Improved CAR-T therapy
Novel approved cancer therapy CAR-T involves taking immune cells out of a patient, altering them to target a protein called CD19, and reinfusing them into the patient. CD19 is a distinguishing marker of some blood cancers. Read more in C&I Magazine.
Perovskite promise
Researchers in Australia have found that high-intensity light resolves a fundamental challenge preventing the wide uptake of next-generation perovskite solar cells. Read more in C&I Magazine.
Post-Brexit & REACH
As 2020 slowly winds down, and the world continues to struggle with the on-going Covid pandemic, in the UK, another deadline is looming – the end of the transition period and its final departure from the EU. Read more in C&I Magazine.
How cells fight microbes
Researchers have charted gene activity in mouse immune cells over the course of a model infection to create the first full dynamic map of how cells learn to fight microbes, and then preserve a memory of this for future infections. The findings could help scientists develop new vaccines and therapeutics for a range of diseases. Read more in C&I Magazine.
N2O emissions on the up
Emissions of nitrous oxide from man-made activities increased by 30% over the past four decades – to 7.3 teragrams (1Tg = 1 x 1012g)/year of nitrogen, according to a new comprehensive global inventory. Nitrogen fertiliser additions to crops accounted for most of the rise (Nature, doi: 10.1038/s41586-020-2780-0). Read more in C&I Magazine.
Green desalination
Chemists in Denmark claim to have invented a green tech process to convert seawater into drinking water in a few minutes using carbon dioxide. Seawater is already a vital source of drinking water around the world, but large plants are energy intensive and often powered by fossil fuels. The scientists at the University of Copenhagen hope their technology could offer an almost zero-energy desalination technology. Read more in C&I Magazine.
Industry outlook
The future companies will look drastically different from today. Companies that do not evolve and invest in sustainability initiatives and digital transformation will not survive the change. Read more in C&I Magazine.
PE upcycling
A new way to depolymerise polyethylene (PE) produces liquid alkylaromatics that could find application as feedstock for surfactants, lubricants and refrigerants. Manufacture of such compounds from waste PE could one day displace or supplement fossil fuel–based routes, the researchers believe. Read more in C&I Magazine
Oestrogen removal with clay
Easily prepared versions of the natural clay bentonite may one day offer a cheaper approach to removing synthetic oestrogens from water, according to a new study (Environ. Eng. Sci., doi: org/10.1089/ees.2020.0048). Read more in C&I Magazine.