In Silico “Life”
Just over a week ago, researchers released the first in silico model of a living organism, the bacterium Mycoplasma genitalium. This is the first time an entire organism’s metabolic processes have been integrated and modeled and it offers an unprecedented opportunity to do in silico experiments on the organism. Remarkably, the production of this model...
DNA Laser Printing
Abundance co-author Steven Kotler recently wrote in the Forbes Blog about a significant upshift in DNA synthesis technology. It’s called DNA Laser Printing. Created by a Bay Area startup called Cambrian Genomics, the technique solves a thorny problem with chemistry-based DNA synthesis: make a long enough oligonucleotide and it will contain errors. This happens...
Synthetic Biology Scorecard
In December 2010, the Obama administration published New Directions: The Ethics of Synthetic Biology and Emerging Technologies, a report from the Presidential Commission for the Study of Bioethical Issues. Within the document were recommendations aimed to minimize risks from the technology while ensuring that social and economic benefits are realized. It suggested revisiting the topic...
DNA made into rewritable memory
Scientists have successfully turned DNA rewritable memory. Stanford researcher Drew Endy and his team have, using elements from a bacteriophage, built and demonstrated a rewritable recombinase addressable data (RAD) module. The system consists of a stretch of DNA flanked by sites that signal to enzymes made by the bacteriophage, instructing them to cut out the...
