Clinical trials using immune cells engineered through synthetic biology have been shown to push some patients into remission from blood cancer.
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Right now, you’re living in a kind of industrial revolution – where biotechnology, information technology, manufacturing and automation all come together to form synthetic biology.
A medium-size passenger jet burns roughly 750 gallons of fuel per hour.
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Deepak Kumar, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign; Stephen P. Long, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign e Vijay Singh, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Scientists have engineered sugarcane to increase its oil content and are developing renewable jet aircraft fuel from the oil. The engineered sugarcane could become a valuable energy crop.
Plants make proteins based on whatever genetic material you give them.
Carl Davies, CSIRO
Inserting a random DNA mishmash into a plant or bacterium directs it to make a novel protein. Sifting through the resulting molecules, researchers may find ones have medical or agricultural uses.
With all these ‘test-tube babies’ grown up, how have our reactions to the technology evolved?
AP Photo/Alastair Grant
Americans have moved on from worrying about ‘test-tube babies’ – but there are still ethical challenges to resolve as reproductive technologies continue to advance.
Controversial gene editing should not proceed without citizen input and societal consensus.
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A team in the U.S. is said to have safely and effectively altered human embryos. The news is a reminder that citizens must be consulted on developments potentially affecting the future of the species.
There’s still a way to go from editing single-cell embryos to a full-term ‘designer baby.’
ZEISS Microscopy
The news may have come as a surprise, but it probably shouldn’t have. A bioethics expert walks through how big a deal this announcement is – and what we should be considering now.
Every single Cavendish banana plant worldwide is genetically identical. This vast monoculture sets them up for disastrous disease outbreaks. But researchers have ideas on how to protect the crop.
Advocates have argued for years about whether genetically engineered crops are safe to grow and eat. Plant pathologist and geneticist Pamela Ronald calls for a more nuanced discussion.
Are genetically engineered crops safe for human health and the environment? A new report says yes but points out problems and regulatory gaps. Three members of the study panel offer their takeaways.
The solutions presented by GM crops are rarely tested against the other options. Take a look at our philosophy of farming and it all starts to make sense.
The Indominus rex readies her attack in Jurassic World.
ILM/Universal Pictures and Amblin Entertainment
Plenty of action in the new dinosaur movie Jurassic World, in cinemas from Thursday. But how realistic are the dinosaurs and who are the real monsters when we play around with nature?
How long before we start designing our future athletes from scratch – before they are even born?
The first case of genetically engineering a human embryo to cure a congenital disease is a technical breakthrough but raises troubling ethical questions.
Dinosaurs and people together in Jurassic World.
Universal Pictures
That genetic editing techniques have become as straightforward as they have poses questions for how we want them to be used.
A powerful new genetic engineering technique allows scientists to precisely cut out and replace DNA in genes.
Jennifer Doudna/University of California Berkeley
Leading researchers have called for a ban on using a precise gene-editing technology on humans. How can CRISPR advance science and why is it raising concerns?
Laboratory-based genetic modification is relatively new when you consider the centuries of selective breeding that precedes it.
IRRI Photos/Flickr
Peter Langridge, Australian Centre for Plant Functional Genomics
Welcome to GM in Australia, a series looking at the facts, ethics, regulations and research into genetically modified crops. In this first instalment, Peter Langridge describes two GM techniques: selective…
Advances in gene programming herald exciting possibliities.
Z33 Arts Centre
Synthetic biology is an emerging discipline, but paradoxically it is not particularly new. Since the mid-1970s we have been developing ways of instructing pieces of biology to perform useful tasks in an…