#synbio

Researchers create artificial organelles to control intracellular behavior. Thought health innovators?

An essential nutrient and fuel, proteins are considered the building block of life and are found in every cell of the body. Proteins are compound molecules of varying sizes made up of amino acids that play many critical roles in the body; most of which they achieve from within our cells where they regulate, build and support the body’s tissues and organs. Functions they fulfill in cells include…

Art is life and life is art

Who said that art and science are on different banks of the river? As Pablo Picasso once said: "The artist is a receptacle for emotions that come from all over: from the sky, from the earth, from a scrap of paper, from a passing shape, from a spider’s web." Microbiologists use genetically modified bacteria and fungi to create their own "pictures" instead of the usual brushes and paints, and special proteins like chromoproteins, fluorescent proteins, etc. serve as inspiration.

Study scrapes living cells from frog embryos and reassembles them into entirely new programmable life-forms. Thoughts health innovators?

It is known that biohybrid microrobots are composed of a living organism integrated with artificial materials, traditionally exhibiting dimensions of less than 1 mm so they are small enough to travel through the human body. Biohybrid microbots are a preferred entity to their fully electronic counterparts as they have the advantage of naturally autonomous movement whilst reacting to their…

ECUST develops the first three-component artificial immune system using DNA-computers. The system can recognize, neutralize and memorize a pathogen via DNA nanomachines which simulate three different types of immune cells. Thoughts health innovators?

It is known that the immune system is a highly adaptive line of defense in the body consisting of a network of cells and proteins that guard against infection, whilst memorizing past encounters with said pathogens. It is this complex recognition and immune memory that surpasses any pre-existing technology, providing the inspiration for artificial immune systems, a class of artificially…

Proof-of-concept for synthetic enzyme to treat all mitochondrial disorders.

It is known mitochondria are found in every cell of the human body except red blood cells and are the organelles responsible for producing more than 90% of the energy needed by the body to sustain life and support organ function via conversion of food molecules into the ATP. When mitochondria malfunction, also known as a mitochondrial disorder, organs start to fail, people get sick and even die.…

CRISPR used to develop first biosynthetic dual-core cell computer. Thoughts health innovators?

In biology, cells sense and process many environmental inputs.  These inputs are then processed to produce outputs, such as development, differentiation, or immune responses modulated via the regulation of specific gene switches by intrinsic programmed gene circuits.  Controlling gene expression through gene switches in synthetic biology historically uses logic gates to process input signals. …

New DNA computer stores long-term cellular memory. Thoughts health innovators?

The ability to process and store information in living cells, also known as biocomputing, is essential for developing next-generation therapeutics and for capturing events within the body. A computation is the execution of an algorithm, a list of instructions that takes an input, processes it, and produces a result. In DNA computing, input is represented using the four-character genetic alphabet,…

Artificial protein builds autonomous circuits to control any cellular process. Thoughts health innovators?

Bio-computers use systems of biologically derived molecules, such as DNA and proteins, to build circuitry inside cells which can perform computational calculations involving storing, retrieving, and processing data. In turn it is hoped these ‘smart cells’ will lead to smart drugs, living computers inside the body which are able to monitor, target and treat the host body and disease autonomously.…