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Topic Review
Seaweed Diversity and Bioactive Compounds
Seaweed, a miscellaneous group of marine algae, has long been recognized for its rich nutritional composition and bioactive compounds, being considered nutraceutical ingredient. Seaweeds are abundant sources of essential vitamins, minerals, polysaccharides, polyphenols, and unique secondary metabolites, which reveal a wide range of biological activities. These bioactive compounds possess potential therapeutic properties, making them intriguing candidates for drug leads in various medical applications and pharmaceutical drug development.
  • 1.4K
  • 18 Jan 2024
Topic Review
Angiogenic Potential in Biological Hydrogels
Hydrogels are three-dimensional (3D) materials able to absorb and retain water in large amounts while maintaining their structural stability. Due to their considerable biocompatibility and similarity with the body’s tissues, hydrogels are one of the most promising groups of biomaterials. The main application of these hydrogels is in regenerative medicine, in which they allow the formation of an environment suitable for cell differentiation and growth. (Draft for definition)
  • 1.4K
  • 21 Dec 2020
Topic Review
Powdery Mildew and Rust Fungi
Powdery mildew and rust fungi are major agricultural problems affecting many economically important crops and causing significant yield losses. These fungi are obligate biotrophic parasites that are completely dependent on their hosts for growth and reproduction. 
  • 1.4K
  • 19 Jun 2023
Topic Review
DprE1 and MmpL3
DprE1 is an enzyme that works in concert with DprE2 to synthesize the unique arabinose precursor for lipoarabinomannan and arabinogalactan, essential building blocks of the mycobacterial cell-wall [1]. To date, more than 15 pharmacophores were found to inhibit DprE1 activity. MmpL3 is the only Mtb transporter of trehalose monomycolate, required for the formation of the mycolic acid layer of the cell wall [2], and has been found to be affected by several molecules. Recently, direct inhibition of MmpL3 by BM212, the first compound found to hit MmpL3, was shown using spheroplasts [2], while the dissipation of proton motive force is the proposed mechanism for the other molecules [3].
  • 1.4K
  • 27 Oct 2020
Topic Review
Cyanobacterial Polyhydroxyalkanoates
Conventional petrochemical plastics have become a serious environmental problem. Its unbridled use, especially in non-durable goods, has generated an accumulation of waste that is difficult to measure, threatening aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems. The replacement of these plastics with cleaner alternatives, such as polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHA), can only be achieved by cost reductions in the production of microbial bioplastics, in order to compete with the very low costs of fossil fuel plastics. The biggest costs are carbon sources and nutrients, which can be appeased with the use of photosynthetic organisms, such as cyanobacteria, that have a minimum requirement for nutrients, and also using agro-industrial waste, such as the livestock industry, which in turn benefits from the by-products of PHA biotechnological production, for example pigments and nutrients. Circular economy can help solve the current problems in the search for a sustainable production of bioplastic: reducing production costs, reusing waste, mitigating CO2, promoting bioremediation and making better use of cyanobacteria metabolites in different industries.
  • 1.4K
  • 23 Oct 2020
Topic Review
VLSI Structures for DNA Sequencing
DNA sequencing is a critical functionality in biomedical research, and technical advances that improve it have important implications for human health. The overall structure of DNA is negatively charged and has a negative electrostatic potential due to a negatively charged phosphate backbone. Nucleotides are electroactive compounds that produce reduction and oxidation signals after hybridization. These high electrostatic potentials can be exploited with VLSI charge-sensitive electronic structures. The sequence of DNA is encoded within each nitrogenous base: adenine (A), guanine (G), cytosine (C), or thymine (T), and this 4-bit system allows for large amounts of information to be stored in a single DNA molecule, which may contain upward of 3 billion bases. 
  • 1.4K
  • 28 Mar 2022
Topic Review
CRISPR/Cas-Based Gene Editing
There is a growing need for a molecular vehicle that can successfully load and deliver CRISPR/Cas ribonucleoprotein complexes (and other gene editing systems) into target tissues. Synthetic delivery vehicles are being developed but so far have been only moderately successful. Extracellular vesicles are ideal candidates for a universal biological platform to produce ready-to-use, programmable, and highly biocompatible CRISPR therapeutics. Using extracellular vesicles in the CRISPR/Cas research and, ultimately, in the clinic, demands novel, advanced techniques for protein/RNA loading, surface engineering, and manufacturing. Safety of CRISPR/Cas systems and EVs also need to be tested extensively for every particular application.
