Researchers are turning microbes into microscopic construction crews by altering their DNA to make them produce building materials. The work could lead to more sustainable buildings.
Synthetic biology can help agriculture adapt to a changing world.
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Synthetic biology is highly promising – but if we don't get the regulation and engagement right, we risk alienating members of the public, and may even close doors for potentially fruitful research.
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.
Cancer is the leading cause of death in the world.
Julio C. Valencia, NCI Center for Cancer Research
If Mary Shelley wrote the book today, Victor would surely be a synthetic biologist. But those fiddling with living things in 2018 have hopefully learned from her cautionary tale.
Delivering genetic material is a key challenge in gene therapy.
Invitation image created by Kstudio
One big challenge for gene therapies is delivering DNA or RNA safely to cells inside patients' bodies. New nanoparticles could be an improvement over the current standard – repurposed viruses.
Modern advances come with new liabilities.
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Biologists' growing reliance on computers advances the field – but comes with new risks. The first step toward improved cyberbiosecurity is increasing awareness of possible threats.
What can mating yeast tell us about new drugs?
Conor Lawless
New research works out how to translate between the language of biology – molecules – and the language of microelectronics – electrons. It could open the door to new kinds of biosensors and therapeutics.
Some bacteria can to survive inside the oxygen-deprived environment of a tumour.
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Scientists are working on a new method to cure cancer and have shown they can genetically program certain bacteria to invade the tumour cells of cancerous mice.
People get suspicious when ethically fraught science is discussed behind closed doors.
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Insecticides and mosquito nets only get you so far. Synthetic biologists are ready to take the battle against mosquito-borne disease to the level of DNA – which might spell the insects’ ultimate doom.
Building yeast chromosomes – cheers to that!
Scott Beale/Flicke
Australia is to play a significant role in the quest for artificial life as it joins an international project to create the world’s first synthetic yeast, we can announce today. Under the leadership of…
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…
It won’t look quite like that, though.
Josef Stuefer