E. Coli Bacteria Engineered to Eat Switchgrass and Make Transportation Fuels

Researchers with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)'s Joint BioEnergy Institute (JBEI) have successfully engineered a strain of E.coli that is able to survive on switchgrass and synthesize gasoline, diesel, and jet fuel. This is the first time that a microbe has been found to create jet fuel and it is an amazing step forward in a number of ways. E.coli do not normally grow on switchgrass, and this new strains ability brings together all kinds of possibilities since switchgrass is widely regarded as the future of biofuels. At the same time, these bacteria are able to create the fuel without the help of additive enzymes, which made the process much more expensive. The new process can sut cost of production almost in half.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/11/111129123307.htm

Smartphone Touchscreens Could Analyze Biological Smears to Diagnose Illness

Technology is continuing to expand to places never before imagined.  A few researchers at the Korea Advanced Institute for Science and Technology think we could simplify the process of diagnosing simple illnesses right on our smart phones. They believe that the technology that senses our fingers on the screen is sensitive enough to read the capacitance ( value of electrical impulse) of a blood, or saliva sample and be able to diagnose illness. So far no results have been collected but they have shown the ability to use the technology to differentiate between different samples of bacteria genetic material.

 http://www.popsci.com/science/article/2011-11/enhancing-lab-chip-smartphone-screens-could-analyze-bio-samples-disease

Molecule to prevent Type 1 Diabetes in mice

This story goes along with the debate that we had last Wednesday.  Researchers at the University of Colorado found a way to stop diabetes before it developed in mice.  They said that essentially they were throwing a wrench into the mechanics of the way diabetes develops.  This could also work for humans as well seeing as how mice and humans are very similar in many ways.  This marks a breakthrough in the way we deal with diabetes as well as other autoimmune diseases.     The next step is to try to develop new therapy for clinical use.  The scientists say that this could be about five years in the future.

http://www.biologynews.net/archives/2011/11/01/researchers_find_molecule_that_prevents_type_1_diabetes_in_mice.html