Scientist or Senior Research Associate or Post Doctoral Fellow from persons with a PhD in Life Sciences or MD in Virology, Pathology or Microbiology with previous experience in HPV research,...

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biotechnology journal

click here ...In addition to maintaining the GenBank® nucleic acid sequence database, the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) provides analysis and retrieval resources for the data in GenBank and other biological data made available through NCBI's Web site. NCBI resources include Entrez, the Entrez Programming Utilities, My NCBI, PubMed, PubMed Central, Entrez Gene, the NCBI Taxonomy Browser, BLAST, BLAST Link(BLink), Electronic PCR, OrfFinder, Spidey, Splign, RefSeq, UniGene, HomoloGene, ProtEST, dbMHC, dbSNP, Cancer Chromosomes, Entrez Genome, Genome Project and related tools, the Trace and Assembly Archives, the Map Viewer,...

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biotech robotics

Biotechnology material handling applications are among some of the fastest growing areas of robotics. Drug discovery and vaccines research have moved material handling robotics from the factory floor to academic laboratories and to research and development departments of biotechnology firms.Biotech vs. Non-BiotechBiotech is not just another industrial material handling applications. While there are some similarities between biotech material handling and non-biotech work cells, some major differences exist.‘‘The major difference of biotech material handling applications is the need for flexibility and multi-tasking,’‘ said Michael Perreault. ‘‘Biotech...

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Bt Brinjal

The debate over the petridish baingan is hotting up. Environment minister Jairam Ramesh's sudden recourse to public consultations, after Bt Brinjal was cleared as India's first genetically modified food crop, has exposed serious regulatory lapses. TOI-Crest looks at the challenge posed by this humble vegetable ... The cutting-edge technology of Bt brinjal has had an unintended consequence. The public outrage that followed the regulatory clearance of the first ever GM food crop has forced environment minister Jairam Ramesh to adopt an innovation in public administration. No minister has ever before crisscrossed the country to hold a series of...

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Spying on a Cellular Director in the Cutting Room

Like a film director cutting out extraneous footage to create a blockbuster, the cellular machine called the spliceosome snips out unwanted stretches of genetic material and joins the remaining pieces to fashion a template for protein production. But more than box office revenues are at stake: if the spliceosome makes a careless cut, disease likely results. Using a new approach to studying the spliceosome, a team led by University of Michigan chemistry and biophysics professor Nils Walter, collaborating closely with a team led by internationally recognized splicing experts John Abelson and Christine Guthrie of the University...

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Wide Variety of Genetic Splicing in Embryonic Stem Cells Identified

Like tuning in to an elusive radio frequency in a busy city, human embryonic stem cells must sort through a seemingly endless number of options to settle on the specific genetic message, or station, that instructs them to become more-specialized cells in the body (Easy Listening, maybe, for skin cells, and Techno for neurons?). Now researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine have shown that this tuning process is accomplished in part by restricting the number of messages, called transcripts, produced from each gene. Most genes can yield a variety of transcripts through a process called splicing. Variations in...

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'Doublesex' Gene Key to Determining Fruit Fly Gender

The brains of males and females, and how they use them, may be far more different then previously thought, at least in the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster, according to research funded by the Wellcome Trust. In a paper published in the journal Nature Neuroscience, researchers from the University of Glasgow and the University of Oxford, have shown that the gene known as 'doublesex' (dsx), which determines the shape and structure of the male and female body in the fruit fly, also sculpts the architecture of their brain and nervous system, resulting in sex-specific behaviours. The courtship behaviour of the fruit fly...

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Bio Weapons

Rapid developments in biotechnology, genetics and genomics are undoubtedly creating a variety of environmental, ethical, political and social challenges for advanced societies. But they also have severe implications for international peace and security because they open up tremendous avenues for the creation of new biological weapons. The genetically engineered 'superbug'—highly lethal and resistant to environmental influence or any medical treatment—is only a small part of this story. Much more alarming, from an arms-control perspective, are the possibilities of developing completely novel weapons on the basis of knowledge provided by biomedical research—developments that are already taking place. Such weapons, designed for new types of conflicts and warfare scenarios, secret...

