All Synthetic biology articles
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ResearchAI-engineered enzyme eats entire plastic containers
Enzyme with only five amino acid alterations depolymerises 51 different PET products faster and at lower temperature than other proteins
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Research
Yeast engineered to convert methanol into heparin
Production levels are currently low, but researchers hope the method could one day mean pharma doesn’t have to rely on animals for this essential medicine
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Feature
How protocells bridge the gap from chemistry to biology
Rachel Brazil talks to the scientists trying to recreate what the first cells were like, or to make their own versions
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Opinion
Ned Seeman’s legacy
A system based on DNA ‘tiles’ can embody Darwinian evolution, raising new possibilities for understanding natural selection and materials development
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Research
Prokaryotes programmed to produce paracetamol avoid pervasive petrochemicals
Genetically modified E. coli serve as green factories for painkillers
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Opinion
Taking the right inspiration from nature
Scientists need to be selective about their sources of inspiration
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Research
‘Self-inflating’ synthetic cells can capture, store and release cargo
Entirely artificial system can use chemical energy to ‘swallow’ payloads like bacteria
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Business
Brewing up plant-inspired medicines
Antheia reconstructs complex biochemical pathways in yeasts to speed up production of natural product-based drugs
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Research
Sortase A strategy could see ribosomal products reach further across chemical space
Compound libraries set to benefit from process that harnesses promiscuity of post-translation enzymes
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Research
Genetically engineered microbes convert waste plastic into vanillin
Plastic bottle becomes industrially useful product thanks to biosynthetic transformation
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News
Explainer: What is Crispr and why did it win the Nobel prize?
The science behind the prize-winning gene editing tool that could change our lives
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News
Crispr–Cas9 gene-editing inventors win chemistry Nobel prize
2020 chemistry award goes to Jennifer Doudna and Emmanuelle Charpentier
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Feature
Unnatural selection in chemical systems
Great strides have been made in the lab with chemical systems that ape life’s behaviour
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Feature
Artificial enzymes: catalysis by design
Enzymes are nature’s ultimate catalysts and chemists are now on the verge of making their own versions from scratch
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Feature
Artificial photosynthesis: solar water splitting
The chemistry to mimic ones of nature’s greatest feats still has some hurdles to overcome
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Research
Fruit flies’ protective corneal coatings reproduced
Anti-reflective and anti-adhesive nano-coating that covers the eyes of insects could find uses in medical implants and contact lenses
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Research
Simple lipid networks combine self-assembly, replication, competition and inhibition
Artificial cells have previously lacked the complexity that is distinct to natural life but scientists are edging closer
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Research
Viewpoint shift designs drug binding proteins from scratch
New method focuses on the groups touching amino acid side chains
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Opinion
Edgar Cahoon: ‘There is still so much basic knowledge to learn’
The biochemist and plant scientist talks about growing up on a dairy farm in Eastern Virginia, gardening, biking and Cornhusker football
