engineered

21Jan

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

ENVIRONMENT

An Agriculture Expert Explains What Bio-engineered Food Is

The U.S. Department of Agriculture defines bioengineered food as food that “contains detectable genetic material that has been modified through certain lab techniques that cannot be created through conventional breeding or found in nature.” If that definition sounds familiar, it is because it is essentially how genetically modified organisms, or GMOs, are defined – common vocabulary many people use and understand. On Jan. 1, 2022, the USDA implemented a new U.S. bioengineered food disclosure standard. Shoppers are seeing labels on food products with the terms “bioengineered” or “derived from bioengineering” printed on a green seal with the sun shining down on cropland. More than 90% of U.S.-grown corn, soybeans and sugar beets are genetically modified. This means that many processed foo...

Engineered Viruses Can Fight The Rise Of Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria

As the world fights the SARS-CoV-2 virus causing the COVID-19 pandemic, another group of dangerous pathogens looms in the background. The threat of antibiotic-resistant bacteria has been growing for years and appears to be getting worse. If COVID-19 taught us one thing, it’s that governments should be prepared for more global public health crises, and that includes finding new ways to combat rogue bacteria that are becoming resistant to commonly used drugs. In contrast to the current pandemic, viruses may be be the heroes of the next epidemic rather than the villains. Scientists have shown that viruses could be great weapons against bacteria that are resistant to antibiotics. I am a biotechnology and policy expert focused on understanding how personal genetic and biological information c...

Stem Cells Genetically Engineered Transformed Into Working Mini-Livers Extended The Life Of Mice With Liver Disease

Imagine if researchers could program stem cells, which have the potential to grow into all cell types in the body, so that they could generate an entire human organ. This would allow scientists to manufacture tissues for testing drugs and reduce the demand for transplant organs by having new ones grown directly from a patient’s cells. A cross section of lab-grown human liver tissue. The green shows the network of blood vessels. Velazquez et al. Cell Systems , CC BY-SA Takeaways Scientists have made progress growing human liver in the lab. The challenge has been to direct stems cells to grow into a mature, functioning adult organ. This study shows that stem cells can be programmed, using genetic engineering, to grow from immature cells into mature tissue. When a tiny lab-grown liv...