Microbially-Produced Electrical Wires The Biotech Weblog

My first foray into microbiological research threw me into the world of iron-reducing bacteria, a field pioneered by Derek Lovley who has been working on this group of anaerobic bugs, and who in 1987, discovered Geobacter. Ten years hence, I am still working on them, albeit for a different research group, and apparently, so is he. In the June 23rd issue of Nature , Dr. Lovley and his research group [...] Read More


Microbially Produced Antibiotics as Cancer Drug Candidates The Biotech Weblog

Researchers are exploring a method of producing powerful antibiotics called prodiginines which may also have potentials as anti-cancer drugs. Because these compounds are difficult to synthesize chemically, researchers are looking coaxing microorganisms to produce them. Professor Greg Challis and colleagues in the Chemistry Department of the University of Warwick have looked at the enzymes controlling the process that allows the bacterium Streptomyces coelicolor to create streptorubin B and have gained a [...] Read More


Nanowires For Detecting Cancer Biomarkers The Biotech Weblog

In the October Issue of Nature Biotechnology, Harvard Universtity researchers report on the use of nanowires in detecting biomarkers for cancer in blood samples. In addition to its accuracy and sensitivity, these special arrays of silicon nanowires also promise to pinpoint the exact type of cancer present with a speed not currently available to clinicians. "This is one of the first applications of nanotechnology to healthcare and offers a clinical technique [...] Read More


Tidy up the spaghetti wires beneath your desk Tech Without Wires

Underneath my desk I have a mess of wires connecting my three computers to power, printers, scanners, Internet phone, and many other peripherals. I am always open to ideas as to how to reduce this mess. Wireless power is one alternative. In an article "Field Trip Friday: Ultimate Home Office" author Brett in the blog "Startup Students" reveals an interesting way to solve spaghetti-wires under your desk using peg board. The [...] Read More


360 Electrical Outlet The Gadgets Weblog

If you're like most technology geeks, you've got enough gadgets at home to power a small business. You've also likely got a lot of power bricks that are painful to deal with due to their size. Sometimes, you can only plug in one of those power bricks into the wall jack, especially your plugs are polarized or grounded! ThinkGeek has an different approach to solving this problem: make the plugs rotate! [...] Read More