In search of the best biofuel-producing microbes, scientists may need to make millions of variants via genetic modifications. But only a handful of these variants are likely to produce large amounts of biofuel. To identify …
Month: January 2019
Conserving Helium, a Scarce Nonrenewable Resource, and Reducing Costs at NMR Facility
The National Magnetic Resonance Facility at Madison (NMRFAM) housed in the UW–Madison Department of Biochemistry is home to state-of-the-art technology for biomolecular nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy and related techniques. The facility’s equipment requires helium, and with …
Ancient Gene Duplication Gave Grasses Multiple Ways to Wait out Winter
If you’ve ever grown carrots in your garden and puzzled over never once seeing them flower, don’t blame a missing green thumb. Carrots, beets and many other plants won’t flower until they’ve gone through winter. …
Scientists Provide New Insight on How Gene Expression is Controlled
New research on transcriptional pausing, which helps control gene expression in cells, will aid in the understanding of the enzyme RNA polymerase — a key player in the process and an important drug target. The lab …