Living plastics: a new solution for plastic degradation through synthetic biology

Study provides a novel method for fabricating green plastics

02-Sep-2024 - Dr. DAI Zhuojun's research group at the Shenzhen Institute of Advanced Technology (SIAT), Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), published a study titled "Degradable Living Plastics Programmed by Engineered Spores" in Nature Chemical Biology. The study leverages the natural resilience of spores, ...

Synthetic biology reveals the secrets of life without oxygen

ERC Advanced Grant for natural product researcher Christian Hertweck

15-Jul-2024 - The “AnoxyGen” project will decode novel active substances of anaerobes and elucidate their role in nature. Some of these could be useful for humans, animals and the environment. Christian Hertweck has been awarded one of the ERC Advanced Grants by the European Research Council (ERC). In the ...

Research Team Develops Important Building Block for Artificial Cells

27-Mar-2024 - During cell division, a ring forms around the cell equator, which contracts to divide the cell into two daughter cells. Together with researchers from Heidelberg, Dresden, Tübingen and Harvard, Professor Jan Kierfeld and Lukas Weise from the Department of Physics at TU Dortmund University have ...

A new path to active ingredient diversity

26-Mar-2024 - Many important drugs, such as antibiotics and cancer drugs, are derived from natural substances from bacteria. The bacterial enzymes that produce these active ingredients are considered ideal tools for synthetic biology due to their modular design. By researching protein evolution, a team led by ...

How machine learning, data integration and AI contribute to better strategies in the fight against pathogens

Researchers develop a new machine learning approach

15-Jan-2024 - To combat viruses, bacteria and other pathogens, synthetic biology offers new technological approaches whose performance is being validated in experiments. Researchers from the Würzburg Helmholtz Institute for RNA-based Infection Research and the Helmholtz AI Cooperative applied data integration ...

First step towards synthetic CO2 fixation in living cells

Three modules forming a new-to-nature CO2 fixation cycle successfully implemented in E.coli

29-Dec-2023 - Synthetic biology offers the opportunity to build biochemical pathways for the capture and conversion of carbon dioxide (CO2). Researchers at the Max-Planck-Institute for Terrestrial Microbiology have developed a synthetic biochemical cycle that directly converts CO2 into the central building ...

Tobias Erb receives the Leibniz Award 2024

Innovative, interdisciplinary research approach opens up new possibilities for developing technologies to address the global climate crisis

11-Dec-2023 - Prof. Dr. Tobias Erb, Director at the Max Planck Institute for Terrestrial Microbiology and Professor at the University of Marburg, has been awarded the Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Prize by the German Research Foundation (DFG). The Leibniz Prize is the most important research award in Germany and ...

Breakthrough in the synthesis of artificial cells

Researchers develop artificial cells from synthetic materials

06-Dec-2023 - A groundbreaking study published in “Nature Chemistry” reveals a remarkable leap in the synthesis of artificial cells using synthetic materials, achieved by an international team led by Dr. Andrea Belluati, Prof. Nico Bruns (both TU Darmstadt) and Dr. Sètuhn Jimaja (University of Fribourg). These ...

Cell-free quest for new antibiotics

A new method combines synthetic biology with artificial intelligence

20-Nov-2023 - The rising resistance of bacteria to antibiotics presents an escalating global health risk. Now, researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Terrestrial Microbiology have combined synthetic biology and artificial intelligence (AI) to develop a more efficient approach to finding and creating new ...

Start-up Colossal Biosciences Joins Biorescue In Its Mission To Save The Northern White Rhino From Extinction

Colossal will assist the rescue mission by leveraging genome sequencing and gene editing methods to save the endangered species

22-Sep-2023 - With only two living females left, the partnership will contribute to the genetic recovery of the northern white rhino from complete extinction. Colossal developed a pioneering toolkit for the challenging task to restore genetic diversity from museal specimens for a living population of ...