SCIENCE

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

Can scientists synthesize an organism’s entire genome? The answer to this question is yes, and it has already been done. Some history. In 2002, scientists 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 polio … Read more

Eugene Koonin’s dabbling with Streptococcus thermophilus eventually led him to discover CRISPR before CRISPR was a thing. An evolutionary biologist and senior investigator in the National Library of Medicine’s National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI), Koonin hypothesized in 2005 that “spacer DNA” in the clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR) loci of bacteria and … Read more

Dr. Bradley Harding is a scientist specializing in DNA-based computing. His research, recently published in the prestigious journal Nano Letters, holds the potential to advance the field reusable biodevices controlled by logical operations. Dr. Harding’s research was co-supervised by the University of the Sunshine Coast’s Dr Joanne Macdonald and Dr Nina Pollak, assisted by collaborator … Read more

The nation’s first CRISPR-based cancer therapy was launched in 2019 at the University of Pennsylvania. The study, funded in part by the U.S. National Cancer Institute (NCI), is testing a type of immunotherapy by using a patients’ own immune cells that have been genetically modified to better “see” and kill their cancer. In the laboratory, … Read more

In 2015, Yaniv Erlich outlined a concept of an “Internet of Living Things” made possible by a future of ubiquitous genomics. Erlich noted that, “multiple appliances could benefit from integration with sequencing sensors, including air conditioning or the main water supply to monitor harmful pathogens. However, of all possible options, toilets may offer the best … Read more

One problem with CRISPR technology to date has been unwanted off-target edits. Even the best CRISPR tool, SpCas9, can only bind to about one in 16 locations along DNA, leaving many genetic mutations out of reach. Now, researchers have designed a more precise and versatile genome editing system, named prime editing, that harnesses the power … Read more

I interviewed Dr Nina Pollak via Zoom to discuss her research interests and career aspirations. She is presently a CSIRO Synthetic Biology Future Science Fellow at the Molecular Engineering Group led by A/Prof Macdonald at the University of the Sunshine Coast in Australia. Originally from Austria, Dr. Pollak has completed a number of international research projects … Read more

Geneticists use indexing and maps to describe the location of a particular gene on a chromosome. One type of map uses the cytogenetic location to describe a gene’s position. The cytogenetic location is based on a distinctive pattern of bands created when chromosomes are stained with certain chemicals. Another type of map uses the molecular … Read more

The Electronic Medical Records and Genomics (eMERGE) Network develops, disseminates, and applies approaches to research that combine biorepositories with electronic medical record systems for genomic discovery and genomic medicine implementation research. eMERGE is a National Institutes of Health (NIH)-organized and funded consortium of U.S. medical research institutions. The Network brings together researchers with a wide … Read more