All Synthetic Biology articles
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NewsDeath-defying protein found in tardigrades preserves synthetic cells
Researchers have shown how a tardigrade protein protects cell membranes, using the proteins to preserve synthetic cells that were dried out and rehydrated in the lab. The finding could lead to a way to store and transport “microfactories” for producing medicines and other biological products.
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NewsResearchers flip the CRISPR script to develop world’s first DNA-guided gene editing tool for precise infectious disease diagnosis
A research team has successfully developed the world’s first DNA-guided CRISPR-Cas system capable of programmable RNA targeting and cleavage. This breakthrough overturns the conventional CRISPR paradigm, which uses RNA as a guide to target DNA.
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NewsJ. Craig Venter, genomics pioneer and founder of JCVI and Diploid Genomics, Inc., dies at 79
The J. Craig Venter Institute (JCVI) has announced that J. Craig Venter, Ph.D., the Institute’s founder, board chair, and chief executive officer, died in San Diego following a brief hospitalization for unexpected side effects that arose from treatment of recently diagnosed cancer.
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NewsWith large DNA fragment assembly, scientists can design microbes that produce countless complex products
A review demonstrates that scientists can now reliably build and combine very large pieces of DNA, making it much easier to redesign microbes such as yeast and bacteria to act as efficient “cell factories.”
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NewsResearchers synthesize photosynthetic molecule found in bacteria
Researchers have successfully synthesized bacteriochlorophyll a, a photosynthetic pigment found in bacteria which absorbs infrared light. The work represents the first chemical synthesis of this molecule and could give scientists deeper insights into photosynthetic function and photosynthetic energy.
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NewsEngineered yeast gives the US a green edge in the critical minerals market
A new, U.S.-based, environmentally friendly method for mining rare-earth elements used in consumer electronics, clean energy, defense and biomedical imaging uses oxalic acid made by sugar-eating engineered yeast, extracting almost all the rare-earth elements from low-grade ore.
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NewsFrom microbial processes to biofilm control: our interview with JAM Microbial Biotechnology lead editor Manuel Simões
Professor Manuel Simões, Deputy Editor of the Journal of Applied Microbiology, has just been appointed as the journal’s new lead editor in Microbial Biotechnology. Here’s why he’s looking forward to the challenge.
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NewsTeam simulates a living cell that grows and divides
By simulating the life cycle of a minimal bacterial cell — from DNA replication to protein translation to metabolism and cell division — scientists have opened a new frontier of computer vision into the essential processes of life.
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NewsBreadcrumbs lead to fossil free production of everyday goods
The humble breadcrumb could hold the key to cutting out fossil fuels from one of the chemical industry’s most widely used reactions. Scientists have found a one-pot microbial formula that uses waste bread to replace fossil fuel-derived hydrogen in hydrogenation.
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NewsResearchers engineer bacteria capable of consuming tumours from the inside out
A research team is developing a novel tool to treat cancer by engineering hungry bacteria to literally eat tumours from the inside out. They added a gene to the organism from a related bacterium that can better tolerate oxygen and found a way to activate the oxygen-resistant gene at just the right time.
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NewsResearchers rebuild microscopic circadian clock that can control genes
Researchers have solved how the circadian clocks within microscopic bacteria are able to precisely control when different genes are turned on and off during the 24-hour cycle.
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NewsResearchers enable microorganisms to build molecules with light
Researchers are continually looking for new ways to hack the cellular machinery of microbes to make useful products. A new study shows they can expand the biosynthetic capabilities of these microbes by using light to help access new types of chemical transformations.
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NewsNew platform could develop vaccines faster than ever before
Scientists are optimizing a vaccine-development platform created to accelerate how quickly life-saving vaccines can be designed and deployed during infectious-disease outbreaks such as the COVID-19 pandemic.
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NewsResurrected ancient enzyme offers new window into early Earth and the search for life beyond it
By resurrecting a 3.2-billion-year-old enzyme and studying it inside living microbes, researchers have created a new way to improve our understanding of the origins of life on Earth. The study uses synthetic biology to reverse-engineer modern enzymes and rebuild their possible ancestors.
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NewsScientists synthesize medicarpin in baker’s yeast
Scientists have developed a way to synthesize medicarpin in yeast. Like palitaxel in the 1990s, this tumor-attacking sustance has only limited natural quantitites and is considered difficult to synthesize.
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NewsGame-changer for rare sugars: alkaline media unlocks high yield of rare sugars from bacteria
Bacterial EPSs (exopolysaccharides) are emerging as a sustainable source of rare sugars, offering advantages including higher yields and lower environmental impact.
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NewsFrom small experiments to big production: how constant impeller tip speed helps scale-up
Rhamnolipids (RL) are widely used in areas such as oil recovery and bioremediation, but their industrial production has long faced key challenges in the scale-up stage, including poor scalability and reproducibility.
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NewsScientists reprogramme E. coli to transform sugars into eco-friendly surfactant
A new study demonstrates a sustainable microbial strategy for producing lauryl glucoside by engineering a non-natural biosynthetic pathway in Escherichia coli, revealing precursor availability as a key bottleneck and moving towards greener biomanufacturing.
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NewsGolden Gate method enables rapid, fully-synthetic engineering of therapeutically relevant bacteriophages
Researchers have described the first fully synthetic bacteriophage engineering system for Pseudomonas aeruginosa. In this method, researchers engineer bacteriophages synthetically using sequence data rather than bacteriophage isolates.
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NewsBrewing a rare medicine: yeast engineered to produce a valuable astragalus isoflavonoid
By reconstructing the complete biosynthetic pathway inside Saccharomyces cerevisiae and systematically removing metabolic bottlenecks, researchers created the first yeast platform capable of producing calycosin-7-glucoside from simple carbon sources.