Synthetic Biology – News and Features
News
A Breath of Fresh Air Is Key for Cell-Based Therapies
In 2021, a University-led research team received a contract worth up to $33 million to develop an implantable “living pharmacy” to control the human body’s sleep/wake cycles. Now, the researchers have completed a major step toward achieving this.
News
Half-Synthetic Yeast Engineered for the First Time
The Synthetic Yeast Genome Project 2.0 declares a major milestone: it has created a yeast strain comprising over 50% synthetic DNA.
Industry Insight
Exploring Key Challenges in Life Science R&D
Technology Networks spoke to Dr. Markus Gershater to learn more about Synthace's Lab automation & experimentation in life science R&D 2023-2024 report, its findings and their significance.
News
Plastic-Eating Bacteria Turn Waste Into Useful Materials
Researchers have engineered a strain of E. coli that can digest polyethylene terephthalate (PET) plastics and transform them into adipic acid – a useful feedstock for nylon materials, drugs and fragrances.
News
How an Unexpected Discovery in a University Pond Changed the DNA Rulebook
A recent discovery, published in PLoS Genetics, challenges the “rulebook” of DNA. We speak with the first author, Dr. Jamie McGowan, to learn about the accidental finding and what it means for synthetic biology.
News
Digitally Creating 16 Million Colors Using DNA
The DNA double helix is composed of two DNA molecules whose sequences are complementary to each other. Researchers succeeded in creating fluorescent duplexes that can generate any of 16 million colors.
News
Plant Chloroplasts Show Potential in Treating Huntington’s Disease
A chloroplast enzyme safeguards plants against pathological protein aggregation that causes Huntington’s and other neurodegenerative diseases. Researchers may have found a way to “copy” the mechanism for application in human cells.
Industry Insight
How To Build a Data-Centric Future for Biotechnology
In this op-ed, Markus Gershater delves into different aspects of the data we’ll need to generate to help us truly understand the biological systems we deal with.
News
Synthetic Biology Tool Comprehensively Reveals Gene Regulatory Networks
Pooled promoter responses to TF perturbation sequencing (PPTP-seq) is a new technique that integrates CRISPR gene editing with a combinatorial library containing every known transcription factor in the target genome and corresponding promoters.
News
New Study Uncovers How Bacterial Cells Organize Themselves Before Division
Bacteria live in nearly every habitat on earth including within soil, water, acidic hot springs and even within our own guts. But scientists don’t understand a fundamental process within bacterial cells: how they organize themselves before division.
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