May 22, 2014
(Nature) – The instructions encoded into DNA are thought to follow a universal set of rules across all domains of life. But researchers report today in Science that organisms routinely break these rules. The finding has implications for the design … Read More
May 9, 2014
(Nature) – The creation of an artificial yeast chromosome shows that synthetic biology is getting closer to what most scientists want: to be able to deliver benefits to society. The field has already found cheaper ways to produce medicines, and … Read More
May 9, 2014
(The Guardian) – The Inter-Academy Panel, a network of the world’s science academies including our own Royal Society, today issued a statement on synthetic biology. A few years ago, biologists in the higher branches of the Royal Society would claim … Read More
May 9, 2014
(Nature) – Currently based at the software-design firm Autodesk in San Francisco, California, Hessel represents an increasingly impatient and outspoken faction of synthetic biology that believes that the patent-heavy intellectual-property model of biotechnology is hopelessly broken. His plan relies instead … Read More
May 8, 2014
(The Telegraph) – A living organism with synthetic DNA has been created by scientists in a breakthrough which could change what we know about the evolution of life. The DNA of all life on Earth is made from four “base” … Read More
May 2, 2014
(Royal Society of Chemistry) – A new ‘strategic vision’ for synthetic biology has laid out the steps Europe needs to take in the next five to 10 year to nurture the field, with chemistry a key part of its strategy. … Read More
April 28, 2014
(Phys.org) – The emerging field of synthetic biology crosses the boundary between science and design, in order to design and manufacture biologically based parts, devices and systems that do not exist in the natural world, as well as the redesign … Read More
April 24, 2014
(Nanowerk News) – The Strategic Vision, coordinated by BBSRC, represents the culmination of the strategic activities of the Synthetic Biology ERA-NET (ERASynBio) – a project which aims to develop and coordinate synthetic biology in the European Research Area. The document … Read More
April 21, 2014
(Nanowerk News) – A Northwestern synthetic biology team has created a new technology for modifying human cells to create programmable therapeutics that could travel the body and selectively target cancer and other sites of disease. Engineering cell-based, biological devices that … Read More
April 14, 2014
(Yahoo News) – Synthetic biology grew from a very old human desire to engineer living systems and make them do useful things for us. As genetic engineering of the 1970s has evolved into synthetic biology today, the technologies and economics … Read More
April 7, 2014
(Phys.org) – A long-standing challenge in synthetic biology has been to create gene circuits that behave in predictable and robust ways. Mathematical modeling experts from the University of Houston (UH) collaborated with experimental biologists at Rice University to create a … Read More
March 28, 2014
(National Geographic) – In a biological first, an international team has inserted a man-made chromosome into brewer’s yeast, producing a life form that thrives and successfully passes the designer genes on to its offspring. The “synthetic” biology advance—the first synthesis … Read More
March 21, 2014
(Times Higher Education) – Synthetic Aesthetics opens with an introduction to these ambitions from two leading lights of synthetic biology, Drew Endy and Alistair Elfick, and then examines them from a range of sceptical but stimulating viewpoints. We come to … Read More
March 14, 2014
(Phys.org) – Researchers at Virginia Tech and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have used a computer-aided design tool to create genetic languages to guide the design of biological systems. Known as GenoCAD, the open-source software was developed by researchers at … Read More
March 11, 2014
(R & D) – In a significant advance for the growing field of synthetic biology, Rice Univ. bioengineers have created a toolkit of genes and hardware that uses colored lights and engineered bacteria to bring both mathematical predictability and cut-and-paste … Read More
March 6, 2014
(Harvard Magazine) – From glowing fish to bacteria that can count, synthetic biologists are now able to create life forms never before seen on earth. “Historians and Ecclesiastes be damned,†says Sophia Roosth, assistant professor in the history of science. “In … Read More
March 5, 2014
Craig Venter’s book Life at the Speed of Light: From the Double Helix to the Dawn of Digital Life describes the completion of the first functioning organism with a completely synthetic genome and places this accomplishment within the context of … Read More
February 21, 2014
(MIT News) – Today, MIT’s Synthetic Biology Center (MIT SBC) announced a collaboration with Pfizer Inc. that is designed to translate leading discoveries in synthetic biology to advance drug discovery and development technologies. This three-year research collaboration spans multiple therapeutic … Read More
February 19, 2014
(Medical Daily) – What are the most tomorrow technologies in the field of cancer medicine? Â The first thought that comes to mind for many people would be personalized medicine, while others would immediately champion nanotechnology. Yet underlying both these revolutionary … Read More
February 6, 2014
(Costa Rica Times) – Engineered microbes could aid in the settlement of life in space, NASA Ames Research Center’s director said at a Stanford conference on Tuesday. Altered bacteria could provide the necessary ingredients for life, such as breathable air, … Read More
January 31, 2014
(Nature) – The product marks a shift for the industry, which has typically focused on the synthesis of drugs and commodities such as biofuels and rubber. Now, synthetic-biology companies are turning to ‘fine chemicals’: food and fragrance ingredients that command … Read More
January 17, 2014
Scientists are hoping to understand the origin of life better by creating artificial cells in the lab. A group of scientists from Radboud University in Nijmegen, Netherlands, has for the first time created an artificial “plastic†cell, complete with working … Read More
January 15, 2014
Elaborate competitions to build the best robot or design cages to protect falling eggs have been a rite of passage for generations of engineering students. Today, there’s a new contest with the same creativity and competitive spirit, but vastly more … Read More
January 9, 2014
An HIV vaccine that uses a synthetic gene to trigger an immune response might offer a way to protect against the virus where others have failed. Most vaccines work by training immune cells called B-cells to produce antibodies against a … Read More
December 28, 2013
Interview with Dr. Eric Drexler during his recent book tour for Radical Abundance (PublicAffairs, 2013). “To begin with, it’s important to understand that the prospects I describe involve something more than nanotechnology in the present sense — they involve developments … Read More
