CombiGEM Takes Combinatorial miRNA Analysis to the Next LevelSeptember 7, 2015Single gene-focused research can sometimes be like the Indian story of the blind men and the elephant. The blind men, having never seen an elephant before, decide to touch one and feel it for themselves, to determine its shape. However, since they all grab different parts of the elephant, each can only describe what they feel, […]
DNA Methyltransferase Teams Up with Long Non-Coding RNA to Police Colon Cancer CellsSeptember 5, 2015Mulder and Scully. Holmes and Watson. If TV and books are anything to go by, then unconventional pairings between the hot-headed detective and their calm and collected partner get results. Now it seems that another unlikely duo work together in the fight against crime of a biological nature. A new study reports that a DNA […]
Stem Cells Cycle their Way towards DifferentiationAugust 31, 2015Genes that code for some developmental regulators in embryonic stem cells (ESCs) might be excused if they seem a little confused. The regulatory signals they receive from their enveloping histone environment are a combination of “Stop!” and “Go!” signals for their transcription. Although this seems counterintuitive, this combination of modifications, known as a bivalent domain, […]
UBER: Cross-Species, Drag-and-Drop Gene CircuitsAugust 26, 2015There’s a bit of a dirty little secret in synthetic biology – gene circuits that work great in one species often require a lot of changes to work in anything else. This is one reason so many synbio papers contain the same two key words: E. and coli. Now, a new approach called UBER (Universal […]
RiboT: Synthetic Ribosome Opens Door to Independent Genetic CodesAugust 25, 2015Synthetic biologists have made a lot of progress in developing “orthogonal” genetic systems. DNA and RNA have been made with synthetic base pairs, and cells have been coaxed to produce proteins with synthetic amino acids. This expands the genetic code beyond the standard letters used by life on Earth, which could potentially open up new […]
