News by Subject Technology & Engineering

How might the novel coronavirus be prevented from entering a host cell in an effort to thwart infection? A team of biomedical scientists has made a discovery that points to a solution. The scientists, led by Maurizio Pellecchia in the UC Riverside School of Medicine, report in the journal Molecules that two proteases -- enzymes that break down proteins -- located on the surface of host cells and responsible for processing viral entry could be inhibited.

A joint research team from POSTECH and KAIST develops self-powering, color-changing humidity sensors. Applicable to various fields including smart windows, health care and safety management.

Researchers have developed a highly porous smart sponge that selectively soaks up oil in water. It can absorb more than 30 times its weight and be reused many dozens of times.

A team of researchers led by ETH professor Martin Fussenegger has succeeded in using an electric current to directly control gene expression for the first time. Their work provides the basis for medical implants that can be switched on and off using electronic devices outside the body.

Hokkaido University scientists have made an adenovirus that specifically replicates inside and kills cancer cells by employing special RNA-stabilizing elements. The details of the research were published in the journal Cancers.

MIT chemists have developed a protocol to rapidly produce protein chains up to 164 amino acids long. The flow-based technology could speed up drug development and allow scientists to design novel protein variants incorporating amino acids that don't occur naturally in cells.