Biosensors may soon facilitate the analysis of a patient’s entire red blood cell antigen repertoire. In the form of diagnostic test strips, they could make the analysis swift and location-independent. This could have enormous potential not only in medical diagnosis,
Microorganisms play a crucial role for the health and well-being of higher organisms. Host-specific microbial communities of varying complexity form the so-called microbiota. It can consist of several thousand microbial species and includes bacteria, archaea and fungi. These microorganisms exchange
The body of a human adult consists of 1014 or 100 trillion of cells, which have specific tasks to fulfil. As a reaction to biological signals or environmental cues, cells can start to move. Many questions about cell migration still
Enzymes are the tiny helpers of industrial biotechnology. Despite their microscopic size, they need to be tough and diligent because we want them to catalyze a broad range of reactions, ideally with the speed of light for ever after. In
Following our articles on the beneficial roles of complex microbial communities and ways to analyze them, we continue to explore this groundbreaking research field. Here we shed light on reasons why microbiome research has become so popular and why it
There are a multitude of challenges associated with the production of next-generation biopharmaceuticals and vaccines. To be effective as a public health tool, vaccines for example are increasingly administered in form of a combination of more than one component and
What if we had a system mirroring the cross-talk between microbes and complex ‘super-organisms’ like humans or animals? Understanding the relationships between hosts and commensal bacteria might help fighting gut flora associated chronic diseases such as diabetes type II, Morbus
Natural products play a vital role in our everyday life- say in detergents, for the food and beverage production or in medicine. For the discovery of new natural products of bacteria a methodology called functional metagenomics opens up new possibilities.
Products derived from industrial biotechnology often compete with chemical processes. But what are the main aspects for successful applications of industrial biotechnology in manufacturing? Processes should be fast, cost-efficient and – from technological point of view – biocatalysts and enzymes
Next Generation Sequencing Technology in a Nutshell
