Tag

Synthetic Biology

All articles tagged with #synthetic biology

science8 days ago•37 min saved

DNA Doodling: Enzymes Write Long DNA Strands Without Templates

Scientists have shown that DNA polymerases can generate long, patterned DNA without a template, producing tens of thousands of units by adjusting reaction conditions such as temperature and building-block availability. The output forms identifiable repeating patterns rather than random strings, suggesting a tunable pathway for long DNA synthesis with potential biotech applications, though researchers caution about error control and the uncertain behavior in living systems.

via Earth.com|

#biotechnology #dna #dna-doodling

technology14 days ago•38 min saved

Mirror Life: The Emergence of a Second Tree of Life and Its Global Risks

A Noema feature surveys the looming possibility of mirror life—an engineered, mirror‑image form of biology that could evade immune defenses and spread without containment. While experts say such life is years to decades away and not yet realized, a 299‑page report and high‑profile scientists are calling for governance, a precautionary moratorium, and changes in funding and publishing to prevent an existential biosafety crisis. The piece traces the science of chirality from Pasteur to DNA/RNA, explores potential therapeutic and material applications of mirror biomolecules, and examines the political and ethical debates about restricting research in the name of safety while not stifling innovation.

via Noema Magazine|

#biosecurity #chirality #governance

science22 days ago•12 min saved

Engineered microbes could redefine pollution cleanup

Synthetic biologists are engineering bacteria to digest pollutants—from oil and nitroaromatic compounds to plastics—aiming to turn waste into resources and cleanse air, water and soil, though safety concerns and funding hurdles still limit deployment.

via Nature|

#bioremediation #microbes #plastic-degradation

science23 days ago•5 min saved

MIT Scientist Uncovers Flexible Pathways in Ribosome Assembly

MIT biologist Joey Davis shows ribosome assembly is dynamic and can proceed via multiple pathways, not a fixed sequence. Using cryo-EM and the CryoDRGN neural-network approach, his work reveals diverse intermediate structures when assembly is blocked and aims to speed up data collection to improve AI-based protein-structure prediction.

via MIT News|

#cryo-em #cryodrgn #protein-synthesis

science28 days ago•8 min saved

J. Craig Venter: The genome renegade who reshaped biotech

STAT memorializes J. Craig Venter, detailing how his audacious push to map and rewrite genomes—racing the Human Genome Project with Celera, sequencing microbes with Ham Smith, and pioneering synthetic biology—transformed biomedical science, while also provoking debate over patents, profit, and access in the biotech era.

via statnews.com|

#biotechnology #celera-genomics #genomics

science28 days ago•5 min saved

Bacteria run on 19 amino acids, rewriting a core piece of life's code

Scientists reengineered Escherichia coli to translate proteins with only 19 of the standard 20 amino acids by substituting isoleucine in the ribosome, using AI-guided design to identify workable substitutions. This demonstrates that essential cellular machinery can operate on a reduced amino-acid alphabet, offering a blueprint for new synthetic organisms and informing our understanding of early life.

via Nature|

#artificial-intelligence #genetic-code #molecular-biology

science29 days ago•11 min saved

AI-guided ribosome redesign trims the genetic code from 20 to 19 amino acids

A Columbia-Harvard team used AI-based protein design and AlphaFold to create an isoleucine-free ribosome in E. coli, progressively replacing the small ribosomal subunit’s genes and finally making an isoleucine-free subunit with one design that allowed growth to about 60%–70% of normal. They replaced 20 of 21 subunit genes, leaving the rplW gene as the final hurdle; after ~400 generations the strain carried 20–30 mutations but did not reintroduce isoleucine, underscoring both the potential and limits of a reduced genetic code and AI-driven design for fundamental biology.

via Ars Technica|

#ai-design #genetic-code #isoleucine

science1 month ago•5 min saved

Neurobots: Self-Assembling Frog-Cell Machines Grow Functional Nerves

Tufts and Wyss Institute researchers embedded neural precursor cells into self-assembling frog-cell xenobots to create neurobots with functional neural networks that move more complexly and stay active longer than non-neural bots; drug testing showed neural activity shapes movement, and transcriptomics revealed upregulation of vision-related genes, opening questions about nervous system formation in a novel biological context.