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Biological Weapons

Biological Weapons There are a variety of microorganisms that can be used as biological weapons. Agents are commonly chosen because they are highly toxic, easily obtainable and inexpensive to produce, easily transferable from person to person, can be dispersed in aerosol form, or have no known vaccine. Below is a list of a few potential biological organisms that may be used as biological weapo...

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Animal Biotechnology Myths & Facts

Myth: Only humans can benefit from medical biotechnology.Fact: According to USDA, there are 105 licensed biotech products for animals. These products include veterinary vaccines, biologics and diagnostic kits. The animal health industry invests more than $400 million a year in research and development. Current sales of biotech-based products for use in animal health generate $2.8 billion (out of a total market for animal health products of $18 billion).Myth: Biotech and cloned animals are still years away - improving animals through biotechnology, or cloning them is science fiction.Fact: The first biotech animal to be sold to the public reached...

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Plant Biotechnology Myths & Facts

Plant Biotechnology Myths & FactsMyth: There are no biotech food products currently on the market.Fact: Today, it is estimated that at least 70 percent of processed foods on grocery store shelves contain ingredients and oils from biotech crops. The first biotech crop, a tomato improved through biotechnology, was sold in 1994. The first biotech commodity crops - an insect resistant variety of corn - were grown and sold in 1996. Today, the most popular biotech crops are corn, soybean, cotton and canola.Myth: Biotech foods are unsafe to eat.Fact: Fact: The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has determined that biotech foods and crops are as...

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VIT-D REDUCES HEART DISEASE AND DIABETES

High Levels of Vitamin D in Older People Can Reduce Heart Disease and Diabetes Middle aged and elderly people with high levels of vitamin D could reduce their chances of developing heart disease or diabetes by 43%, according to researchers at the University of Warwi...

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TO PREVENT BREAST CANCER

Few Women Take Tamoxifen to Prevent Breast Cancer Researchers with the National Cancer Institute (NCI) have found that the prevalence of tamoxifen use for the prevention of breast cancer among women without a personal history of breast cancer is very l...

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Viruses Helped Shape Human Genetic Variability

Viruses Helped Shape Human Genetic VariabilityScienceDaily (Feb. 19, 2010) — Viruses have played a role in shaping human genetic variability, according to a study published February 19 in the open-access journal PLoS Genetics. The researchers, from the Don C. Gnocchi and Eugenio Medea Scientific Institutes, the University of Milan and the Politecnico di Milano, Italy, used population genetics approaches to identify gene variants that augment susceptibility to viral infections or protect from such infectio...

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Stem cell experiment reverses aging in rare disease

WASHINGTON, Feb. 17, 2010 (Reuters) — In a surprise result that can help in the understanding of both aging and cancer, researchers working with an engineered type of stem cell said they reversed the aging process in a rare genetic disease. The team at Children's Hospital Boston and the Harvard Stem Cell Institute were working with a new type of cell called induced pluripotent stem cells or iPS cells, which closely resemble embryonic stem cells but are made from ordinary skin cells. In this case, they wanted to study a rare, inherited premature aging disorder called dyskeratosis congenita. The blood marrow disorder resembles the better-known...

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LATEST IN THE WORLD OF BIOTECHNOLOGY

Chicken egg whites - answer to three-dimensional cell culture systemsMore and more laboratories are seeking to develop three-dimensional cell culture systems that allow them to test their new techniques and drugs in a system that more closely mimics the way in which cells grow.DNA Amplification and Detection Made SimpleTwenty-three years ago, a man musing about work while driving down a California highway revolutionized molecular biology when he envisioned a technique to make large numbers of copies of a piece of DNA rapidly and accurately. Known as the polymerase chain reaction, or PCR, Kary Mullis's technique involves separating the double strands of a DNA fragment into single-strand templates by heating it, attaching primers that initiate the copying process, using DNA polymerase to make...

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