Research technologies

Big advances from tiny technology

It was only from 2007 when next-generation sequencers brought the time and cost of deciphering the genetic code from weeks and millions of dollars to days and tens of thousands.

Now a new wave of electronic sensing devices based around bacterial nanopores – tiny holes in the membranes of microbes – look poised to answer biological questions in real time and bring a substantially lower cost 'pay as you go' model to sequencing…

High-powered microscopes reveal workings of yeast cells

Using high-powered microscopes, scientists funded by BBSRC, have made a stunning observation of the architecture within a cell - and identified for the first time how this architecture changes during the formation of gametes, also known as sex cells, in order to successfully complete the process. The findings could impact on the treatment of disorders caused by a misregulation of cellular structures called microtubules, such as cancer. The study led by Dr Kayoko Tanaka from the University of Leicester, focused on microtubules…

New technique to help understand how cells develop and function

Scientists at Cambridge University and the Babraham Institute, which receives strategic funding from BBSRC, have demonstrated a new technique that will significantly improve scientists' ability to perform epigenetics research and help unlock the door to understanding how cells develop and function. Epigenetics is a branch of genetics that studies modifications to the DNA which affect gene activity. The research, published in the journal Science has important implications for stem cell research…