Biotech

In according to WHO, there are 8 -12 % of couples are infertile globally. But, do you know that half of infertile couples fail to reproduce because of problems with male fertility?

Fortunately, there was a good news since scientists in Hong Kong and China have identified a protein in sperm that could be responsible for many cases of male infertility without answers why he is infertile. A professor at the Chinese University in Hong Kong said that the protein is involved in the transport of bicarbonate. It is required for sperm activation for fertilizing the egg.

However, scientists, how to cure it? How to make the protein returns to normal? Well…

Popularity: 100%

Can you create a vagina? I can not, but doctors in Italy had created vaginas for two patients. They used stem cells from the patient’s own bodies to reconstruct a vagina.

Next Possible Backthroughs
After success in growing the vaginal tissue, Cinzia Marchese believes that creating intestinal, oral and eye tissues will become next possible breakthroughs.

Woow..! We’ll waiting your next successful job, researcher!

Popularity: 21%

KOMPAS reported that, recently, a researcher team from Agricultural Institute of Bogor (IPB) found mangosteens-without-seeds. The mangosteens are found in East Kalimantan, Indonesia.

In according to Sobir, Director of Tropical Fruits Research Center IPB, in 2005, mangosteeens gave 65% total income of Indonesia fresh fruits export. Hence, this discovery has given great opportunity for Indonesia to increase income through fresh fruits export.

Biotechnological Challenges
Biotechnological research will be involved in the production of the mangosteens to improve its quality and quantity. Tissue culture methods, for example, will be considered to obtain best quality of the mangosteens.

Another challenge appeared in reproduction the mangusteens. The researcher team didn’t find the plants of the mangosteens in large amount, but only about 80 plants. Besides, there are still found mangosteens-with-seeds among the mangosteens-without-seeds.

Popularity: 19%

Yale University’s news release said that a research team from Yale, Harvard, the University of Colorado and the Burnham Institute had shown that neural stem cells reduce Parkinson’s Disease (PD) symptoms in primates. The primates with PD had better movement and appetite, and had diminished tremors after being injected wth human neural stem cells.

Professor Redmond Jr. said that even though the results are promising, it will be years to be realized as a therapy for humans with PD.

Popularity: 21%

Recently, researchers in University of Pittburgh and Stanford constructed very small gene therapy vector called a “minicircle” plasmid that can deliver MnSOD into mouse hematopoietic progenitor cells. The research is developed after the previous research result have shown that intravenous gene therapy delivery of the Manganese Superoxide Dismutase (MnSOD) Enzyme could protect mice from whole body irradiation.

MnSOD, Radioprotective Enzyme for Human
The research is developed as preparation for a potential clinical trial of the systemic MnSOD enzyme in human. Therefore, the fact of the research result has made researchers optimistic to get this radioprotective enzyme more efficiently into all of human body cells. At last, long-term negative effects on healthy tissues and organs that are possibly suffered by the patients who receive high dose whole-body irradiation for their cancer treatment can be avoided.

Popularity: 17%

World Health Organization (WHO) said that between 50 - 80 million people in the world are infertile. Some of cases might be occur on men who usual consume Viagra for their sex activities-Ehm.. It is not WHO says However, It is a private opinion due to result of research in Queen’s University Belfast explained that Viagra potentially harmful effects on sperm function!

The researchers said that Viagra has potential affect to cause a premature acrosome reaction. Its implication is incapability of fertilization.

So, want to enjoy a recreational sex with Viagra (or other sexual enhancer drugs)? Be careful, Guys!

Popularity: 16%

Four years after Human Genome Project was completed (2003), James D. Watson, The Nobel Prize winner who helped discover the molecular structure of DNA, got his entire genome map. He has just exposed all of his imperfections to public view. Now, he is taking personal risk due to his genome publicly available.

Will Discrimination Occur?
Genetically-based discrimination issue has been risen as a bio-ethics case due to Human Genome Project. The ethical problems are about, for example, how if there is case that someone reveals unfavorable personal information about a patient (and patient’s relatives) and whether its implication could become unfair discrimination that come from insurance companies or employers.

Watson’s Map is minus Apolipoprotein E
Dr. Watson will make his genome map available for researcher to study it, except of his Apolipoprotein E gen. The gen predisposes a person towarad Alzheimer’s disease. “Since we can’t really do much about Alzheimer’s, I didn’t want to know whether I was at risk,” he said.

Popularity: 22%

BRCA1 and BRCA2 are the well-known breast cancer-causing genes. However, there are breast cancer-causing genes of non-BRCA families that largely unknown.

Nowadays the researchers in the world try to discover new breast cancer-causing genes, the non-BRCA falimilies, by investigate genes which have a history of breast cancer. In University of Cambridge, for example, the researchers found the genes to be investigated, i.e. FGFR2, TNRC9, MAP3K1 and LSP1.

Popularity: 20%