Tag: agriculture
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Process Adds Antimicrobial Silver Particles to Plants
14 July 2015. Engineers at North Carolina State University developed a process that adds biodegradable nanoparticles infused with silver to plant fibers that can kill a broad range of bacteria. A team from the lab of chemical engineering professor Orlin Velev, with colleagues from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and institutions in the U.K. and…
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Arcadia Bio, Partners to Produce Stress-Tolerant Soybeans
7 July 2015. Arcadia Biosciences, an agricultural biotechnology company, will develop a new variety of soybeans engineered for greater tolerance of environmental stresses, with partners in Brazil and Argentina, two major soybean growers. Financial details of the collaboration between the Davis, California company and Bioceres S.A. in Rosario, Argentina, and Tropical Melhoramento e Genética Ltda,…
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Gene Editing Modifies Tree Genomes to Reduce Lignin
5 June 2015. Plant scientists at University of Georgia used an emerging technique for gene editing to modify the genomes of poplars and related trees to make those varieties better suited for biofuels. The team from the lab of plant biologist Chung-Jui Tsai in Athens published its findings in a recent letter to the journal…
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Patent Awarded for Plant Gene Sequence Engineering
27 May 2015. A patent for a genetic sequence derived from soybeans, but applicable through engineering to a range of plants, was granted to Ceres Inc., an agricultural biotechnology company in Thousand Oaks, California. The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office granted patent number 9,024,004, Sequence-determined DNA fragments encoding acetohydroxyacid synthase proteins, on 5 May 2015 to…
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Standard Devised to Cut Poultry Antibiotic Use
7 May 2015. An organization of school districts in the U.S., joined by the Pew Charitable Trusts and U.S. Department of Agriculture, wrote a set of guidelines to reduce the use of antibiotics in raising chickens destined for school feeding programs. Tyson Foods, the nation’s largest producer of chickens, also revealed today it is adopting…
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Plant Science Biotech Gets Genome Editing Technology
16 April 2015. Cellectis Plant Sciences, a biotechnology company in Minnesota developing higher quality crops through genetic engineering, licensed CRISPR genome editing technology from University of Minnesota. Financial details of the agreement between Cellectis and the university were not disclosed. The technology licensed by Cellectis covers techniques known as CRISPR, short for clustered, regularly interspaced short…
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Simple Avian Flu Test Designed for Poultry
10 April 2015. A bioengineering lab at University of Guelph in Ontario, Canada developed a quick, simple test for avian flu virus that infects poultry, including the type of virus now infecting turkeys in the U.S. and Canada. Guelph’s Bionano Lab led by engineering professor Suresh Neethirajan says a description of its device will appear…
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Sharp Rise in Livestock Antimicrobial Use Expected
26 March 2015. An international research consortium estimates that global use of antibiotics in livestock is expected to jump by two-thirds by the year 2030, imperiling attempts to overcome antibiotic resistance and posing a threat to public health. The team led by Princeton University environmental researcher Ramanan Laxminarayan published its findings last week in Proceedings…
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University Breeds Genome-Edited Pigs
25 March 2015. Veterinary researchers at University of Maryland successfully bred 18 pigs with their genomes edited by a technique that prominent geneticists recently called for strict guidelines. The university today announced birth of the baby pigs bred by animal sciences professor Bhanu Telugu and faculty research assistant Ki-Eun Park. Telugu and Park applied the…
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UC-Davis Spins Off Irrigation Technology Start-Up
19 March 2015. A graduate student in agriculture at University of California in Davis turned his research on irrigation technology into a new enterprise addressing the chronic drought conditions facing that state’s farmers. Tom Shapland started Tule Technologies Inc. in January 2014 that licensed his research measuring agricultural water use from the university. Tule (pronounced…