Global Innovation Technologist Awards

A team of biochemists at the University of California, San Diego, working with a group of biochemical engineers from the University of California, Los Angeles, has found that the development of short lipids might have led to the development of the first cell membranes on early Earth. In their study published in the journal Nature Chemistry , the group combined cysteine with chemical relatives of fatty acids to form lipids with two tails, finding clues about the origins of life on Earth. The research team reasoned that for cells to get their start on early Earth, some form of cell boundary must have formed first to protect cell contents from the environment. Noting that modern cell membranes are all made of lipids, the researchers wondered if the first cell membranes might have been made of lipids as well—and if that was the case, how they might have developed from simple molecules. They also noted that modern cell membranes are complex and generally long chained. Suspecting that earl...

Researchers from the University of Oxford have identified a key biochemical mechanism relevant to the development of Huntington's Disease. This discovery opens up the possibility of studying the disease before its clinical onset and eventually stopping its progression. The study, published in Nature Metabolism, has shown for the first time the biochemical change responsible for the development of Huntington's disease, and how blocking this change stopped disease progression. Huntington's disease is an inherited condition that stops parts of the brain from working properly, leading to mental and physical decline that slowly worsens over time. The symptoms usually begin to appear after the age of 30 years and are fatal, but this can be after a period of up to 20 years, during which they worsen. The study explores how an early change described in the brain of HD patients in the early 1980s could lead to Huntington's disease onset. The researchers identified that problems ...

There’s something in the agar Many of us have heard horror stories involving ghosts, monsters, or pulling an all-nighter before your thesis defense. But picture this: you’re running a simple yeast-plating experiment in your lab, and when you return to check in on your cells, nothing’s there. That’s what happened to yeast geneticist Reine Protacio in the summer of 2023. Protacio studies meiosis in the fission yeast species Schizosaccharomyces pombe at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences . When students started struggling to plate the yeasts, and when even the control plates were turning up empty, she knew something was wrong. Systematically switching out components of the culture media revealed that water, ammonium sulfate, glucose, and supplements weren’t responsible for the problem. But when Protacio and her team tested different lots of agar, they noticed that cells grew as expected on some lots but didn’t grow effectively on others. The culprit was surprising, as agar i...

The FIX2024 conference , South Korea’s premier technology showcase held in Daegu, brought together innovators from around the world. Known as the country’s version of CES, FIX2024 highlighted groundbreaking technologies across various sectors, from autonomous systems to AI-driven solutions. The FIX2024 Media Picks Award involved a diverse group of media outlets from every region of the globe, including DRONELIFE. (Yes, this is a great job – as you can see from the pictures below!) Each media outlet interviewed participants in their respective industries, evaluating them based on marketability, potential for global expansion, investment potential, and competitiveness. A Diverse Lineup of Innovators DRONELIFE’s list included companies from all areas of the industry: drones, precision agriculture, manufacturing, AAM, and vertiport infrastructure. Choosing the top 3 from this elite group was a major challenge. Among the contenders:TOFF MOBILITY is making waves as the sole Asian distrib...

Jaguar Land Rover on Wednesday said it has launched an initiative in India to work closely with startups for developing the next generation of products and services that will help define the company's future client experiences. The Tata Motors-owned marquee brand has launched the Open Innovation Hub in Bengaluru, building on the success of the company's existing initiatives in the UK, US, Israel, and Brazil. The India hub will focus on deep tech including artificial intelligence , big data and analytics, internet of things , ADAS (Advanced Driver Assistance System) and sensors and devices, Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) said in a statement. "India's rapidly-growing startup sector and JLR's already established presence and close links to the Tata Group make the country the ideal location for the newest innovation hub," JLR's Innovation Director Igor Murakami said. Through global collaborations, the initiative is connecting the automaker to the next generation of ...

Dr. Pablo Sobrado has been named the Richard K. Vitek/FCR Endowed Chair of Biochemistry in the chemistry department at Missouri S&T. “We are very excited to have Pablo join the chemistry department and spearhead the effort for a new bachelor’s degree in biochemistry ,” says Dr. Chariklia Sotiriou-Leventis, chair and professor of chemistry at Missouri S&T. “He has an outstanding record of both teaching and research , and we are all looking forward to seeing how he can support S&T’s students.” Sobrado specializes in natural product biosynthesis, plant metabolism and defense, and xenobiotic resistance in the fields of biochemistry and drug discovery. His current research projects, funded by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute of Food and Agriculture, focus on explaining the mechanisms of enzyme reactions, drug discovery and the development of biosynthetic approaches for commercial products. Before joining S&T, Sobrado spent 17 years in the biochemist...