synthetic biology

Researchers embedded engineered Bacillus subtilis spores in polycaprolactone plastic that, once activated, breaks the material down to its building blocks in six days without forming microplastics.

Jennifer Doudna's team used AI protein design to create synthetic TnpB nucleases that edited human genes more efficiently than the natural enzyme.

University of Minnesota researchers built SpudCell, a 90-kilobase synthetic cell that feeds, grows and divides, though outside scientists say it is not yet alive.

WashU engineers used synthetic biology to create SAM — a protein fiber combining mussel, spider silk, and amyloid sequences — that dissolves in formic acid within seconds and can be remade into equally strong fibers across multiple recycling cycles.

QUT and Baker-lab researchers built AI-designed allosteric switches that turn on in the presence of small molecules, peptides, or whole proteins and work inside bacteria or on electrodes.

At least four bipartisan bills in the 119th Congress would create tax credits, authorize funding, and stand up USDA task forces to reduce US dependence on petroleum-derived chemicals by scaling plant-based biomanufacturing.

University of Edinburgh researchers engineered bacteria to transform PET plastic into levodopa, a frontline Parkinson's medication, achieving 84 percent conversion from industrial waste in a proof-of-concept published in Nature Sustainability.

Australian biomanufacturing startup Cauldron Ferm has closed a $13.25 million Series A2 round to expand its continuous hyper-fermentation platform, which it claims reduces unit costs by up to 50 percent and capital expenditure by 45 percent compared to conventional batch processes.

A collaboration between VML, The Organoid Company, and Lab-Grown Leather Ltd. has produced the first handbag from material engineered using reconstructed Tyrannosaurus rex collagen sequences, but paleontologists challenge the project's scientific framing.

Researchers at the J. Craig Venter Institute transplanted synthetic genomes into chemically killed bacteria, producing 'zombie cells' that resumed normal growth and division.

Stanford bioengineers publish a reverse-translation chemistry in Nature Biotechnology that converts peptides into DNA barcodes, achieving single-molecule resolution up to 1,000 times more sensitive than mass spectrometry.