Bioeconomy and white biotechnology as a basic pillar of the Lisbon strategy

The entrance into the new millennium is branded by intensive development of science and new technologies. Life science and biotechnologies are widely recognize to be, after ICT, the parallel wave of knowledge – based economy, creating new opportunities for our society and economies. This application is the basic object of Lisbon strategy in Europe. This new trends, to make full use of biotechnology for sustainable economy, is official titled as bioeconomy around the world. The characteristics of bioeconomy and utilization of industrial biotechnology are presented in this article.

Systems biology–the transformative approach to integrate sciences across disciplines

Life science is the study of living organisms, including bacteria, plants, and animals. Given the importance of biology, chemistry, and bioinformatics, we anticipate that this chapter may contribute to a better understanding of the interdisciplinary connections in life science. Research in applied biological sciences has changed the paradigm of basic and applied research. Biology is the study of life and living organisms, whereas science is a dynamic subject that as a result of constant research, new fields are constantly emerging. Some fields come and go, whereas others develop into new, well-recognized entities. Chemistry is the study of composition of matter and its properties, how the substances merge or separate and also how substances interact with energy. Advances in biology and chemistry provide another means to understand the biological system using many interdisciplinary approaches. Bioinformatics is a multidisciplinary or rather transdisciplinary field that encourages the use of computer tools and methodologies for qualitative and quantitative analysis. There are many instances where two fields, biology and chemistry have intersection. In this chapter, we explain how current knowledge in biology, chemistry, and bioinformatics, as well as its various interdisciplinary domains are merged into life sciences and its applications in biological research.

Virtually the same? Evaluating the effectiveness of remote undergraduate research experiences

In-person undergraduate research experiences (UREs) promote students' integration into careers in life science research. In 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic prompted institutions hosting summer URE programs to offer them remotely, raising questions about whether undergraduates who participate in remote research can experience scientific integration. To address this, we investigated indicators of scientific integration for students who participated in remote life science URE programs in summer 2020. We found that these students experienced gains in their scientific self-efficacy and scientific identity similar to results reported for in-person UREs. We also found that these students perceived high benefits and low costs of doing research at the outset of their programs, and their perceptions did not change despite the remote circumstances. Yet, their perceptions differed by program, indicating that programs differentially affected students' perceptions of the costs of doing research. Finally, we observed that students with prior research experience made greater gains in self-efficacy and identity, as well as in their perceptions of the alignment of their values with those of the scientific community, in comparison to students with no prior research experience. This finding suggests that additional programming may be needed for undergraduates with no prior experience to benefit from remote research.

The first xiphydriid wood wasp in Cretaceous amber (Hymenoptera: Xiphydriidae) and a potential association with Cycadales

A new genus and species of fossil wood wasp is described and figured from mid-Cretaceous Kachin amber, representing the first occurrence of the family Xiphydriidae in the fossil record. Paraxiphydria resinata gen. et sp. nov. exhibits typical apomorphies of the family including a generally cylindrical body, elongate neck and dome-shaped head. Nonetheless, owing to a unique combination of traits including features hitherto unknown among species of the family, the genus is classified within a separate subfamily, Paraxiphydriinae subfam. nov. A key is presented to the suprageneric groups of Xiphydriidae. The newly described species is the first fossil xiphydriid wood wasp, extends the occurrence of Xiphydriidae into the mid-Cretaceous and adds to the known diversity of features in the family. Lastly, the simplification of wing venation and hypotheses of host-plant affiliations of early xiphydriids are discussed. We evaluate pollen associated with the wasp, assign it to the genus Cycadopites and conclude that an affiliation to the Cycadales is most likely. Article and nomenclatural acts are registered in ZooBank (http://zoobank.org/, last access: 15 December 2021), with the following life science identifier (LSID) (reference): urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:DA80920E-E94B-4A8E-A817-077FA7BD7D69.

Emerging Biosensing and Transducing Techniques for Potential Applications in Point-of-Care Diagnostics

With the deepening of our understanding in life science, molecular biology, nanotechnology, optics, electrochemistry and other areas, an increasing number of biosensor design strategies have emerged in recent years, capable...

Endogenous Hydrogen Peroxide Can Efficiently Regulate CRISPR-Cas9 Based Gene Editing

CRISPR-Cas9 genome editing technology is an emerging tool in life science, clinical and plant research. The technique offers a remarkable specificity and efficiency in gene editing. In this study, we...

A conversation on accelerating innovation in biopharma and life sciences through global collaboration and alliances

We note and reflect on the power of international partnering and collaborations that led to many of the innovations that were brought to market extremely quickly and successfully during the Covid-19 pandemic. These collaborative global approaches suggest the potential for developing broader, open innovation models in more extensive regional and global collaborations for other biopharma and life science market segments. In this article, we adopt a ‘virtual panel discussion format” to frame and discuss potential issues and models that would need to be designed, developed and tested, with the purpose of engaging emerging global regions as equal partners. We also consider similar challenges for regions within countries – even in the US - that lack significant sources for capital across the company life cycle. Several recent open innovation alliance approaches or models are discussed as potential models. They are: the Eli Lilly FIP Net (fully integrated pharmaceutical network); the Enlight Bioscience alliance developed by Pure Tech Ventures; the Harrington Project linking academia to industry; and, the Corporate Accelerator model notably recently expanded globally by Illumina. We outline a proposal to create a guiding coalition, or “think tank” to further test and develop the proposals discussed herein.

Introduction pages

The papers published in Notulae Botanicae Horti Agrobotanici Cluj-Napoca, Issue 4, Volume 49, 2021 represent new exciting researches in different topics of life science, respectively in plant science, horticulture, agronomy and crop science. Among the interesting articles we invite you to find news about: Cotton versus climate change: the case of Greek cotton production; Agronomic and genetic approaches for enhancing tolerance to heat stress in rice; Insights on solanaceous resistance against tomato leafminer (Tuta absoluta), with emphasis on chemical compounds useful in integrated pest management; Role of conventional and molecular techniques in soybean yield and quality improvement - A critical review; Assessment of cold stress tolerance in maize through quantitative trait locus, genome-wide association study and transcriptome analysis; Beneficial microorganisms enhance the growth of basil (Ocimum basilicum L.) under greenhouse conditions; Genome-wide identification and expression profiling of duplicated flavonoid 3'-hydroxylase gene family in Carthamus tinctorius L.; Comparative analysis of genetic diversity in Norway spruce (Picea abies) clonal seed orchards and seed stands, etc.