06 Oct A new way to manufacture small batches of biopharmaceuticals on demand using Pichia pastoris

MIT researchers have developed a new way to rapidly manufacture biopharmaceuticals on demand. Their system can be easily reconfigured to produce different drugs, enabling flexible switching between products as they are needed. "Traditional biomanufacturing relies on unique processes for each new molecule that is produced," says J. Christopher Love, a professor of chemical engineering at MIT and a member of MIT’s Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research. "We’ve demonstrated a single hardware configuration that can produce different recombinant proteins in a fully automated, hands-free manner."

The researchers have used this manufacturing system, which can fit on a lab benchtop, to produce three different biopharmaceuticals, and showed that they are of comparable quality to commercially available versions. Love is the senior author of the study, which appears in the October 1, 2018 issue of the journal Nature Biotechnology.

Sourced through Scoop.it from: phys.org

29 Sep What makes a mammal a mammal? Our spine, say scientists

Mammals are unique in many ways. We’re warm-blooded and agile in comparison with our reptilian relatives.

But a new study, funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) and led by Harvard University researchers Stephanie Pierce and Katrina Jones, suggests we’re unique in one more way — the makeup of our spines. The researchers describe their finding in a paper published this week in the journal Science.

Sourced through Scoop.it from: www.nsf.gov

29 Sep ‘Robotic Skins’ turn everyday objects into robots

When you think of robotics, you likely think of something rigid, heavy, and built for a specific purpose. New “Robotic Skins” technology developed by Yale researchers flips that notion on its head, allowing users to animate the inanimate and turn everyday objects into robots.

Sourced through Scoop.it from: news.yale.edu

24 Sep Japanese mini-rovers from Hayabusa-2 send back their first images as they hop around happily on an asteroid

A Japanese spacecraft has dropped two small rovers onto the surface of an asteroid zooming through space. The unmanned Hayabusa-2 is the first spacecraft to ever successfully place robotic rovers onto an asteroid.

J

Sourced through Scoop.it from: global.jaxa.jp

23 Sep Russian android robot F.e.d.o.r to acquire self-learning abilities

The Russian android robot called F.e.d.o.r (Fedor) can do the splits and screw in a light bulb, CEO of Android Technics Research and Production Association Alexander Permyakov told TASS recently. Android Technics is the developer of the robot Fedor. The chief executive confirmed that the robot could do the splits to demonstrate its technical capabilities. Moreover, it can stand on one leg, having vertically lifted the other.

Sourced through Scoop.it from: tass.com

23 Sep All of NASA’s missions

Learn more about space missions—past, present, and future.

Sourced through Scoop.it from: www.jpl.nasa.gov

14 Sep A massive net is being deployed to pick up plastic in the Pacific

Sourced through Scoop.it from: www.sciencenews.org