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.
The 10 th edition of Bangalore India Bio 2010, India’s premier biotechnology event concluded on a positive note, according to the organizers.
Epistem plc (LSE: EHP), the UK biotechnology company, has announced today that their Biomarker Division has been awarded Good Clinical Laboratory Practice (GCLP) accreditation status. The Biomarker Division conducts gene expression analysis to support clinical drug development programs within pharmaceutical and biotechnology organisations, with an increasing focus on providing valuable biomarker …
Bill George, a Harvard business professor, looks at the conflicts within the biotechnology industry between short-term and long-term gains. The activist investor Carl C. Icahn continues to challenge the biotechnology industry.
The Karnataka Biotechnology and Information Technology Services (KBITS) is planning to set up 10 BT Finishing Schools in the state.
Indian biotechnology industry is expected to touch $5 billion this fiscal with a growth rate of over 20 per cent on the back of huge investment inflows from the West.
KUALA LUMPUR, May 24 (Bernama) — The biotechnology sector needs more than 20,000 knowledge workers, including professional scientists by 2014,says Science, Technology and Innovation Minister, Datuk Seri Dr Maximus Ongkili.
Prana Biotechnology (NASDAQ: PRAN) (ASX: PBT) today announced that Professor Ashley Bush, Prana’s co-founder and a member of the Company’s R&D Advisory Board, will present at the 39th Annual Meeting of the American Aging Association (AGE) in Portland, Oregon on Monday, June 7th at 10:15 (PT) regarding the effects of PBT2 on Alzheimer’s Disease sufferers as well as potential benefits for …
InNexus Biotechnology Inc, a drug development company commercializing the next generation of antibodies based on its groundbreaking Dynamic Cross Linking (DXL) technology, has entered into a Collaboration Agreement with the National Cancer Institute (NCI) of the US National Institutes of Health (NIH) to research proprietary technologies developed by InNexus.
Background:
Fermentations using Escherichia coli KO11, Saccharomyces cerevisiae 424A(LNH-ST), and Zymomonas mobilis AX101 are compared side-by-side on corn steep liquor (CSL) media and the water extract and enzymatic hydrolysate from ammonia fiber expansion (AFEX)-pretreated corn stover.
Results:
The three ethanologens are able produce ethanol from a CSL-supplemented co-fermentation at a metabolic yield, final concentration and rate greater than 0.42 g/g consumed sugars, 40 g/L and 0.7 g/L/h (0-48h), respectively. Xylose-only fermentation of the tested ethanologenic bacteria are five to eight times faster than 424A(LNH-ST) in the CSL fermentation.All tested strains grow and co-ferment sugars at 15% w/v solids loading equivalent of ammonia fiber explosion (AFEX)-pretreated corn stover water extract. However, both KO11 and 424A(LNH-ST) exhibit higher growth robustness than AX101. In 18% w/w solids loading lignocellulosic hydrolysate from AFEX pretreatment, complete glucose fermentations can be achieved at a rate greater than 0.77 g/L/h. In contrast to results from fermentation in CSL, S. cerevisiae 424A(LNH-ST) consumed xylose at the greatest extent and rate in the hydrolysate compared to the bacteria tested.
Conclusions:
Our results confirm that glucose fermentations among the tested strains are effective even at high solids loading (18% by weight). However, xylose consumption in the lignocellulosic hydrolysate is the major bottleneck affecting overall yield, titer or rate of the process. In comparison, Saccharomyces cerevisiae 424A(LNH-ST) is the most relevant strains for industrial production for its ability to ferment both glucose and xylose from undetoxified and unsupplemented hydrolysate from AFEX-pretreated corn stover at high yield.
Biotechnology labs are filled with imponderable hazards yet are subjected to fewer regulations than most factories.
NEW YORK , May 25 /PRNewswire/ — Reportlinker.com announces that a new market research report is available in its catalogue: Global Top 10 Biotechnology Companies Industry, Financial and SWOT Analysis http://www.reportlinker.com/p0201768/Global-Top-10-Biotechnology-Companies–Industry-Financial-and-SWOT-Analysis.html Introduction This report analyzes the global …
Although measurements of crystallinity index (CI) have a long history, it has been found that CI varies significantly depending on the choice of measurement method. In this study, four different techniques incorporating X-ray diffraction and solid-state 13C nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) were compared using eight different cellulose preparations. We found that the simplest method, which is also the most widely used, and which involves measurement of just two heights in the X-ray diffractogram, produced significantly higher crystallinity values than did the other methods. Data in the literature for the cellulose preparation used (Avicel PH-101) support this observation. We believe that the alternative X-ray diffraction (XRD) and NMR methods presented here, which consider the contributions from amorphous and crystalline cellulose to the entire XRD and NMR spectra, provide a more accurate measure of the crystallinity of cellulose. Although celluloses having a high amorphous content are usually more easily digested by enzymes, it is unclear, based on studies published in the literature, whether CI actually provides a clear indication of the digestibility of a cellulose sample. Cellulose accessibility should be affected by crystallinity, but is also likely to be affected by several other parameters, such as lignin/hemicellulose contents and distribution, porosity, and particle size. Given the methodological dependency of cellulose CI values and the complex nature of cellulase interactions with amorphous and crystalline celluloses, we caution against trying to correlate relatively small changes in CI with changes in cellulose digestibility. In addition, the prediction of cellulase performance based on low levels of cellulose conversion may not include sufficient digestion of the crystalline component to be meaningful.
EpiVax Research on Tregitopes Wins 2010 AAPS Innovation in Biotechnology Award. Providence-based biotechnology company selected from more than 100 global research initiatives aimed at impacting drug development.
KUALA LUMPUR : The biotechnology sector needs more than 20,000 knowledge workers, including professional scientists by 2014,says Science, Technology and Innovation Minister, Datuk Seri Dr Maximus Ongkili.