Synthetic Biology

Viewpoint: Paper straws, vegan diets won’t stop climate change—but sustainable ‘bioproducts’ might
Are you slurping through a paper straw, searching for the next green product that will save the planet? Sorry to ...

Sustainable synthetic biology is taking over cosmetics, personal care
Synthetic biology companies are already producing many of the ingredients found in personal care products using biosynthesis, the same basic ...

Animal proteins from GMO microbes: More synthetic food ingredients to launch in 2021
The first three proteins from Motif FoodWorks’ fermentation-based food ingredient platform will be ready for launch in early 2021, says ...

Podcast: Turning mushrooms into bacon (and other cool stuff) to boost sustainability
Today John Cumbers [founder and CEO of SynBioBeta] talks with Eben Bayer, CEO and Co-Founder of the biomaterials company Ecovative ...

Using synthetic biology to design new kinds of life—and novel drugs to treat diseases
All living things on Earth are built from proteins created from the same 20 chemical units, called amino acids. Now, ...

Infographic: ‘Why not print cancer?’ Here’s what we learn from building glioblastoma on a chip
If arranging cells in a particular formation was a good way to build cancer models that mimic what’s going on ...

‘Teaching plants new tricks’: How synthetic biology is reshaping agriculture
Aug 7-9, San Jose, California – the American Society for Plant Biology (ASPB) showcased the latest research in Plant Synthetic Biology ...

Using synthetic biology to solve some of ‘the hardest problems in the world’, with new foods, medicines
Many of the products we use every day—plastics, cosmetics, clothing, fertilizers, and even aspirin—include molecular ingredients derived from petrochemicals. But, ...

‘Cancer lab’ on a chip could move diagnosis into our homes
Finding out you have cancer is bad enough, but to then have to go to hospital for a painful and ...

New era in prosthetic limbs promises to restore sense of touch by melding ‘biology with machine’
Building smart mind-controlled robotic limbs isn’t enough; the next frontier is restoring sensation in offline body parts. To truly meld ...

We have a marijuana shortage. Bioengineered yeast could solve that problem.
Yeast are the linchpin of the beer and wine markets. So why not marijuana? ...

Green chemicals: How DNA assembly tech streamlines microbe engineering to boost urban farming
Researchers at SMART, MIT's research enterprise in Singapore, and National University of Singapore (NUS) have developed a technology that greatly ...

Human-animal chimeric embryos in Japan: Growing human pancreas in a rat, suitable for transplant
The Japanese government is granting its support to a scientist working to create animal embryos that contain human cells, and ...

How fragile egg shells could help us repair, grow new bones
We think of eggshells as fragile. Yet these thin, easily breakable shells may be the key to making better, stronger ...

‘GMO is too simplistic’: Why industrial microbes need their own classification system
ASTM International is the global leader in voluntary technical standards. If you’ve ever worn a bicycle helmet, for example, you’ve ...

‘Better’ gut bacteria probably won’t turn you into an elite athlete. But could it give you a performance boost?
Athletes getting an edge from a probiotic boost may be more realistic than once thought ...

As technology ‘wipes out’ traditional work, biotech investment could revitalize rural America
Cow-free burgers are now all the rage — after Beyond Meats’ recent IPO, shares rose 163% on the first day ...

Creating a synthetic version of the Ebola virus to help fight the real thing
Scientists at the Centers from Disease Control and Prevention have created a synthetic version of the Ebola virus circulating in ...

Directed evolution tool could force viruses to churn out new drugs ‘in a matter of days’
Evolution is one of nature's most impressive forces, allowing organisms to adapt to changing environments to survive. By harnessing and ...

Artificial embryos made from stem cells could shed light on infertility, miscarriages and birth defects
Scientists have created living entities that resemble very primitive human embryos, the most advanced example of these structures yet created ...

Vaccines for influenza, other diseases will be ‘printed’ at home in the future
Rather than warehouses of refrigerated cures for static diseases, we need a highly distributed agile system for producing vaccines and ...

9 questions about biohacking and the quest to upgrade the human body
As biohacking starts to appear more often in headlines, it’s worth getting clear on some of the fundamentals. Here are ...

Synthetic biology could outperform plants at producing marijuana components. But obstacles remain.
Using the tools of synthetic biology, innovators are making a bold move into the cannabinoid industry, particularly as cannabinoids are ...

Video: Tech guru and author Rob Reid on synthetic biology’s power to help or destroy us
In 2011, two separate research teams—one in Holland, the other in Wisconsin—set out to repair this "defect" in H5N1. By ...

Milk without cows? Biotech startup recreates dairy proteins in the lab
Lab-grown meat is getting a lot of attention along with plant-based meat substitutes. Technology is driving the industry toward providing ...

3D printed corneas could lead to transplants
Research led by Florida A&M University Pharmaceutics Professor Mandip Sachdeva has resulted in the creation of the first high throughput ...

Lab-grown patch could be the solution for repairing damaged heart tissue
Restoring damaged heart tissue has proved difficult if not impossible, but a research team from Imperial College London has a ...

Redesigning life: First living organism created with ‘fully synthetic’ genome
Scientists have created the world’s first living organism that has a fully synthetic and radically altered DNA code. The lab-made ...