Biology subjects

Shapira, P.

Publications and source records attributed to Shapira, P..

4 recordsLinked to original sources

bioRxiv2024

Engaging cancer patients on their attitudes towards microbiome engineering technologies

Microbiome engineering aims to develop engineered live biotherapeutic products to diagnose and treat human disease. One of the most active areas is in the engineering of modified bacteria that act as cancer therapeutics, with many products currently in clinical trials. With the emergence of any novel technologies, it is important to consult the public and end users throughout their development to address any concerns that may arise from their use. This is particularly true for therapeutics, for which it is vital that both clinicians and patients have confidence in the treatments that are available to them. Here, we surveyed a cohort of cancer patients and their relatives to gauge their knowledge of modern microbiome engineering techniques. We focus predominately on the use of bacterial eLBPs to treat cancer. Overall, most participants indicated that they would be comfortable taking cancer treatment options based on microbiome engineering technologies.

scientific communication and education↗

bioRxiv2023

Building the bioeconomy: A targeted assessment approach to identifying biobased technologies, challenges and opportunities in the UK

We explore opportunities, challenges, and strategies to translate and responsibly scale innovative biobased technologies to build more sustainable bioeconomies. The pandemic and other recent disruptions have increased exposure to issues of resilience and regional imbalance and raised attention to pathways that could shift production and consumption regimes based more on local biobased resources and dispersed production. The paper reviews potential biobased technologies strategies and then identifies promising and feasible options with a focus on the United Kingdom. Initial landscape and bibliometric analyses identified 50 potential existing and emerging potential biobased technologies. These technologies were assessed for their ability to fulfil requirements related to biobased production, national applicability, and economic, societal, and environmental benefits, leading to identification of 18 promising biobased production technologies. Through further analysis and focus group discussion with industrial, governmental, academic, agricultural, and social stakeholders, three technology clusters were identified for targeted assessment, drawing on cellulose-, lignin-, and seaweed-feedstocks. Case studies for each of these clusters were developed, addressing conversations around sustainable management and the use of biomass feedstocks, and associated environmental, social, and economic challenges. These cases are presented with discussion of insights and implications for policy. The approach presented in the paper is put forward as a scalable assessment method which can be useful in prompting, informing, and advancing discussion and deliberation on opportunities and challenges for biobased transformations.

synthetic biology↗

bioRxiv2020

Scientific publications and COVID-19 "research pivots" during the pandemic: An initial bibliometric analysis

An examination is presented of scientific research publication trends during the global coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic in 2020. After reviewing the timing of the emergence of the pandemic in 2020 and the growth of governmental responses, available secondary sources are used to highlight impacts of COVID-19 on scientific research. A bibliometric analysis is then undertaken to analyze developments in COVID-19 related scientific publications through to October of 2020 by broad trends, fields, countries, and organizations. Two publication data sources are used: PubMed and the Web of Science. While there has been a massive absolute increase in PubMed and Web of Science papers directly focused on COVID-19 topics, especially in medical, biological science, and public health fields, this is still a relatively small proportion of publication outputs across all fields of science. Using Web of Science publication data, the paper examines the extent to which researchers across all fields of science have pivoted their research outputs to focus on topics related to COVID-19. A COVID-19 research pivot is defined as the extent to which the proportion of output in a particular research field has shifted to a focus on COVID-19 topics in 2020 (to date) compared with 2019. Significant variations are found by specific fields (identified by Web of Science Subject Categories). In a top quintile of fields, not only in medical specialties, biomedical sciences, and public health but also in subjects in social sciences and arts and humanities, there are relatively high to medium research pivots. In lower quintiles, including other subjects in science, social science, and arts and humanities, low to zero COVID-19 research pivoting is identified. In a new Appendix to the paper, an updated analysis is provided through to mid-April 2022. CitationShapira, P. "Scientific publications and COVID-19 "research pivots" during the pandemic: An initial bibliometric analysis," bioRxiv 2020.12.06.413682; doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.12.06.413682 Version NotesVersion 1: Original paper, completed on December 6, 2020; posted at bioRxiv on December 7, 2020. Version 2: Minor grammar items corrected. Version 3: Updated bibliometric analysis through to mid-April 2022 added on April 29, 2022, as new Appendix 2.

scientific communication and education↗

bioRxiv2018

Synthetic Biology Research and Innovation Profile 2018: Publications and Patents

A profile of synthetic biology research and innovation is presented using data on publications and patents worldwide and for the UK and selected benchmark countries. The search approach used to identify synthetic biology publications identifies a core set of synthetic biology papers, extracts and refines keywords from these core records, searches for additional papers using those keywords, and supplements with articles published in dedicated synthetic biology journals and curated synthetic biology special collections. For the period from 2000 through to mid-July 2018, 11,369 synthetic biology publication records are identified worldwide. For patents, the search approach uses the same keywords as for publications then identifies further patents using a citation-tree search algorithm. The search covered patents by priority year from 2003 to early August 2018. Following geographical matching, 8,460 synthetic biology basic patent records were identified worldwide. Using this data, analyses of publications are presented which look at the growth of synthetic biology outputs, top countries and leading organizations, international co-authoring, leading subject categories, citations, synthetic biology on the map of science, and funding sponsorship. For patents, the analysis examines growth in patenting, national variations in publications compared with patenting, leading patent assignees, and the positioning of synthetic biology on a visualized map of patents.

scientific communication and education↗