Researchers at the University of Texas at Austin announced in May that they had developed a silicon chip that they say can more quickly and accurately .

Stevenson noted that the lab strains of yeast the team used initially certainly wouldn't produce a tasty beer. The taste issue is why the team this summer turned to the a craft brewery in Houston, for some good beer-making yeast to use. In general, the addition of the resveratrol shouldn't affect the taste of the beer since the chemical is odorless and tasteless, he said.

"We're now putting these genes into the yeast," he added. "We're fairly confident it will work because all the components have worked separately."

Stevenson said the modified yeast strain could one day be sold to breweries where beverage companies could make their own disease-fighting beer. He noted that the research and development phase of the effort could take five years.

The research team is looking to enter their BioBeer in the annual International competition next month in Cambridge, Mass.