Baker’s yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae) is an indispensable ingredient in making bread, beer, and biotechnology products. But this humble organism also holds clues to something more cosmic – how life could […]
yeast
Posted inBiogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Biophysics, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Enceladus, Europa, Extremeophiles and Extreme Environments, Habitable Zones, Icy Worlds, Missions & Hardware, Status Report
Exploring The Habitability Of The Outer Solar System Icy Moons For The Extremotolerant Yeast Rhodotorula frigidalcoholis
Psychrophilic and psychrotolerant microorganisms have the unique ability to grow below 0°C, which makes them ideal candidates for studying how life could survive on the icy moons of the solar […]
Posted inBiochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Biophysics, Commercial & Private Sector, Genomics, Proteomics, Bioinformatics, Microbiology & Virology, Nanotechnology & SynBio, Press Release
How To Build A Genome – Troubleshooting Manual For Synthetic Life Published
Leading synthetic biologists have shared hard-won lessons from their decade-long quest to build the world’s first synthetic eukaryotic genome in a Nature Biotechnology paper out today. Their insights could accelerate […]
Posted inAnalog Studies, Biochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Biophysics, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Extremeophiles and Extreme Environments, Mars, Microbiology & Virology, Press Release
Yeast Survives Martian Conditions
Any life on Mars in the past, present, or future would have to contend with challenging conditions including, among others, shock waves from meteorite impacts and soil perchlorates—highly oxidizing salts […]
Posted inAnalog Studies, Biochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Biophysics, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Commercial & Private Sector, Extremeophiles and Extreme Environments, Genomics, Proteomics, Bioinformatics, Microbiology & Virology, Status Report
The Limit of Life at Extremely Low Water Activity: Lithium-concentration Ponds in a Solar Saltern (Salar de Atacama, Chile)
Extremely hyper-saline ponds from an industrial lithium-concentration process in solar salterns in the Atacama Desert were studied to determine the limits of life at very low water activity.
Posted inBiosignatures & Paleobiology, Commercial & Private Sector, Extremeophiles and Extreme Environments, Microbiology & Virology, Microgravity, Nanotechnology & SynBio, Press Release, Space Life Science, Space Stations
Offworld Life Science: MIT Engineers Find A Way To Protect Microbes From Extreme Conditions
Microbes that are used for health, agricultural, or other applications need to be able to withstand extreme conditions, and ideally the manufacturing processes used to make tablets for long-term storage. […]
Posted inBiochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Genomics, Proteomics, Bioinformatics, Microbiology & Virology, Origin & Evolution of Life, Press Release
One Step Closer To Re-writing The First Synthetic Yeast Genome And Unravelling The Fundamental Building Blocks Of Life
Researchers have combined over seven synthetic chromosomes that were made in the lab into a single yeast cell, resulting in a strain with more than 50% synthetic DNA that survives […]
Posted inArtemis & Lunar Exploration, Microbiology & Virology, Microgravity, Missions & Hardware, Plant Biology, Press Release, Radiation, Space Life Science
BioExpt-01 Payload Handover To The Artemis 1 Orion Capsule
Scientists package up part of NASA’s Biology Experiment-1 (BioExpt-1) for official handover to the Orion team for Artemis I inside the Space Station Processing Facility at the agency’s Kennedy Space […]