via Indian Defence Review|

#bioengineering #neural-tissue #neurobots

science1 month ago•7 min saved

Engineered Bacteria Poised to Infiltrate and Eat Tumors From Inside

Researchers at the University of Waterloo are developing engineered Clostridium sporogenes that can colonize the oxygen-poor core of solid tumors and survive near the tumor’s outer layers by a quorum-sensing–controlled oxygen-tolerance gene, enabling tumor consumption from inside with GFP-based validation and plans for preclinical tumor testing.

via SciTechDaily|

#bacteria #cancer #preclinical-trials

science2 months ago•6 min saved

Genome transplant yields living 'zombie' cells, signaling a new frontier in synthetic biology

Scientists resurrect dead Mycoplasma capricolum cells by swapping their nonfunctional DNA for a working genome from Mycoplasma mycoides, creating 'zombie cells' after inactivating recipients with mitomycin C; reported on bioRxiv, the method reduces false positives and marks a step forward in genome transplantation and synthetic biology with potential to test engineered genomes across species.

via Nature|

#biorxiv #genome-transplantation #mycoplasma-capricolum

science2 months ago•5 min saved

Revived 3-Billion-Year-Old Nitrogenase Still Fixes Nitrogen

Researchers rebuilt four ancient nitrogenase enzymes dating up to about 2.3 billion years ago and inserted them into Azotobacter vinelandii. All variants supported nitrogen fixation, though at slower rates than modern enzymes, and produced nitrogen-isotope fingerprints that match those seen in modern microbes and Archean rocks, implying an earlier origin for Mo-nitrogenase. The work offers new ways to study Earth's early biology and could inform future agricultural and exobiology research.

via Indian Defence Review|

#ancient-enzyme #isotopic-fractionation #nitrogen-fixation

science2 months ago•6 min saved

Plastic Bottles Refined Into Parkinson’s Drug: Bacteria Drive Upcycling Breakthrough

Engineers at the University of Edinburgh used engineered E. coli to break down PET plastic waste into L-DOPA, the main drug for Parkinson’s, creating a sustainable upcycling pathway from discarded bottles and signaling potential expansion to other products, with work now focusing on industrial scalability and environmental performance.

via Neuroscience News|

#bio-upcycling #l-dopa #parkinsons-disease

science2 months ago•3 min saved

Engineered Bacteria Eat Tumors from the Inside

Researchers at the University of Waterloo engineered the soil bacterium Clostridium sporogenes to colonize oxygen-poor solid tumors and consume nutrients, effectively attacking tumors from within. They added oxygen-tolerance tweaks and quorum-sensing controls, plus a fluorescent signal, to signal successful tumor disruption. While promising, the approach is still in preclinical stages with the goal of combining traits into a single bacterium for upcoming preclinical testing in humans.

via Futurism|

#bacteria #cancer #preclinical-trials

health-and-medicine3 months ago•6 min saved

Engineered Microbes Target Tumors by Colonizing Oxygen-Starved Cores

Researchers at the University of Waterloo are engineering Clostridium sporogenes bacteria to invade oxygen-poor tumor cores and consume nutrients from inside, potentially destroying tumors. They added an oxygen-tolerance gene and use quorum sensing to activate it only after enough bacteria accumulate, limiting safety risks. Next steps combine both features in a single strain and test in preclinical trials, showcasing interdisciplinary synthetic-biology cancer research.

via ScienceDaily|

#biotechnology #cancer-therapy #health-and-medicine

science4 months ago•41 min saved

AI-designed virus signals leap in synthetic biology, prompts safety debates

Researchers at Genyro used an AI system called Evo2 to design 285 new viruses from scratch, with Evo-Φ2147 created to kill antibiotic-resistant E. coli; the build relies on Sidewinder for genome assembly and could speed up creation of living genomes, vaccines, or personalised cancer therapies—while sparking concerns about AI-enabled biothreats and biosafety.

via Daily Mail|

#ai #evo-f2147 #evo2