September 8, 2015
(Nanotechnology Now) – The ability to custom design biological materials such as protein and DNA opens up technological possibilities that were unimaginable just a few decades ago. For example, synthetic structures made of DNA could one day be used to … Read More
September 4, 2015
(New Scientist) – HARDER, better, faster, stronger. When cells cooperate, they achieve the otherwise impossible, something that could eventually lead to smart cancer therapies. Instead of engineering cells to work as tiny individuals, researchers are working on a new class … Read More
August 28, 2015
(Eurekalert) – Rice University scientists have made a living circuit from multiple types of bacteria that prompts the bacteria to cooperate to change protein expression. The subject of a new paper in Science, the project represents the first time the … Read More
August 26, 2015
(Nature) – Such feats are beyond the reach of do-it-yourself (DIY) ‘biohackers’, a growing community of amateur biologists who often work in community laboratories, which typically charge a recurring fee for access to equipment and supplies. But CRISPR itself is … Read More
August 24, 2015
(The San Diego Union-Tribune) – The world’s first functioning organism with an expanded DNA alphabet has now met another milestone in artificial life: making proteins that don’t exist in nature. The organism, a bacterium created by scientists at The Scripps … Read More
August 19, 2015
(MIT Technology Review) – There had been previous claims to “creating life.” Genome pioneer Craig Venter led a team that manufactured a genome for a germ that causes pneumonia in cows, but their effort used the familiar chemical bases of … Read More
August 14, 2015
(Science) – Move over, poppies. In one of the most elaborate feats of synthetic biology to date, a research team has engineered yeast with a medley of plant, bacterial, and rodent genes to turn sugar into thebaine, the key opiate … Read More
August 11, 2015
(The San Diego Union-Tribune) – What is needed to sustain life? A study led by bioengineers at the University of California, San Diego has given an answer to that question, at the microbial level. Writing in PNAS, researchers have defined … Read More
August 4, 2015
(Drug, Discovery & Development) – According to Dr Ted Fjällman, CEO of Prokarium, “the new vaccine uses synthetic biology to make the first safe and effective Chlamydia vaccine since the 1960s when conventional methods revealed unacceptable side effects and clinical … Read More
August 3, 2015
(Los Angeles Times) – UC Irvine has put out a call for artists who want to manipulate the building blocks of life as we know it to create art as we’ve never known it – works made of living organisms … Read More
July 27, 2015
(Bio IT World) – At the MIT Synthetic Biology Center, Timothy Lu is a specialist in “genetic circuits,” reengineering bacteria to add new functions that can be controlled with environmental cues. Building on in-depth knowledge of the genomes of model … Read More
July 13, 2015
(Quanta Magazine) – DNA stores our genetic code in an elegant double helix. But some argue that this elegance is overrated. “DNA as a molecule has many things wrong with it,” said Steven Benner, an organic chemist at the Foundation … Read More
July 9, 2015
(Los Angeles Times) – esearchers are still studying exactly how the microbiome — the billions of bacteria and other tiny critters that inhabit our bodies — impacts human health. But while they get on with that, engineers are assembling a tool kit that … Read More
July 2, 2015
(Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology News) – Scientists at the University of Washington (UW) say they have engineered yeast cells (Saccharomyces cerevisiae) that can “talk” to one another, using the plant hormone auxin. In a paper (“Cell-cell communication in yeast using … Read More
June 26, 2015
(MIT News) – The global rise in antibiotic resistance is a growing threat to public health, damaging our ability to fight deadly infections such as tuberculosis. What’s more, efforts to develop new antibiotics are not keeping pace with this growth … Read More
June 26, 2015
(Yahoo!) – Synthetic red blood cells are to be transfused into human testing subjects by 2017, the UK’s National Health Service (NHS) Blood and Transplant announced this week. “Scientists across the globe have been investigating for a number of years … Read More
June 25, 2015
(Science) – The last piece of the poppy puzzle is now in hand: Plant geneticists have isolated the gene in the plant that carries out the last unknown step in converting glucose and other simple compounds into codeine, morphine, and … Read More
June 17, 2015
(Nanotechnology Now) – Researchers in Canada and the U.K. have for the first time sequenced and assembled de novo the full genome of a living organism, the bacteria Escherichia Coli, using Oxford Nanopore’s MinIONTM device, a genome sequencer that can … Read More
June 15, 2015
(Harvard Magazine) – Non-scientists generally think of “circadian clock” as a metaphoric term. There’s nothing literally ticking away inside the human body, helping align it to the regular cycle of day and night. But synthetic biologists from Harvard Medical School … Read More
June 15, 2015
(The Scientist) – Austen Heinz, the founder of the synthetic biology startup Cambrian Genomics, died last month (May 24). He was 31. According to an obituary posted last week (June 5) on thepilot.com, Heinz “worked to change the world by … Read More
June 4, 2015
(Medical Xpress) – A Stanford-designed project has built a startling new tool for diagnostic medicine: living biosensors made of bacteria that glow a particular color when they detect trouble. The team rewired the genetic circuitry inside bacterial cells so that … Read More
May 29, 2015
(Los Angeles Times) – In two articles published Wednesday in the journal Science Translational Medicine, researchers reported they had equipped E. coli bacteria with genetically encoded digital amplifying genetic switches. Those engineering tweaks transformed the bacteria into living sensors, capable … Read More
May 18, 2015
(Nature) – Currently, morphine is produced from the opium poppy (Papaver somniferum). By providing a simpler — and more manipulable — means of producing opiates, the yeast research could ultimately lead to cheaper, less addictive, safer and more-effective analgesics. And … Read More
May 14, 2015
Human Reproduction Update (vol. 21, no. 3, 2015) is available online by subscription only. Articles include: “Artificial gametes: A systematic review of biological progress towards clinical application” by Saskia Hendriks, et al. “Potential consequences of clinical application of artificial gametes: … Read More
May 8, 2015
(Washington Post) – Using synthetic biology techniques, researchers have created everything from new flavors and fragrances to new types of biofuels and materials. While the innovation potential of combining biology and engineering is unquestionable, now comes the hard part of proving … Read More
