terror in paris DNA found in car used to transport market gunman traced to a man in custody Several terror attacks. Deadly counterterrorism raids. And a wave of suspected jihadist arrests from France to Greece to Belgium. European Union officials are scrambling to stop the spread... By: 24/7 News online … Continue reading →

A team of biochemists has proposed using DNA scaffolds to grow human cells, creating a potentially cost-efficient way of "gluing" together 3D printedtissues and organs in the future. The method, described in the ACS Biomaterials Science & Engineering journal, relies on creating a "smart glue" from plastic (polystyrene or polyacrylamide) nanoparticles containing 40 base pairs of DNA. These are assembled in a gel -- the nanoparticles are held together by DNA interactions, while the gel holds the entire scaffold's shape in place. The team, from the University of Texas at Austin, could then use the gel in a 3D printer to create structures about a centimetre in size. It means that the microscopic DNA strands and nanoparticles suddenly have a tangible presence -- the gel is something that can be used and manipulated at a scale visible to the human eye. Most importantly, it was proven that the material can act as a scaffold for new cells to flourish. Therefore it could be envisioned as a scaffold for injury repair, whereby the gel helps graft on new 3D printed cells grown in the lab and implanted. So many of the advances in 3D printing live tissue have been constrained to … Continue reading →

Several terror attacks. Deadly counterterrorism raids. And a wave of suspected jihadist arrests from France to Greece to Belgium. European Union officials are scrambling to stop the spread of terrorism and threats, with foreign ministers meeting Monday in Brussels, Belgium, to tackle the issue. "We start with obviously a discussion on how to counter terrorism, not only in Europe but also in other parts of the world," said Federica Mogherini, EU high representative for foreign affairs. She said she had just met with Arab League Secretary-General Nabil el-Araby "as the threat is not only the one we faced in Paris, but also spreading in many other parts of the world starting from Muslim countries. "And we need to strengthen our way of cooperating together, first of all with Arab countries, and then internally." With new developments sprouting up across Europe, here are the latest: The hunt is still on for the ringleader behind a terrorist cell targeted in raids last week, Belgium's justice minister said. The suspected key link between senior ISIS operatives in Syria and the Belgian terrorist cell, Belgian-Moroccan ISIS fighter Abelhamid Abaaoud, is still at large, a senior Belgian counterterrorism official said. Abaaoud's last known location was … Continue reading →