Scientists have engineered bacteria that can communicate with each other in a synchronized manner, lighting up in waves of fluorescent green, according to report in this week's Nature. The advance paves the way for developing environmental sensors and drug delivery systems that can time the release of medicines in periodic bursts. A supernova burst in a colony of coupledgenetic clocks after critical cell densityImage: Tal Danino, Octavio Mondragon-Palamino, Lev Tsimring"I think [the study] rep

A planned redesign of the European patent system, announced last week (December 4th), could reduce the cost and strengthen the legal weight of European patents -- a change that biotechnology companies have long awaited. Image: WikipediaCurrently, a European patent can cost companies up to 11 times as much as they would pay in the United States, while providing far fewer legal certainties. The existing patent system is simply a bundle of 4-6 national patents; applicants must choose the countries

Knocking down a single gene in an adult mouse makes ovaries develop the characteristics of a male gonad and produce testosterone, according to a study linkurl:published today;http://www.cell.com/abstract/S0092-8674(09)01433-0 (December 10th) in __Cell.__ The study suggests that the signal is required to maintain the female phenotype throughout adulthood, and may provide clues to female infertility. "I think this is a very important finding" identifying a key regulator of the genes involved in

We at __The Scientist__ are always on the lookout for overhyped research, and we suspect we've run across an example in an linkurl:Associated Press;http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091202/ap_on_sc/eu_italy_robotic_hand story about a brain-controlled prosthetic arm published yesterday (December 2). The article stated that researchers in Italy had used a robotic arm, controlled via electrodes implanted in the nerves of an amputee's arm, that allowed him "to feel sensations in the artificial limb an

A new type of cancer vaccine tested in mice appears to overcome some of the major hurdles associated with the treatment approach, according to a paper published today (November 25) in __Science Translational Medicine.__ The technology, which the researchers have already licensed to a biotechnology company, is being developed for clinical trials of melanoma. Immune cells are attracted by chemicals released by the polymer matrix (shown here) to sample the tumor molecules embedded within.Image:

On a recent Monday night at World Cafe Live in Philadelphia, four bands took to the stage to determine who ruled rock. But manning the mics, guitars, and drums weren't your typical hipsters -- the members of these bands were students and administrators from Philadelphia's premier medical schools, and their scientific credentials are almost as hot as their licks. For example, the nine members of funk band the linkurl:Freaks of Nurture;http://www.myspace.com/freaksofnurture are publishing in prest

The pressures of family obligations and child-rearing are pushing young female researchers out of science, according to a new study released this month by the Center for American Progress (CAP), a think tank based in Washington, DC. linkurl:The report;http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/2009/11/women_and_sciences.html provides a contrast to an earlier report by the National Academies of Sciences that focused on dissecting the linkurl:subtle biases against women;http://books.nap.edu/openbook.p

By Edyta Zielinska Six degrees of science Little did Andy Johnson know that when he started working in Ronald Schwartz’s lab at the National Institutes of Health, he was entering a race against several other investigators all working independently (and secretly) on the same protein. Johnson came to the lab with a mouse model with an apparent immune defect. Using T-cell proliferation assays, Schwartz’s team traced the problem back to the

By Edyta Zielinska Team of Rivals Enlight Biosciences has a business model that’s compelling enough to coax pharmaceutical companies to do something they rarely do—work together. David Steinberg and Daphne Zohar © 2009 Stanley Rowin In early 2009, the chieftains of several pharmaceutical giants got together to discuss a new kind of biotechnology company. It would be a company guided by pharma to find and develop the

The European Commission (EC) has promised to improve how research is funded in Europe. Responding to a critique of the European Research Council (ERC) today (October 22), the EC provided linkurl:timelines;http://ec.europa.eu/research/evaluations/pdf/archive/other_reports_studies_and_documents/commission_communication_on_the_erc_review_-_22_october_2009.pdf for appointing a scientist to head the council and for developing faster reimbursement procedures for peer reviewers of ERC grants. Image:

Biotech is floundering in New York City because local institutions aren't doing enough to promote commercialization of small projects, linkurl:says a new report.;http://www.nycfuture.org/content/articles/article_view.cfm?article_id=1252&article_type=0 Image: Wikipedia"The criticism," said Jonathan Bowles of the Center for an Urban Future, a New York City think tank that published the report last month, is that "for a long time [technology transfer offices] put too much emphasis on the blockbust

A recently-discovered virus found to be associated with prostate cancer has now been linked to chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS), according to a linkurl:study published;http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/abstract/1179052 online in Science today (8 October). The study, although only correlative, lends a greater immediacy to questions about how the virus is spread and what, if any, other diseases it might cause. XMRVImage: Whittmore Peterson Institute"Either [the virus] is a causative factor or