Feb. 10, 2012 – /PRNewswire/ — International recording artist will.i.am amplified his philanthropic side at TRANS4M, a forward-looking conference held Thursday, February 9, 2012 at the UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television. Musician and entreprenuer will.i.am co-hosted the first-time, invite-only conference he founded. Urging 250 attendees from various walks of life “to find smart ways...
February 2, 2012: Singularity University and Triple Ring Technologies announced the launch of a summer entrepreneurial program in synthetic biology. The program combines Silicon Valley mentorship in synthetic biology and startup enterprises with world-class engineering in a state-of-the-art laboratory space, with up to $50,000 in funding. The goal? Help young synthetic biologists turn their ideas...
I’m always looking cool things at the intersection of design and biology. Why? Because nature is such a cool designer! Here’s something that was both pretty and practical – inflatable furniture with a various biology-based themes. Only a design for now, but perhaps showing up one day at your local IKEA. Enjoy! Full description at...
Research in the inaugural issue of American Chemical Society (ACS) Synthetic Biology journal focuses on advances which utilize genetic engineering, computational analysis, and cellular machinery – three driving forces in the field of synthetic biology. The first issue features free downloads. Table of contents for Volume 1, Issue 1 (January 20, 2012) is here.
Brooklyn-based Genspace, the first community biolab, celebrated one year of operations on January 19, 2012 with an open house that attracted about 50 people. I went to the event with Popular Science executive editor Cliff Ransom, who was delighted to learn that Daniel Grushkin, a former colleague, was a co-founder. The Genspace lab is compact...
The field of synthetic biology got a big shot of adrenaline last summer when Alicia Jackson of DARPA, the Q-branch of the US military, at the SB5.0 conference held at Stanford, announced program called Living Foundries aiming to speed the development of new tools for the field. I attended the Living Foundries Industry Day held...
BioCurious is a 2,500-square-foot community lab in Sunnyvale where scientists, entrepreneurs and others can meet to conduct biology experiments and learn about topics ranging from DNA sequencing to microfluidics. It launched in November of 2011. Raymond McCauley, a c0-founder, explains the facility has navigated city, county, state, federal and water-district rules on zoning and safety...
On January 10, 2012, at CES in Las Vegas, the X Prize Foundation and Qualcomm Inc. announced the launch of the $10 million Qualcomm Tricorder prize. The goal is to develop a portable, wireless device capable of monitoring and diagnosing health conditions, not unlike the tricorders used by Dr. “Bones” McCoy in the TV Series...
DNA sequencing company Ion Torrent has promised that a new sequencer model they are introducing this year will be able to produce complete human genomes for $1000 in 2 hours. The device, which uses their optics-free, chip-based DNA sequencing technology, will be introduced later in the year and represents about a 10 fold improvement over...
Jason Silva – filmmaker, journalist, and technolophile shares his thoughts about synthetic biology. Keep an eye out for his upcoming film, Turning into Gods. Turning in Gods (Trailer)
The ever-brilliant and super-connected Melanie Swan, hedge fund manager and co-founder of DIYGenomics, has posted a thoughtful, well-referenced short article looking at how synthetic biology could have a significant future impact on many industrial sectors. Full article at IEET.
The proliferation of new, innovative, and more sustainable materials has created a sea change in design. Helping people better understand their manufacturing choices, Material Connexion is a consultancy and global library of over 6,500 different materials, including bio-materials, with offices in major design and manufacturing hubs including New York, Bangkok, Beijing, and Milan. Annual subscriptions...
