Bioengineering threats rated as a top biosecurity risk

A global team of experts has put together a list of the most urgent biosecurity threats, with bioengineering threats such as DNA-based surveillance among the top-ranked concerns.  The exercise was facilitated by the Centre for Existential Risk (CSER) and the BioRISC project, both based at the University of Cambridge. A group of 41 academics and … Read more

Harness biotechnology for society’s betterment

Karnataka is India’s biotechnology capital and plans to be a key player in the sector’s growth.  The state contributes to one third of India’s biotech economy and aims to garner a 50 per cent market share of the national biotech economy target of $100bn by 2025. The Government of Karnataka (GoK) is one of the … Read more

Nanopores and AI used to classify respiratory viruses

Researchers at Osaka University have developed a label-free method for identifying respiratory viruses, based on dips in electrical current as they pass through silicon nanopores. The method could form the basis of a rapid new Covid-19 test.  Efforts to restrict the transmission of the SARS-CoV-2 virus responsible for the Covid-19 pandemic have emphasised rapid, widespread … Read more

AI model detects Covid-19 from sound of coughing

MIT researchers have developed a model which can distinguish people with asymptomatic Covid-19 from healthy people, using the sound of their coughs. These differences are impossible to detect with the human ear.  Previously, researchers have trained algorithms to detect conditions such as pneumonia and asthma based on basic phone recordings of coughs. The MIT team, … Read more