Biotechnology
Optogenetics wins the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine this year goes to three researchers who together laid the foundations for optogenetics: Karl Deisseroth, Peter Hegemann and Georg Nagel.
Living computer chips
Using living neurons, researchers are building so-called neurochips, which are intended to make computers considerably more efficient and energy-saving.
Computers are consuming ever more energy. In 2024, nearly 5 per...
Cloning mice cannot go on forever
Cloning mice repeatedly works relatively well for 57 consecutive generations, but accumulating mutations then render offspring no longer viable.
Cloning mice repeatedly cannot go on...
Healing tissues
How do you prompt the body to repair its own tissues? That is the question the Dutch research consortium Drive-RM will be grappling with over the next ten years.
Alpaca antibodies
Nanobodies are compact antibody fragments derived from camelids that are smaller and more stable than traditional antibodies. Promising as they are, their clinical translation is currently gaining momentum only slowly. What can we expect?
What does the future hold for genetic modification?
Fifty years after Asilomar, where scientists themselves drew up safety rules for recombinant DNA, the Netherlands is once again grappling with the boundaries of biotechnological progress.
Mitochondrial mutations corrected with base editing
Image: SkieTheAce from Pixabay
Using base editing, mutations in mitochondrial DNA can be corrected, resulting in improved function.
Desearchers in Utrecht are using a new gene-editing...
Tissue straight from the printer
Riccardo Levato and Sammy Florczak (a PhD student in his team) working on the volumetric printer. Photo: I. Pel, UMC Utrecht
A tiny liver or...