MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA–(Marketwire – 06/28/10) – Prana Biotechnology Limited (NASDAQ: PRAN – News ) (ASX: PBT – News ) today announced that it had reached an agreement with leading clinical research provider Quintiles that will see Quintiles subscribe for up to US$2 million in new Prana shares. The Company also announced that it had signed a mandate agreement with Southern Cross Equities Limited …
GEORGE TOWN: Most people shriek at the sight of worms in their durians but for the Choi family, these wriggly wonders have saved their orchard’s fruits.
Background:
To make lignocellulosic fuel ethanol economically competitive with fossil fuels, it is necessary to reduce the production cost. One way to achieve this is by increasing the substrate concentration in the production process, and thus reduce the energy demand in the final distillation of the fermentation broth. However, increased substrate concentration in simultaneous saccharification and fermentation (SSF) processes has been shown to result in reduced ethanol yields and severe stirring problems. Because the SSF medium is being continuously hydrolyzed, running the process in fed-batch mode could potentially reduce the stirring problems and lead to increased ethanol yields in high-solids SSF. Different enzyme feeding strategies, with the enzymes either present in the reactor from start-up or fed into the reactor together with the substrate, have been studied, along with the influence of the enzyme feeding strategy on the final ethanol yield and productivity.
Results:
In the present study, SSF was run successfully with 10% and 14% water-insoluble solids (WIS) in batch and fed-batch mode. The mixing of the material in the reactor was significantly better in fed-batch than batch mode, and similarly high or higher ethanol yields were achieved in fed-batch mode compared with batch SSF in some cases. No general trend in the dependence of ethanol yield on enzyme feeding strategy was found.
Conclusions:
The optimum enzyme feeding strategy appears to depend on the conditions during SSF, such as the WIS concentration and the concentration of inhibitory compounds in the SSF medium.
RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, N.C., USA, June 24, 2010 — Syngenta Biotechnology, Inc., (SBI) recently received two distinguished Occupational Safety & Health Administration (OSHA) awards from the N.C. Department of Labor . The company, which is based in Research Triangle Park, N.C. and focuses on plant biotechnology and crop genetics, was formally recognized for achieving both the annual safety award …
BIO congratulated biotechnology companies and members of BIO who received Presidential Green Chemistry Challenge Awards. Codexis of Redwood City, CA, in collaboration with Merck, developed greener method of producing sitagliptin, while LS9 engineered microorganism that metabolizes fatty acids and converts them to biofuel and renewable chemicals. Dr. James Liao, board member of Easel …
WASHINGTON, D.C. (Monday, June 21, 2010) – Industrial biotechnology is increasing the efficiency of manufacturing chemicals and fuels, reducing emissions of pollutants, including greenhouse gases, and creating opportunities for economic growth and new products. The Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO) today congratulated the industrial biotechnology companies and members of BIO who received …
Biotechnology company GTx Inc. said Monday its potential muscle loss drug met key goals in a 12-week study on postmenopausal women.
India and Denmark will soon begin strategic research collaboration in biotechnology in the broad areas of biotechnology aspects of nanoscience, nanotechnology, bioengineering and bioinformatics in bioresources, biological manufacturing and biological products.
—-Biotechnology Industry Organization : WHAT: The World Congress on Industrial Biotechnology & Bioprocessing Plenary Programsfor Tuesday, June 29, 2010, will be available via webinar to reporters andeditors.
—-Biotechnology Industry Organization : WHAT: The World Congress on Industrial Biotechnology & Bioprocessing Plenary Programs for Monday, June 28, 2010, will be available via webinar to reporters and editors unable to attend the sessions in person.
Kun Run Biotechnology, Inc., a leading bio-pharmaceutical company in China focusing on manufacturing and sales of peptide-based and small molecule drugs, today announced that they have obtained the manufacturing approval for Entecavir from the China State Food and Drug Administration (SFDA).
The Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO) announces a two-day annual biotechnology partnering meeting to be held in Hyderabad, India on September 21-22. The Association of Biotechnology Led Enterprises (ABLE), a national forum that represents the Indian biotechnology sector, will participate as the local host. “This exclusive forum is the first of its kind in India…
WASHINGTON, D.C. (Wednesday, June 16, 2010) The Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO) announces a two-day annual biotechnology partnering meeting to be held in Hyderabad, India on September 21-22. The Association of Biotechnology Led Enterprises (ABLE), a national forum that represents the Indian biotechnology sector, will participate as the local host. “This exclusive forum is the first of …
Background:
Cost-effective fermentation of lignocellulosic hydrolysate to ethanol by Saccharomyces cerevisiae requires efficient mixed sugar utilization. Notably, the rate and yield of xylose and arabinose co-fermentation to ethanol must be enhanced.
Results:
Evolutionary engineering was used to improve the simultaneous conversion of xylose and arabinose to ethanol in a recombinant industrial Saccharomyces cerevisiae strain carrying the heterologous genes for xylose and arabinose utilization pathways integrated in the genome. The evolved strain TMB3130 displayed an increased consumption rate of xylose and arabinose under aerobic and anaerobic conditions. Improved anaerobic ethanol production was achieved at the expense of xylitol and glycerol but arabinose was almost stoichiometrically converted to arabitol. Further characterization of the strain indicated that the selection pressure during prolonged continuous culture in xylose and arabinose medium resulted in the improved transport of xylose and arabinose as well as increased levels of the enzymes from the introduced fungal xylose pathway. No mutation was found in any of the genes from the pentose converting pathways.
