May 26, 2016
(The Conversation) – Researchers must rely on journalists for their communication skills and the audience they reach. And journalists will play a crucial role in facilitating the ethical discussion around synthetic biology – one whose stakeholders include scientists as well … Read More
May 19, 2016
(The Guardian) – By their nature, it is often the most controversial, risky and ethically dubious research programmes that are conducted in secret, curtained-off from society in order to protect knowledge and technology not only from public scrutiny but also … Read More
May 13, 2016
NanoEthics (vol. 10, no. 1, 2016) is available online by subscription only. Articles include: “Broadening Discourse on Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI)” by Christopher Coenen “Laboratory Safety and Nanotechnology Workers: An Analysis of Current Guidelines in the USA” by Jeong Joo … Read More
May 9, 2016
(Science Daily) – University of Toronto Assistant Professor of Pharmacy Keith Pardee and an international team of collaborators, including scientists from the Wyss Institute at Harvard University, have developed a low-cost, easy-to-use diagnostic platform for detecting the Zika virus. Using … Read More
April 18, 2016
(Nature) – When the medical charity Médecins Sans Frontières called the worldwide shortage of snake antivenom a public-health crisis last September, Brazilian biochemist Paulo Lee Ho wasn’t surprised. He has spent his career at São Paulo’s Butantan Institute searching for … Read More
March 30, 2016
(Nature) – Venter, who has co-founded a company that seeks to harness synthetic cells for making industrial products, says that the feat heralds the creation of customized cells to make drugs, fuels and other products. But an explosion in powerful … Read More
March 25, 2016
(The Guardian) – Geneticists have established the minimum needed for life. They have designed and created a synthetic cell which can survive and replicate with just 473 genes. Humans and fruit flies have more than 20,000 genes each. The finding … Read More
March 17, 2016
(Nature News) – This young field has already spawned some success stories, but making and putting together genetic parts currently involves substantial guesswork and unpredictability. For the field to advance, academics and industrial players must agree on a toolbox of … Read More
March 4, 2016
(Eurekalert) – Coral snake venom carries significant neurotoxicity and human injuries can be severe or even lethal. Despite this, antivenom treatments are scarce due to challenges collecting adequate amounts of venom needed to produce anti-elapidic serum. PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases … Read More
February 4, 2016
(The Conversation) – Using synthetic biology-based genetic engineering techniques, the British company Oxitec (owned by U.S.-based Intrexon Corp) has successfully added a genetic switch to Aedes aegypti mosquitoes, the species that carries dengue and Zika. As long as the insects … Read More
January 29, 2016
(STAT) – The field called synthetic biology is all about improving on Mother Nature, creating components of living things that evolution hasn’t. In two studies published in Cell on Thursday, scientists reported doing just that: They synthesized new forms of a … Read More
January 12, 2016
(Scientific American) – In the U.S. it’s uncommon to encounter counterfeit pharmaceuticals, drugs that are manufactured illegally and passed off as the genuine articles. But in countries with weaker regulatory systems such as India and Nigeria these drugs make up … Read More
January 12, 2016
(Eurekalert) – DNA has been used as a ‘molecular building block’ to construct synthetic bio-inspired pores which will improve the way drugs are delivered and help advance the field of synthetic biology, according to scientists from UCL and Nanion Technologies. … Read More
December 28, 2015
(Wired) – Biology’s breakout star this year is definitely CRISPR, a precise genome-editing tool that has inspired talk of “designer babies,” hundreds of millions of dollars poured into CRISPR companies, and an international summit about the ethics of it all. … Read More
December 8, 2015
(Wired) – In the 21st century, where scientists are as likely to engineer microbes as locomotives, “Deadman” is a kill switch created by MIT biologists to prevent engineered microbes from running out of control in the wild. Deadman and another … Read More
November 19, 2015
(Wired) – This creative practice, which falls under the umbrella term synthetic biology, views DNA as something to be manipulated and rearranged. Proponents see a day when biologists can build organisms capable of anything imaginable with a degree of reproducibility typically reserved for … Read More
November 13, 2015
(Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology News) – Just before his death in 1988, Richard Feynman wrote on his blackboard in his Caltech office, “What I cannot create, I do not understand.” This statement has lived on in a way that perhaps … Read More
November 13, 2015
(MIT Technology Review) – Perhaps the best existing analog to Amino is the popular open-source electronic engineering kits made by DIY pioneer Arduino. “Only instead of playing with wires, circuit boards, and programming languages,” Stinson writes, “it’s bacteria, DNA, and … Read More
November 11, 2015
(Nature) – These mishaps — which are by no means unique to anthrax — are worrying on two levels. First, the handling of dangerous pathogens within a controlled environment is one of the easier biological risks to contain. Much harder … Read More
November 11, 2015
(Wired) – You could think of Amino as a beginners guide to biological engineering. The kit (starting at $700) comes with everything you need to grow and tinker with a microorganism: the main bacterial culture, DNA, pipettes, incubators, agar plates and … Read More
November 5, 2015
(Nature) – Three years later, Silicon Valley’s big fish — technology investors with billions of dollars at their disposal — have finally ventured into synthetic biology’s small pond. Scared away from conventional biotechnology in past by the risky and expensive … Read More
October 30, 2015
(PR Newswire) – The J. Craig Venter Institute (JCVI) policy group today released a new report titled, “DNA Synthesis and Biosecurity: Lessons Learned and Options for the Future,” which reviews how well the Department of Health and Human Services guidance … Read More
October 30, 2015
(Washington Post) – A new report from the Wilson Center’s Synthetic Biology Project highlights the need to modernize the complex and often times contradictory regulatory oversight of the synthetic biology industry. Right now, there’s a confusing mix of federal regulators (FDA, … Read More
October 19, 2015
(Science) – So you’ve made a new product by genetically engineering a living organism, and are eager to sell it in the United States. Before it gets to market, however, you’ll need to answer a critical question: Which U.S. agency … Read More
October 9, 2015
(Washington Post) – Both public sector agencies and private sector investors are pouring new money into the synthetic biology space, and that’s leading to a situation where we can expect a burst of new innovations impacting fields as diverse as … Read More
