Universal protocol for generating 100bp size standard for endles

Developing countries are facing severe bottlenecks in the technological advancement in biotechnology, due to restrictions imposed by patent protected products and protocols. This calls for designing of simple and cost-effective alternatives for the indispensable products like DNA molecular weight markers. We demonstrate a novel, rapid and cost-effective method of making in-house 100bp ladder for routine use. In our method we use a single forward primer and five reverse primers designed on the backbone sequence of a commonly used vector template. These primers are used at a universal annealing temperature to

amplify ten DNA fragments of accurate size ranging from 100bp to 1000bp

Check the original link below

http://ejbiotechnology.ucv.cl/content/vol11/issue2/full/10/index.html

A Great Step for Iran

ISFAHAN, Iran - Iranian scientists said  that the country's first cloned sheep is thriving 15 months after birth, eating well and frolicking among a flock of normal sheep. The cloned male sheep named Royana was born Sept. 30, 2006 in the historic central city of Isfahan, less than two months after the country's first cloned animal, also a lamb, died within minutes of birth.

But unlike it's predecessor, Royana survived the postnatal complications typical for cloned animals and is now celebrated as Iran's scientific breakthrough and achievement.

The effort is part of Iran's quest to become a regional high-tech powerhouse in western Asia by 2025. Tehran has also launched an ambitious space program, while its controversial uranium enrichment has the West worried it is masking Iran's attempts to build a nuclear weapon.

"Royana is a successful scientific achievement. We are all proud of it. The sheep is the result of many years of efforts in stem cell research," Mohammad Hossein Nasr e Isfahani, head of the Royan Research Institute in Isfahan told The Associated Press on Monday.

Isfahani, an embryologist whose team oversaw Royana's birth and that of its cloned predecessor, said his institute conducted 30 successful stem cell transfers but that only two led to birth.

His team members say that out of 10 animal cloning pregnancies, only one or two can be expected to lead to birth.

In 1996, British scientists made international headlines with Dolly, the first cloned sheep, which lived six years.

With Royana, Iran became the first country in the Middle East that publicly announced it cloned a sheep. Last September, Turkey reported cloning its first animal, also a sheep.

But rapid progress in stem cell research and genetics have raised widespread debates about ethics and the boundaries of medicine.

Scientists say the cloning — a process that creates a genetically identical copy — of sheep and other animals could lead to advances in medical research, including using cloned animals to produce human antibodies against diseases.

Iran's cloning program has won backing from the Shiite Muslim religious leaders, who have issued decrees authorizing animal cloning but banning human reproductive cloning. A majority of Iran's nearly 70 million people are Shiite Muslims.

In contrast, Sunni Muslim religious leaders — including senior clerics in Saudi Arabia — have banned cloning altogether, even in animals.

At a grazing land outside Isfahan, Royana was serenely frolicking about with some 400 other sheep. The herd and its shepherd were apparently not bothered by the fact the pasture was just 20 kilometers (14 miles) away from the Isfahan uranium conversion plant, one of the two main bases of the country's enrichment program.

"Royana is very powerful. He fights well to protect his realm in the pasture," said shepherd Abdolmalek Nourzehi.

Isfahani, the embryologist, said his institute plans more experiments in genetics and stem cell research in the future — using animal cells.

"We are now in the early stages of cloning a cow," he said. "It is not important for us how many animals we clone, what is important is that we have achieved proficiency in cloning."

Isfahani said Iranian researchers would never try to clone a human being because it's banned. "It is neither ethical nor allowed under our laws," he said.

Isfahani's institute has also a key role in preserving stem cells of endangered species.

"There is a type of sheep believed to be on the brink of extinction here," Isfahani said. "We keep their stem cells here to produce their copies if necessary some day."

بیوگاز - قسمت اول

فعلا قصد ندارم به تاریخچه و ضرورت استفاده از بیوگاز بپردازم و ترجیح میدم در خصوص نکات فنی و جزئیات فن آوری بیو گاز مطالبی را بنویسم .

هممونطور که می دونید دو نوع عمده از گاز در جهان استفاده می شه:

1.       گاز مایع (ال.پی.جی) که از پالایش محصولات نفتی بدست میاد

2.       گاز طبیعی  که از منابع گاز مستقل حاصل میشه.

نوع دیگری از گاز که بعلت ارزانی و پاک بودن مورد توجه سیاست گذارا قرار گرفته بیوگاز یا گاز زیستی است.

بیوگاز از تجزیه مواد حاصل از میکروارگانیسم ها در غیاب اکسیژن حاصل میشه که بعلت قابلیت اشتعال خوبش از اون بعنوان سوخت زیستی یا Bio Fuel  استفاده می کنند.

این بیوگاز میتونه از تخمیر گندابها ، فاضلابها و یا توده هایی از گیاهان که امروزه به آنها گیاهان انرژی (E-Plant  یا energy crop ) می گویند فرآوری بشوند .دی اکسید کربن و متان از این طریق بدست می آیند.

همچنین بیوگاز میتونه از روشی بنام  Gasification  چوب و یا سایر مواد زیستی بدست بیاد .منو اکسید کربن ،نیتروژن ،هیدروژن و مقادیری متان از این طریق حاصل می شه.

Biotechnology Helps To limit bleeding after surgery

The first clotting solution derived from recombinant DNA technology has been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to help stop small blood vessels from bleeding after surgery

Recothrom, made by Seattle-based ZymoGenetics Inc., is a topical solution made from Chinese hamster ovary cells that have been genetically modified to produce human thrombin, a protein involved in blood clotting

The hamster cells are tested for known infectious agents and are subjected to processes designed to thwart viruses, the FDA said.

In clinical testing involving 411 people, Recothrom met a primary benchmark of controlling bleeding within 10 minutes. It was as effective as an approved thrombin solution derived from cattle plasma, the agency said

Smart Textile

Soon i will drop some words about smart textile

it looks like the next-generation clothing that could monitor physiological information 

دانشگاههای سوئد

بعض از دوستان در خصوص دانشگاههای سوئد که رشته بیوتکنولوژی رو در سطح فوق لیسانس (Master) ارائه میکنه پرسیده بودند.

توی سوئد ۸ تا دانشگاه هست که بیوتکنولوژی ارائه میکنه به شرح جدول زیر:

Industrial Biotechnology		Borås University College
Biotechnology		Chalmers University of Technology
Biotechnology		KTH, The Royal Institute of Technology
Biotechnology		Lund University
Biotechnology		Mälardalen University
Plant and Forest Biotechnology		SLU - Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
Biotechnology		SLU - Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
Plant and Forest Biotechnology		Umeå University
Applied Biotechnology		Uppsala University

لباس هوشمند

بزودی قصد دارم مطالبی در خصوص لباس های هوشمند بنویسم .البته اینم بگم که یه پروفسور ایرانی توی سوئد در این زمینه کار کرده .

ازجمله مزایای این لباس ها :

تعیین درجه حرارت بدن

تعیین فشار خون

تعیین ضربان قلب و ...

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بزودی جزئیاتش رو می نویسم.

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