Conclusion:
To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report that characterizes the molecular mechanisms for improved mixed-pentose utilization obtained by evolutionary engineering of a recombinant S. cerevisiae strain. Increased transport of pentoses and increased activities of xylose converting enzymes contributed to the improved phenotype.
Research Triangle Park – Ana T. Menendez, Ph.D., Senior Director of Biotechnology at Catalent Pharma Solutions, will be leading an interactive pre-conference workshop titled, “Immunogenicity Programs: Not Just Another Box to Check” at the 6th Annual Global Proteins Summit in London, UK. The workshop will be held on June 22 at 12:30pm.
TRENTON, N.J.—-The number of biotechnology companies operating in New Jersey continues to increase significantly despite the downturn in the economy, ongoing difficulties in obtaining venture capital and other forms of funding and a contraction in the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries at both the state and national levels, according to initial results from an industry survey released …
Biotechnology stocks are showing considerable strength during trading on Friday, despite a lack of concrete direction in the broader markets. Sequenom (SQNM) is helping to lead the sector higher following an upgrade. The NYSE Arca Biotechnology Index is currently up by 1.5 percent, extending its rebound from Wednesday’s three and a half month closing low.
Industrial biotechnology can make significant contributions to worldwide economic growth through innovative applications for sustainable biofuels and biobased products. The Biotechnology Industry Organization today announced an additional plenary session, featuring a keynote address by Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack, at the seventh annual World Congress on Industrial Biotechnology and …
RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, N.C. – Syngenta Biotechnology’s continued expansion in RTP has reached another milestone with the completion of a move into a 100,000 square foot building in Keystone Office Park.
Shenzhen Beike Biotechnology Co. Ltd., China’s leading stem cell research and regenerative medicine company, announced the formation of Beike Holdings Limited a joint venture with Bangkok-based SiriCell Technologies, Inc. Beike Holdings, which is headquartered in Bangkok, Thailand, will focus primarily on the establishment of new international subsidiaries and the development of collaborative …
Background:
Corn grain is an important renewable source for bioethanol production in the USA. Corn ethanol is currently produced by steam liquefaction of starch-rich grains followed by enzymatic saccharification and fermentation. Corn stover (the non-grain parts of the plant) is a potential feedstock to produce cellulosic ethanol in second-generation biorefineries. At present, corn grain is harvested by removing the grain from the living plant while leaving the stover behind on the field. Alternatively, whole corn plants can be harvested to cohydrolyze both starch and cellulose after a suitable thermochemical pretreatment to produce fermentable monomeric sugars. In this study, we used physiologically immature corn silage (CS) and matured whole corn plants (WCP) as feedstocks to produce ethanol using ammonia fiber expansion (AFEX) pretreatment followed by enzymatic hydrolysis (at low enzyme loadings) and cofermentation (for both glucose and xylose) using a cellulase-amylase-based cocktail and a recombinant Saccharomyces cerevisiae 424A (LNH-ST) strain, respectively. The effect on hydrolysis yields of AFEX pretreatment conditions and a starch/cellulose-degrading enzyme addition sequence for both substrates was also studied.
Results:
AFEX-pretreated starch-rich substrates (for example, corn grain, soluble starch) had a 1.5-3-fold higher enzymatic hydrolysis yield compared with the untreated substrates. Sequential addition of cellulases after hydrolysis of starch within WCP resulted in 15-20% higher hydrolysis yield compared with simultaneous addition of hydrolytic enzymes. AFEX-pretreated CS gave 70% glucan conversion after 72 h of hydrolysis for 6% glucan loading (at 8 mg total enzyme loading per gram glucan). Microbial inoculation of CS before ensilation yielded a 10-15% lower glucose hydrolysis yield for the pretreated substrate, due to loss in starch content. Ethanol fermentation of AFEX-treated (at 6% w/w glucan loading) CS hydrolyzate (resulting in 28 g/L ethanol at 93% metabolic yield) and WCP (resulting in 30 g/L ethanol at 89% metabolic yield) is reported in this work.
Conclusions:
The current results indicate the feasibility of co-utilization of whole plants (that is, starchy grains plus cellulosic residues) using an ammonia-based (AFEX) pretreatment to increase bioethanol yield and reduce overall production cost.
67 WALL STREET, New York – June 8, 2010 – The Wall Street Transcript has recently published its Biotechnology & Pharmaceuticals Report offering a timely review of the sector to serious investors and industry executives. This special feature contains expert industry commentary through in-depth interviews with public company CEOs, Equity Analysts and Money Managers. The full issue is available by …
67 WALL STREET, New York – June 7, 2010 – The Wall Street Transcript has recently published its Biotechnology & Pharmaceuticals Report offering a timely review of the sector to serious investors and industry executives. This special feature contains expert industry commentary through in-depth interviews with public company CEOs, Equity Analysts and Money Managers. The full issue is available by …
Reportlinker.com announces that a new market research report is available in its catalogue:
The North Carolina Biotechnology Center awarded two N.C. State students the NCBC Research Fellowship, a one-time grant of $5,000 for recipients to use over a one year period in the field of biotechnology research.