Lab of the Future – News and Features

Scientists overcame technical challenges to test the crocodile’s response to visual and auditory stimuli, including playing classical music to the animal.

Flow chemistry is playing an increasingly prominent role in drug discovery, enabling those in the field to streamline chemistry discovery and development efforts. Finding ways to reduce the time it takes to generate validated small-molecule compounds would be highly advantageous – which is exactly why scientists at Abbvie developed SWIFT.

Use of the powerful gene-editing tool CRISPR-Cas9 could help to breed cacao trees that exhibit desirable traits such as enhanced resistance to diseases, according to Penn State plant scientists.

A synthetic biology research team has combined cell-free protein synthesis and mass spectrometry to develop a new biotech technique that promises to accelerate research into protein therapies. The fruits of their labour could one day become the next defence against antibiotic-resistant supergerms or the next new drug.

Researchers significantly improved the performance of an atomically thin semiconductor material by stretching it, an accomplishment that could prove beneficial to engineers designing the next generation of flexible electronics, nano devices, and optical sensors.

Ultrasound technology for the brain could mean real-time images during surgery, a better idea of which areas get stimulated by certain feelings or actions and, ultimately, an effective way for people to control software and robotics by thinking about it.

More than 70 years after the end of the Second World War, countless pieces of ammunition from this time are still lying – and corroding – in all oceans. Once the casings are damaged, the explosives can release toxic substances into the seawater. A new review study points to considerable knowledge gaps regarding the spread and effects of these chemicals on marine ecosystems.

Researchers have used machine learning algorithms to spot patterns within communities of bacteria living in the human gut that could predict cholera infection.

A new machine learning tool that can detect whether emerging strains of the bacterium, Salmonella are more likely to cause dangerous bloodstream infections rather than food poisoning has been developed.

Using an informatics tool that identifies “hotspots” of post-translational modification activity on proteins, researchers have found a previously-unknown mechanism that puts the brakes on an important cell signaling process involving the G proteins found in most living organisms.