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Pilot fermentation vat for the culture of microorganisms. As well as advances in the engineering of cells for protein production, new and more efficient fermentation systems are being designed by engineers. Credit: E. Young/Photo Researchers Inc.
Has a worldwide shortage in biomanufacturing capacity turned to a glut in just 4 years? A building boom and advances in technology threaten to derail adoption of potentially cheaper transgenic manufacturing platforms.
Programs such as MFOLD and ViennaRNA are widely used to predict RNA secondary structures. How do these algorithms work? Why can't they predict RNA pseudoknots? How accurate are they, and will they get better?
As more biotech products receive regulatory approval and the first protein blockbusters come off patent and face generic competition, this focus discusses the challenges for companies manufacturing recombinant proteins.