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 ...

Microbes and viruses – a threat to Mars?

„We found very specific microbes called Archaea to dominate the driest parts of the Atacama – which goes beyond our current knowledge“

03-Dec-2021 - Viruses are survivors! Desert heat and desiccation can’t harm some of them. „We find viruses and microbes in the driest and most radiation-intensive, non-polar region on Earth, which is really amazing,“ says Prof. Dr. Alexander J. Probst from the Environmental Biology and Biotechnology Department ...

How sugar-loving microbes could help power future cars

Genetically engineered E. coli eat glucose, then help turn it into molecules found in gasoline

24-Nov-2021 - It sounds like modern-day alchemy: Transforming sugar into hydrocarbons found in gasoline. But that’s exactly what scientists have done. In a study in Nature Chemistry, researchers report harnessing the wonders of biology and chemistry to turn glucose (a type of sugar) into olefins (a type of ...

Zoo animals teach lessons about a healthy microbiome

Comparative study provides new insights into the loss of microbial diversity in the human body

09-Nov-2021 - For some years now, life science and medical research has focused on the question of how the microorganisms living in and on a body influence central life processes and thus health and disease of their host organisms. Scientists at Kiel University, among others, have been able to gather numerous ...

Researchers engineer hardier microbes to improve bioproduction of fuels, chemicals

20-Oct-2021 - Busy, productive microbes use enzymes to break down leaves, stalks and other biomass and then convert that material into renewable fuels and chemicals. But some of those enzymes can’t function at the high temperatures or acidity that maintain low operating costs for fermentation processes. A ...

Novel seed treatment technology is reducing the need for synthetic fertilizers

Andes raises USD 15 million in Series A funding co-led by Leaps by Bayer and Cavallo Ventures

16-Sep-2021 - Leaps by Bayer, the impact investment arm of Bayer AG, announced that it has co-led a USD 15 million Series A investment round in agriculture and biotechnology innovator, Andes, with Cavallo Ventures. Other new investors Builders VC, Germin8, Accelr8 and Wilson Sonsini participated, alongside ...

Team develops bioprocess for converting plant materials into valuable chemicals

19-Aug-2021 - A team of scientists at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign developed a bioprocess using engineered yeast that completely and efficiently converted plant matter consisting of acetate and xylose into high-value bioproducts. Lignocellulose, the woody material that gives plant cells their ...

Using molecular biological methods to search for oil and gas

The EU project PROSPECTOMICS has started with five international partners to develop more environmentally friendly processes

29-Jul-2021 - Even in times of energy transition, oil and gas will continue to play an important role in Europe's energy and raw materials supply for at least 30 years. As less and less oil and gas is being sought in Europe, there is an increasing dependence on other countries. One of the main reasons for this ...

Turn plastic waste into edible food

Future Insight Prize 2021 of € 1 Million Awarded to Ting Lu and Stephen Techtmann

15-Jul-2021 - Merck announced the winners of this year’s Future Insight Prize. The €1million prize in the category of “Food Generation” was awarded today during the Future Insight Days in Darmstadt, Germany, to Ting Lu, Professor of Bioengineering at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, USA, and ...

How ethane-consuming archaea pick up their favorite dish

Scientists sucessfully decoded the structure of the enzyme responsible for ethane fixation

09-Jul-2021 - Hot vents in the deep sea are home to microbes that feed on ethane. They were discovered recently from scientists of the Max Planck Institute for Marine Microbiology. Now the researchers from Bremen succeeded in finding an important component in the microbial conversion of the gas. They were able ...