Dendrimer-RNA Nanoparticles Go For Vaccination GoldAugust 14, 2016There is perhaps no tougher event in the immunity games than the vaccination all-around. Live-attenuated vaccines score high on efficacy, but they lack both speed (new formulations take months to produce) and endurance (they have short shelf lives). In addition, they have to work hard to avoid losing points on safety. Purified antigen vaccines have […]
Daisy Drive: The Safer, Prettier Gene DriveAugust 14, 2016Gene drives, which could theoretically engineer entire species, are a much-ballyhooed but little tested application for CRISPR-based genetic engineering. Gene drives would bias inheritance in sexual reproduction, with drive alleles passing themselves on nearly 100% of the time, instead of the 50% for normal Mendelian inheritance. Including a CRISPR effector like Cas9, a guide RNA, […]
Synthetic Biology Conferences For Late 2016August 14, 2016As summer meanders into August, the next academic year inexorably approaches. We all know what that means: time to plan how to get away from the grind, while refreshing your stock of scientific inspiration. If that sounds like a synthetic biology conference to you, then definitely check out the upcoming synbio conferences below. SynBioBeta SF […]
Synthesizing A Human GenomeJune 16, 2016One score and six years ago, humanity embarked upon the Human Genome Project (HGP), sequencing all 3 gigabases of our genetic instruction manual. More than 1000 human genomes later, a consortium of synthetic biology heavy-hitters has proposed a new grand challenge. Appending “-Read” to the first project, they now propose Human Genome Project-Write, a quest […]
Watch out Cas9: Cpf1 Hits the Mark in Human Cells and Creates a Mouse ModelJune 15, 2016In the Wild West of CRISPR genome editing, Cas9 has established itself as a wrangler of animal models that takes out any sequence with an sgRNA bounty on its head. But now there’s a new sheriff in town with marksman aim. CRISPR from Prevotella and Francisella 1 (Cpf1) was brought forth by the pioneering lab […]
New C2c2 CRISPR Turns The Tables on RNAJune 15, 2016In the CRISPR hype up to now, DNA has gotten a raw deal. In all known CRISPR systems, RNA guides gang up with protein effectors (e.g., Cas9 and Cpf1) to chop up poor, abused DNA helices. Now, a new CRISPR protein – C2c2 – is giving DNA a reprieve, turning the tables on RNA instead. […]
Freeze-Dried, Zika-Detecting Gene CircuitsJune 15, 2016Freeze-drying has claimed to be the technology the future before, but its fruits – from strawberries to ice cream – have never quite lived up to the hype. However, synthetic gene circuits recently joined the picnic with a powerful new use for the process; they can be freeze dried onto filter paper along with cell-free […]
Tracing Cell Lineages with CRISPR/Cas9-Based Genetic BarcodesJune 15, 2016Digital barcodes are a pervasive and highly utile means of tracking just about anything that you can imagine. Through the application of barcode technology we can create a grand overview of the journey each book, beer, burger, or boat took to travel from A to Z. Scientists would love a similar system to track cells […]
Designer dCas9 Systems Compete for CRISPR’s Top ActivatorMay 28, 2016Deactivated Cas9 (dCas9) has quickly risen to the spotlight to show that transcriptional regulation is just as fashionable as the ever so popular genome editing. Now, a number of designer systems face-off in a competition to find out who is best at turning on a genome. dCas9 provides the perfect combination of scaffold and targeting […]
Game Of Genomes: Argonaute Threatens Reign Of CRISPRMay 20, 2016On the island of genome editing, CRISPR is king. Rapidly rising from obscurity, the CRISPR nuclease Cas9 handily dispatched its predecessors, the clumsy TALENs and zinc-finger nucleases. Since then, there has been some strife within the royal family, as better Cas9 proteins and its relatives fought for dominance. Despite this internal turmoil, the CRISPR dynasty […]