June 19, 2019
Synthetic Biology
May 16, 2019
With a ‘Recoded’ Bacteria Genome Made from Scratch, Scientists Give Life a New Dictionary
May 2, 2019
Ethical and Biosafety Oversight of New Car T-Cell Products
(GEN) – The rapidly developing field of synthetic biology—including the subfield of synthetic immunology—is putting a plethora of new tools into the hands of basic and translational scientists and enabling new technologies that are transforming molecular biology and medicine. Chimeric … Read More
April 18, 2019
CRISPR Used to Build Dual-Core Computers Inside Human Cells
(New Atlas) – The CRISPR gene-editing system is usually known for helping scientists treat genetic diseases, but the technology has a whole range of possible uses in synthetic biology too. Now researchers at ETH Zurich have used CRISPR to build … Read More
April 4, 2019
Synthetic Biology Differs from Everything That Has Come Before
(The Economist) – TO UNDERSTAND BIOLOGY, synthetic or otherwise, you have to understand how proteins are made. Proteins, which carry out almost all the basic functions of life, from respiration to reproduction, are all made of 20 smaller molecules strung … Read More
April 4, 2019
First Computer-Generated Genome Could Lead to Custom Synthetic Lifeforms
(New Atlas) – Scientists at ETH Zurich have created the first fully computer-generated genome of a living organism. The brand new genome, named Caulobacter ethensis-2.0, was built by essentially cleaning up and simplifying the natural code of a bacterium called … Read More
March 11, 2019
A Gulp of Genetically Modified Bacteria Might Someday Treat a Range of Illnesses
(NPR) – The bacteria Reeder is helping test are part of a new field of medical research that has emerged from two realms of biomedical science. One is the study of the human microbiome, the microbes that inhabit our bodies. … Read More
March 6, 2019
Synthetic Cells Protect DNA Circuits
(Chemical & Engineering News) – Molecular computer systems that rely on strands of DNA to process information can already solve math problems, play games like tic-tac-toe, and detect the biochemical signatures of disease. Now researchers have used artificial cells to … Read More
February 27, 2019
A Cannabis High, No Plant Required
(The Atlantic) – Fermentation-powered brewing has been getting people drunk for thousands of years. Soon, it could be getting them high, too. In research announced on Wednesday by the University of California at Berkeley, a team of synthetic biologists has … Read More
February 26, 2019
The Race for Enzymatic DNA Heats Up
(Nature) – For decades, biologists have built custom DNA sequences chemically, from phosphoramidite building blocks that replicate natural bases. But the method is impractical beyond 200 bases, and environmentally hazardous. New enzymatic strategies could circumvent those limitations.
January 31, 2019
How Machine Learning Could Keep Dangerous DNA Out of Terrorists’ Hands
(Nature) – Biologists the world over routinely pay companies to synthesize snippets of DNA for use in the laboratory or clinic. But intelligence experts and scientists alike have worried for years that bioterrorists could hijack such services to build dangerous … Read More
December 14, 2018
The Automatic-Design Tools That Are Changing Synthetic Biology
(Nature) – Your smartphone and laptop are made of electronic circuits. Genetic circuits, modelled on the electronic ones, are human-designed combinations of genetic components that interact to produce one or more proteins or RNA molecules, for example, in response to … Read More
November 21, 2018
Biologists Create the Most Lifelike Artificial Cells Yet
(Science) – Yet these mock cells are cutting-edge, “the closest anyone has come to building an actual functioning synthetic eukaryotic cell,” says synthetic biologist Kate Adamala of the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis, who was not part of the work. … Read More
November 9, 2018
How Biologists Are Creating Life-Like Cells from Scratch
(Nature) – Researchers have been trying to create artificial cells for more than 20 years — piecing together biomolecules in just the right context to approximate different aspects of life. Although there are many such aspects, they generally fall into … Read More
November 7, 2018
Which Biological Systems Should Be Engineered?
(Nature) – Now, biologists at the Allen Institute for Cell Science in Seattle, Washington, are tweaking the DNA of human stem cells to probe cell organization and function by replacing natural proteins with their fluorescent counterparts (27 so far; see … Read More
October 4, 2018
New Way to Write DNA Could Turbocharge Synthetic Biology and Data Storage
(Science Magazine) – Scientists can read the DNA sequence faster than ever before. But their ability to write DNA hasn’t kept pace. Those wanting made-to-order DNA for purposes such as synthetic biology make do with short strands, synthesized in a … Read More
October 3, 2018
A New Edition of NanoEthics Is Now Available
NanoEthics (vol. 12, no. 2, 2018) is available online by subscription only. Articles include: “Models of Public Engagement: Nanoscientists’ Understandings of Science–Society Interactions” by Regula Valérie Burri “Assembling Upstream Engagement: the Case of the Portuguese Deliberative Forum on Nanotechnologies” by António Carvalho and João Arriscado Nunes … Read More
July 23, 2018
In Lawsuit, Human Longevity Alleges That Craig Venter Stole Trade Secrets
(STAT News) – Human Longevity’s complaint accuses Venter of taking with him trade secrets on his company-issued laptop when he left the company in late May and using them to try to set up a competing business. It also accuses … Read More
July 12, 2018
A New Edition of Journal of Medical Ethics Is Now Available
Journal of Medical Ethics (vol. 44, no. 6, 2018) is available online by subscription only. Articles include: “Face Transplantation for the Blind: More Than Being Blind in a Sighted World” by Joseph Lee “From Whom Do Physicians Obtain Consent for Surgery?” … Read More
June 28, 2018
The DNA Cops Who Make Sure the World’s Deadliest Viruses Aren’t Rebuilt
(Bloomberg) – Genetic engineering could help produce more resilient crops and more effective vaccines. Some fear that it could also be used to make a biological weapon. In January, a small research team at the University of Alberta engineered a … Read More
June 27, 2018
National Academies Warn of Synthetic Biology Dangers
(Chemistry World) – Developments in synthetic biology demand close scrutiny because the field poses a potential threat to humanity, warns a new interim report by the US National Academies. Although synthetic biology offers the opportunity to transform disease treatment and … Read More
June 20, 2018
US Military Wants to Know What Synthetic Biology Weapons Could Look Like
(MIT Technology Review) – A study ordered by the US Department of Defense has concluded that new genetic-engineering tools are expanding the range of malicious uses of biology and decreasing the amount of time needed to carry them out. The … Read More
May 25, 2018
Swallow This: A Sensor Could Monitor Gut Health Via Engineered Bacteria–And Beam Results to a Smartphone
(STAT News) – Researchers have devised a new way to get a sneak peek into what’s going on deep in your digestive system, creating a swallowable sensor that, with the help of engineered bacteria and a tiny electrical circuit, can … Read More
May 15, 2018
At GP-Write, Scientists Take First Steps on Way to Synthetic Human Genome
(Chemical & Engineering News) – A year ago, a group of scientists convened in New York City to discuss an audacious plan: construct an entire human genome from scratch. The proposal was billed as a sequel to the Human Genome … Read More
May 1, 2018
Scientists Downsize Bold Plan to Make Human Genome from Scratch
(Scientific American) – A bold plan to synthesize an entire human genome has been scaled back, aiming at a more technically attainable near-term goal. Instead of synthesizing all of the human genome’s 3 billion DNA base pairs, the project will … Read More