  • 1.4K
  • 03 Nov 2020
Topic Review
Agro-Industrial Waste Composting Process Enhancement via Microbial Inoculation
Composting is an important technology used to treat and convert organic waste into value-added products. Recently, several studies have been done to investigate the effects of microbial supplementation on the composting of agro-industrial waste. According to these studies, microbial inoculation is considered to be one of the suitable methods for enhancing the biotransformation of organic materials during the composting process.
  • 1.4K
  • 19 Jan 2022
Topic Review
Applications of Mineral-Enriched Postbiotics
Postbiotics are non-viable probiotic preparations that confer a health benefit on the host. Scientific literature has proved that postbiotics have health-promoting features and technological advantages compared to probiotics, augmenting their full potential application in the food and pharmaceutical industries. 
  • 1.4K
  • 21 Oct 2022
Topic Review
Applications of Bioinformatics and Chemoinformatics
Chemoinformatics involves integrating the principles of physical chemistry with computer-based and information science methodologies, commonly referred to as “in silico techniques”, in order to address a wide range of descriptive and prescriptive chemistry issues, including applications to biology, drug discovery, and related molecular areas. On the other hand, the incorporation of machine learning has been considered of high importance in the field of drug design, enabling the extraction of chemical data from enormous compound databases to develop drugs endowed with significant biological features.
  • 1.3K
  • 08 Sep 2023
Topic Review
Diversity of Antimicrobial Peptides in Silkworm
Antimicrobial resistance is a phenomenon that the world is witnessing that poses a serious threat to global health. The decline in the development of novel therapeutics over the past has exacerbated the situation further. In this scenario, the pursuit of new alternative therapeutics to commonly used antibiotics has gained predominance amongst researchers across the world. Antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) from natural sources have drawn significant interest as promising pharmacological substitutes over the conventional antibiotics. The most notable advantage of AMPs is that microorganisms cannot develop resistance to them. Insects represent one of the potential sources of AMPs, which are synthesized as part of an innate immune defence against invading pathogens. AMPs from different insects have been extensively studied, and silkworm is one of them. Diverse classes of AMPs (including attacins, cecropins, defensins, enbocins, gloverins, lebocins and moricins) were identified from silkworm that exhibit antimicrobial property against bacteria, fungi and viruses, indicating their potential therapeutic benefits. 
  • 1.3K
  • 17 May 2023
Topic Review
Liquid Biopsy, ctDNA Diagnosis through NGS
Liquid biopsy with circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) profiling by next-generation sequencing holds great promise to revolutionize clinical oncology. It relies on the basis that ctDNA represents the real-time status of the tumor genome which contains information of genetic alterations. Compared to tissue biopsy, liquid biopsy possesses great advantages such as a less demanding procedure, minimal invasion, ease of frequent sampling, and less sampling bias. Next-generation sequencing (NGS) methods have come to a point that both the cost and performance are suitable for clinical diagnosis. Thus, profiling ctDNA by NGS technologies is becoming more and more popular since it can be applied in the whole process of cancer diagnosis and management. 
  • 1.3K
  • 22 Apr 2022
Topic Review
Bacterial Bioprotectants
Plant growth and nutrition are adversely affected by various factors such as water stress, high temperature, and plant pathogens. Plant-associated microbes play a vital role in the growth and development of their hosts under biotic and abiotic stresses. The use of a rhizosphere microbiome for plant growth stimulation and the biological control of fungal disease can lead to improved crop productivity. Mechanisms used by plant-growth-promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR) to protect plants from soilborne pathogens include antibiosis, the production of lytic enzymes, indole-3 acetic acid production, decreasing ethylene levels by secreting 1-aminocyclopropane-1-carboxylate deaminase, competition for nutrients and niches, parasitism and induced systemic resistance. 
  • 1.3K
  • 09 Jun 2023
Topic Review
Smart Porous Multi-Stimulus Polysaccharide-Based Biomaterials
Recently, tissue engineering and regenerative medicine studies have evaluated smart biomaterials as implantable scaffolds and their interaction with cells for biomedical applications. Porous materials have been used in tissue engineering as synthetic extracellular matrices, promoting the attachment and migration of host cells to induce the in vitro regeneration of different tissues. Biomimetic 3D scaffold systems allow control over biophysical and biochemical cues, modulating the extracellular environment through mechanical, electrical, and biochemical stimulation of cells, driving their molecular reprogramming. In this review, first we outline the main advantages of using polysaccharides as raw materials for porous scaffolds, as well as the most common processing pathways to obtain the adequate textural properties, allowing the integration and attachment of cells. The second approach focuses on the tunable characteristics of the synthetic matrix, emphasizing the effect of their mechanical properties and the modification with conducting polymers in the cell response. The use and influence of polysaccharide-based porous materials as drug delivery systems for biochemical stimulation of cells is also described. Overall, engineered biomaterials are proposed as an effective strategy to improve in vitro tissue regeneration and future research directions of modified polysaccharide-based materials in the biomedical field are suggested.
