As Australia becomes one of only three countries to approve cultivated meat for sale, researchers at The University of Queensland’s Institute for Molecular Bioscience (IMB) have made a discovery that could help the emerging industry scale sustainably and overcome one of its biggest hurdles: cost.
The assassin bug lies in wait in plants, poised to ambush its prey. Related to cicadas and aphids, it has a large appetite, catching any unsuspecting invertebrates, like caterpillars or bees, for its next meal.
The ‘electric caterpillar’ is a public menace to gardeners in Townsville and the North-East of Australia but IMB researchers are looking beyond their painful stings to their potential as sources for new medicines and insecticides.
IMB researchers have found how dietary choline travels through the blood-brain barrier - a discovery that could be used to help deliver drugs into the brain to treat neurological disorders.
