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Toxic Nanoparticles Might be Entering Human Food Supply, MU Study Finds

Scientists develop new way to detect threatening nanoparticles in food

COLUMBIA, Mo. – Over the last few years, the use of nanomaterials for water treatment, food packaging, pesticides, cosmetics and other industries has increased. For example, farmers have used silver nanoparticles as a pesticide because of their capability to suppress the growth of harmful organisms. However, a growing concern is that these particles could pose a potential health risk to humans and the environment. In a new study, researchers at the University of Missouri have developed a reliable method for detecting silver nanoparticles in fresh produce and other food products.

“More than 1,000 products on the market are nanotechnology-based products,” said Mengshi Lin, associate professor of food science in the MU College of Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources. “This is a concern because we do not know the toxicity of the nanoparticles. Our goal is to detect, identify and quantify these nanoparticles in food and food products and study their toxicity as soon as possible.” (more…)

Better Way to Understand Plasmid Cloning from AddGene

By Guest PostJanuary 17, 2013Scienceaddgene, ailments, backbone vector, biologically engineered, chromosomes, circular fragments, cloning process, cloning vital organs, digestion, dna strands, double stranded dna, first successful cloning, gel purification, gene, manipulating genes, medical research, molecular cloning, molecular level, molecule cloning, molly the sheep, non profit repository, original chromosomal dna, pcr, plasmid cloning, plasmid land, plasmids, prolong human life, red, red cloning, repository, restriction enzyme digest, restructure diseases, scottish lambs, sub cloning, vector

Medical research has been studying molecular cloning for centuries. While many remember the Scottish lambs as the first successful cloning, there have been countless medical advances since then. Many of them are not as evident or dramatic as Molly the sheep, they have been blazing the trail for cloning vital organs, DNA strands and chromosomes in hopes of curtailing or even curing the maladies that plague the human race. Plasmids are at the forefront of this research in hopes they can learn how to insert DNA strands and restructure diseases or ailments on a molecular level.

It is difficult to describe what Plasmid is exactly. Plasmid is a biologically engineered DNA strands that are meant to be used in existing organisms as well as creating new ones. There are many aspects of it used in different ways from molecule cloning, manipulating genes or advancing medical research. Plasmids are circular fragments of double-stranded DNA. Plasmids are used in DNA strands and they can be replicated independently of original chromosomal DNA that created them. While they are mainly used for studying purposes at the moment in biological laboratories, they are meant to advance medical research and hopefully be used to prolong human life. (more…)

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Toxic Nanoparticles Might be Entering Human Food Supply, MU Study Finds

Better Way to Understand Plasmid Cloning from AddGene