News Release 2-Oct-2024 Peer-Reviewed PublicationUniversity of California – San Diego image: SEM image of a cell sitting on top of the nanopillar array.Credit: Ali Sarikhani Imagine trying to poke a hole in the yolk of a raw egg without breaking the egg white. It sounds impossible, but researchers at the University of California San Diego...
Tag: <span>Synthetic biology</span>
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Scientists Just Got Closer to Creating Artificial Life in the Lab
Salk Institute A controversial theory posits that life began when RNA spontaneously began to replicate itself — and now researchers are claiming they’ve replicated part of that process in a lab.In interviews with the Washington Post, scientists say they’ve created an RNA molecule that made copies of other types of RNA, which gets its experts...
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Student Uses Synthetic Biology to Create Low-Cost Diagnostic Tools
Posted Today New application of synthetic biology: Justin Vigar, pictured here in a lab in South America, is developing paper-based diagnostics like the paper chip shown on the right, where each dot represents a different test. Image credit: University of Toronto Justin Vigar and his colleagues are creating a customizable, paper-based platform to rapidly screen for...
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Newly designed molecule could help treat deadly lung condition
by Isabella Backman, Yale University Overview of modifications differentiating second-geneneration miR-29 from first gen MRG-201/Remlarsen. Top, first-gen MRG-201, the parent compound, bottom, MRG-229 (Next generation miR-29 mimic), the second-gen compound. DNA bases: white circles = unmodified base, blue circles = 2’OMe, purple circles = 2’F, linkages: green circles = phosphorodiester linkage, orange circles = phosphorothioate (PS) linkage. NH2 terminus modification: MRG-201/Remlarsen = cholesterol, BiPPB = platelet-derived growth factor beta...
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Protecting the human intestinal microbiome with synthetic biology
WYSS INSTITUTE FOR BIOLOGICALLY INSPIRED ENGINEERING AT HARVARD Image: Human patients treated with antibiotics suffer damage to their intestinal microbiota (lower branch) which causes its normal composition to be thrown off-balance. Known as “dysbiosis,” this imbalance is a risk factor for a host of autoimmune, metabolic, and neurological diseases. As a solution, treating patients that...
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Synthetic biology moves into the realm of the unnatural
The field of synthetic biology has had great success engineering yeast and bacteria to make chemicals — biofuels, pharmaceuticals, fragrances, even the hoppy flavors of beer — cheaply and more sustainably, with only sugar as the energy source. Yet, the field has been limited by the fact that microbes, even with genes thrown in from...
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Synthetic biology enables microbes to build muscle
IMAGE: RESEARCHERS AT THE MCKELVEY SCHOOL OF ENGINEERING AT WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY IN ST. LOUIS HAVE DEVELOPED A SYNTHETIC CHEMISTRY APPROACH TO POLYMERIZE PROTEINS INSIDE OF ENGINEERED MICROBES. THIS ENABLED THE MICROBES TO PRODUCE THE HIGH MOLECULAR WEIGHT MUSCLE PROTEIN, TITIN, WHICH WAS THEN SPUN INTO FIBERS. IN THE FUTURE, SUCH MATERIAL COULD BE USED FOR...
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Synthetic biology circuits can respond within seconds
Anne Trafton | MIT News OfficePublication Date: July 1, 2021 Caption: A new type of synthetic biology circuit can be turned on within seconds, much faster than its counterparts. Credits:Image: Courtesy of the researchers, edited by MIT News Synthetic biology offers a way to engineer cells to perform novel functions, such as glowing with fluorescent...
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What is a Semi-synthetic Organism?
By Reginald DaveyReviewed by Dr. Mary Cooke, Ph.D. As a society, we face various issues in the modern world. Synthetic biology is an emerging field that is attempting to address these problems at the genetic level, and researchers in this field are pushing the boundaries of which proteins and processes can be developed and utilized. Image Credit:...