Biologically Inspired Engineering, synbio, synthetic biology, crispr
Staff 
Scientists studying the effects of the potentially game-changing gene-editing tool CRISPR/Cas9 have found it can cause unexpected genetic damage which could lead to dangerous changes in some cells. The findings, published in the journal Nature Biotechnology in 2018, have safety implications for gene therapies that are being developed using CRISPR/Cas9 – a type of molecular … Read more
Abcellera is an early-stage anti-body based drug discovery company that employs an AI powered platform to develop various therapies. The company has raised approximately $483 million in a recent IPO that was well received by the marketplace. According to Abcellera, the new frontier of technology lies at the interface of computation, engineering and biology – … Read more
Can researchers synthesize an organism’s entire genome? The answer to this question is yes, and it has already been done. In 2002, scientists in the US synthesized a viral genome for the first time. Viral genomes are much smaller compared to the genomes of most bacteria and microorganisms. Scientists showed that it was possible to create the … Read more
Precision medicine approaches to disease treatment considers individual genetic variation and environment and lifestyle factors. The idea is to tailor treatment and prevention plans to an individual patient. The ability to analyze large data sets and predictive capabilities of artificial intelligence (AI) are the foundation of modern precision medicine. China’s large population and expanding data … Read more
Protein folding in the cell often relies on the help of chaperonins, naturally occurring cellular nanomachines that fold many critical cellular proteins in all human and animal cells. Knowledge of protein folding is important because proteins must assume the correct 3-D structure to function properly. Different classes of chaperones work together to form elaborate cooperative … Read more
Xi Jinping has called upon the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) to become a world-class military (世界一流军队) by mid-century. Chinese military modernization has been directed towards learning from and targeting the U.S. military, which is seen as a powerful adversary (强敌). In 2015, China’s President Xi Jinping made science and innovation a key element of … Read more
Understanding the link between chromosomes and genes starts with indexing. When you type a query into an Internet search engine, a worldwide web search engine, you can get an answer back in less than a second because a company like Google has already indexed the entire readable Internet. Indexing is also at the core for … Read more
The goal of the National Insitute of Health’s (NIH) Common Fund’s 4D Nucleome (4DN) program is to study the three-dimensional organization of the nucleus in space and time (the 4th dimension). The nucleus of a cell contains DNA, the genetic “blueprint” that encodes all of the genes a living organism uses to produce proteins needed … Read more
More than 50 million Americans suffer from chronic pain, and many are prescribed opioid medications as treatment. But the benefits of long-term opioid treatment for chronic pain are unclear, and patients risk developing drug tolerance (needing higher doses) and hyperalgesia (increased pain sensitivity). Use of these medications may also lead to dependence or even addiction. … Read more
Despite a new Nobel prize for the CRISPR discovery, there has been a lot of conversation surrounding CRISPR-Cas9 in these recent months as well as many sensational news stories. Some of these stories highlight the promise this technology holds, while others emphasize a word of caution. But what exactly does this technology do and how … Read more