Don't miss out on the latest business and technology news for chemical engineers, featuring select items in relation to Food, Pharmaceuticals & Bioengineering!
Researchers develop tomato variety that grows in compact bunches
A team of researchers at the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory has created tomato plants that can grow in compact bunches and be harvested in shorter time using the CRISPR gene-editing tool to modify two genes related to plant size and reproductive growth. The team reported in Natural Biotechnology that the plants can be cultivated in areas with limited space like converted storage containers.
Novel methods accelerate development of biotech plant varieties
Scientists at the University of Minnesota have developed novel methods to produce biotech plants faster than using gene-editing technology by coaxing seedlings to grow new shoots containing edited genes from which they can collect the said genes. The researchers tested the strategy with a tobacco species but have also tested the method in grape, potato and tomato plants, according to data published in the journal Nature Biotechnology.
Coronavirus vaccine, treatment will depend on animal studies
As public health officials work to understand the scope and severity of an emerging coronavirus that has reached multiple countries, including the US, scientists are exploring possible avenues for treating it as well as a vaccine to prevent it. The US government is already working with a company to move an experimental vaccine toward trials, but the process takes time and requires safety to be demonstrated in animals before being tested in humans.
Cornell spurs dialogue on biotech plants through new food truck
Cornell University's Alliance for Science unit has introduced a new way to spur dialogue about biotech plants and crops through its new retro-design food truck dubbed Modified. At its launch, servers offered papaya smoothies and parfaits made from 3,000 biotech Rainbow papayas that are 100% disease-resistant plants, the result of a collaboration between Cornell researchers and the University of Hawaii.
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