DNA nanorobots find and tag cellular targets

Researchers at Columbia University Medical Center, working with their collaborators at the Hospital for Special Surgery, have created a fleet of molecular "robots" that can home in on specific human cells and mark them for ...

A roundabout route to protein production

Proteins are typically encoded by linear strands of messenger RNA (mRNA). These mRNA molecules are translated into polypeptide chains by ribosomes, with each ribosomal read-through of the mRNA generating a single, discrete ...

Detecting disease with a smartphone accessory

As antiretroviral drugs that treat HIV have become more commonplace, the incidence of Kaposi's sarcoma, a type of cancer linked to AIDS, has decreased in the United States. The disease, however, remains prevalent in sub-Saharan ...

Fast new, one-step genetic engineering technology

A new, streamlined approach to genetic engineering drastically reduces the time and effort needed to insert new genes into bacteria, the workhorses of biotechnology, scientists are reporting. Published in the journal ACS ...

Predictability: The brass ring for synthetic biology

(Phys.org) —Predictability is often used synonymously with "boring," as in that story or that outcome was soooo predictable. For practitioners of synthetic biology seeking to engineer valuable new microbes, however, predictability ...

Flipping the 'off' switch on cell growth

A protein known for turning on genes to help cells survive low-oxygen conditions also slows down the copying of new DNA strands, thus shutting down the growth of new cells, Johns Hopkins researchers report. Their discovery ...

Bioengineers introduce "Bi-Fi": The biological Internet

(Phys.org)—If you were a bacterium, the virus M13 might seem innocuous enough. It insinuates more than it invades, setting up shop like a freeloading houseguest, not a killer. Once inside it makes itself at home, eating ...

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