Exploiting Nucleotide Recycling to Kill CancerJuly 28, 2015Have you ever had a doubt about what exactly you can recycle? The cell is faced with the same problem when it encounters epigenetic nucleosides. It does not really know if they can be recycled as they are or discarded. New research by the team of Skirmantas Kriaucionis shows that although such nucleotides are normally […]
Expanding the Genetic Code with Synthetic BasesJuly 27, 2015 Life on Earth only uses 4 DNA bases (ACGT), but in principle, there’s no good reason why we couldn’t use more. Heeding the call of “this might be possible but nature hasn’t done it yet I wonder why not?”, synthetic biologists have been tinkering with synthetic bases to see if an expanded DNA alphabet […]
The Power of Cooperation In Biosynthetic Coculture SystemsJuly 27, 2015Traditionally, most bioproduction culture systems use just one strain of yeast or bacteria. Sometimes, though, you just need a little help from your friends. That’s the idea behind the emerging field of synthetic ecology, which just achieved a major proof-of-principle success thanks to a team of MIT scientists. Cocultures have been used in specific cases […]
Human Nuclear Transfer and iPSCs: New Strategies for the Treatment of Mitochondrial DiseaseJuly 27, 2015We recently brought you news of an exciting study led by Juan Carlos Izpisua Belmonte in which his group successfully eliminated mutant mitochondrial (mt)DNA in oocytes to inhibit germline transmission of currently incurable mitochondrial diseases. Well he’s back, and this time he brought a friend. Shoukhrat Mitalipov has teamed up with Izpisua Belmonte in a […]
Stem Cell Derived Brain Orginoids Reveal a Root of AutismJuly 27, 2015Two cutting edge stem cell techniques have joined forces this week to produce a breakthrough in our understanding of the causes of Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD). Years of study have gone into assessing if specific mutations in autism-associated genes contribute to the abnormal brain development observed in ASD with little or no luck. Seeing this […]