Just before Life Technologies purchased the start-up company Ion Torrent, the fledgling company was dealing with a torrent of another kind—worldwide media interest in its new sequencing technology, which promised to bring the price of next-generation, massively parallel sequencing down to $1,000 per run. Since that dramatic announcement in the summer of 2011, Life Technologies

 Craig Meisner Craig Meisner Country Director–South Asia (Bangladesh) at World Fish Center Cambodia Farming Previous Private, CAVAC, Cornell U Education Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), Agronomy and Crop Science at The University of Georgia   GNOBB members will be pleased to know that our old friend Dr. Craig Meisner attached to Bangladesh Agriculture R

 In an article entitled, “Genetic mapping of two QTL from the wild tomato Solanum pimpinellifolium L. controlling resistance against two-spotted spider mite (Tetranychus urticae Koch) published online on the 17th August in the journal of “Theoretical and Applied Genetics,” Maria Salinas and her seven associates have reported that resistance agai

Rice geneticists have isolated a gene that facilitates rice plants to generate around 20% more grain by enhancing uptake of a vital essential element, namely, phosphorus. The gene designated PSTOL (Phosphorus Starvation Tolerance), can significantly increase rice yield grown in phosphorus-deficient soil and also helps regulate the early crown root development and root grow

In a report entitled ,“How the cucumber tendril coils over-winds, ” published in August 31( pp.1087-1091) issue of Science, SI Gerbode, JR Puzey, and L Mahadevan at Harvard University and McCormick AG at Harvey Mudd College have demonstrated that tendril coiling occurs via asymmetric contraction of an internal fiber ribbon of specialized cells. Using physical models of p

Scientists have identified 56 genes that are vital to cancer cell survival and may represent accessible targets for therapeutic development. In each case only one copy of the target gene is present in the cancer cell due to copy number loss resulting from genomic instability. This study represents a bringing-together of two approaches to understanding the basic mechanics of cancer.

Scientists have identified a gene that enables rice plants to produce around 20% more grain by increasing uptake of phosphorus, an important, but limited, plant nutrient. The discovery unlocks the potential to improve the food security of rice farmers with the lowest value phosphorus-deficient land allowing them to grow more rice grains to add to global rice production, a

In the 17th August issue of Nature published news entitled, “Photosynthesis-like process found in insects”, Kathryn Lougheed reports the finding of Alain Robichon and his associates at the Sophia Agrobiotech Institute in Sophia Antipolis, France. They discovered that aphids may have a simple sunlight-harvesting system. According to them aphids, have carotenoids

In the news and comment section of Nature published on the 19 Aug 2012, Daniel Cressey describes virus-like-nano-particle built target tumors. The team headed by Yuhong Chen designed a self-assembling nanoparticle to target tumor cells like a virus. The team observed that mimicking a virus is a useful way to deliver drugs to cancerous cells. The sensational finding wa

In the news and comment section of Nature published on the 19 Aug 2012, Daniel Cressey describes virus-like-nano-particle built target tumors . The team headed by Chen designed a self-assembling nanoparticle to target tumor cells like a virus. The team observed that mimicking a virus is a useful way to deliver drugs to cancerous cells. The sensational finding was reported recently b