  • 1.3K
  • 24 Nov 2020
Topic Review
Challenges in Lignin Valorization
The aromatic hetero-polymer lignin is industrially processed in the paper/pulp and lignocellulose biorefinery, acting as a major energy source. It has been proven to be a natural resource for useful bioproducts; its depolymerization and conversion into high-value-added chemicals is the major challenge due to the complicated structure and heterogeneity.
  • 1.3K
  • 27 Sep 2022
Topic Review
Targeted Drug-Delivery Systems with Aptamers
The field of drug delivery has witnessed remarkable progress, driven by the quest for more effective and precise therapeutic interventions. Among the myriad strategies employed, the integration of aptamers as targeting moieties and stimuli-responsive systems has emerged as a promising avenue, particularly in the context of anticancer therapy. The conventional chemotherapy paradigm often suffers from systemic toxicity, as potent cytotoxic agents are indiscriminately delivered throughout the body, causing adverse effects on healthy tissues. To address this limitation, the integration of smart targeting mechanisms has gained prominence. Within this paradigm, aptamers, short nucleic acid sequences with a unique ability to bind specifically to target molecules, have emerged as valuable targeting ligands. Aptamers share similarities with antibodies as they exhibit a high affinity for specific targets, making them a focus of research in disease-targeted therapy owing to their remarkable selectivity. Regarded as promising therapeutic agents, aptamers possess attributes such as non-immunogenicity, high specificity, and stability.
  • 1.3K
  • 24 Jan 2024
Topic Review
Genistein
Genistein is an isoflavonoid present in high quantities in soy beans. Possessing a wide range of bioactives, it is being studied extensively for its tumoricidal effects. Investigations into mechanisms of the anti-cancer activity have revealed many pathways including induction of cell proliferation, suppression of tyrosine kinases, regulation of Hedgehog-Gli1 signaling, modulation of epigenetic activities, seizing of cell cycle and Akt and MEK signaling pathways, among others via which the cancer cell proliferation can be controlled. Notwithstanding, the observed activities have been time and dose-dependent. In addition, genistein has also shown varying results in women depending on the physiological parameters, such as the early or post-menopausal states.
  • 1.3K
  • 20 Oct 2021
Topic Review
Parkinson's Disease Therapeutics and Gut-microbiota
Parkinson’s disease (PD) is a multifactorial neurodegenerative disorder that currently affects 1% of the population over the age of 60 years, and for which no disease-modifying treatments exist. Neurodegeneration and neuropathology in different brain areas are manifested as both motor and non-motor symptoms in patients. Recent interest in the gut–brain axis has led to increasing research into the gut microbiota changes in PD patients and their impact on disease pathophysiology. As evidence is piling up on the effects of gut microbiota in disease development and progression, another front of action has opened up in relation to the potential usage of microbiota-based therapeutic strategies in treating gastrointestinal alterations and possibly also motor symptoms in PD. This entry provides status on the different strategies that are in the front line (i.e., antibiotics; probiotics; prebiotics; synbiotics; dietary interventions; fecal microbiota transplantation, live biotherapeutic products), and discusses the opportunities and challenges the field of microbiome research in PD is facing.
  • 1.3K
  • 12 Oct 2021
Topic Review
Epigenetics for Crop Improvement
Heritable epigenetic changes can arise independently of DNA sequence alterations and have been associated with altered gene expression and transmitted phenotypic variation. By modulating plant development and physiological responses to environmental conditions, epigenetic diversity—naturally, genetically, chemically, or environmentally induced—can help optimise crop traits in an era challenged by global climate change. Beyond DNA sequence variation, the epigenetic modifications may contribute to breeding by providing useful markers and allowing the use of epigenome diversity to predict plant performance and increase final crop production
  • 1.3K
  • 17 Nov 2021
Topic Review
New Glycosylated Polyene Macrolides
Polyene macrolides are antifungal agents that are synthesized by actinomycetes and other bacteria. These compounds consist of macrolactone rings containing between three and eight conjugated double bonds. Most are glycosylated with a single aminodeoxysugar and specifically bind ergosterol in fungal cell membranes.
  • 1.3K
  • 25 Jul 2022
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